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The town of New Harmony, Indiana, perhaps offers one of the most colorful histories of Utopianism in all of America. Led by Robert Owen, it is here that a group of men and women put into practice several major social concepts that flourished among American visionaries of the nineteenth century through the formation of an unique utopia called New Harmony. One such important characteristic of nineteenth century reform was the belief that there should be institutional solutions to the growing social problems and decline of urban society. This idea was practiced by the followers of Owen, people otherwise known as Owenites, who were workers on his colony, New Harmony. Owen argued that the only way that the standard of working could change was in an institution, or utopia, with co-operative effort and common ownership.
I am come to this country, Owen announced, to introduce an entire new state of society, to change it from an ignorant, selfish system to an enlightened social system which shall gradually unite all interests into one, and remove all causes for contests between individuals. Furthermore, he also insisted that common man is not responsible for his acts and can only be saved from ignorance and poverty only by the improvement of his surroundings. Remarkably, Owen s ideals might very well have eliminated much of the difficulties caused by the Industrial Revolution. Owen therefore set out to improve the surroundings of his people, primarily through the education of the society. He supplied equal education to all members, including any boys, girls, or even any adults.
Furthermore, he also eliminated the use of conventional education and rather chose practical schooling which aimed to reform social, economic, and political conditions for his community. With this practical schooling came early schooling. It is unbelievable to imagine that it was this very colony of New Harmony which built one of the first infant schools in the United States. Besides education, however, other advancements toward improvement were made directly through the laws of the community. When Robert Owen wrote a constitution for his society, he pointed out the people must, at first, temporarily deal with a certain degree of pecuniary inequality.
Afterwards, he said, there would be no social inequality. Furthermore, this document required that everyone must try to be temperate, regular, and orderly in order to set a good example. If this was accomplished, universal happiness would be achieved along with equality. This equality was often times felt by many Harmonists, or members of the New Harmony society. For example, in a letter home to his son, one Owenites wrote, Here there are no brawling braggarts and intemperate idlers. He went on to describe how well most members lived, especially the postmaster who earned a relatively large sum of money every week plus credit in the community store.
Robert Owen s New Harmony society hereby demonstrates an opinion that institutions, or utopias, are the best solution to the deteriorating urban society and social problems. Behind every society or organization, especially in utopias, there must be a feeling of supremacy, a feeling that you are the best. After all, why form a new society that will not be better than the old one? Robert Owen expressed this belief on his deathbed saying, I gave important truths to the world, and it was only for want of understanding that they were disregarded. I have been ahead of my time. This feeling of supremacy can also be traced back in American heritage to the seventeenth century and a prosperous, educated, well-to-do pillar of the Massachusetts named John Winthrop.
He, as governor, promised to build a city which would be seen by the rest of the world as a city upon a hill, a place which would be a model for humankind. This basic idea blatantly parallels the motivation on the part of the Owenites to build a utopia. Similarly, past societies had also been formed on the basis of the same principles with utopians such as Fourier and St. Simon. Robert Owen, therefore, was merely following a trend started by numerous reformers of the nineteenth century. They, along with the Owenites, were convinced that they had discovered the best society, and therefore built that society.
For example, Robert Owen had no more than signed the papers to purchase New Harmony before he was off to Washington to tell the country about his big plans, speaking as if New Harmony was already a great success. In two speeches before Congress, with both the President of the United States and members of the Supreme court in attendance, he demonstrated a model of the town he planned to build yet supplied only a hazy explanation of its governmental structure. Societies such as this, Robert Owen predicted, would spread all over the United States and would result in a consequent release from ignorance and oppression such as mankind had never before witnessed. This enthusiasm, mind you, occurred before New Harmony had completely begun! But the air of excitement must have caught in the hearts of the Owenites, for they, too, became swept away with enthusiasm least at first. The society did plow ahead with its work, but also began to write a great deal, as well.
Furthermore, every Tuesday night in the Hall of New Harmony there would be a dance and every Thursday night there would be a concert. Lovers wandered in the beautiful country side, picnickers gathered in the neglected vineyards, and boating parties floated on the river. A sense of supremacy was definitely felt by the citizens of New Harmony due to their new found happiness. However, this feeling was short lived due to the eventual collapse of the society. Despite this, the image of a city upon a hill greatly shaped the colony of New Harmony, along with many other colonies as well. The idea of a city upon a hill has come to suggest a strong sense of unity and superiority.
Without such an ideal, utopianism could not have reached its full potential. Reformers of the nineteenth century also tended to come from well-to-do or middle class families. Robert Owen is no exception. Robert Owen began as a middle class shop assistant and by 1791 he had become an aristocratic, successful manager of a textile mill with over 500 workers.
It is here that he earned his vast fortune. But Owen had also gained distinction in England, where he had semi-successfully angled for better living and working conditions for his employees. These very issues which Robert Owen fought for ironically also became an important issue during the Industrial Revolution. Finally, Owen settled for a central fund which helped support sick workers and shortened working hours. Like many other reformers of his day, Robert Owen s goals of his New Harmony experiment were national in vision rather than local.
First of all, Owen had previously tried setting up similar colonies to New Harmony in Europe, such as in New Lanark, Scotland. However, each time, Owen failed. Although each ended in failure, he did hereby try to spread his ideas throughout the world, ideas which he most certainly held to be true and beneficial to society. Secondly, in Robert Owen s speech to Congress, he predicted the spread of communities like his throughout the United States.
Unfortunately for Owen, his beliefs never spread as much as anticipated. These facts, including Owen s well-to-do-background and his national goals, further prove that his work is indeed reflective upon typical themes of reform during this time period. Nineteenth century reformers normally possess and extraordinary sense of religious conviction. However, Robert Owen denounced religion, regarding it as superstitions.
The only result of this public attack against religion was the loss of his and his work s popularity. The colony New Harmony, which was previously owned by George Rapp, was at that time very religious. Rapp was referred to as a Pietist, or a person who believed that the established church was corrupt and that man should communicate directly with God. He was also called a Chiliast, meaning that he believed Christ would return to earth to reign during the millennium. When Robert Owen took over the community, he also changed the society s religious beliefs, meaning that there was no religion. Although religion did not play a role in Robert Owen s utopian society, New Harmony, other factors certainly did.
These factors such as the focus on institutionalism rather than urbanism, the presence of a city upon a hill philosophy, Owen s upbringing, and his national views all demonstrate that Robert Owen s utopian society reflect greatly upon the typical themes of nineteenth century America.
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Research essay sample on Nineteenth Century Industrial Revolution
