About 100 reform communities were established before the Civil War. These “utopian” communities varied in structure and motivation. Some were governed by a charismatic leader, others were democratic. Most were religiously motivated, but some had secular origins in desires to reverse social and economic changes unleashed by the market revolution. Nearly all of these communities sought to make society cooperative, restoring social harmony in an increasingly individualistic society, and closing the widening gap between rich and poor. Their efforts to own productive property communally rather than as private individuals introduced “socialism” and “communism” into America’s political language. Most utopian communities also attempted in some way to transform traditional gender roles and marriage patterns, insisting that the abolition of…show more content… Their notion of freedom was both liberating and controlling. They said their goal was to help Americans enjoy genuine liberty by liberating them from the “slavery” of drink, poverty, and sin. Yet, they believed that self-fulfillment derived from self-discipline and that the free individual fully practiced self-control. Reformers worried that western settlers and immigrants lacked self-control and required either private reform groups or the government to change their behaviors.
Reform efforts created a multitude of new institutions designed to transform individuals into free, morally upright citizens, performing services once rendered in the family or small community. In the 1830s and 1840s, Americans built jails for criminals, asylums for the mentally ill, and orphanages. These institutions emerged from reformers’ belief that social ills could be cured and eliminated by placing individuals in an environment where their character could be changed. Reformers hoped to remake the afflicted into productive, self-disciplined
