Chapter 3: The Owenite Community at New Harmony, Ind.

Chapter 3: The History of Owenite New Harmony
I’m sitting on a bench outside the Rapp mansion in New Harmony, Indiana. The air is fragrant with the scent of roses and lavender. Across the yard, past the burial mound of Thomas Say, I can see the old Harmonist granary, which was totally rebuilt and restored by Kenneth Dale Owen, the last surviving direct descendent of the Owen family. After a fire in 1878 destroyed the roof and top two floors, the stone walls of the first floor gradually piled in on each other, not unlike the community of New Harmony itself under Robert Owen, which started out with so much promise, then crumbled inward and became a pile of loose stones with no semblance to the structure its architect had envisioned.

Introduction
The Preliminary Society
During the spring of 1825 the New Harmony experiment was a subject of general discussion all over the country. The hundreds who descended on the town were a mix of freethinkers and freeloaders. On April 27, 1825, Owen addressed the community membership in the old Rappite church: “I am come to this country to introduce an entire new state of society” (Lockwood, 1905/1971, p. 83). The first address was received with enthusiasm. “He is an extraordinary man,” wrote W. Pelham to his son, “A wonderful man – such a one, indeed as the world has never before seen. His wisdom, his comprehensive mind, his practical knowledge, but above all, his openness, candor, and sincerity, have no parallel in ancient or modern history” (Lindley, 1916, p. 365). On May 1, 1825, the Preliminary Society of New Harmony was formed, and the constitution proposed by Robert Owen was adopted. The Constitution called for what Owen described as a “halfway house” to serve as a transition from the old system to the new.
The following statement preceded the Constitution of the Preliminary Society of New Harmony: The Society is instituted generally to promote the happiness of the world. The Constitution continued as follows:
This Preliminary Society is particularly formed to improve the character and conditions of its own members, and to prepare them to become associates in independent communities, having common property.
The sole objects of these communities will be to procure for all their members the greatest amount of happiness, to secure it to them, and to transmit it to their children to the latest posterity.
Persons of all ages and descriptions, exclusive of persons of color, may become members of the Preliminary Society. Persons of color may be received as helpers to the society, if necessary; or it may be found useful to prepare and enable them to become associates in communities in Africa, or in some other country, or in some other part of this country.
The members of the Preliminary Society are all of the same rank, no artificial inequality being acknowledged; precedence to be given only to age and experience, and to those who may be chosen to offices of trust and utility.
As the proprietor of the settlement, and founder of the system, has purchased the property, paid for it, and furnished the capital, and has consequently subjected himself to all the risk of the establishment, it is necessary for the formation of the system, and for its security, that he should have the appointment of the committee which is to direct and manage the affairs of the society.
This committee will conduct all the affairs of the society. It will be, as much as possible, composed of men of experience and integrity, who are competent to carry the system into effect, and to apply impartial justice to all the members of the society.
The number of the committee will be augmented from time to time, according as the proprietor may secure the assistance of other valuable members.
At the termination of one year from the establishment of the settlement, which shall be dated from the first day of May, the members of the society shall elect, by ballot, from among themselves, three additional members of the committee. Their election is for the purpose of securing to all the members a full knowledge of the proceedings of the committee, and of the business of the society; but it is delayed for one year, in order to afford time for the formation of the society, and to enable the members to become acquainted with the characters and abilities of those who are proper to be elected.
It is expected that at the termination of the second year, or between that period and the end of the third year, an association of members may be formed to constitute a community of equality and independence to be governed according to the rules and regulations contained in the printed paper entitled Mr. Owen’s Plan for the Permanent Relief of the Working Classes, with such alterations as experience may suggest and the localities of the situation may require.
The independent community will be established upon property purchased by the associated members.
The Preliminary Society will continue to receive members preparatory to their removal into other independent communities.
Every individual, previous to admission as a member, must sign the constitution, which signature shall be regularly witnessed. The members must join the society at their own expense.
