“Historians generally concede that the utopian experiment in communal living that began in Nauvoo in the spring of 1849 and ended with the dissolution of the last Icarian community at Corning, Iowa, in October 1898, is one of America’s longest-lived utopian experiements” (Sutton, 43).
The mid-nineteenth century was a rich time for utopian colonies in America. Located, just fifteen miles north of Fort Worth, the first iteration of the Icarian Colony was the most fragile of all in this period with no more than seventy inhabitants at any time.
Having published an immensely successful utopian novel, Voyage en Icarie in 1839, Étienne Cabet (1788-1856) decided to implement those same ideas by establishing a colony in Texas. There were two deviations from the novel: this as an investment opportunity with each colonist being required to contribute 600 francs; plus Cabet was also given total power. The first party of colonists arrived in February, 1848, with the promise of 1,000,000 acres (it was less than 3,000) and, just as importantly, a second wave of 1,500 colonists due to arrive shortly. It barely lasted a year. It failed due to a lack of money, poor planning, and misrepresentation on the part of Cabet.
Most of the colonists departed for New Orleans in the winter of 1849. Incredibly, they were met by Cabet who had returned from France with 450 new colonists. After some disagreements where the new Icarian Colony should be, 280 people travelled Nauvoo, Illinois which was recently vacated by Mormons. This was an altogether more successful venture. Nauvoo was on the Mississippi and the commercial prospects were obvious. Furthermore, the Mormons had left homes, stores, workshops and farmsteads.
“By April, they had organized into an Icaria Community, called a “Democratic Republic,” on the basis of the communal rules found in Travels in Icaria. Cabet was elected president for a one-year term by unanimous vote of the adult males. The constitution that the Icarians adopted established four Directors in charge of finance, farming, workshops, and education. But since these officers were under the direct supervision of the president, in practice Cabet had supreme authority checked only by the will of the majority of the community. Other aspects of the Icarian life-style quickly took shape under Cabet’s careful surveillance” (ibid, 47).
After everything the community had survived, publishing this account and constitution must have felt like a triumph for Cabet.
Very rare: just a handful of copies at auction, the last being at Parke Bernet in 1964.
Sabin, 9779; Sutton, R.P., “Etienne Cabet and the Nauvoo Icarians: The Mormon Interface” in The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (2002), pp.43-50.
