Period+7+-+Utopian+Communities

​Utopianism The Antebellum Reform Movement

"Escape into a more Perfect World"

The Utopian communities of the antebellum period converted themselves from the “normal society.” The movement set out to create separate societies aimed at ideal and perfect living arrangements. Groups that have branched off of from Utopianism were: Brooke Farms, Oneida, the Shakers, the Mormons and New Harmony. Life on Brooke Farm was based on balancing labor and leisure while working together for the benefit of the greater community. The Oneida community was created to be seen as a perfect world, to be free of sin. They also wanted men and women to be equal and to avoid ‘special love’ and ‘romantic relationships.’ Mother Ann founded the religious settlement of the Shakers which wanted men and women also, to be seen as equal but women were un usually superior. The group of the Mormon s believed that men became gods, they usually held multiple wives. Polygamy was a large part of the Mormon's way of life, this set them apart from other utopian communities. New Harmony was known as the "wonder of the west". They were a very economical group who were always working, saving and praying. People converted to utopianism because they wanted to leave from a society that they had seen saw as unfit. A more perfect society was needed to be created, and was believed to exist. They believed that a more perfect society existed, and was in need of being created.


 * Causes of the Utopianism **

A. Many felt the need of conserving the old American society and resisting the influx of new patterns of society.
 * The desire to turn their society into a more perfect community sprang up among people
 * Opposition to capitalism, which thought to be beneficial only to a small portion of the population
 * Uneasiness about the urbanization and industrialization which gives chaos and disorder to the society
 * Repulsion toward the immigrants
 * Strain between the people and the society
 * Rejection to the existing labor system

B. Transcendentalist influence
 * The idea that perfecting an individual is more important than improving the society stimulated the Utopian movements
 * Individualism encouraged liberation of restrictions of the past society, such as religion, social, and family.
 * The belief that heightening the senses to raise the quality of one’s life animated people to get out of the concrete world to nature, which triggered the creation of utopian communities


 * The Goals of Utopian Communities **


 * Perfecting individuals’ sprits
 * Transforming individuals’ standards such as moral, social, and economic relationships
 * Creating new social order
 * Guarantee of individual freedom, especially in gender
 * "[A community] may have its hundreds of members...its immense domain; its manifold industries; its large library and every aid to intellectual development; and yet, unless it finds a way to secure the conditions...essential to the happiness of a small family, it will prove a gigantic failure... (Hinds, //American Communities//, page 162)"

1. The idea of leisure, which thought to be essential for cultivation of the self. 2. Merging of values and ideas 3. Individual freedom and humane relations 4. Union of mind and physical labor being precieved as a condition of mental well-being 5. Encouragement of self-realization for every member  6. Equally distributed amount of labor  7. Closing the gap between intellegence and instinct by doing physical labor  8. Escaping from the competition of capitalism, while working as little as possible   9. Pleasure in enjoying high quality culture
 * **Brook Farm ** **[|Brook Farm]** was established in West Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1841 by George Ripley. The "life of the mind" was a transcendentalist value that was a huge component of Brook Farms life. Ripley recruited more farmers who where also over thinkers which eventually caused the end to Brook Farm after a serious fire in 1846. Ripley believed that gathering of individuals would create a new structure of the community. **Goals of Movement** [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Camp_Andrew_at_Brook_Farm.jpg width="435" height="335" align="right"]]

Due to their surrounding area of meadows, pastures, and woods in which they lived, Brook Farms Utopian community was able to create a very large and successful dairy farm. Brook Farms was also successful in creating a joint-stock company, undertaking a newspaper called //The Harbinger//, which continued to survive after their failure. They also succeeded intellectually; their jobs distributed among these people all had the same payment, from one milking a cow to one being a college professor at Harvard. This life style was equal among all ages, sex, and nationality, which helped keep Brook Farms together for a period of time. Basically, all residents would share equally in the labor of the community.
 * Successes:**


 * Failures:**   As people started living in Brook Farm, they realize the tension between ideals of the individuals and the requirements of the society. The demands of the society took away liberation of the individuals, which contradicted the intial goal of Brook Farm. Soon, socialism displaced individualism and residents left Brook Farm. The failure of this Utopian community was due to a The ultimate reason for the dissolution of Brook Farm was the financial crisis which erupted after its centeral building was burned down during the celebration of its completion . They and it failed to pay its investors dividends. Which concludes to the failures of what they practiced within their community.   ||