The society shall not be answerable for the debts of any of its members, nor in any manner for their conduct, no partnership whatsoever existing between the members of the Preliminary Society.
The members shall occupy the dwellings which the committee may provide for them.
The live stock possessed by members will be taken and placed to their credit, if wanted for the society, but if not required, it shall not be received.
All members must provide their own household and kitchen furniture, and their small tools, such as spades, hoes, axes, rakes, etc., and they may bring such provisions as they have already provided.
All the members shall willingly render their best services for the good of the society, according to their age, experience, and capacity, and if inexperienced in that which is requisite for its welfare, they shall apply themselves diligently to acquire the knowledge of some useful occupation or employment.
They shall enter the society with a determination to promote its peace, prosperity, and harmony, and never, under any provocation whatever, act unkindly or unjustly toward, nor speak in an unfriendly manner of, any one either in or out of the society.
Members shall be temperate, regular, and orderly in their whole conduct, and they shall be diligent in their employments, in proportion to their age, capacity, and constitution.
They shall show a good example, it being a much better instructor than precept.
They shall watch over, and endeavor to protect, the whole property from every kind of injury.
The members shall receive such advantages, living, comfort, and education for their children as this society and the present state of New Harmony affords.
The living shall be upon equal terms for all, with the exceptions hereafter to be mentioned.
In old age, in sickness, or when an accident occurs, care shall be taken of all parties, medical aid shall be afforded, and every attention shown to them that kindness can suggest.
Each member shall, within a fixed amount in value, have the free choice of food and clothing; to effect this, a credit (to be hereafter fixed by the committee), will be opened in the store for each family, in proportion to the number of its useful members, also for each single member, but beyond this amount, no one will be permitted to draw on credit. The exceptions to this rule are the following, to wit:
1. When the proprietor of the establishment shall deem it necessary for the promotion of the system, and the interest and improvement of the society, to engage scientific and experienced persons to superintend some of the most difficult, useful, or responsible situations, at a fixed salary, then such individuals shall have a credit upon the store in proportion to their income.
2. When any peculiar or unforeseen case may arise, a general meeting of all the members shall be called by the committee, who shall state the particulars of the case to the meeting; the members present shall deliberate upon the subject and give their vote by ballot, and the question shall be decided by the majority.
Each family and individual member shall have a credit and debit account, in which they will be charged with what they receive, at the prices the Harmonists usually received for the same articles and credits by the value of their services, to be estimated by the committee, assisted by the persons at the head of the departments in which the respective individual be employed; the value of their services over their expenditure shall be placed at the end of each year to their credit in the books of the society, but no part of this credit shall be drawn out, except in the productions of the establishment, or in store goods, and with the consent of the committee.
Members may visit their friends, or travel whenever they please, provided the committee can conveniently supply their places in the departments in which they may be respectively employed.
To enable the members to travel, they will be supplied with funds to half the amount placed to their credit, not, however, exceeding one hundred dollars in any one year, unless the distance they have to travel from home exceeds six hundred miles.
Members may receive their friends to visit them, provided they be answerable that such visitors, during their stay, do not transgress the rules of the society.
The children will be located in the best possible manner in day-schools, and will board and sleep in their parents’ houses. Should any members, however, prefer placing their children in the boarding-school, they must make a particular and individual engagement with the committee; but no members shall be permitted to bind themselves nor their children to the society for a longer period than one week.
All the members shall enjoy complete liberty of conscience, and be afforded every facility for exercising those practices of religious worship and devotion which they may prefer.
Should the arrangements formed for the happiness of the members fail to effect their object, any of them, by giving a week’s notice, can quit the society, taking with them, in the productions of the establishment, the value of what they brought, which value shall be ascertained and fixed by the committee. The members may also, in the same manner, take out the amount of what appears to their credit in the books of the society, at the end of the year immediately preceding their removal, provided that amount still remain to their credit.
Any families or members contravening any of the articles of this constitution, or acting in any way improperly, shall be dismissed by the committee from the society and settlement, upon giving them the same notice by which they are at liberty to quit the society.
