Oneida: One Big Communitarian Family Some may call it a cult, others a religious commune, but everyone can agree that the Oneida community is something unique. Their belief that Jesus already returned led to their unorthodox lifestyle filled with complex marriage, communalism, male sexual continence and mutual criticism. By Anna Rodgers and Sarah Perrigo

Problem the Movement Attempted to Address During the Second Great Awakening, the leader of the the Oneida community, John Humphrey Noyes, experienced a very impactful religious conversion. During this time in history, the character of American religion was being challenged, leading many individuals to experience a shared feeling that the bonds of American religion were slipping away. Some of these individuals ended up joining different religions, and some even joined the Oneida Community, a group based around a shared desire to attain a “perfect love with God.” Noyes preached a certain kind of salvation called “Perfectionism” and hoped to create a form of “Heaven on Earth.” He believed that those who practiced his ideas could achieve perfection on earth and could not fall from grace after salvation. Noyes challenged the ways most Americans viewed sex, romance, marriage, and relationships with God and spent years obtaining converts to join him and his ways of life, including several of his family members.

The Oneida Mansion

Conditions That Created the Need for Change The main condition that spurred the creation of the Oneida community was the Second Great Awakening. Noyes began to come up with his doctrines and visualize the community in 1834, around the time when the Second Great Awakening was really heating up. Noyes along with other similar commune leaders believed that the Awakening celebrated a new millennial age. These communes attempted to cleanse the world of evil before Christ’s second coming occurred. The main difference between these communes and the Oneida is that Noyes believed that Christ had already came, and so they should celebrate. These revivals were also a large part of the Romantic movement throughout Europe.

Second Great Awakening Artwork

Earlier Attempts at a Reform Noyes attempted to create a community in Putney, Vermont before the true Oneida community was formed in Oneida, New York. This group of people in Putney began to experiment with his ideas, leading to Noyes’s arrest in 1847 for the illegal marriage system practices he led. It was suggested to him by his legal counsel that he flee the state immediately, which put the idea in Noyes’s head that his practices could only exist in a utopia separated from all other civilization. The actions and ideas practiced by John Humphrey Noyes related to the idea of America being a “shining city on a hill” because his main goal in carrying out these actions was to create a perfect relationship with God, and he believed that he knew how to do this. His earlier attempt at creating an effective community of followers allowed him to realize that not everybody was fit to be a part of this group that expressed their relationship to God in a new, uncommon way.

Putney, Vermont to New York, New York When Noyes was suggested to leave Putney, Vermont, he traveled south to New York, New York to pursue his beliefs and begin the Oneida community.

Movement Chronology 1834 - John Humphrey Noyes began visualizing ideas that would lead to the Onieda way of thinking 1836 - Noyes arranges marriages between his sisters and his closest followers 1844 - group of 37 members formally adopts communal lifestyle 1846 - group accepts all of Noyes preachings (male continence, complex marriage, mutual criticism) 1849 - other branches opened in and around New York, none as large as the original 1881 - Oneida community was abandoned

Solutions the Movement Proposed The main focus of the Oneida community was on the concept of “Complex Marriage.” In this practice, it is believed that every man is married to every woman within the community, and vice versa. No two people were to have any kind of special bond, as that would be seen as selfish, and they would therefore be separated for a certain period of time. Another teaching practiced within the community was that of “Male Continence,” in which pregnancy was avoided through males avoiding ejaculation during intercourse. A third teaching practiced was “Ascending Fellowship,” in which older members of the community introduced young virgins to sex. The final teaching practiced was “Mutual Criticism.” This involved a single member of the community being criticized by a committee or possibly even all other members of the group, and was often a humiliating experience involving all of the bad traits others noticed about them being pointed out in front of everybody.

Effectiveness of Movement Goals Goal: Cleanse members of selfishness and demonstrate perfectionism through complex marriage and communalism. Effectiveness: During the movement’s time, Noyes’ views were very effective. The community worked well together and for the most part people were content with the ideas of perfectionism and communalism. All of his teachings were actively practiced and upheld by all members throughout the years. On the other hand, the movement only really lasted for 30 years. While it was strong during its time, the Oneida didn’t last long enough to make much of an impact on anyone besides its 200 something members.

