Question

compare and contrast the various utopian religious communites of the early 1800s. What common features did they share? What common forces might have contributed their emergence?

Answer 1

In the early 1800's several utopian communities spung up in the united states. Some of these communities were by their very highly religious; while others were more philosophical. Some like the Shakers and Fruitlands practiced celibacy, while others such as Brooks fram and New Harmony sought to give settlers more free time to purse intellectual interest unburdened by the demands of money and the need to work outside one's area to sustain one's study.

The common aspects these communitied often shared happened to be the division of the sexes, living in rural or isolated areas and communial ownership of land or childern. Finally most of these communities had a focuse on being self sustaining, as to not depend on the outside woeld they were attempting to escape from. Some of these communities also enfroced strict moral codes and ethical values such prohibiting the consumption of meats and drugs to the obligation of chastity even in marriage.

A vast majority of this utopian communities sprung up in part due to the drastictic changing nature of American society at the time. The early 19th century began to see the expansion of factories and urban life. Some of these communities were an attempt to get a sense of calm and stability in an age of rapid change and uncertainty. Another driving force was also money, many of the members of these communities wished to escape the obligation of having to get a job outside of their interested fields  to survive.

As quickly as they emerged they faded as in fighting and disilusionment became ever prevalent in these communities. Disputes on how to handle money aquired through trading and moral quandries fractured theses communities; some of the highly restrictive moral values were near impossible for the whole of the community to uphold.