| | * The Oneida Community in Madison County, New York, was an abolitionist movement founded by the minister John Humphreys Noyes. He preached the radical view that perfection was attainable in this life, and his followers became known as "Perfectionists". Unfortunately, he also preached a concept of "complex marriage," whereby men and women married in groups such that every man in the group was married to every woman in the group, and children were raised by everyone. "Bible communism" resulted in no individual property either. A 1879 meeting of ministers in Syracuse, New York, condemned the settlement, and unrest caused Noyes to flee to Canada. | | * The Oneida Community in Madison County, New York, was an abolitionist movement founded by the minister John Humphreys Noyes. He preached the radical view that perfection was attainable in this life, and his followers became known as "Perfectionists". Unfortunately, he also preached a concept of "complex marriage," whereby men and women married in groups such that every man in the group was married to every woman in the group, and children were raised by everyone. "Bible communism" resulted in no individual property either. A 1879 meeting of ministers in Syracuse, New York, condemned the settlement, and unrest caused Noyes to flee to Canada. |
| − | The decline of all the Utopian communities has been attributed to increased industrialization and hostility by a broader public to the concept. Inflammatory newspaper articles played a role as the public became reliant on secular sources for information. Historians concluded that "religious utopian colonies possessed a longer life then their secular counterparts."<ref name="Utopian"> Most of the Utopian communities have remnants that are preserved today and can be visited. | + | The decline of all the Utopian communities has been attributed to increased industrialization and hostility by a broader public to the concept. Inflammatory newspaper articles played a role as the public became reliant on secular sources for information. Historians concluded that "religious utopian colonies possessed a longer life then their secular counterparts."<ref name="Utopian"/> Most of the Utopian communities have remnants that are preserved today and can be visited. |
| | In addition to the Utopian communities, there were key social and religious movements in or around the 1840s: | | In addition to the Utopian communities, there were key social and religious movements in or around the 1840s: |