The History
In 1831, Mormon leader Joseph Smith directed many members of the new faith to settle in Northern Missouri. He believed that Independence, Missouri would be the location for Zion; a utopian community where the Mormons would build their temple and live in peace. By 1838 blood had been shed, a small scale civil war had been fought, and an official extermination order had been issued by the state of Missouri stating that the Mormons “must be exterminated or driven from the state”. Trouble in Zion is a contribution to the many efforts that have been made to tell this tragic and often overlooking piece of American religious history.