Who would not want to live in a perfect society? In other words, a society in which man has reached such perfection that he is able to build a social system based on justice, reason, and unity. Utopian societies have been an integral part of the human imagination for thousands of years. However, it was not until the late eighteenth century that people began to act seriously on utopian impulses. It is the purpose of this paper to explore and briefly examine man's attempt to achieve perfection, by focusing primarily on the Mormon faith and how successful these people were, in gaining their desired goal of utopia. The Mormons came about in 1830; they were one of many sects created in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The birth of Mormonism centered on Joseph Smith. Smith claimed that an angel appeared before him and handed him golden plates, these plates would later become known as the Book of Mormons. This Book of Mormons was the group's sacred text and supposedly the third testament to the Bible. It soon became the idealistic goal of Smith's followers to construct an earthly version of the Heavenly Jerusalem. They believed that if did this, they would eventually hasten the inevitable Second Coming of Christ and assure their soul's salvation.
The Mormons also held the belief that in order to perfect their community, it would be necessary to practice complete equality, selective breeding and mutual criticism - a practice, in which, one member's faults were discussed by the group in order to encourage correction of his or her faults. In Ohio and Missouri, they built enormous temples, they set up a cohesive and self economically government. They were a people set apart. In 1833, Missouri neighbors attacked the settlement, and their other settlement in Ohio. The Mormons then decided that it was time to set out and find a new community in Illinois. In Illinois, they established their very own court system and government, by 1844 they were they largest city in the state.
