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The middle of the late 1840's saw the collapse of the most numerous and the most ambitious of all the attempts of a non-political nature made toward producing socio-economic reform in American history. The intellectual revolt against social convention and the economic status quo, spearheaded by a restless intelligentsia, expressed itself during this time in practical adventures in the socialism of Charles Fourier 1 and his brilliant associate Victor Considerant 2. The successors to the Owenites of the two previous decades, Fourierite colonies experienced a similar rise, popularity and eclipse, 3 surpassing their predecessors both in the meteoric nature of their rise and the abruptness of their decline.
Josiah Warren, a keen student of Fourierism, found it objectionable on a number of counts. Joint stock capitalization, community of property arrangements, reliance on altruism as the source of motivation for the performance of the distasteful tasks of the group, these and the dilution of responsibility, on which he placed much blame for the reduction of the New Harmony Community of Equality, were his principle indictments of the socialist phalansteries. Convinced that this furious activity was a mistake, Warren determined to wait out its complete dissipation in New Harmony, 4 but other factors intervened. Attempts to obtain land for a new village had been made in the vicinity of Cincinnati during the early part of 1847, without definite results. 5 Other independent actions being equally indecisive, the opportunity came once more from the termination of a rival enterprise, as the Tuscarawas community had grown from the remnants of Spring Hill previously.
In November of the previous year Clermont Phalanx, one of the largest and most promising of the Fourierite settlements which had been located about thirty miles up the Ohio from Cincinnati, suddenly collapsed. As often happened in other similar cases, the land and property of the group fell into the hands of the principal stockholders. Most of the members of phalanx returned to Cincinnati, where the whole project had been born, but a sufficient number of enthusiasts remained to preserve hope in the eventual success of some type of community life. Much of the land was bought by a communal group led by three veterans in settlements of this nature, John O. Wattles, John P. Cornell and Hiram S . Gilmore, who began the construction along Owenite lines. A community building, partially inspired by the several similar structures of six families, was built on the site of the former location, but the attempt did not prosper 6. A small number of earlier groups also persevered, living on a piece of communally- held land, where they were visited by Warren in June, 1847 while occupied in discussions as to future action. If he had acquired a measure of recognition as an inventor, the individualist was even better known among community people, no less among those who expressed distaste for his theories. The Fourierites spoke of him as "a man of no ordinary talents," and the success of his practical experimentation had given him the reputation of being a man of action as well as a theoretician.
Warren was successful in prevailing upon the ex-phalansterians to take up the cost-price individualist variety of decentralization. Shortly thereafter the second essay in anarchist community life, variously known as "Utopia" and "Trialville," was begun on a tract of land on the bank of the Ohio River about a mile from the site of the Clermont Phalanx. The labor exchange ideal prevailed from the beginning. The owner of the land, and ex-member of the previous group named Jernegan, was introduced to set aside a portion for a townsite. Streets and alleys were surveyed and laid out, while 80 quarter acre lots for home building constituted the initial physical extent of the projected new community. These lots were placed on sale to prospective settlers at a fixed price of fifteen dollars, which included the cost of the surveying. A contract for the continuation of this price policy until all lots were sold, and lasting for at least three years in event of any circumstance, was signed at this time. Purchasers were restricted by agreement to not more than two lots. Renewals of the price agreement were made periodically, Warren reporting after a visit to the village nine years after its commencement that lots were still being sold to new settlers at "prime cost." 8 Admissions to the colony after the first gathering were made upon invitation by one of these first residents, in accordance with Warren's declaration that the most precious element of personal liberty was "the liberty to choose our associates at all times." It was hoped that in this manner the intrusion of "disturbers" would be checked, and that persons impelled to " to inculcate any paticular beliefs or Isms of any kind against the voluntary inclination of others would... find themselves... disagreeably situated."9 Warren made a distinction between trouble makers and holders of divergent opinions, since conformity was neither expected nor desired; "differences ... are a valuable part of our harmony." This attempt to filter of other ideas than equitable commerce, relatively successful at "Utopia," was to break down completely at "Modern Times" ten years later. There the efforts of varied reform protagonists all but scuttled the economic experiments.
Four families became the original core of the new town, and were able, by exchanging labor, to build satisfactory homes "before Christmas." An associate of Warrens, Daniel Prescott, began the construction of a brick kiln and yard, while some building stone was cut in the vicinity and lumber cut and carried to the building site. The small knot of disillusioned and nearly impoverished Fourierites who composed the group found themselves in far better economic position upon taking stock late the following spring. Nearly two dozen families occupied the site, most of whom were already living in their own houses. Warren noted that no one had moved away since the beginning. Prescott had taken the initiative in constructing a saw and grist mill, while Warren developed a "printing office" in a portion of the former's large brick house and began printing the Peaceful Revolutionist once more. 10
The first issue of the paper contained detailed accounts of the cost in money and labor which attended the first ten months of construction, and letters from enthusiastic settlers describing their satisfaction with affairs up to that time. Wrote E. G. Cubberley: 11
"I was in the Clermont Phalanx nearly three years, and paid in two hundred and seven dollars; and worked hard all the time, with not the best of eatables either; and at the end of the time I found
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