Map: Forced Migrations

The New Jerusalem
Independence, Missouri
1831-1839

"The Mormons and the Missourians were essentially oil and water... They did not mix."
-- Alex Baugh, historian

Select a location to learn more.

About this Place
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 requires all Indians to move west of the Missouri River. Independence, just three miles from the river, is the western edge of American settlement and an early stop on the Santa Fe Trail -- and later the Oregon Trail.

Mormon Developments
Months after settling in Ohio, Joseph Smith declares that Independence Missouri was the site of the Garden of Eden and will become a "New Jerusalem." Missionaries there establish a printing press and publish the westernmost American newspaper, The Evening and Morning Star. Smith's revelations -- many printed in the paper -- stress that Mormons are entitled to their land and should secure it by force if necessary.

Non-Mormons fear that the Mormons, who have formed a militia, will take their land. And although Smith's church officially supports slavery, other Missourians also oppose some Mormons' abolitionist sentiments. Following the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery is legal in the state, but the dispute over extending slavery to new territories is intense.

Why They Left
In the summer of 1833, an angry mob storms the newspaper's offices, destroys the press, and tars and feathers two Mormon leaders. The tensions and skirmishes escalate, forcing the Missouri Mormons to relocate several times over the next few years. In 1838, Joseph Smith and the Ohio Mormons arrive.

On October 27, 1838, Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs takes a dramatic stand to end violence. His executive order calls for the expulsion or extermination of all Mormons from the state. Three days later, a raiding party massacres church members, including children, at Haun's Mill, The Mormon community leaves Missouri for Illinois.