Joseph Smith

Mormon faith, Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints, New Zion

 

 

Joseph Smith, in 1831 Smith founded the Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints, known then as the Mormons, who proclaimed “revelations of God to create the New Jerusalem at the edge of the prairies”—Independence, Mo., specifically, was the New Zion. The Mormons acquired land and built farms, established businesses, and made future plans for expansion. In 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs declared that the Mormons “must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary, for the public good.” By 1839, state militia had driven out 12,000 to 25,000 Mormons from Missouri.