Maclure of New Harmony: Scientist, Progressive Educator, Radical Philanthropist

2 Philadelphia (1796–1800)

18 Philadelphia (1796–1800) Maclure came to the United States in 1796, became an American citizen, and settled in Philadelphia, with business interests in Richmond, Virginia. AtthetimeofMaclure’sarrival,PhiladelphiawasAmerica’sleadingcityand at the pinnacle of its glory, the second largest English-speaking city in the world, the commercial and financial center, and the political capital of the United States. As a former merchant, Maclure was undoubtedly cognizant of the fact that Philadelphia was by far the leading port for international tradeinthecountry.ThecityhadinitiatedtradewiththeOrientin1784,and by 1801 almost half of the total imports from the East came to this port.1 Le duc de Liancourt, a French visitor, was effusive in his admiration of the city: “Philadelphia is not only the most beautiful city in the United States, it is one of the most beautiful in the world.” It was a city of upright Quakerswhocouldalsoboastofthemostlavishentertainmentsandgatherings of society, often comparable to those of Europe which so troubled John Adams and Joseph Priestley.2 A naïve Chateaubriand was shocked by the luxury and extravagance he encountered, for he had come to America as an exile expecting to find a state of honest simplicity in the mode of the early Roman republic.3 It must have been clear to a cosmopolitan, social activist like Maclure that Pennsylvania was the most multicultural and democratic of all the former British colonies, and it was particularly attractive because it was not theocratic in its tendencies, as was New England, nor did it have Two • Philadelphia (1796–1800) · 19 great landowning families, as did New York and Virginia—reminiscent of European monarchies. Still, it did have an elite, an aristocracy that deemed itself superior to allothersintheyoungrepublic.AnEnglishtravelerfoundthat“amongthe uppermost circles in Philadelphia, pride, haughtiness, and ostentation are conspicuous,”andhehadlittlegoodtosayaboutitslowerorders,whomhe found inhospitable and impolite. In order to convince strangers that they were free and independent souls, they were “surly” and “wanting in good manners.”4 Perhaps this upper class was more acceptable to Maclure becausemanyofthem ,althoughwealthyandpowerful,camefromaQuaker background, which he so much admired, and its members were “useful” intellectual leaders in the community. He could not condemn Philadelphians for their wealth alone because, after all, he himself was wealthy. The intellectual life of Philadelphia, where the spirit of Benjamin Franklin still lingered, was unequaled in America. Thomas Jefferson, a man interested in natural history, was vice president of the United States andpresidentoftheAmericanPhilosophicalSociety,consideredthehome of the intellectual elite of the new republic. One of the many institutions Franklin helped found, the Publick Academy in the City of Philadelphia, had become the University of Pennsylvania. The Library Company of Philadelphia graced the city, making Philadelphia’s library facilities the largest in the nation. Benjamin Rush, a native son, was an exemplar of the AmericanEnlightenment,themostfamousphysicianinAmerica,“father” of American psychiatry, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the man who suggested to his friend Thomas Paine that he write Common Sense. Charles Willson Peale’s Museum, a repository of natural treasures that was looked upon as one of the wonders of the world, was housed in the American Philosophical Society’s headquarters on Chestnut Street. Patently, Maclure did not suffer intellectual isolation in his chosen city. Maclure became a member of Philadelphia’s intelligentsia, and his colleagues—chemists, architects, lawyers, linguists, naturalists, and university professors—kept him informed of the latest currents of thought. A hospitable man, he hosted lively dinners, one of which was attended by Jefferson,whomhehadbefriendedinRichmond.BesidesJefferson,guests at one dinner party included Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, a Polish traveler who recorded the evening’s discussions. Other guests were le comte de Volney, an enlightened French scholar and traveler, expert in geography, 20 · Maclure of New Harmony geology,sociology,andlinguistics,wholivedwithMaclureforawhile,and Dr. Giambattista Scandella, a Venetian exile with an interest in natural historywhofoundrefugeinPhiladelphiaandalsolivedinMaclure’shome. Volney, an influential thinker, was an important conduit of the French Enlightenment in America who made a great impression on Jefferson. The evening proved to be one of “instructive and interesting conversation ” about such matters as the cultivation of wild oats and rice and the existence of wild horses—“Spanish runaways”—west of the Mississippi River.5 Articulate, widely traveled, and knowledgeable, Maclure would not have been out of place in this select group, dedicated to the knowledge and understandingoftheirrationalworld.YearslaterJeffersonwrotetoMaclure that he had fond memories of that evening. A library was to be established inCharlottesvillethathehopedwouldattractMacluretospendtimethere, while making Monticello his headquarters.6 In 1799 Maclure was elected to membership in the American Philosophical...