Why the Mormons made a success of settling in the West

In 1823, a man called Joseph Smith was led by an angel to a mountainside near his home, and there he dug up a set of golden plates. Four years later he began to translate symbols on the plates, helped again by the angel, Moroni, but they were so secret that he did it behind a makeshift curtain while his wife and friends sat on the side recording them. This was the beginning of Mormonism. Soon it was so popular that the Mormons set up their own community in Kirtland, Ohio. But because of their hard work and success, there was ill-feeling between them and their Gentile (non-Mormon) neighbours. Hostility and violence abounded over the next few years until, in 1837, there was a financial crisis in America, causing the Mormon bank to collapse. Many people lost their money, both Mormon and Gentile, through failed Mormon enterprises they had invested in and to the bank. The enmity felt by those who had invested in what they thought was God’s bank, felt they had been cheated out of their money. The Mormon, in fear of their lives from the murderous anger of their former neighbours, fled. They tried over the years of 1837-8 to settle in various places in Missouri but each time were forced out by the residents. But in 1839 the Mormons travelled to Illinois and settled a poor, derelict town called Commerce and renamed in Nauvoo, meaning “beautiful plantation”.

The Mormons did well in this new place. They cultivated the land, built houses and established a state within a state. They built an army and introduced their own laws to the town, and people began to fear them, because of their power and belief in polygamy, though many Mormons believed this was wrong. So when Joseph Smith, leader of the Mormons announced he would run for president, the already volatile situation exploded. He was thrown into prison before being dragged out and beaten to death by an angry mob. The Mormons were now led by Brigham Young, who decided the only way to escape from persecution was to start a whole new city, where no one else would want to come.

A big factor in there success of settling the west was that Brigham Young had made a deal with the mayor of Nauvoo to leave in the spring of 1846, if the violence stopped against the Mormons. This was agreed and gave the Mormon time to prepare over the winter of 1845 for the journey ahead. They made wagons, stocked up on food and tools, bought animals and generally prepared themselves for crossing the Plains. This was such an important factor as it equipped them as best as possible for the dangerous journey and dire weather they had to face on the journey to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. This was also due to the efforts and meticulous planning of Brigham Young, who managed to successfully transport 15,000 Mormons 2,250km across the Great Plains. He achieved this by dividing the Mormons into manageable groups of 100 wagons, run by a captain, which was then subdivided into groups of ten, managed by a lieutenant.

One way in which the Mormons made a success of settling in the West was the Perpetual Emigration Fund, setup in 1851. This was established by Brigham Young after the initial settlers had begun to cultivate the land and build a city around the Great Salt Lake. They dug irrigation ditches from high in the mountains around the valley, to feed water to the fields and houses of Salt Lake City. People were given an exact time to draw water, so the water kept running. The land was part of Mexico and the church owned it, apportioning sections to families with different needs; people with big families getting 10-80 acres, smaller families getting up to 10 acres and artisans or mechanics, who had little time to farm got small 5 acre plots. Brigham Young realised that to be independent, and therefore safe, from the Gentiles, then the Mormons must be self sufficient. Brigham Young ensured this by setting up the Perpetual Emigration fund and to attract Mormons too poor to travel to Salt Lake City on their own and supply them with the funds to get there, guaranteeing that there would be people with a whole range of skills.

Another essential aspect in the success of the Mormons was there agreement to ban polygamy in 1890. This was essential in the Mormons survival, as they would have been decimated by the United States government otherwise. Originally the land they settled on was a part of Mexico, but after the civil war ended in 1848, this passed to the US government, who were wary of the Mormons. Because Brigham Young wanted the Mormons to be politically independent, he immediately petitioned to the government to establish a state called Deseret (from Hebrew, meaning “Land of the honey bee”). This request was refused, the government not wanting the Mormons to become too powerful, but allowed the land to become a territory called Utah. The Mormons were not happy with this as they had no say in how their affairs were run, they had no representatives in Washington and there land was small, without a port. Tension and disagreement increased even more between them and officials, when laws were made in Washington and enforced by judges, but Mormons did not abide by them and followed their own practices. Officials were beaten and killed and court judgments ignored. Violence continued with the Danites being used to crush Gentile opposition. A compromised was eventually reached, which meant Mormons could live as they wished but Utah would not become a state unless the Mormons banned polygamy and accepted a non-Mormon governor. This was achieved in 1890.

In conclusion, the Mormons made a success of settling in the West by working hard and smart to build a sustainable city through the Perpetual Emigration Fund, being willing to compromise to avoid conflict by banning polygamy and being prepared for the journey that faced them across the Plains. But all these things were coordinated and instigated by the leader of the Mormons, Brigham Young, through which who’s scrupulous planning and relentless hard work made the Mormons plans and ambitions come to fruition.