88 Stoux City Academy of Science and Letters. 
Many contended that under the book of Mormon 
there was no such thing as a religious successor to Joseph 
Smith; that Smith had never had any revealed command 
to assume political authority; that he was only the 
religious head, and that he had been punished by author- 
ity of God for trying to go beyond his spiritual powers. 
The Legislature of Illinois repealed the charter of 
Nauvoo. 
Karly in 1846 the leaders of the Nauvoo colony deter- 
mined on a western migration to the Rocky Mountains, 
out of the reach of the other settlers; and it is said that 
in one month over 1,200 wagons crossed the Mississippi 
River, and by May 10,000 persons were crossing Iowa 
toward Council Bluffs; and as fast as they could sell out 
in Nauvoo, and buy teams, they kept leaving Nauvoo. 
Many of these travelers stopped and formed settlements 
in Decatur and Union counties, Iowa, the primary object 
in so doing, being to raise crops to feed them in their 
further journey. By mid-summer the head of the column 
reached Council Bluffs. From here they sent pioneers 
who founded Salt Lake City, and in 1847 and 1848 Brig- 
ham Young and a large colony followed. 
Nauvoo was cannonaded in 1846, and the colony 
there practically ended. Other bodies located under dif- 
ferent leaders all over the west, but large numbers were 
left scattered through Iowa on the line of the march 
from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs. 
One of the chief aims of all the Mormons from the 
beginning had been to establish a separate independent 
local temple, city, or colony; to get off by themselves; 
and the unsettled condition of the west seemed to afford 
a good opportunity for the realization of such a scheme. 
And once admitting that revelation and prophecy still 
existed in Divine Government, there seemed to be no 
limit to the number of prophets that might arise. Now 
that the original modern prophet, Joseph Smith, was 
dead, these religious enthusiasts were ready to believe in 
any additional prophet, and in new revelations. They 
were ready to take up with a prophet and a prophecy or 
revelation that seemed to coincide with their own views. 
The Mormon literature of this period is full of religious 
speculation and controversy over minor points of Mor- 
mon doctrine. 
