The success of the Mormons in creating a new community The Mormons are a religious group in the United States of America. Their full name is The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith founded them. Joseph Smith was the man who founded the Mormons. He translated the golden plates and wrote the Book of Mormon. The angel Moroni visited him. He also established polygamy and sought to establish Zion. He was quite successful in establishing the Mormons, but made the Mormons very unpopular by introducing polygamy. Joseph Smith failed to become president of the United States of America. First, he went to Kirkland where he managed to establish a bank and a temple. Unfortunately, the bank collapsed and the non-Mormons who had lost a lot of money when the bank collapsed kicked him out of Kirkland. He then went to Missouri, where he was quite successful and built houses, but the other settlers did not want him and he was put in prison. Then he went to Nauvoo where the Illinois government allowed them to have their own laws and their own army; he also obtained permission to build his own city. However, the number of Mormons increased, and non-Mormons began to worry. Even non-Mormons were disgusted by polygamy. Joseph Smith was later killed. When Joseph Smith was killed, a man named Brigham Young became the leader of the Mormons. He successfully led them to Salt Lake City where he succeeded in establishing Zion. He convinced more Mormons to join by introducing the Perpetual Immigration Fund in which each Mormon donated 10% of their annual earnings to the fund and the money was given to the poorest Mormons who wanted to get to Salt Lake City. He also instituted tolls and ran a north-south railroad. The journey to Salt Lake City was very organized and disciplined, but people died on the journey. He taught the Mormons to be self-sufficient and they eventually became a state in 1896 but were not allowed to call