**Failures :** Oneida was considered immoral by the people. They were criticized by others for their marriage which was rearded as “combination of polygamy and polyandry, with certain religious and social restraints.” Due to the Onedia's impracticality of it's belief, it eventually failed, loosing all of it's values, practices, and religious claims. ​ ||
 * ** Oneida **  **[|Oneida]**was established in New York in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes. In the Oneida community, the residents of Oneida called themselves "Perfectionists". They practiced the doctrine of complex marriage so all the members of the community where married to each other a very distinct marriage doctrine, which declared no permenant marriage; everyone was married to others . However, it wasn't a form of unrestricted love, "free love". Noyes even believed that there would be no marriage in Heaven. They also rejected the idea of gender inequality, but Oneida stressed over the sexual relationship. They were very strict with regulating childbirth and childcare. Also women were to be freed from sexual demands of men . Oneida's income relied on the production of silverware after Noyles fled to Canada to avoid persecution for adultery.   **Goals of the Movement:**    1. Males and females were equal Creating a society where males and females are equal  ﻿2. Community members were not to have exclusive sexual or romantic relations with each other ﻿Community that doesn't allow exclusive sexual or romantic relations with other members. 3. A female were to have an average of three sexual encounters, or "interviews" a week4. Older women were encouraged to introduce teenage males to sex, and in vice versa5. Spiritual maturity- shown through self controls 3. To reject marraige and family4. To protect women from force of men's lust5. Benefiting the whole society by taking individual tasks well    **Successes:**    In order to be able to support themselves, the community had many ways of earning money. For example, the Oneida did farming, sawmilling, blacksmithing, and even silk production. Their most successful venture was the production of steel traps which were used by the Hudson's Bay Company and other trappers in teh United States. After the fur trade, the Oneidans produced silverware as another source of income. Even though the Oneidans disbanded in 1881, their holdings were valued at over $600,000. Although the Utopian community had very little success, they were able to survive long after their founder left, because of the communitiy's ability to stay organized economically and as a whole.

**Shakers **​ [|*Shakers**] was the vision of Ann Lee Stanley during the American Revolution. She believed that mankind suffered due to Adam and Eve. In 1774, she and founders founded a church outside of Albany, New York. At this time they where being called the "Shakers Quakers." By the 1840's there where more than twenty Shaker communities. They emphasized "simplicity". They wanted a redefinition of traditional sexuality and gender roles. Due to their strict rejection of marriage and a reduced number of avaliable converts, the Shaker movement started to decline around the 1850's. [|Shakers Theme Song] **Goal of the movement:** 1. Equality of men and women 2. Celibacy- state of life where one chooses to abstain from all sexual activitese and also marriage 3. Community of Property- equal distribution of land 4. Withdrawal from the World- becoming entirely self-sufficient and self supporting 5. Pacifism- opposition of war and violence 6. Spiritualism- belief of god 7. Open confession of sin 8. Simplifying language 9. Properly using the property

The Shakers ultimately did have some successes within their community. The main reason why they were successful in having this community for a reasonable amount of time was due to their unique circumstances, consisting of their resources and geography. Although they did have these unique circumstances, they were also able to have successful practices which love of order and a functional hierarchy, consisting of mostly equality, distributed in every aspect of the Shakers' lives. The practice of making furniture also allowed the long term success of this community, because it kept life simple and tidy, which brought basic principles and practices to creat self-sustaining social units.
 * Successes:**

The Shakers community deceased due to what they believed and practiced eventually failing. Such as their equal distribution of work, money, and land which unfortunatley became unequal between each "family" overtime. From the loss of their beliefs and values, the community failed to exist.
 * Failures:**



<span style="color: #800000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%; text-align: center;">** New Harmony **​ [|**New Harmony**]was established along the Wabash River in western Indiana in 1825 by Robert Owen. New Harmony was considered rather an unsuccessful utopian experiment. New Harmony was built be a "Village of Cooperation". In the New Harmony community, everyone lived in complete equality, ﻿everyone was to share equally in labor and profit even in labor and profit. This was because when Owen was previously a manager of the cotton mill in England, he realized through observation that workers respond better to kindness rather than cruelty. Which ended up leading to many of his practices By referencing his observation, he practiced his beliefs on his community. Owen believed that a person's personality corresponded with his or her environment; therefore, he thought that by controlling the environment, it would make a person have a strong and superior character. In the community there where were housing for workers, a school, and a day nursery for preschool children. Many people ended up being "unsuited" for this life and. therefore the New Harmony community declined around 1828. Three years later, around 1828, New Harmony declined as a result.

