The Utopian Alternative: Fourierism In Nineteenth-Century America 080148197X, 9780801481970

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The Utopian Alternative

The Utopian Alternative FOURIERISM IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA

Carl J. Guarneri

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

This book has been supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency.

Copyright© 1991 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1991 by Cornell University Press. First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1994. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Guarneri, Carl, 1950The utopian alternative : Fourierism in nineteenth-century America I by Cari.J. Guarneri. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o-8014-2467-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN o-8014-8197-x (paper: alk. paper) 1. Utopian socialism-United States-History-19th century. 2. Collective settlements-United States-History-19th century. 3· Fourier, Charles, 1772-1837-Intluence-History-19th century. I. Title. HX654.G82 1991 335'·23'097309034-dc2o 90-56085 @) The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39·48-1984.

To my father and the memory of my mother

Contents

Illustrations Preface Introduction

lX Xl

I ORIGINS OF AMERICAN FouRIERISM 1.

Fourierism Crosses the Atlantic

15

2. Apostles of Association

35

3· Roots of Popular Participation

6o

II

THE DocTRINE OF AssociATION

4· Association and American Society

5· The Utopian Alternative III

93 121

BUILDING THE NEW INDUSTRIAL WORLD

6. TQ.e Communitarian Boom and Bust

1 53

7· Life in the Phalanxes

178

vii

Vlll

CONTENTS

8. Organizing a National Movement

227

9· The Problem of Slavery

252

10. The Movement Retreats

268

11. Campaigns with Labor

292

12. The Last Communities

321

IV

THE DECLINE AND EvoLUTION OF UTOPIA

13. The Fading of the Utopian Dream

335

14. New Directions of the 18 50s

348

15. Fourierism and the Coming of the Civil War

368

16. The Fourierist Legacy

384

Appendix: Tables, Figures, Maps Abbreviations and Short Forms Used in Notes Notes Bibliography Index

407 4 19 421 5°5 5 17

Illustrations

1. 2. 3· 4· 5· 6.

7·

8. g. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Charles Fourier Albert Brisbane General view of a phalanstery Parke Godwin Editorial staff of the New York Tribune William Henry Channing Brook Farm Shareholding certificate, North American Phalanx Plan and central buildings of the North American Phalanx View of the Clermont Phalanx Yankee Doodle comments on Fourierism Two Fourierist women: Marianne Dwight and Marie Howland Eagleswood House and Spring residence, Raritan Bay Union Victor Considerant View of Silkville

IX

219 219 220 220 221 221 222 222 223 224 224 225 225 226 226

Preface

This book describes a "road not taken" in our past. What used to be called the Middle Period of American history, roughly from 1820 to t88o, was an era of profound social and economic changes-changes that became intertwined with the calamity of the Civil War but began independently and continued after the fighting stopped. As the nation expanded, sprouted factories and cities, and sorted into antagonistic social classes, the extent to which free-labor capitalism would be the organizing principle of its development became the subject of widespread public discussion. In an atmosphere of anxious expectation, several political and reform world views informed by sectional, class, and ethnic differences competed to shape the emerging society and define America's destiny. The communitarian movement, which for a long time has been viewed as an entertaining sideshow to this main event, was in the thick of the contest for the nation's future. In its most popular guise, the Fourierist or Associationist crusade, utopian socialism enlisted thousands of supporters, spurred the creation of dozens of cooperative experiments, and made surprising inroads into northern public opinion-all in the hope of leading America's competitive society peacefully to a communal alternative. The utopians failed badly in this, their highest ambition; but their initial appeal, their spectacular collapse, and their enduring influence provide a unique window on the great nineteenthcentury transformation of America: its nearly irresistible momentum, its missed opportunities, its legacy of dissent as welLas accommodation. That is the largest meaning of the detailed narrative that follows. With the luxury of hindsight, I can see that studying communitarianism represented a natural convergence of my early interests in radicalism, comparative history, and the history of ideas. As a student activist during the Vietnam War years, I resolved to look for guidance to the history of Xl

