Item Detail
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18781
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0
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0
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English
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Nauvoo, Illinois, 1839-1846 : The Rise and Fall of a Mormon City
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Long Beach, California
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California State University
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Master's thesis
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After the Mormons were driven from the state of Missouri in 1839, they established a new Zion in Illinois. The dynamic Prophet Joseph Smith gathered his people to a swampy little town called Commerce, creating a large utopian city renamed "Nauvoo," that quickly rose to power. Political, economic, and social issues, as well as controversial beliefs and practices, contributed to internal difficulties in the Church, and a hostile conflict with non-Mormons. The clash resulted in the martyrdom of the Prophet, a Mormon exodus in 1846, divisions within the Church, continued persecutions, and ultimately the fall of Nauvoo. This study interprets the crisis by making use of the abundant primary and secondary resources from both Mormons and non-Mormons, as well as the numerous scholarly writings that analyze Nauvoo. The conclusions demonstrate the complex issues and mutual errors that led to the rise and fall of the illustrious Mormon city. [Author's abstract]