The Mormons moved west in search of a place where they could practice their religion in peace. The church was founded in upstate New York in 1830, but over the first 15 years moved from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois in search of peace and acceptance. In each place, they were hated, beaten, robbed, had their homes burned, chased out of town, etc. After the Prophet Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, the local government asked them to leave the state of Illinois in order to preserve the peace. They moved to the Salt Lake Valley, a mostly desolate land with little fresh water, little vegetation, and very extreme weather. Some explorers thought that it would be impossible for the land to sustain a permanent settlement, but Salt Lake City and the surrounding towns are still growing and thriving today.
From 1845 to about 1910, Mormons around the world were encouraged to move to the west. This was because long distance communication was difficult and made unity among the church a challenge. From 1845 to 1870, the primary source of transportation was by covered wagon, horseback, or handcart (a two-wheeled wagon which was pulled by hand, not by pack animals). Following this time, the railroad came through which allowed safer and faster travel. Railroad was the primary transportation the Mormons took to move west between 1870 and 1910.
Now, Mormons are encouraged to live abroad to build up the church wherever they may be. Still, many Mormons live in the west by choice (about 25% of all Mormons live west of the Mississippi in the United States) because they enjoy living near to other people with a similar lifestyle and belief system.
To escape persecution they were facing in the United States and to be able to set up there own government/Theocracy in a new territory that was all their own. It would be misleading not to mention that the Mormons believed in polygamy. This is one reason they were persecuted.
The Mormons were being persecuted in the Eastern United States, and they decided to move West to form their own settlement, where they would be free to live as they pleased and according to their own religious rules, free from persecution.
The main body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) moved west from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois to Utah in 1831-1847 due to extreme persecution they faced in the east. Eventually, they found a place where they could practice their religion in relative peace in what was then Mexico (now Utah).
The practices of the Church of Latter Day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith. One huge problem his new religion had was that it was in favor of polygamy. Smith had been arrested in Missouri and a crowd stormed the jail and murdered him. The Mormons under Brigham Young fled to Utah.
The outcome of the Mormons moving west was that they were no longer percacuted for their religious beliefs.
Because they were kicked out of their homes in the east.
They were being persecuted
migrated westward
Group that migrated westward along the Oregon Trail who wanted to escape persecution
mormons I believe..
Manifest Destiny.
rushed to Oregan and California
manifest destiny
The Mormons travelled west to escape religious persecution. They were looking for a place where they could practice their religion in peace.
The Mormons moved west from New York to Ohio in 1831. They moved from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois, although not all at once so exact years can't be specified. They left Illinois to move to Utah in 1846.
Nauvoo is located right on the Mississippi River. Freezing weather was an advantage to the Mormons as they left westward because it meant they could simply walk across the frozen river rather than use a ferry.
After the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844, the majority of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called "Mormons") followed Brigham Young westward in search of peace and freedom. They arrived in the Great Basin area of Mexico in 1847, which was soon annexed into the United States and eventualy became the state of Utah in 1896. Today, about 10% of the world's 15 million Mormons live in Utah.
Both Mormons and homesteaders faced the problem of living far from 'civilized' society. Getting supplies from the east was difficult, so most were forced to live entirely off the land.
Of the 13,824,854 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) worldwide, 7,785,947 live outside the United States. That is, 56% of all baptised Mormons live outside the U.S. Nations with quite a few Mormons are: Canada 179,801 Mormons (1% of Mormons are Canadian, 0.5% of Canadians are Mormon) Samoa 69,224 Mormons (0.5% of Mormons, 39% of Samoans) Tonga 55,173 Mormons (0.5% of Mormons, 53% of Tongans) Mexico 1,197,573 Mormons (8.7% of Mormons, 1% of Mexicans) Guatemala 220,296 Mormons (1.6% of Mormons, 1.6% of Guatemalans) El Salvador 105,501 Mormons (0.8% of Mormons, 2% of El Salvadorians) Hondouras 136,408 Mormons (1% of Mormons, 2% of Hondourans) Brazil 1,102,674 Mormons (8% of Mormons, 0.6% of Brazilians) Chile 561,920 Mormons (4% of Mormons, 3.3% of Chileans) Peru 480,816 Mormons (3.5% of Mormons, 1.7% of Peruvians) Philippines 631,885 Mormons (4.6% of Mormons, 0.7% of all Philippinos) UK 186,082 Mormons (1.3% of Mormons, 0.3% of all UK) Australia 126,767 Mormons (0.9% of Mormons, 0.6% of Australians) New Zealand 100,962 Mormons (0.7% of Mormons, 2.4% of all New Zealanders) To compare, the United States has 6,038,907 Mormons. That's 44% of Mormons and 2% of all Americans. But you can find Mormons in nearly every nation of the World! The "Related Link" below has a great population statistics map related to Mormon Church membership.