Joseph Smith established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 in upstate New York. He taught that property should be held in common and that men could have multiple wives. After Smith was killed by a mob in 1844, Brigham Young led the Mormons westward and established Salt Lake City in Utah as the headquarters for the Mormon church.

2.  The largest group of settlers in the Mexican Cession were the
Mormons
 Also called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 Started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York in 1830
 Smith believed that all property should be held in common
 He also believed that a man could have more than one wife
Question: Who established the Church of Jesus
Christ Latter Day Saints?

3.  1. Who established the Church of Jesus
 Christ Latter Day Saints?
 2. Why did a mob attack and kill Smith?
 3. Who assumed leadership of the Mormon Church after the death of Joseph
Smith?
 4. What city is the home of the Mormon Church?
 5. Why is the Great Salt Lake so salty?
 6. Where was gold discovered?
 7. What were the people who migrated to California in 1849 called?
 8. How did most forty-niners get to California?
 9. What was life like in a mining camp?
 10. What is a vigilante?
 11. When was California admitted to the Union?


4.  Angry neighbors in New York forced the Mormons to move to Ohio,
then Missouri, and then to Illinois
 The Mormons built a community called Nauvoo on the banks of the
Mississippi River in 1840
 Joseph Smith was arrested in 1844
 An angry mob attacked the jail and killed Smith
Question: Why did a mob attack and
kill Smith?
Carthage Jail

5.  The Mormons chose Brigham Young as their new leader
 Young realized that the Mormons needed a refuge-a place safe from
persecution
 He led a large group of pioneers west to the Great Basin located
between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Salt Lake in 1847
 Young planned an irrigation system to bring water to the farms in the
desert region of the Great Basin
Question: Who assumed leadership of the
Mormon Church after the death of Joseph
Smith?

6.  Brigham Young drew up plans for a large city, called Salt Lake City,
to be build in the desert
 Young established a fund to help bring thousands of Mormons to
Utah
 Young became governor of the Utah Territory
Question: What city is the
home of the Mormon Church?
Salt Lake Temple

7.  The Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi
River
 The Great Salt Lake is salty because it does not have an outlet (a way
for water to leave other than evaporation)
 Tributary rivers are constantly bringing in small amounts of salt dissolved
in their fresh water flow. Once in the lake much of the water evaporates
leaving the salt behind.
 The water is 3 to 5 times saltier then ocean water
 Started as Lake Bonneville formed during the last Ice Age
Question: Why is the Great Salt Lake
so salty?

8.  In January 1848, James Marshall was building a sawmill for Captain
John Sutter using water from the South Fork of the American River
when he saw some gold flakes in the water. He right away that they
were gold.
 He tried to keep his discovery secret but the news reached San
Francisco within days
 Soon thousands of people were rushing to California
Question: Where was gold discovered?

9.  They came from Europe, China, Australia, and South America
 The 80,000 – 100,000 people who made the journey to California were
called forty-niners
 Among the forty-niners were thousands of free blacks and tens of
thousands of young Chinese men
 Many faced prejudice because their language, food, and clothing were
different
 Native Americans were driven off their lands
 Many died of starvation and disease
Question: What were the people who
migrated to California in 1849 called?

10.  Many people travelled the overland route across the Plains and
through one of the mountain passes
 Others tried the 17,000 mile sea voyage from the Atlantic coast
around Cape Horn and up to California which took five months
 An alternative was to sail to Panama, cross the isthmus on
horseback, than sail up the west coast to California
Question: How did most forty-
niners get to California?

11.  Miners lived in canvas tents in mining camps cooking their meals on
open fires.
 Sanitation was poor and miners seldom bathed or washed their
clothes.
 Colds and other diseases were common among miners due to poor
nutrition.
 The winters with heavy rains and snow forced many miners to head
to San Francisco.
 Murders and robberies were common in mining towns
Question: What was life like in
a mining camp?

12.  Punishment for criminal behavior was not always just, but it was
quick
 Citizens formed vigilance committees to stop crime
 Vigilantes were self-appointed law enforcers
 Miners had little time for courts, juries or lawyers.
 Justice was dispensed by "Judge Lynch" -- in the form of mobs that
held impromptu trials and handed out immediate punishment, often
whipping or hanging
 A lynching is a hanging without a legal trial
Question: What is a vigilante?

13.  Californians realized that they needed a strong government to
protect the rights of citizens
 In 1849 a state constitution was written
 California asked to be admitted to the Union
 Americans asked if California would allow slavery
 In 1850, California was admitted as a free state
Question: When was California
admitted to the Union?