Background Information
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a utopia is defined as an ideal or perfect place. The word first appeared in a book written by Sir Thomas More in the 1500s. Sir More came up with the word “utopia” by combining the Greek words meaning “no place.” The word suggests that, though no ideal community exists, people can create one by working together.
Throughout history there have been attempts by individuals to create their own utopian societies. During the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries many European and American idealists worked to create examples of the perfect society in which everyone would benefit and there would be no conflict. Most of these experiments were set up in America where it was believed they would be relatively free from persecution. That hope sometimes proved to be unfounded, but many communities did experience a level of success and survived for many years. Most of these communities were either religious or political in nature. Others were started after the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain by individuals who wanted to escape the problems brought on by industrialization. These problems included children working under miserable conditions, poor housing, unsanitary conditions, and the outbreak of diseases. One unexpected problem was that the new machinery used to make goods resulted in a large number of craft workers losing their jobs. This led to social unrest as many unemployed workers turned their anger towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories and machinery. These attackers became known as Luddites, supposedly followers of Ned Ludd, a folklore figure. The first attacks of the Luddite movement began in 1811. The Luddites rapidly gained popularity, and the British government had to take drastic measures to protect industry.
American politicians and businessmen looked at Great Britain’s production of machined goods with envy and dreamed of the profits that industrialization could bring them in the manufacturing of textiles and cloth. However, after seeing the social problems that developed in Great Britain from its industrialization, American politicians were not anxious to see their country become an industrialized nation. Eventually, these fears would subside as Americans realized in order for the United States to be truly independent and to expand, they could not rely completely on the manufactured goods of other countries. Even Thomas Jefferson, who at one time opposed large-scale manufacturing in America and wanted our country to become a nation of farmers, realized that “we must now place the manufacture by the side of the agriculturalist.” Domestic manufacture answered the question, “whether we shall make our own comforts, or go without them at the will of a foreign nation consistent with our peace, and the preservation of our rights as an independent nation.” 1
Although there was some industrialization going on in the United States it was not to the extent that existed in Great Britain. Our country’s first treasurer, Alexander Hamilton, in his Report on Manufactures reasoned that to secure American independence, the United States needed to have a sound policy of encouraging the growth of manufacturing and secure its future as a permanent feature of the economic system of the nation. Francis Cabot Lowell and the Boston Associates, hoped to create the model manufacturing plan that would help secure the economic and social future of our country.
1Tucker, George. The Life of Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States, With parts of his correspondence never before published, and notices of his opinions on questions of civil government, national policy, and constitutional law. Volume 2. Google eBook. London: Charles Knight and Company. 1837. Web. 27 May 2012. p. 404.
Throughout history there have been attempts by individuals to create their own utopian societies. During the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries many European and American idealists worked to create examples of the perfect society in which everyone would benefit and there would be no conflict. Most of these experiments were set up in America where it was believed they would be relatively free from persecution. That hope sometimes proved to be unfounded, but many communities did experience a level of success and survived for many years. Most of these communities were either religious or political in nature. Others were started after the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain by individuals who wanted to escape the problems brought on by industrialization. These problems included children working under miserable conditions, poor housing, unsanitary conditions, and the outbreak of diseases. One unexpected problem was that the new machinery used to make goods resulted in a large number of craft workers losing their jobs. This led to social unrest as many unemployed workers turned their anger towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories and machinery. These attackers became known as Luddites, supposedly followers of Ned Ludd, a folklore figure. The first attacks of the Luddite movement began in 1811. The Luddites rapidly gained popularity, and the British government had to take drastic measures to protect industry.
American politicians and businessmen looked at Great Britain’s production of machined goods with envy and dreamed of the profits that industrialization could bring them in the manufacturing of textiles and cloth. However, after seeing the social problems that developed in Great Britain from its industrialization, American politicians were not anxious to see their country become an industrialized nation. Eventually, these fears would subside as Americans realized in order for the United States to be truly independent and to expand, they could not rely completely on the manufactured goods of other countries. Even Thomas Jefferson, who at one time opposed large-scale manufacturing in America and wanted our country to become a nation of farmers, realized that “we must now place the manufacture by the side of the agriculturalist.” Domestic manufacture answered the question, “whether we shall make our own comforts, or go without them at the will of a foreign nation consistent with our peace, and the preservation of our rights as an independent nation.” 1
Although there was some industrialization going on in the United States it was not to the extent that existed in Great Britain. Our country’s first treasurer, Alexander Hamilton, in his Report on Manufactures reasoned that to secure American independence, the United States needed to have a sound policy of encouraging the growth of manufacturing and secure its future as a permanent feature of the economic system of the nation. Francis Cabot Lowell and the Boston Associates, hoped to create the model manufacturing plan that would help secure the economic and social future of our country.
1Tucker, George. The Life of Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States, With parts of his correspondence never before published, and notices of his opinions on questions of civil government, national policy, and constitutional law. Volume 2. Google eBook. London: Charles Knight and Company. 1837. Web. 27 May 2012. p. 404.