The Mormons moved to the west in search of religious freedom. They had been kicked out of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. In each place, they faced discrimination and persecution, and both local and national governments had refused to help them. So, the Mormons decided they would move to a barren land in Mexico, rumored to be uninhabitable, where nobody would come to bother them. Shortly after the Mormons' arrival, the land was taken over by the United States and named Utah.
However, the wording of your question leads me to believe that the answer you are looking for is "Manifest Destiny", the concept that it was America's destiny to cover all the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. This was a common idea in the 1800's and lead many Americans to believe that it was their right and privilege to settle anywhere from coast to coast, regardless of which nation rightfully owned the land.
Persecution. The Mormons were chased out of Missouri and asked to leave Illinois... so they moved further west, where there was nobody to kick them out.
July 24th 1847
Mormons moved west to escape religious scrutiny.
The Mormons moved out of Kirtland, Ohio because they were being pursecuted and tortured by mobs. There was never a largely Mormon town called Kirkland.
The Mormons moved to Illinois in the 1840's seeking religious freedom. They weren't able to fiond it in Illinois and left the state for Utah.
yes, they were forced from illinois by persecution. so they moved to the deserts in utah
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.
The majority of Mormons moved to Utah in 1847 after being kicked out of Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
The Mormons were receiving massive persecution, being moved from New York to Kirtland, to eventually Utah. So basically, they wanted a place to worship their religion in peace
In Utah, they were not counterculture, because everyone living in Utah when the Mormons first moved there accepted polygyny.
The Mormons moved to Utah for religious freedom.
Mormons hoped to find a place where they could practice their religion freely without persecution. Between 1831 and 1847, they moved from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois and finally to Utah in search of religious freedom.