Key Players in the Movement John Humphrey Noyes: Leader of the Oneida community Harriet Holton: Financially supported Noyes, who later proposed to her. The two engaged in a “spiritual marriage” in order to “advance the work of God in which he was engaged” and to show others that he was not for celibacy John L. Skinner & John R. Miller: Two of Noyes’ most loyal followers, who he arranged marriages with his two sisters God: The whole reason Noyes started the Oneida community. God played a huge role in the Second Great Awakening, the period in which Noyes decided his religious views and ideas

John Humphrey Noyes & Harriet Holton

Movement Leaders Opinions on the Movement John Humphrey Noyes: “The second coming was an event in the spiritual, and not in the natural world” Noyes believed that Jesus’ second coming happened before his time, and so he felt that it should be celebrated on earth. This led to his ideas and teachings that the Oneida community was based on. One of the Oneida’s doctrines stated that Christ made his second coming in A.D. 70. Sharing everything, from marriage and sexual partners to land and possessions was all a part of this celebrating. The commune’s land in Oneida, New York, was even nicknamed “The Promised Land”.

How Society at the Time Responded to the Movement Before Oneida, Noyes originally attempted to carry out his ideas in a community in Putney, which invited much “‘condemnation and hostility’ from neighbors and others in the ‘outside’ world.” Oneida was subject to much criticism from outsiders, convincing Noyes that this utopia had to be separated from the rest of the world. The most amount of members in the group was 306, and it started off with approximately 87 members. Oneida never got to the point of being a huge community because not many people followed the belief system that Noyes did, and most thought it to be ridiculous and strange.

Opposers of Movement The Oneida community was a very unique one, opposed by many outsiders during its time. In fact, opposition and hostility by many surrounding communities helped cause its downfall. Due to this hostility, Noyes got rid of the idea of “Complex Marriage”. After a key piece in its structure was dissolved, the Oneida quickly began to crumble. Towards the end of the community Noyes attempted to hand off the leadership role to his son, Dr. Theodore Noyes. Dr. Noyes wasn’t exactly admired by the people of the commune, and caused distrust and unrest throughout because of his strict leadership methods. This was another factor in the downfall of the Oneida, while Dr. Noyes wasn’t exactly an opposer he helped in breaking up the community.

Setbacks & Unintended Consequences When Noyes handed over the leadership of the Oneida community in 1876 to his son, Dr. Theodore Noyes, it did not go over well with the members of the group. The first issue with this was that members joined the community with the belief that this was the way they could form the best relationship with God, and Dr. Noyes was agnostic. In addition to this, he was very strict with his rules and “ruled the community with a tight fist.” Factions within the community had begun to form by the time that John Humphrey Noyes returned to Oneida in attempts to fix the damages his son had caused, and he was too late to return order to the group. After all the issues the community had faced, Noyes felt the need to abolish the Complex Marriage system. Some members married and others were celibate, making it seemingly impossible for the group to be successful with the same morals and ideals they started with. The Oneida Community was abandoned in January of 1881.

Dr. Theodore Noyes

Setbacks & Unintended Consequences Cont. One other setback of the way the Oneida Community worked was the lack of reproduction. Noyes did not believe in putting women through the pain of childbirth, hence a big reason why male ejaculation was avoided. However, a consequence of this meant a small future generation, and had there been more children they could have potentially followed in the previous generation’s footsteps to continue on the Oneida legacy. The Community only really lasted approximately 30 years, but it could’ve potentially been longer had there been more offspring born into the group. Many of the younger generation that did exist, however, weren’t as loyal to the views of the community and desired more monogamous relationships.

Political Implications The Oneida weren’t really politically involved at all, and not much is known of their political beliefs. In addition, they didn’t make any political impact besides that of the father of their leader, John Humphrey Noyes, who was in the US House of Representatives and worked as a businessman.

Achievements of the Movement Once the Oneida Community was abandoned, a joint-stock company was created that was called the “Oneida Community, Ltd.” The company is best known today for their high quality silverwear/flatwear. The community is also a very interesting demonstration of the different approaches to religion that were taken during the Second Great Awakening and the toll it had on people’s lives and commitments to God.

Related Historical Events Brook Farm (1841-1846): Utopian experiment in communal living inspired by Transcendentalism. Members were given their choice of work and paid equally from a profit made through farming. Fruitlands (1843-1844): Utopian commune with a sole focus on agriculture, also based off Transcendentalist beliefs. Surviving on farming alone proved too hard, and the community fell apart. New Harmony (1848-1881): Utopian community that contributed advances in scientific research and education. Residents help build schools and clubs, and later helped to found museums such as the Smithsonian. Members were called Owenites after their founder, Robert Owen.

Brook Farm

Fruitlands

New Harmony

Related Movements Today There are virtually no current movements that share the same ideals and belief system of Oneida, but Mormonism is a religion that started off similarly and is still prevalent in society today. Mormonism is similar to Oneida in the way that it initially started off being viewed as a utopian community that originally practiced polygamy. The religion is different now in the ways that it is no longer viewed as utopian and no longer practices polygamy, but it used to relate to Oneida in those ways and is still known to be practiced by many today.