Xll

PREFACE

European socialism-a focus stimulated by the sense of social engagement and intellectual excitement in the classes of Robert Rosen at the University of Pennsylvania. Jack Reese, another Penn professor, challenged me to take on the more problematic field of the United States. Moving away from the traditional question of why there is no socialism in America, I began to ask what kind of radical traditions Americans did have. I was struck by the American penchant for cooperative and communal experiments, a tradition that extended from the Shakers to the communes of the tg6os. Fourierism, the most popular and dynamic secular communitarianism of the nineteenth century, was an important but neglected subject. There was an additional payoff: the study of an imported communitarian creed with a substantial indigenous following seemed an ideal opportunity to examine the meeting ground of American and European movements for social change. As I pursued the subject over the years, my initial approach gained a complexity and balance that better represents historical truth yet I hope has retained its underlying sense of engagement. Intellectual history absorbed the techniques of social history to trace and analyze the communitarian movement; comparative history became a nuanced study of similarities and differences rather than a blanket assertion or condemnation of American "exceptionalism"; and the search for a usable past yielded as many discontinuities as links with the present. A book so big and so long in gestation represents an enormous number of debts. It is a pleasure finally to acknowledge them, just as it is fitting that a communitarian scholar recall that research and writing are cooperative enterprises. My greatest intellectual debt is to John Higham, under whose direction at Johns Hopkins University my investigation took shape. From the outset Professor Higham's insights, his confidence in me and my subject, his advice in professional matters, and his friendship have been indispensable. His own works are models of judicious interpretation and elegant prose-models that I despair of emulating. Ronald Walters gave an early version of the manuscript an exceptionally close and helpful reading and has maintained a friendly interest in the emerging book. I am also grateful to Gerald Linderman of the University of Michigan, William Freehling of Johns Hopkins, and Rush Welter of Bennington College for their advice and encouragement during the initial stages of research. Graduate fellowships from Michigan and Johns Hopkins sustained the early work; and an academic year at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard, financed by the Warren Center and the American Council of Learned Societies, enabled me to complete much of the research that led from the history of ideas to the chronicling of a social movement. A National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend allowed me to write key sections of the book. The Saint Mary's College Faculty Development Fund has covered various conven-

PREFACE

Xlll

tion and photocopying expenses, and an Alumni Faculty Development Award supported my research on Edward Bellamy. Librarians and archivists in the United States and France have been wonderfully generous with their time and resources. Among those to single out are Gary]. Arnold of the Ohio Historical Society, John Hoffman of the Illinois Historical Survey, Pierre Petitmengin of the Bibliotheque de l'Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, and Joan Winterkorn of Cornell University Libraries, all of whom mined collections for me and provided copies of their treasure. Especially helpful in locating materials were staff members at Abernethy Library of Middlebury College, Vermont; Bentley Historical Library and William L. Clements Library, U niversity of Michigan; Columbia University Library; Houghton Library, Harvard University; the Monmouth County (New Jersey) Historical Society; Southern Historical Collections, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and the WarrenTrumbull County (Ohio) Public Library. Interlibrary loan services at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the Library of Congress brought me obscure utopian socialist tracts from around the country. Thanks also go to Brigitte Mazon, archivist of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, who exchanged research tasks with me, combing the Archives Societaires at the French National Archives while I found materials for her at the Houghton Library. It was an episode of transatlantic cooperation the Fourierists would have applauded. To get to various archives and to stay temporarily nearby, I have relied upon many relatives and friends. Robert Carey, Lawrence and Shirsten Danielson, Carol Mooney and George Efta, Theresa and Joseph Gould, Paul and Joann Guarneri, Stewart Jacoby, Michael Mooney, and Stephen Weller were unfailingly gracious in putting me up and putting up with me during these research blitzes. I am especially indebted to my inlaws, George and Alice Weller, for their warm hospitality and cheerful encouragement over the years. Helpful communitarian scholars have shared sources and findings with me. Glenn Conrad provided information on John Wilkins; the late Rondel Davidson allowed me to see his book manuscript on Victor Considerant, now published; Russell Jones sent information on the Considerant manuscripts at the Ecole Normale Superieure; and Edward Spann helped me locate some reclusive Parke Godwin letters. Arthur Bestor, the dean of communitarian scholars, generously deposited his notes, bibliographies, and copies of various documents for public use in the Illinois Historical Survey, University of Illinois. Several friends and colleagues besides those already mentioned read and commented on sections of the manuscript at various stages. My colleagues at Saint Mary's College-Ben Frankel, Ronald Isetti, Katherine Roper, and Paul Zingg-asked probing questions about a draft of my introduction. Professor Roper offered cogent advice on writing and has extended numerous courtesies as friend and as department chairperson.