Persons who possess capital, and who do not wish to be employed, may partake of the benefits of this society, by paying such sum annually as may be agreed upon between them and the committee, always paying a quarter in advance.
Persons wishing to invest capital on interest in the funds of the society may do so by making a particular agreement with the committee. (New Harmony Gazette, 1825, Vol. 1, p. 1)

[The entire text of the Constitution is included here so the reader can begin to understand Owen’s social system and the core values of the community as they were written and expanded on during each successive revision.]
Robert Owen Returns to Scotland
After the adoption of the Constitution, Owen addressed the members and admonished them to keep the houses clean, to have a vegetable garden, and to settle all disputes with arbitration. The youth were to be formed into a militia, and drunkenness was to be prohibited. Owen remained in New Harmony for a little more than one month before returning to New Lanark in June 1825 to settle his affairs, including providing for Mrs. Owen and their two remaining daughters while their four sons, Robert Dale, William, David Dale, Richard, and one daughter, Jane Dale, followed their father to New Harmony. (By 1832, Mrs. Owen and her daughters Ann and Mary had all died within three years of each other.) The senior Owen did not return to New Harmony until Jan 12, 1826. During his seven months absence, the state of affairs in the New Harmony community continued in a state of chaos. The haphazard establishment had left little time for planting crops and organizing the populace. Several members, like Thomas Pears, saw no hope for progress until “the master spirit” returned (Pears, 1933/1973, p. 24). Within four months of Owen’s departure, many Owenites had approached their breaking points. Thomas Pears wrote to his uncle September 29, 1825 complaining about the ruling committee. He concluded his letter: “Thus you see we are living in an aristocracy, and must continue to do so until Mr. Owen returns” (p. 40). Harmonists once again looked forward to the return of Owen to right the community. They expected that under Robert Owen’s practiced hand, the community’s idle factories would soon be in full operation, and all the founder’s projected plans, including building a new village of unity and cooperation, would be undertaken. Owen had vowed to return with a boatful of the finest minds of the time, to help fulfill the promise of New Harmony.
The Boatload of Knowledge
The keelboat, The Philanthropist, subsequently dubbed the “Boatload of Knowledge” arrived on January 18, 1826. Its passengers would help cement New Harmony’s place in history (Wilson, 1964). Foremost among the new arrivals was William Maclure – scientist, social and educational reformer, and Robert Owen’s erstwhile partner. Born in Ayr, Scotland, in 1763, Maclure’s life paralleled Owen’s in several respects. Both were self-made men interested in social reform and the improvement of society, and both were willing to risk their own fortunes and reputations to prove their theories. Maclure had two passions, geology and education. One would lead to his sobriquet, “The Father of American Geology,” and the other would change the face of American education. Because of these twin passions, Maclure’s contributions, in many ways, would outshine and outlast those of Robert Owen. Maclure became an ardent advocate of the teaching methods of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Before bringing those ideas to America, Maclure had sponsored schools based on the Pestalozzian method in France and Spain. He was so ardent about bringing this system to America that he hired French Pestalozzian teacher Joseph Neef and personally supported him for a year while Neef learned English and prepared to start a school in Philadelphia (Pitzer & Elliot, 1998, p. 85-88). Along with Neef, Maclure brought William S. Phiquepal, and Marie Duclos Fretageot to direct the Pestalozzian system of education in New Harmony. Also on the Boatload of Knowledge was naturalist, entomologist and esteemed conchologist Thomas Say. Later called “The Father of American Zoology,” Say was also curator of the American Philosophy Society and a professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania. Other teachers and scientists on the boat included Charles-Alexander Lesueur, French naturalist, zoologist, ichthyologist, artist and teacher; Balthazar Abernasser, a Swiss artist who taught painting at New Harmony; Virginia Dupalais, who taught art and music; and John Beal who taught carpentry in Maclure’s School of Industry.