Historians’ Take on Oneida Significance Lawrence Foster, Georgia Institute of Technology: Foster comments that the Oneida community lifestyle “may have implications for dealing with our present sense of crisis in community life and relations between the sexes”. This can be interpreted to mean that what the Oneida stood for is still relevant in issue’s we’re facing today regarding gender and community. Foster also said that Noyes preached “the notion that faith has higher priority than works” and “the perfection God demanded was based not on external works but on internal action”, statements that weren’t believed by many during his time. It’s significant now because many religions have included this eye-opening lens into their preachings and doctrine.

Historians’ Take on Oneida Significance Cont. Janet White PhD, Cornell University: White talks a lot about the Oneida’s original base of perfectionism as well as their architecture. In her words, “they extended their belief in the perfectibility of the individual to the built environment”. The Oneida thought their members should strive to be perfect, and so their buildings should be the same way. Also, she was sure of the fact that “the Community understood that its ability to put in place the social structure it desired depended on the existence of an appropriate physical structure”. The Oneida clearly understood and emphasized the relationship between the strength of buildings and the strength of their inhabitants, each playing an important role in the success of the community.

Personal Reflection - Anna This topic interested me initially because of the unusual workings and habits of the community. I was intrigued as to how a group of people could live like this for so long with such strange rules and customs. Specifically, the 4 main doctrines really stuck out to me; communal living, complex marriage, male continence and mutual criticism. Communal living is an understandable idea, people living together and sharing everything seems nice and peaceful for the most part. Mutual criticism is a little harsh to me, but I can see how it would improve people to be told their faults and how to fix them. When it comes to complex marriage and male continence on the other hand, I just can’t quite understand why anyone would want to live like that. The most unbelievable part is when older males and females introduce younger members of the opposite gender into their sexuality, and the younger members can’t refuse. This seems to be borderline rape, and really shouldn’t have been accepted no matter what you believe in. It’s interesting how one man can make all these rules and preachings and a large group of people actually live their lives following him and his teachings. The Oneida community really gives an interesting view on how people’s beliefs can be easily changed and molded into sometimes terrible things.

Personal Reflection - Sarah The very idea of a community like Oneida successfully existing for even a month was fascinating to me, so I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a part of a community like this that survived successfully for 30 years. It was very eye opening to see how easily people are influenced by just one person telling them their personal views and rules and, and even more fascinating that people actually followed them. The idea that the ridiculous, radical, uncommon ideas of one man can be so accepted by some people to the point where they adopt his way of life shows a lot about the influence human beings have on each other. It’s interesting how quickly people are to follow somebody who has such radical ideas to the point where they’re willing to adopt such an extreme lifestyle in order to accommodate to his rules.

Conclusion From their strange doctrines to their fascinating lifestyle, it’s clear that the Oneida community was unorthodox at best. Noyes somehow found a way to convince a group of people that ideas such as male continence and complex marriage are parts of a good life. Along with Noyes’ direction, the concepts surrounding the Second Great Awakening were another large factor in the community’s limited success. People during this time, especially those in the Oneida community, felt drawn to the idea of perfectionism during the Awakening. The Oneida were unique only because of their methods of perfectionism, which no other commune practiced. All in all, the community just wanted to celebrate the second coming of Christ, and this was the way they decided to do it.

Bibliography Works Cited Foster, Lawrence. Women, Family, and Utopia: The Oneida Community Experience and Its Implications for the Future. Georgia Institute of Technology, Oct. 1993, surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1295&context=libassoc. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017. Hillebrand, Randall. “The Oneida Community.” New York History Net, 20 Feb. 2008, www.nyhistory.com/central/oneida.htm. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017. “Oneida Community.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Aug. 1998, www.britannica.com/topic/Oneida-Community. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017. “Oneida Community.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_Community. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017. White, Janet. Building Perfection: The Relationship between Physical and Social Structures in the Oneida Community. Cornell University, Oct. 1993, surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1293&context=libassoc. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.

Bibliography Cont. Works Cited Gay, Kathlyn. Communes and Cults. New York, Twenty-First Century Books, 1997. Hogan, Kathleen M. “John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Perfectionists.” American Studies at the University of Virginia, 1 Sept. 2009, xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/cities/oneida.html. Accessed 8 Jan. 2017. Kelly, Martin. “Utopian Movements: List of Major Utopian Movements in American History.” About Education, 15 Apr. 2016, americanhistory.about.com/od/19thcentur1/tp/Utopian-Movements.htm. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017. Klaw, Spencer. Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community. New York, Allen Lane, 1993. “Oneida Community Mansion House: Historic Structure Report.” Syracuse University Libraries, 2017, library.syr.edu/digital/guides/o/OneidaCommunityCollection/hsr1.htm. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.