XlV

PREFACE

At the Charles Warren Center, Daniel Kevles encouraged me to write the ambitious book I had in mind, and Tony Freyer tested my ideas against his formidable knowledge of the nineteenth-century economy. Jonathan Beecher saved me from several factual errors on the French Fourierists. Glenna Matthews served as an expert "reality check" for the sections on women and family in utopia. Tony Fels gave the entire manuscript a careful and characteristically perceptive reading. Lawrence Foster, Stephen Nissenbaum, and Thomas Mallon followed my progress closely and at a crucial time (when an attempt was made to plagiarize my work) lent decisive support. Throughout the project, conversations with my close friends Stewart Jacoby and Andrew Rotter clarified my thoughts and sent me back to work with renewed energy, while baseball with Gerald and Misha Eisman provided welcome escape. At Cornell University Press, editor Peter Agree shepherded the book toward publication with exceptional tact and efficiency, and Patricia Sterling did a meticulous job of copyediting. I benefited greatly from the comments and suggestions of Iver Bernstein and Michael Fellman, who read the initial manuscript submitted to Cornell. Portions of this book have appeared in earlier versions as articles. Parts of Chapter 4 were published as "Importing Fourierism to America," journal of the History of Ideas 43 (October-December 1982): 581-94, and "The Associationists: Forging a Christian Socialism in Antebellum America," Church History 52 (March 1983): 36-49. Chapter 6 includes a revision of "Who Were the Utopian Socialists? Patterns of Membership in American Fourierist Communities," Communal Societies 5 (1985): 6581. A section of Chapter 9 appeared as "Two Utopian Socialist Plans for Emancipation in Antebellum Louisiana," Louisiana History 24 (Winter 1983): 5-24. All are reprinted by permission. I am both dismayed and gratified that this book's writing spanned the decade between the typewriter era and the age of computers. Robin Smith, Patricia Denault, and Eleanor Kitchen typed various chapter drafts. Gerald Eisman helped me transfer text from pages to disks, and Jim Hunter and Joan Halperin generously lent me computer equipment while I was convalescing at home. My profoundest debt is to my immediate family. My daughters, Julia and Anna, don't know what life is like without "daddy's book," but they suspect it will be more relaxed. They have been patient and inquisitive in just the right mixture. My wife, Valerie Weller, does remember life before this book and deserves to return to it. I alone know all the things she has done to make this work possible. When I write, she is in my mind as a model of empathetic understanding and a critic of pedantry; when I am not writing, she takes over my heart as well. CARL

Oakland, California

J. GUARNERI

The Utopian Alternative

A state of mind is utopian when it is incongruous with the state of reality within which it occurs .... [Utopias] tend to shatter, either partially or wholly, the order of things prevailing at the time. -Karl Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia

Subordinate groups could identify with the dominant culture-often for sound reasons-even as they sought to challenge it. And the challenge could be undermined by that identification.

J. Jackson Lears, "The Concept of Cultural Hegemony"

- T.

Introduction

Born in 1772 in Besan