This collection of teachers, thinkers, scientists and students also included Robert Dale Owen, Robert Owen’s son; Captain Donald Macdonald, social reformer, who had accompanied Owen on his first trip to New Harmony; and Stedman Whitwell, an English architect who made the model of Owen’s ideal village and who later had the dubious distinction of developing a universal naming system for towns and cities, a system intended to eliminate what he considered to be the annoying duplications of place names. Often assumed to have been on the Boat was Dr. Gerald Troost, preeminent chemist and geologist. However, as Troost had preceded Maclure as President of the Academie of Natural Sciences, he also preceded him to New Harmony by almost a month.
The first President of the American Geological Society, Maclure had visited Owen at New Lanark in 1824 in order to see first-hand the school about which so much had been written. Madame Fretageot, Maclure’s protégée, had become enamored of Owen and urged the joining of their combined efforts. Owen invited Maclure to become a partner in the New Harmony venture and to set up the Center for Education and Scientific Study in New Harmony. Maclure recruited all the passengers who ultimately embarked on the Boatload of Knowledge, and he instituted the Pestalozzian teaching method, which incorporated Owen’s infant schools. Maclure also purchased the keelboat that delivered the educators when the river proved too shallow for a steamboat. Maclure opened the first School of Industry in the United States and pioneered the trade school concept.
Community of Equality
Shortly after returning to New Harmony in 1826, Robert Owen was excited by what he perceived to have been accomplished in his absence, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Many, like Pears and Pelham, felt nothing had been accomplished and based all hope of success on Robert Owen’s return. Owen however, was so carried away by his own optimistic perceptions that he decided to cut off the Preliminary Society two years before it was due to expire. The purpose of the Preliminary Society had been to allow members to become converts to the system and to allow enough time to pass that members might learn to trust each other. Further, the Preliminary Society would have allowed time for those who did not fit in to leave of their own accord or be voted out. Owen perhaps moved too quickly to form the Community of Equality, but a committee of seven was chosen to draft a constitution, which was adopted on February 5, 1826. The Constitution began with this Declaration:
When a number of the human family associate in principles which do not influence the rest of the world, a due record to the opinions of others requires a public declaration of the object of their association, of their principles and their intentions. Our object is that of all sentient beings, happiness.

It was followed by the Principles:

Equality of Rights, uninfluenced by sex or condition, in all adults.
Equality of duties, modified by physical and mental conformation.
Cooperative union, in the business and amusements of life.
Community of property.
Freedom of speech and action.
Sincerity in all our proceedings.
Kindness in all our actions.
Courtesy in all our intercourse.
Order in all our arrangements.
Preservation of health.
Acquisition of knowledge.
The practice of economy, or of producing and using the best of everything in the most beneficial manner.
Obedience to the laws of the country in which we live.
We hold it to be self evident:
That man is uniformly actuated by the desire of happiness.
That no member of the human family is born with rights either of possession or exemption superior to those of his fellows.
That freedom is the sincere expression of every sentiment and opinion, and in the direction of every action, is the inalienable right of each human being, and can not be limited except by his own consent.
That the preservation of life, in its most perfect state, is the first of all practical considerations.
And that, as we live in the state of Indiana, submission to its laws and to those of
the general government is necessary.
Experience has taught us:
That man’s character, mental, moral and physical, is the result of his formation, his location, and of the circumstances within which he exists.
And that man, at birth, is formed unconsciously to himself, is located without his consent, and circumstanced without his control.
Therefore, man’s character is not of his own formation, and reason teaches us to a being of such nature, artificial rewards and punishments are equally inapplicable; kindness is the only consistent mode of treatment, and courtesy the only rational species of deportment.
We have observed, in the affairs of the world, that man is powerful in action,
efficient in production, and happy in social life, only as he acts cooperatively and
unitedly.
Cooperative union, therefore, we consider indispensable to the obtainment of our object.
We have remarked that where the greatest results have been produced by cooperative union, order and economy were the principal means of their attainment.
Experience, therefore places order and economy among our principles.