**Goal of the movement:** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. To show Christian perfection in every aspect of life. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Society based on ethics, not religion 2. Create a highly ordered and productive community 3. To become self-sufficient <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. The production of goods to make a living from 5. Cooperation of the workers rather than competion <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Transforming the society which accords with Enlightment principles <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. Society run by humanism <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. Providing better work places for workers in order to raise the productivity <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. Improving the characteristics of the members <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> New Harmony lasted for three years. It was able to give a brief example of good values and family life. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Due to interpretation of biblial text, current world events and other things New Harmony was successful in coming up with the stong belief that a second coming of Jesus Christ would be soon. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">A system of motivation for the citizens consisted of "time money" and "time stores" which could be exchanged for things that were of the same value. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Owen kept the condition of the community well; he supplied his residents with good services such as reducing working hours, improving the environment of the working place, and providing education to children.
 * Successes:**

Although Owen's ambition to maintain his society with no such thing as religion principles was big, it failed in keeping the commuinity united due to the absence of such principles. Since Owen didn't believe in God so there was nothing for the citizens to commit to. The residents were not bound to the society with a same belief, which failed to engage them into the labor. The society lacked abled managers, specific plans, and money; also, they didn't have a strong central belief so the community failed to carry out Owen's mission. There weren't enough experienced workers to keep the society run. The failures of New Harmony came about in 1828 when Owen started mentioning his racial views on denouncing private property and organized religion, which often worsen the situation.
 * Failures:**

<span style="color: #800000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%; text-align: center;">** Mormon ​**
 * [|Mormon]** is another name for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was founded by Joeseph Smith in 1830, in upstate New York . ﻿ Mormonism is mainly based on the theological of marriage and family. Mormon ideas of family and marriage was much different from other utopian communities. The Mormons believed that families stayed together forever and that marriages continued to last even in the afterlife. They taught the idea that all mankind are brothers and sisters. The ideas of mormons came from revivalism and alternative social structures. The Mormons also believed that all humans lived on as spirits before being embodied on Earth. After being embodied, the person was put through a test to decide where they would spend the rest of their lives. It was either the celestial kingdom, where God himself lived in; the terrestrial kingdom, were made up of Mormons who didn't follow all of the commandments; and lastly, the telestial kingdom which was full of the lowest kind of people, like rapists, murderers, liars, and adulterers. They mainly wanted to reflect upon the idea of perfecting humans. The Mormons tried establishing their "Jerusalem"; consequently, they were persecuted by other surrounding communities. There were rumors that they used to practice racial discrimination. A man was known to become a god as he became a Mormon. Mormons also practiced polygamy, letting one man hold many wives.

1. To not be persecuted, have religious freedom 2. Economic independence 3. Perfecting humans 4. Becoming a god 5. A society of no rich and no poor
 * Goals of the Movement:**

The Mormons had great success in practicing cooperation, the most important example of this would be member-and-worker owned, in which both type of co-ops are owned by the people that benefit from them. The success of enterprises were also formed which promoted equality, community, self-reliance, and community unity. The Mormons soon took to their new home, named the Deseret, but later, Congress called it the territory of Utah. Consequently, Brigham young was appointed governor by Congress.
 * Successes:**

The Mormons were despised by several since there had been rumor of Smith introducing polygamy into Mormonism. Even though the Mormons were developing, it was challenged by the government because of the polygamy and almost started a war; there were laws passed against the polygamy and eventually, the Mormons ended the practice of plural marriage. There was no real failure to this society, it still strives today, and is accepted in many countries.
 * Failures:**


 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 256%;">Overall Tactics/Strategies: **

Setting up these Utopian communities was more of an experiment then a permanent way of living. The overall motive of these communities was to avoid further persecution of either religious values, or having secular value s. Many of these Utopian communities consisted of having some of the same tactics and strategies, and also very different, ﻿as well as many different tactics which are distributed throughout the goals of the movement.

