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Weary and destitute, the Mormons were forced to abandon their Missouri settlements. They crossed over the Mississippi River into Illinois where the citizens were initially hospitable. Taking his followers onto a tract of land North of Quincy, Joseph Smith laid out plans for a grand city. He named it Nauvoo or "beautiful plantation". Nauvoo quickly become a proud city with impressive buildings, plans for a university, and a powerful militia called the Nauvoo Legion that was second only to the U.S. Army in size. Despite its initial success, after a few years life in Nauvoo was beginning to unravel. In 1844 a newspaper was published by a group of disenchanted Mormons that called attention to the secret practice of plural marriage and listed 14 points of proposed reform. Joseph Smith and the city council were not amused and wasted little time in ordering the destruction of the paper. Non-Mormons in the surrounding area were enraged when they heard about this breach of the Bill of Rights. The Governor of Illinois ordered Joseph Smith to come to Carthage to stand trial, but an angry mob attacked him at the Carthage Jail where he was being detained. The tension between Mormons and non-Mormons continued to grow. Within two years the Latter-day Saints abandoned Nauvoo to search out a new home for themselves in the mountains of the west. |