The departure from the principle of man’s equal rights, which is exhibited in the arrangement of individual property, we have seen succeeded by competition and opposition, by jealousy and dissention, by extravagance and poverty, by tyranny and slavery.
Therefore we revert to the principle of community of property.
Where the will and the power exist, the result produced is proportioned to the knowledge of the agent; and in practice we have found that an increase of intelligence is equally an increase in happiness.
We seek intelligence, therefore, as we seek happiness itself.
As the first and most important knowledge, we desire to know ourselves.
But we search for this knowledge in vain if our fellow creatures do not express to us openly and unreservedly what they feel and think.
Our knowledge remains imperfect, therefore, without sincerity.
We have seen misery produced by the great leading principles which prevail over the world; therefore we have not adopted them.
We have always found truth productive of happiness and error of misery: truth, therefore, leads to our object, and we agree to follow truth only.
Truth is consistent, and in unison with all facts: error is inconsistent, and opposed to facts.
Our reason has convinced us of the theoretical truth of our principles—our experience, of their practical utility.
For these reasons—with this object—and on these principles, we, the undersigned, form ourselves and our children into a society and Community of Equality, for the benefit of ourselves and our children and of the human race, and do agree to the following articles of union and cooperation:
All members of the community shall be considered as one family, and no one shall be held in higher or lower estimation on account of occupation. There shall be similar food, clothing, and education, as near as can be furnished, for all according to their ages; and, as soon a practicable, all shall live in similar houses, and in all respects be accommodated alike. Every member shall render his or her best services for the good of the whole, according to the rules and regulations that may be hereafter adopted by the community. It shall always remain a primary object of the community to give the best physical, moral, and intellectual education to all its members.
The power of making laws shall be vested in the assembly, consisting of all the resident members of the community above the age of twenty-one years, one-sixth of whom shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The executive power of the community shall be vested in a council, to consist of the secretary, treasurer, and commissary of the community, and four superintendents of departments to be chosen as hereinafter provided. The secretary, treasurer, and commissary shall be elected by the assembly.
The community shall be divided into six departments: Of agriculture; of manufactures and mechanics; of literature, science, and education; of domestic economy; of general economy; of commerce. These departments shall be divided into occupations. The individuals of each occupation, above sixteen years of age, shall nominate to the assembly for confirmation, their intendent, and the intendents of each occupation, which shall consist of three or more persons, shall nominate the superintendent of their own department; provided, that the commissary shall be superintendent of the department of domestic economy, and the treasurer of the department of commerce; and for the purpose of nominating superintendents the department of commerce shall be united to the department of literature, science, and education, and the department of domestic economy to that of general economy. The secretary, superintendents, and intendents shall hold their offices at the pleasure of the assembly.
The executive council shall also report weekly to the assembly all the proceedings, accounts, receipts, and expenditures of each department and occupation, and their opinion of the character of each intendent, and the intendents’ opinion of the daily character of each person attached to their occupation. All the accounts of the community shall be balanced at least once in each week, and the results communicated to the assembly. All the reports of the superintendents and of the secretary, and all the transactions of the assembly, shall be registered and carefully kept for perpetual reference. The assembly shall also register its opinion of the executive council, and the council in like manner its opinions of the proceedings of the assembly.
No person shall hereafter be admitted a member of this community without the consent of a majority of all the members of the assembly; and no person shall be dismissed from the community but by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of the assembly; and, in neither instance, until the subject shall have been discussed at two successive weekly meetings.
The real estate of the community shall be held in perpetual trust forever for the use of the community and all its members, for the time being; and every person leaving the community shall forfeit all claim thereto or interest therein, but shall be entitled to receive his or her just proportion of the value of such real estate acquired during the time of his membership, to be estimated and determined as is provided in cases of settlement for the services of members so leaving the community.
Each member shall have the right of resignation of membership on giving the community one week’s notice of his or her intention; and when any member shall so leave the community, or shall be dismissed therefrom, he shall be entitled to receive, in proper products of the community, such compensation for previous services as justice shall require, to be determined by the council, subject to an appeal to the assembly, respect being had to the gains or losses of the community during the time of his membership, as well as to the expenses of the individual and of his or her family for education or otherwise.
