The Oneida Community John Humphrey Noyes Deeply religious

The Oneida Community

John Humphrey Noyes • Deeply religious graduate of Dartmouth College, inspired by the teachings of Charles Finney and the Shaker Society • Wanted to create a society similar to the Shakers’. • He socialized in the Congressional Church, but was later expelled due to his beliefs.

• The belief that people could be without flaws because the second coming of Christ had already occurred. Perfe ction ism A Rail Road Station in Oneida

Complex Marriage • A system in which all the members of a community are married to one another. • Noyes believed that marriage was stopping people from reaching perfection, and he preached that it did not exist in heaven, so it was unnecessary on earth.

Social Goals • Noyes’ main goal was to create an equal society for women. o Women would be free from being the property of their husbands o Limited childbirth by encouraging coitus interruptus o Children that were born were placed in community nurseries to lessen the burden of or raising children and give women more oppurtunity. o Women began to wear pantaloons under their dresses and cut their hair short to symbolize their equality with men, Women in Oneida

Oneida Community • Noyes first wanted to establish a perfectionist community in his hometown of Putney, Vermont, but the locals there were strongly opposed to complex marriage, so he moved it to Oneida, New York 1863

Oneida Community • The community economy was supported by the selling of steel animal traps, which was very successful, so they moved on to making silverware. • Noyes was forced to leave the country to escape charges of adultery • After the Noyes’ departure, the community abandons complex marriage Noyes lived out the rest • They create their own silver Home in Canada where of his life company, Oneida Community, Ltd.

Impact of Oneida Community Band • The community questioned traditional customs of the emerging capitalist society, and challenged marriage and family life