The Perfect Utopia By George Ripley And His Wife - 1210 Words

Throughout the centuries, people have dreamt of perfect worlds. Worlds free from conflict and unhappiness, in essence, the perfect utopia. Over eighty utopias were attempted in the 1840s. This was primarily because of the many ideas and movements circulating throughout the nineteenth century (Dunn). Some of these movements focused on moving towards gender, racial, and social equality. Others focused on creating more fair and necessary laws. Both types, however, were aiming for the United States to become a perfect society. This was the basis for the transcendental movement. At the simplest level, this movement was based on the belief that men and women can learn through intuition (Gura). Two people who were strong believers in this movement were George Ripley and his wife, Sophia Willard Dana Ripley. The Ripley’s decided to create what they believed to be a utopia in Western Roxbury, or modern day Boston (Smith). They named this community The Brook Farm Institute for Agricult ure and Education, or Brook Farm. Brook Farm was one of the countless experiments trying to create a utopian society in the United States around the time of 1830 (Gordon). George Ripley was a member of the Transcendental Club. This was a group of ministers who met regularly to discuss their views on social changes. Soon after the group was formed, Ripley resigned from his position in the club and left the ministry. He stayed at his friend’s farm for two summers and then made the decision to purchase