No credit shall, on any account, be given or received by the community or its agent or agents except for such property or money as may be advanced by Robert Owen, or William Maclure, or members of the community. Every member shall enjoy the most perfect freedom on all subjects of knowledge and opinion especially on the subject of religion. Children of deceased members shall continue to enjoy all the privileges of membership. All misunderstandings that may arise between members of the community shall be adjusted within the community.
As this system is directly opposed to secrecy and exclusion of any kind, every practical facility shall be given to strangers to enable them to become acquainted with the regulations of the community, and to examine the results which these have produced in practise [sic]; and an unreserved explanation of the views and proceedings of the community shall be communicated to the government of the country.
The constitution may be altered or amended by a vote of three-fourths of all the members of the assembly, but not until the subject has been discussed at four successive public meetings to be held in four successive weeks. (Lockwood, 1905/1971, pp. 105-109)

The new system’s provision that all members be paid equally did not allow tradespeople and professionals, whose skills the community needed, to be paid more than others, which affected recruiting efforts. Heedless of the consequences, the new Society was open to all members of the Preliminary Society who wished to sign the new Constitution. Thus, the New Harmony Community of Equality was born.
According to Robert Dale Owen, the hasty transformation from the Preliminary Society to the Community of Equality was a contributing factor to the experiment’s failure. Services of members were no longer paid in proportion to their value to the community, but equal payment was made to all members based solely on age and not by contribution. This found favor with what Robert Dale Owen called a “. . . heterogeneous collection of radicals, enthusiastic devotees to principle, honest latitudinarians, and lazy theorists . . .” Robert Dale later regretted letting this event transpire; he wrote, “I had too much of my father’s all-believing disposition to anticipate results which any shrewd, cool-headed business man might have predicted. How rapidly they came upon us!” (Owen, R. D., 1874/1967, p. 286)
Dissension
All members of the Preliminary Society who signed the new charter within three days could become members of the Community of Equality. Captain McDonald, who had been with Owen from the beginning, and who had advised against forming the Community of Equality, left the town at this time because his views on the change had been unheeded. He wrote to the Gazette that he felt he had not been afforded the “confidence” he had hoped for by the community, and he objected to a written constitution. A group of dissidents who disagreed with the new Community of Equality on religious grounds formed their own community, which they named Macluria (although William Maclure had nothing to do with this community). These English farmers were not happy with what they perceived as Owen’s atheistic views. They kept most of the ideals and structure of the parent community, except they withdrew the right of women to vote in the assembly.
About the middle of February, 1826, Superintendents were elected to oversee the various elements of the Harmonists’ activities in the Community of Equality; these included agriculture; manufactures and mechanics; literature, science and education; general economy; and commerce. The voices of dissension grew louder. Many people were unhappy with how the elected council was running community affairs, and Robert Owen was asked to take stewardship of the community while leaving the new Constitution in force. In early March, another offshoot community formed. It took its name, Feiba Peveli, from a system invented by resident social reformer Stedman Whitwell, who developed a grid based on latitude, longitude and the alphabet. Every town was to have a totally unique name based on its actual map location. New York would be Otke Notive, while Washington would be Feili Neivul, and London would be Lafa Vovutu. Feiba Peveli was based on the parent community in philosophy while its plan of government was based more closely on that of Macluria. The governmental power of the community rested in its male members over the age of 21. The official comment was that this was what was expected to happen. The community’s official organ, the Gazette wrote, “The formation of communities is now pretty generally understood among us, and is entered upon like a matter of ordinary business. The same thing will probably occur throughout the country” (New Harmony Gazette, 1826, Vol. 1, p. 207). These communities were given property and the right to purchase said property under the following conditions:
That they should always remain communities of equality and cooperation in rights and property, and should not be divided into individual shares or separate interests
That any surplus property their industry might acquire must not be divided but used to found similar communities. And, that there should be no whiskey, or other distilled liquors made in the communities. (Lockwood, 1905/1971)
In April 1826, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar visited New Harmony. The clergy had continued to assault the social system from every pulpit, and the Duke was curious about the increasing unpopularity of Owen’s ideas in the eastern United States. He spent enough time there to realize that Owen’s perceptions differed considerably from the perceptions of the rank and file. Convinced that all was proceeding according to plan, Owen expected his experiment would reform the whole world. In contrast, almost every community member with whom the Duke talked felt he had been deceived in his expectations. The Duke also found that, contrary to the egalitarian rhetoric, social classes were not mingling but were remaining distinct. Those who considered themselves well-born, especially among the ladies, resented the common labor they were required to do. He also observed that the better educated men fraternized together but did not mingle with the others (His Highness Bernhard Duke of Weimar, 1828).
