North American Phalanx
Encyclopedia
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The NAP was based on the ideas of Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
, and lasted from 1843 to 1855-1856.
Fourier and founding the community
Fourier was a FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
philosopher who believed people would be better off living in communal societies rather than individual, private living. Fourier developed the idea of the phalanstère
Phalanstère
A phalanstère was a type of building designed for an utopian community and developed in the early 19th century by Charles Fourier. Based on the idea of a phalanx, this self-contained community ideally consisted of 1500-1600 people working together for mutual benefit...
, a community of 1,620 based in a single structure. In the phalanstère, there would be private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
, but many activities including eating and cooking would be communal. Fourier had many American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
followers, including Albert Brisbane
Albert Brisbane
Albert Brisbane was an American utopian socialist, the chief popularizer of the theories of Charles Fourier in the United States in several books, notably Social Destiny of Man , and in his Fourierist journal The Phalanx...
who did a great deal to popularize Fourierism in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Charles Sears, a follower of Brisbane, decided to make Fourier's ideas a reality. He and Nathan Starks founded a Fourierist group in Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Sears would take on several leadership roles in the course of the NAP's history. Several people including Brisbane, Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
, and Park Goodwin helped create a commission to found the community. For $14,000, the commission purchased 673 acres (2.7 km²) in Monmouth from Hendrick Longstreet and Daniel Holmes on January 1, 1844. Settlement began over 6 months with men starting the community and women and children joining in the Spring of 1845.
Site
The original site consisted of two farmhouses. In 1847, a three-story addition was built between the two houses to form a single structure. The farmhouses were converted into a kitchen and eating area while the addition was used for living quarters and social areas.The community also included "a stream mill, stables, cow and wagon sheds, forges, carpenter shops, a packing house, a school, a day nursery for working mothers, guest cottages, landscaped gardens and paths, and an artificial pond for bathing, boating and ice harvesting in the winter."http://www.monmouthhistory.org/Sections-read-20.html
Associates
Members of the community were referred to as associates. For most of the NAP's history it had a population of 120-150. Living standards in the NAP were better than average for the country and area at that time. Members were mostly from the Northeast and lower or middle class. People were offered admission based on their skills. Prospective members lived in the community for 30 days before being offered one-year provisional memberships, after which they became full members upon approval of the community. The entire community voted on membership status throughout the process.Administration
The NAP had a constitution, written in 1843, which provided for administration through a council. Originally, only stockholders voted in elections for the council, but all members were given a vote in an 1848 amendment. The council was composed of a president, vice-president, a treasurer, and twelve directors. Directors served for two years, with staggered terms so that half were elected each year. The rest of the council served one-year terms.Economy
The NAP had a steady, but slowly declining economy. The NAP divided into six groups: agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, domestic matters, social plans, and education.Wages were below minimum wage compared to American standards, but so was the cost of living, being around $2 per week.
Dissolution
The community faced a split in 1853 over the women's rightsWomen's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
and abolitionist movements and a controversial plan to add a religious affiliation to the community. Many members left over this dispute.
A fire swept through on September 10, 1854. The fire destroyed mills and several workshops. The community’s insurance company went bankrupt, and the NAP could not deal with the $10,000 in damages. The community voted to sell its estate in June 1855. Operations ceased in early 1856 and the NAP was legally dissolved on January 1, 1857.
The Phalanx building stood until November 1972 when it was destroyed in another fire.
At present, two structures from the original Phalanx property survive. Both are private homes. One of them, constructed circa 1851, was the cottage of Marcus Spring, a Brooklyn, New York merchant and supporter of the Phalanx. Mr. Spring and his family used the cottage as their Summer home. Although Mr. Spring was not a resident member of the Phalanx, he was one of its largest shareholders. Mr. Spring and his New York colleagues invested over $50,000 in the Phalanx.
Archive
The Monmouth County Historical AssociationMonmouth County Historical Association
The Monmouth County Historical Association was established in 1898 by a group of county residents headed by professional educator Caroline Gallup Reed. They soon incorporated in order “to discover, procure, preserve and perpetuate whatever relates to the history of Monmouth County.” In 1931, the...
at 70 Court Street in Freehold Borough, New Jersey
Freehold Borough, New Jersey
Freehold is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,052. It is the county seat of Monmouth County....
houses a collection of corporate records which include legal and financial documents, miscellaneous manuscripts, genealogical material, bills of fare, printed material, photographs and illustrations, maps, drawings, and blueprints. It is a subject collection acquired through various donors. The bulk of material dates from 1853 to 1879.