List of Fourierist Associations in the United States


This is a list of Fourierist Associations in the United States which emerged during a short-lived popular boom during the first half of the 1840s. Between 1843 and 1845 more than 30 such "associations" – known to their adherents as "phalanxes" – were established in the United States, all of which met with economic failure and rapid disestablishment within one or a comparatively few years.
The Fourierist movement of the 1840s was one of the four primary branches of secular utopian socialism in the United States during the 19th century, succeeding Owenism while antedating Icarianism and Bellamyism.

Background

The communitarian ideas of Charles Fourier were popularized in the United States in an 1840 book by the American Albert Brisbane as well as through a column by Brisbane in the pages of Horace Greeley's New York Tribune in 1842 and 1843.
The Fourierist movement followed an earlier attempt to remake society through exemplary socialist communities attempted on American soil by Robert Owen from 1825 until 1827. John Humphrey Noyes, a historian of these movements in addition to being a communal leader in his own right, noted the difference in the following way:
The main idea on which Owen and Fourier worked was the same. Both proposed to reconstruct society by gathering large numbers into unitary dwellings. Owen had as clear sense of the compound economies of Association as Fourier had, and discoursed as eloquently, if not as scientifically on the beauties and blessings of combined industry.... The difference in their methods is this: Owen's plan was based on Communism ; Fourier's plan was based on the ''Joint-stock principle.

List

NameLocationLaunchedTerminatedComments
Adelphia PhalanxMichigan18441847
Bloomfield AssociationNew York18441846
Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and EducationWest Roxbury, MA18411847Unitarian Transcendentalist until 1844, Fourierist thereafter.
Bureau County PhalanxBureau County, IL18431843
Clarkson Industrial AssociationNew York18441844
Clermont PhalanxOhio18441846Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention."
Columbia PhalanxOhio18441845?
Goose Pond CommunityPennsylvania18441844
Hopedale CommunityMassachusetts1843???Mentioned in Frederic Heath, Social Democracy Red Book , pg. 15.
Integral PhalanxSangamon, IL18451846Also known as "Sangamon Phalanx." Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention."
Jefferson County Industrial AssociationWatertown, NY18431844
LaGrange PhalanxIndiana18441846
Leroyville PhalanxIndiana18441844
McKean County AssociationMcKean County, PA1843???
Marlboro AssociationOhio18411845
Moorehouse UnionHamilton County, NY18431844Straddled and crossed county line with Herkimer County.
North American PhalanxColts Neck, NJ18431856Last surviving Fourierist Association from the 1840s boom.
Northampton AssociationMassachusetts18421846
Ohio PhalanxOhio18441845Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention."
One-Mention CommunityPennsylvania18431844
Ontario PhalanxMonroe County, NY1844???
Prairie Home CommunityLogan County, OH1843???Also known as "Grand Prairie Community."
Raritan Bay UnionPerth Amboy, NJ18531860
SilkvilleWilliamsburg, KS18691892Sericulture farm in Kansas that was founded on Fourierian principles. Later shifted away from Fourierism before its collapse.
Social Reform UnityPennsylvania18421843
Sodus Bay PhalanxNew York18441844
South Bay PhalanxNew York18441846
Spring Farm AssociationWisconsin18461848
Sylvania AssociationPike County, PA18431845Horace Greeley was Treasurer of this phalanx.
Trumball PhalanxOhio18441847Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention."
Utilitarian AssociationWisconsin18441844
Western New York Industrial AssociationNew York1844???
Wisconsin PhalanxCeresco, WI 18441850One of the longest-lived phalanxes of the 1840s boom.
Zanesville PhalanxLogan County, OH1843???Also known as "Upper Domain" or "Highland Home." Small offshoot of Prairie Home Community, visited by MacDonald in August 1843.

Footnotes