The more vocal critics came from the working classes, while the upper classes enjoyed the novelty of association with others free from the conventions of society. Robert Dale Owen wrote of his experiences,
There is a great charm in the good-fellowship and in the absence of conventionism which characterize such association. Then there was something especially taking – to me at least – in the absolute freedom from trammels, alike in expression of opinion, in dress, and in social concerns, which I found there. The evening gatherings, too, delighted me; the weekly meetings for discussion of our principles, in which I took part at once. (Owen, R. D., 1874, p.276)
For the young men of gentry, the informal access to the ladies of the community had its appeal. Robert Dale commented,
On the whole, my life in Harmony, for many months, was happy and satisfying. To this the free and simple relation there existing between youth and maiden much contributed. We called each other by our Christian names only, spoke and acted as brothers and sisters might; often strolled out by moonlight in groups, sometimes in single pairs; yet, withal, no scandal or other harm came from it . . . I met almost daily, handsome, interesting warm-hearted girls; bright, merry, and unsophisticated; charming partners at ball or picnic. (p. 276)
Mental Independence
In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, Robert Owen continued to view the community in the rosiest perspective. On July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Owen delivered what he called the Declaration of Mental Independence. He stated that man had been the slave to a trinity of evils: individual property, irrational systems of religion, and marriage founded on individual property. He followed with a reiteration of the principles set forth in his treatise, the New Moral World. According to Mr. Owen, making this declaration, which represented the culmination of his philosophy, was the most important event in his life. From that point on, the New Harmony Gazette was dated in the “first” and “second” years of “mental independence” (Lockwood, 1905/1971, p.147).
Sunday meetings were set aside for instruction in the new principles, and these meetings were often followed by spirited debate among the members. As members became disenchanted, other splinter groups continued to form. On July 30, 1826, the New Harmony Agricultural and Pastoral Society adopted a constitution modeled after that of previous splinter communities. This community was limited to 30 families who had to be practicing farmers to join. In spite of Owen’s continued optimism and willingness to work with any and all groups who would form under his principles, the New Harmony community slid further into discord. After losing 120 members to Macluria, and another 60 or 70 to Feiba Peveli, along with the families who had formed the Pastoral Society, the Community of Equality had only about 800 members left. “The fact that the administration organ [The Gazette] gave few particulars of the progress of the communities during the summer of 1826 is evidence that there was little to report that was favorable to the prospects of the New Harmony Experiment” (Lockwood, p.147). Squabbles broke out between the different societies, and the communities spent much time and energy wrangling with each other over boundaries and crop ownerships. Jealousy broke out among those who considered some of the societies to be aristocratic, by virtue of their membership. “We only know that numerous experiments were tried to better the condition of the communities, and that all ultimately failed. The summer was full of projects, auspiciously begun and disastrously ended” (Lockwood, p.147).