​

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 256%;">**Key Figures/People:** <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;"> Founders of the movements: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__Brooke Farms__— <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> It was established by <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">unitarian minister, George Ripley and his wife Sophia Ripley <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">in West Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1841. George Ripley was a very capable Unitarian minister. It was inspired by the ideals of Transcendentalism and the basic idea that the Ripleys had was to collect profits from the farm in exchange for performing an equal share of the work.

__Oneida__— In the late 1830s, John Humphrey Noyes established this community in order to let people live an ideal "perfect" lifestyle where there was possible freedom from sin. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">He sought God's will for him. Noyes believed that perfecting oneself is impossible, but finding the way of inner salvation can be an alternative. He believed that Kingdom of Heaven was to be built on the earth. "The church on earth is now rising to meet the approaching kingdom in the heavens, and to become its duplicate and representative on earth." <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He also thought there is no marriage in Heaven, which is why he restricted marriage.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">__Shakers__— <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“I knew by revelation that God had a chosen people in America. I saw some of them in a vision and I met them in America. I knew that I had a vision of America, I saw a large tree, every leaf of which shown with such brightness as made it appear like a burning torch representing the Church of Christ which will yet be established in this land.” Mother Ann Lee believed that God was telling her to put an emphasis on the "supremacy of celibacy." <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "Mother Ann Lee" <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> had founded this group where most followers were women, and her biggest ideas were equality, and open sin. This group was religious and tried to lead its followers away from sin. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">"Mother Ann" was later succeeded by "Mother Lucy Wright".

__New Harmony__—The community was originally established in Germany by religious leader, George Rapp, but later sold to a British reformer, Robert Owen. Owen and his leaders changed the name from Harmonie to New Harmony and went with the ideas of coopertive living. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Owen resisted against "'trinity of evils': private property, irrational system of religion, and marriage founded on property and religion." For that reason, he sought to find the way to tie the community together by hamanism. He believed that improvement of condition of the residents would result in better outcomes, for he had observed while working previously in a mill that people are served better, the productivity increases. "An idle, dirty, dissolute, and drunken population was transformed by the application of proper means into one of order, neatness and regularity." (Quoted in Rexroth, page 219) <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;"> __Mormon__—the original book of Mormon was written by Joeseph Smith <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">in 1830, he was also the founder of the Mormon church. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Smith was eventually put in jail, and on June 27, 1844, he was assassinated by a mob. Shortly after Joeseph Smith was killed, he was succeeded by Brigham Young. Brigham Young was the head of the church's Council of the Twelve Apostles and was voted as leader of the Mormons. He then organized a march from Nauvoo, Illinois toward the Great Salt Basin.


 * Primary Sources:**

Mormons- [|Church of Latter-Say Saints]- The mormons lived by strict rules and there name was also known as the Latter-Days saints. This website shared alot of their believes. It was also interesting because it used in rescent day for people of mormon belief.

[|Brook Farms]-This source shared a lot of information about Brook Farms. It contained its history and beliefs. It told you about all aspects of Brook Farms including its economy.

[|Shakers]- Through this website you could see pictures and read a story about the Shakers. The pictures were very interesting because they look very modern to now a day.

[|**Utopian Communities**]

Citations

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Kirkbride, Robin. "Utopian Religions in America: The Shakers, the Oneida Perfectionists and the Mormons, an Issue of Survival." Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=honors>.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 106.5%;">Tyler, Alice Felt. //Freedom's Ferment; phase of American Social History//. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. 196, 140-145. Print.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vollaro, Daniel R. "Utopian Communities." __American History Through Literature 1820-1870__. Ed. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert Sattelmeyer. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1219-1224. __Gale Virtual Reference Library__. Gale. High School. 10 Nov. 2009 [].

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Foster, Lawrence. "Noyes, John Humphrey." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 10. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 6732-6733. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION: Herndon, Peter. "Utopian Communities, 1800-189." New Haven Teachers Institute. New Haven Teachers Institute, 2010. Web. 21 Nov 2010. <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1989/1/89.01.04.x.html>. [NOTE: Italicize "New Haven Teachers Institute"] PARENTHETICAL CITATION: