History of the Amana Communes
With the new foundland of north America, Europeans saw a chance to apply their
hopes and dreams of a perfect Utopian society. They saw an oppertunity to raise
communities of so called ‘utopian societies’ that they could not create in their already
ruled land of Europe. While there would be Utopian experiments is Europe -like the
Paris commune and the Fourierist Planxes, it would only be in America where the
European divines would apply their Utopian ideals with such effort.
The socialism of these early communities was the kind that Marx, rightly or
wrongly, would brand as ‘utopian,’ suggesting that it was idealistic and impractical.
Rather than seeking to create an ideal government or reform the world, the members of
these communal groups withdrew form the sinful, corrupt world to work their miracles in
microcosm, actually hoping to imitate the elect state of affairs that existed among the
Apostles, who were said to hold all things in common.
The most interesting point of these communal groups to me might be the overall
backing of their desire to create a community. It seems some of the communal groups,
such as the Amana, were only created out of feelings of guilt and hope for redemption.
From Oveds book, two hundred years of American Communes, he describes the Amana
as seeing their community as an island of redemption in a world awash with temptation,
sin and avarice; the Elect could come and perfect themselves, if they were prepared to
heed the Lord’s call to chastity, poverty, simplicity, hard work, purity, and brotherly love.
Although they sought redemption, the main driving force behind the Amana was that they sought religious freedom. Unhappy with their religious rights and flixability in
Germany, the Amanas left ifn 1842, settling near Buffalo, New York. In 1855, the
“community of True Inspiration,” as they were called, moved west, forming their first
village along the Iowa River. The Amana set up their communities with a diligent effort.
Each village practiced their Utopian ideals and worked together as one large community.
Perhaps the most impressive view of the Amana may be their unique contributions
to social reform. Many aided and abetted the abolitionists, women’s rights, and
objections to war. Their history and communal methods were basically unchanged for 89
years. The Amana is definitely one of the longest lasting communal societies in the
world. In a sense you could actually say it was a bit of a success.
The Amana had thier whole social class set up eliminating the need for conflict.
The larger of the two subgroups, Cajun French, is more properly known in today’s society as Louisiana French. Cajuns are an ethic group that is comprised of the Acadian exiles. The Acadians are a group of French speaking people who travelled from Canada to Louisiana in the late eighteenth century. The reason they wore forced to leave Acadia is because of the British Conquest. The language of the Acadians originated from the French of seventeenth century France. Once they arrived and settl...
The Second Great Awaking consisted of new applications of religion that deviated from rationalism, which sparked promotion of democracy and freedom. The message of salvation rather than condemnation was evident in this movement as spoken by Charles G. Finney. He sought to remove sin from reformed churches and organize sinners to unity and freedom (Doc B). This practice showed the crucial democrati...
The small community of Hallowell, Maine was no different than any other community in any part of the new nation – the goals were the same – to survive and prosper. Life in the frontier was hard, and the settlement near the Kennebec Valley was no different than what the pioneers in the west faced. We hear many stories about the forefathers of our country and the roles they played in the early days but we don’t hear much about the accomplishments of the women behind those men and how they contributed to the success of the communities they settled in. Thanks to Martha Ballard and the diary that she kept for 27 years from 1785-1812, we get a glimpse into...
decided to change their forms of government. The idea that life would be better if things
Nous sommes Acadiens. (We are Acadians.) Some outsiders see us as a quaint, virtuous people, spending a great deal of time singing, dancing, praying, and visiting? (Conrad, 1978, p.14). Others see us as independent and unsophisticated. We see ourselves as fun-loving, carefree, happy, proud people who have a great love for our culture. The Acadians were French settlers of eastern Canada who were exiled from their land in the 1750?s. The Acadians are known to have settled in the southern bayou lands of Louisiana around that time. The Acadiana people acquired their nickname, ?Cajuns,? from those people who could not pronounce Acadians correctly. Due to the opinion that Cajuns were ?different?, they lived close together and became isolated from others in Louisiana. They have since developed their own distinct characteristics which make them unique and unlike no others in the bayou state. Family, music, housing, food, marriages, and ?traiteurs? were all a part of the simple but challenging lifestyle of the Cajuns.
“New France was not merely the settlement of a few fur traders; it was also a colony of Christ in the New World, even more a colony of Christ, or of the Church, than of France.” Due to the pious believers that inhabited New France, the country was run in a particular way, separating itself from France. Although falling under the jurisdiction of “New France,” the Acadians governed separately than the rest of the country and were a separate entity within New France. Today, “the Acadians are the French speaking population of the Canadian Maritime provinces,” and these are the Acadians that were not displaced during the expulsions, under British rule. Acadia’s beginnings, with the construction of Port Royal, could have marked the colony for success, but instead, led to a troubling conclusion for the European descendents. Through failed leadership, two major expulsions, and a takeover of the Acadian peoples’ French culture, the once-thriving group has been displaced primarily to Louisiana, taking on a new identity of Cajuns.
...e, Geneviève, and Armin Schwegler. Creoles, Contact, and Language Change: Linguistics and Social Implications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub., 2004. Print.
Bibliography: Bibliography 1. John Majewski, History of the American Peoples: 1840-1920 (Dubuque: Kent/Hunt Publishing, 2001). 2.
Louisiana is filled with a great number of diversified and varied people all ranging from French, Spanish, English, German, and Acadian to West Indians, Africans, Irish, and Italian, and they were all a part of the original settlers that established the state (“About Louisiana”). They are also the ones who inspired the “Cajun Country” that Louisiana is today by bringing their culture, traditions, and heritage with them. The original French pronunciation of the w...
When compared to other countries, the United States may be considered as a relatively new country. In the 1800’s, there were many waves of immigration from countries in Europe. Many immigrated due to better economic opportunities and other groups sought religious freedom. Along with those waves, the immigrants’ languages were also brought and spread. One of the languages among them is French. French descends from Latin, which descends from Italic, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. Although this language comes from France, the heritage language is commonly spoken today throughout the US, with many speakers residing within California. Ultimately, I based my decision to research this diasporic language on the sources I found, the US Census, a book by Adrian Battye and the Modern Language Association. I found it interesting how, in California, we find French speakers concentrated in major cities. Although not as widespread as Spanish, French has a fair amount of speakers and there is plenty of information on this language.
...ce of petty crimes will lead to the increment in the number of serious crimes. Just like other authors, Bratton believes that the examination of crime statistics by time, place and other factors is very effective in discovering how to organize police resources. However, all these readings fail to integrate Kauffman's ‘Theology of Consensus’ which would have enabled readers to understand and appreciate least splendid but vital aspects of the police department.
...re personal level and everyone feels that they can be a part of this movement somehow.
Being one of the few tribes on the Great Plains they had more than enough food and water, meaning that the Pawnee population would exceed 35,000 people. Eventually the Pawnee split up into 4 separate groups. The 4 groups were the Pitahauerat, meaning people downstream, the Chaui, meaning people in the middle, the Skidi, meaning wolf, the Kitkehahaki, meaning little muddy bottom village. The Chaui lived by the Arkansas River in Kansas and the Platte in Nebraska. The Pitahauerat lived in the same place as the Chaui. The Skidi spread out across the northern prairie of Nebraska with their settlements on the northern part of the Loup River. The Kitkehahaki settled in Nebraska at the Loup River. These 4 groups eventually had to come together because the copious amounts of the food and water attracted more tribes.
In the stories the Popol Vuh and Genesis, the gods punish their creations because they “regret” it, but the punishment is very different in each story.
There are tremendous amount of debates that go on in this world on a daily basis. One of the most talked about debates of the century is that of animal rights and experimentations. This debate, also known in the animal rights community as vivisection, is one of the most difficult to understand. Individuals have numerous different outlooks on animals. Many individuals look upon animals as companions while others see animals as an object of advancing medical techniques. No matter what ones perception is of animals, the fact remains that animals are being exploited by research facilities and cosmetics companies all throughout the world. In spite of the fact that humans frequently benefit from successful animal experimentations, the pain, and occasionally death that often occurs is not worth the human benefit. Hence, animals should not be the use of research.