By August, Owen was exhorting members and their children to meet three evenings a week for further lessons in the Principles. William Maclure suggested in May that New Harmony be divided “into separate autonomous units according to the occupation of its members” (Wilson, 1964, p.177). Owen agreed, and the society voted itself into three separate groups, the Mechanic and Manufacture Society, the Agricultural and Pastoral Society, and the Education Society. A lease was drawn that granted to William Maclure about 900 acres of land for the Education Society, including the Hall of New Harmony, the steeple house, Community House No. 2, the Granary, and the Rapp mansion. While Maclure had been the driving force in the educational movement in New Harmony, differences were beginning to emerge between his vision and Owen’s.
Maclure vs. Owen
Owen believed he and Maclure were partners, a position Maclure did not share. Maclure believed himself to be obligated only to the society’s lease and an additional $10,000. During travels away from New Harmony for his health, Maclure wrote letters to Madame Fretageot that indicated he was losing confidence in the Owen enterprise: “My experience at New Harmony has given me such horror for the reformation of grown persons that I shudder when I reflect having so many of my friends near such a desperate undertaking” (Bestor, 1948/1973, p.377).
When Maclure returned to New Harmony in April 1827, Frederick Rapp was there to collect a $20,000 installment due on the property and to request the entire remaining balance of an additional $20,000, even though it was not due for another year. Owen agreed, and he asked Maclure to pay his partnership share of $128,000, telling him that the balance of his [Maclure’s] share of the indebtedness amounted to an additional $90,000. Maclure vehemently disputed this claim, but in the end, he agreed to pay Rapp the $40,000 in return for the bonds Rapp held against Owen, which made Maclure Owen’s creditor. Maclure posted signs around the area declaring he was not responsible for Owen’s debts, and he filed suit in the circuit court to collect the money he had paid to Rapp. Caught by surprise, Owen posted his own notices declaring the partnership to be in full force, and then he, too, filed suit in the amount of $90,000. Arbitration led to a compromise wherein Maclure paid Owen $5,000, and Owen gave Maclure an unrestricted deed to the 490 acres operated by the Education Society for an additional $44,000.
Owen had said he would sell land to anyone willing to live by his principles, and more of the property began to fall into private hands as he sold parcels of land to those who promised to continue the experiment. According to Paul Brown (1827/1972), the resident dissident who exposed the shortcomings of Owen and his views in his pamphlet, “Twelve Months in New Harmony,” the community was in a state of disarray with fences torn down, animals roaming loose and tempers flaring everywhere, including a fist fight among the women. Owen was swindled by William Taylor who pretended to be a disciple in order to obtain 1500 acres “with all thereon.” The night before the contract went into effect, Taylor moved all the livestock and equipment he could find onto the property. He then set up a distillery against Mr. Owen’s wishes and a tannery to directly compete with the one in New Harmony (Brown, 1827/1972).
On February 1, which Paul Brown called “Doomsday,” a vote of the assembly expelled many members of the Community of Equality. Some of the remaining dissidents planned to hold a mock funeral to lay to rest the failed social system, but their plans were thwarted by unknown persons who broke in and destroyed the coffin, which was to have been used for the event. On March 28, 1827, a Gazette editorial written by Robert Dale and William Owen acknowledged the defeat of the experiment, while still affirming the principles of the general plan: “Our opinion is that Robert Owen ascribed too little influence to the early anti-social circumstances that surrounded many of the quickly collected inhabitants. . . . New Harmony, therefore is not now a community” (Owen, R. D., 1874/1967, p. 289). Writing in his autobiography, Robert Dale Owen closed the chapter on New Harmony:
Thenceforth, of course, the inhabitants had to either support themselves or leave town. But my father offered land on the Harmony estate to those who desired to try smaller community experiments, on an agricultural basis. Several were formed, some by honest, industrious workers, to whom land was leased at very low rates; while other leases were obtained by unprincipled speculators who cared not a whit for co-operative principles, but sought private gain by the operation. All finally failed as social experiments. (Owen R. D., 1874/1967, p. 289)
Conclusion
This brief history of the Owenite experiment provided an overview of the diverse forces and influences that drove events in the short-lived community of New Harmony. The next chapter contains a narrative history of the community’s newspaper, the New Harmony Gazette.