Communitarians in the United States during the 1840s had a vested interest in understanding other groups’ projects. Although few groups were directly competing for members, they were competing in the market place of ideas. Through their publications, they tried to persuade the outside world of the rightness of their ideas and systems. In order to make their case stronger, they looked closely at other groups. Not only did they read others’ publications and newspapers, but they also went visiting and recorded their thoughts about the people they met in these communities.
This paper will explore the interconnectedness between three communitarian projects: the Oneida Community, the Hopedale Community and Bronson Alcott’s Con-Sociate Family at Fruitlands. Members from all three communities traveled to other communities and often recorded their thoughts about their experiences with different ways of communal living and the ideas that provided the foundations for these communities.
Although highly individual and idiosyncratic, communitarian societies successfully exploited the communication networks available to them. Their ideas were by no means formed in vacuums with no outside influence. Indeed, in some cases, their use of these networks allowed them to attract more attention than they might ordinarily have received. In the reform-oriented society in which they operated, communitarians used their networks in order to maintain interest and enthusiasm for the larger goal of creating morally impressive communities. Their contacts with one another also helped them to differentiate their project and encouraged members to continue to embrace the groups’ goals. Thus, communitarian networks demonstrated the importance of communication between like-minded individuals and the conversations they established helped them to better articulate their own goals as well as their larger goals for the nation and their roles therein.
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