User:Purplebackpack89/LDS History

The church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in upstate New York It was based off the Book of Mormon, which Smith had written from some gold plates. Smith's followers first went to Kirtland, Ohio in 1831. The first Mormon temple was built in Kirtland, and by the mid-1830s, there were over 17,000 Mormons. In 1838, the Mormons settled in Independence and Far West, Missouri. Near here, Smith wanted to build a utopian (ideal) community. They were driven out because people in Missouri did not trust Mormons. This was called the Mormon War. The Mormons then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. There, Smith started to practice polygamy and tried to start a "theodemocracy" which combined Mormon rule with American democracy. In 1844, an attempt by Smith to shut down the Nauvoo newspaper led to Smith being accused of treason, followed by him being killed by a mob.

After Smith's death, a controversy over who should replace Smith ensued. Brigham Young led most of the Mormons to Utah in 1847. When Utah became a territory in 1850, it was somewhat of a theocracy. Later in the 1850s, there was conflict between the Mormons and the US government over control of the territory. This was called the Utah War. The Mountain Meadows massacre was part of the Utah War. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mormons settled the Mormon Corridor in Utah and surrounding states in the Western United States. Some of the places they settled were Mesa, Arizona, San Bernardino, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Cardston, Alberta. By 1890, the Mormon church had built temples in three Utah cities.

Brigham Young died in 1877. Around that time, the U.S. government made polygamy against the law. Polygamy had been practiced by Young and the Mormon church since the 1840s. Laws by the U.S. government led to many Mormon leaders going into hiding, and many polygamists being thrown in jail. In 1890, the church stopped polygamy. This is thought to be the beginning of the modern era of the Mormon church.

In the early 20th century, the Mormon Church grew, and opened its first temples outside of Utah. Soon into the 20th century, tithing was made a part of being a good Mormon. In 19##, Gordon Hinckley became President. He got the church to build many temples in the United States and elsewhere around the world.