Hancock Shaker Village (Berkshire County, Massachusetts) Their agrarian work was eventually redirected to handcrafts, particularly furniture.Įxamples of Shaker communities can be found at:Įnfield Shakers Historic District (Enfield, Connecticut) By the Civil War there were 6,000 shakers who maintained their economic autonomy while also making items for outside commercial distribution. A significant portion of Shakerism was founded in England by (Mother) Ann Lee in 1758, and was imported to America by Lee and several followers in 1774. They were also associated with feminist and abolitionist reform movements in the 19th century. Shaker societies were characterized by communal living, productive labor, celibacy, pacifism, and gender equality. Several of these societies are explored below. Upon arrival in America, many hoped to form Utopian societies - self-contained, agrarian, and communal in nature. The First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion attracted European groups who were persecuted in their own countries. America became a location where people could start over, creating a "New Eden" across the Atlantic. Europe, in contrast, was emerging from a long history of religious wars. Land was plentiful and inexpensive and unhampered by government regulations. The early 19th century brought a great expansion of communitarian experiments within the U.S. To avoid persecution several of these groups immigrated to America, where the idea of communal living developed and expanded. In the wars and general disorder following the Reformation, some new Protestant sects practiced communal ownership of property. Amana Inspirationists saw labor as productive and good, part of God's plan of contributing to the community. The Shakers, for example, believed in productive labor as a religious calling. Ideals about work, such as these, were stressed in the various American religious utopian societies. Outwardly a person's life and deeds, including hard work, could include them as one of the Elect. John Calvin believed that a person could not know for certain if they were among God's Elect or the damned. Martin Luther stressed that all work was of equal spiritual dignity. The Protestant Reformation changed western European societal attitudes about the nature of religion and work. During the Middle Ages this communal organization spread to outside of monastic contexts and into several lay religious groups. Based on the organization of early Christian communities, communal living developed and grew largely within monastic communities. The 19th-century utopian sects can trace their roots back to the Protestant Reformation.
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This book popularized the modern definition of "Utopia" as being any place or situation of ideal perfection. Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1516, describing a perfect political and social system on an imaginary island. In Republic, Plato described the ideal Greek city-state as requiring communal living among the ruling class, perhaps based on the model of Sparta. Utopia translates from Greek words ou and topos to mean “not a place.”
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Western ideas of utopias are linked to the desire to recreate paradises lost to history, such as Eden in the Old Testament.
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It includes examples of nineteenth century utopian societies and, occasionally, what led to their demise. The former stressed (in the western tradition) a community life inspired by religion, while the latter expressed the idealism of utilitarianism as a means to create happiness, with a belief in the cooperative way of life.Įxplored within this essay is the origin and development of the Utopian idea within in the United States. " They are composed of either religious or secular members. Hine in California's Utopian Colonies, includes “a group of people who are attempting to establish a new social pattern based upon a vision of the ideal society and who have withdrawn themselves from the community at large to embody that vision in experimental form. Photo by Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism (Flickr)Ī utopian society, as defined by Robert V. Hancock Shaker Village, in Berkshire County Massachusetts, is one example of a Utopian community that was founded in the United States