God's Government Begun: The Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform, 1842-1846 (review)

68Quaker History The chapter on politics indicates that it was the improvement in economic status as much as religious attitudes which let to increased, political activity; although the turn from Quietism to Evangelicalism led to more involvement in the world around Friends. Sheila Wright laments the lack of similar studies of urban centers of Quakers, and one can hope that her splendid book on York will encourage other scholars to follow her example. Haverford CollegeEdwin B. Bronner God's Government Begun: The Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform, 1842-1846. By Thomas D. Hamm. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995. xxv + 3 12 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth, $39.95. How—and how quickly—can humans bring about theperfect society on earth? This challenge, a recurring one since Biblical times, has generated innumerable responses over the centuries, and Thomas More's coining of the term "utopia" simply gave us a modern-day label for the recurring impulse to create the ideal society. America, born of idealism and heterogeneity has had, perhaps, an over-representation of Utopian experiments, drawing on the ideas of John Winthrop, William Penn, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen, Mother Ann Lee, Joseph Smith and a host ofothers. InGod's Government Begun, Thomas Hamm introduces us to yet another antebellum Utopian effort, that of the obscure Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform, an 1 840s visionary coalition which established eight communities networked across three states. Based upon principles ofcooperation rather than competition, on socialistic ideals of abolishing private land-holding, on diet and health reform, and equality for women, these communities drew on the intellectual contributions of"everyone" who was envisioning a new world order in antebellum America—and indeed in Europe as well. That the communities established by the Society rose and declined in only four years should not obscure their importance, for Hamm shows us how the ideas of Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelley, William Lloyd Garrison, Robert Owen and Frederick Douglass (among others) informed the agenda ofthe communities' major instigators: John Wattles, John Collins, Orson Murray, Valentine Nicholson, Abraham Brooke, Hiram Mendenhall, and a handful of their cronies. No newcomer to the ticklish task of collective biography, Hamm once again demonstrates the skills we saw in his earlier study ofOrthodox Quakers, The Transformation ofAmerican Quakerism. With theatrical style he parades his characters, one by one, onto the stage, and then, with crisp clarity, proceeds to spin out their drama. And Hamm Book Reviews69 alsopulls offhere what he accomplished so masterfully in that earlier work on Orthodox Quakers: he de-tangles closely-linked strands of reform thinking to illuminate not only how a particular manifestation of ideology —in this case "ultraism"—differs from the dozens ofideological lookalikes , but also the subtle nuances of its radical slants on abolitionism, women's rights and dietary purism. He even makes it possible to understand how anti-clerical Hicksite Quakers and Bible-focused could find a powerful meeting ground in slavery and notions ofnational sin. That this volume is an easy and engrossing read should not obscure the reality that this is the work of a highly skilled and diligent scholar. By combing private papers, archives, and contemporary press to tease out the bits andpieces ofinformation on the obscure Society for Universal Inquiry (a group that eschewed record-keeping as too coercive and restrictive), Hammhas assembleda fascinating web throughwhichhe invites us to view antebellum American reform, religion and society. Filled with tension and suspense, the story flows smoothly froman introduction and seven chapters that linkthe major characters to each other and to the tenor ofthe times, then chronicles the rationale for, rise ofand eventual demise oftheir dreams. It is hard to put this book down. Tom Hamm is a good historian, and a good writer with a good story to tell ofGod's GovernmentBegun. A few years ago he won an award forhis contributions to American religious history. He deserves another one. Haverford CollegeEmma J. Lapsansky ...