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Vision of a Utopian Texas: Robert Owen's Colonization Scheme

Vision of a Utopian Texas: Robert Owen's Colonization Scheme vi British utopian socialist Robert Owen (1771­1858). © National Portrait Gallery, London. Article By José María Herrera* he efforts toward the colonization of Texas in the 1820s attracted a motley collection of adventurers and speculators, each with his own plan to found a successful colony. Most of these efforts would fail, and the results of the Texas Revolution would open an entirely new chapter in the history of the region. Regardless, no proposal towards colonization in Texas was quite like the one offered by arguably the most visionary applicant in the period: Robert Owen. Owen, a successful Welsh industrialist, was renowned in literate circles as a social and educational reformer. A prolific writer, Owen had written extensively on the reformation of society based on principles that rejected the supernatural (i.e. organized religions) and promoted new enlightened principles of human relations that broke from past models of human organization. Chief among these ideals was his belief that people were a product of their environment and that an improved environment could adjust behavior for the better.1 This belief was greatly at odds with the prevailing view at the time that negative character traits were innate. In order to improve a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Southwestern Historical Quarterly Texas State Historical Association

Vision of a Utopian Texas: Robert Owen's Colonization Scheme

Southwestern Historical Quarterly , Volume 116 (4) – Apr 18, 2013

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Publisher
Texas State Historical Association
Copyright
Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association.
ISSN
1558-9560
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

vi British utopian socialist Robert Owen (1771­1858). © National Portrait Gallery, London. Article By José María Herrera* he efforts toward the colonization of Texas in the 1820s attracted a motley collection of adventurers and speculators, each with his own plan to found a successful colony. Most of these efforts would fail, and the results of the Texas Revolution would open an entirely new chapter in the history of the region. Regardless, no proposal towards colonization in Texas was quite like the one offered by arguably the most visionary applicant in the period: Robert Owen. Owen, a successful Welsh industrialist, was renowned in literate circles as a social and educational reformer. A prolific writer, Owen had written extensively on the reformation of society based on principles that rejected the supernatural (i.e. organized religions) and promoted new enlightened principles of human relations that broke from past models of human organization. Chief among these ideals was his belief that people were a product of their environment and that an improved environment could adjust behavior for the better.1 This belief was greatly at odds with the prevailing view at the time that negative character traits were innate. In order to improve a

Journal

Southwestern Historical QuarterlyTexas State Historical Association

Published: Apr 18, 2013

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