Smith then moved the Mormons onto a settlement that was an already established Mormon community in Independence, Missouri. However, the Gentile population of Independence hated the Mormons because of their anti-slavery views. The non-Mormon population, too, were angered that the Mormons tried to proselytise them, and they loathed that the Mormons thought they were “God’s chosen people”. Again, the Mormons were forced out of the settlement they had made.
Brigham Young got his first taste as being a leader when the rest of the members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles were arrested. Young lead the Mormons to Nauvoo, Illinois under the instructions of Smith. When Smith was released from prison, he obtained a charter that practically meant the Mormons were independent from the United States. However, when Smith announced he was running for President the Gentiles panicked and Smith was arrested for a crime he took no part in. Whilst in prison, he and his brother were shot dead.
So came the turning point of the Mormons. After the death of Smith, the followers of Mormonism were breaking away and they needed a strong leader, and such a leader came in the form of Brigham Young. Young made the significant decision of leading the Mormons into the wilderness, to a massive and isolated place. Young knew that the only way the Mormons would be able to live in peace was by living away from everybody. So it was to be that the Mormons would escape to Great Salt Lake. Mormons from throughout the USA and in fact the rest of the World were given money to join the other followers in what was to become their City of Zion, from what was known as the Perpetual Emigration Fund, set up by Young.
After over coming the problems faced in Salt Lake City under the scrutiny of Brigham Young, the Mormons again prospered, setting up tolls on roads through Mormon territory and setting up workshops for travellers. The Mormons ignored U.S. law, but Young was the first governor of the newly founded territory of Utah. The Danites (a type of secret police) removed Mormon opposition, allowing the Mormons to live happily.
However, to become a state of the United States the Mormons had to abandon polygamy in 1896 – which had become a pillar of their faith. Still, the Mormons lived happily and without the persecution of Gentiles.
Taking all of this into account, the death of Joseph Smith was in fact a turning point in the history of the Mormons. Without his death, Young would never have became leader and the Mormons would not have under-gone the radical change which allowed them to live the life they had wanted to.
