By early 1838, the number of Saints in Caldwell County had grown so large, that they were starting to spread out into the other adjoining counties of Ray, Daviess and Carroll. On one of a number of exploratorations Joseph made of northern Missouri, while looking over a gorgeous vista in Daviess County, the brethren found a stone that appeared to be the ruins of an old altar. Joseph declared this to be the original site of the Garden of Eden, and the altar on which Adam himself made sacrifice to God. He called the spot Adam-ondi-Ahman, "the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet." The Saints established a settlement there.

As before, however, the influx of Saints began to frighten and anger local Missourians, who believed there had been a tacit understanding that the Saints should remain confined to Caldwell County and not spread out to the surrounding "gentile" areas.

To make matters worse, there was a growing determination among the Saints never again helplessly to suffer the kind of persecution they had suffered in Jackson County, nor to be humiliated by dissent and schism the way they had been in Kirtland. Sidney Rigdon had been traumatized by the tarring and feathering he had suffered in 1831, and later by the upheaval of dissent in Kirtland, and he apparently backed the formation of a secret Mormon paramilitary group known as the Danites, whose purpose was, in the words of its leader Sampson Avard, "to waste away the Gentiles by robbing and plundering them of their property." The group also kept close watch on Mormons they regarded as dissenters or potential dissenters, threatening to drive away or kill those they considered disloyal to the Prophet.

The extent to which Joseph knew about the Danites, and whether he tacitly or openly approved of its philosophy and activities have been points of historical contention. Many of those who were most active in the group were close friends and acquaintances of Joseph's, and there is evidence that Joseph either attended or received reports on the meetings of the group. Revelations recorded by Joseph around the time of the Missouri troubles at the very least indicated that he believed the Saints, having "turned the other cheek" at least three times, now had the right to defend themselves with deadly force.

On the fourth of July, 1838, Sidney Rigdon gave his infamous "Salt Speech" in Far West, in which he noted that the Saints had turned their cheek "again, and again, until we are wearied of being smitten," and then declared that at the next provocation by the mob "it shall be between us and them a war of extermination."

Four days later, Joseph Smith predicted that the Saints would erect a majestic temple in Far West.