Robert
Dale Owen,
the son of
Robert
Owen, was born in Glasgow, Scotland,
on 9th November, 1801. His father, a successful industrialist in Britain,
decided in 1825 to establish a new community in America based on the
socialist ideas
that he had developed over the years. Owen purchased an area of Indiana
for £30,000 and called the community New Harmony.
Robert Owen left his son in charge while
he carried on his business in Britain. Owen taught at the school and
published the journal, New
Harmony Gazette and worked closely with the feminist,
Fanny Wright.
The couple also worked together on the Free
Enquirer. In the journal Owen and Wright advocated socialism,
the abolition of slavery, universal
suffrage, free secular education, birth control, changes in the
marriage and divorce laws. Wright and Owen also became involved in
the radical Workingmen's
Party.
Owen moved to Indiana in 1832 and was elected to the Indiana Legislature
(1836-38) and the House of Representatives (1845-47). In Congress
he advocated the allocation of government funds for public schools.
In 1853 Owen was appointed as charge d'affaires at Naples and two
years later became the minister to Italy. On his return to the United
States in 1858 he became an outspoken opponent of slavery.
During the American Civil War Owen urged
Abraham Lincoln to force the South to
emancipate the slaves. He wrote two books on the subject, The
Policy of Emancipation (1863) and The
Wrong of Slavery (1864).
Robert Dale Owen, who also wrote
a novel, Beyond the Breakers
(1870) and an autobiography, Threading
My Way (1874), died
at Lake George, New York, on 24th June, 1877.
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