"Go West, Young Man"
This settlement is notable because, like other Fourier-inspired communes, the Union Colony promoted a broad swath of moral positions, however it left out vegetarianism. The support of Horace Greeley was not because this was a vegetarian colony, but because it practiced temperance, regular bathing, literacy, and sexual modesty--vegetarian would have led the Union Colony, like so many others, to failure. And this is not to say the Union Colony is unique; in fact the opposite is true, dozens of these temperance communities were created in the West after the Civil War. Greeley endorsed many of these other experiments in society as well, but Union Colony earned specific endorsement, notable because of Greeley's vegetarian leanings.
Everything but vegetables, please
Like many of the settlements mentioned earlier, the Union Colony of Colorado built itself upon strong moral values with a vision to create a greater community in the West. Nathan Meeker, the founder of this settlement, had previously founded a "phalanx" in Trumbull County, Ohio, during the 1840s. This was a community built on Fourier's model of basic income, shared means of production, and common labor. Other settlements took a similar approach to new townships, creating a thorough outline of citizens' expectations and moral responsibilities as members of a community. However, the issue of vegetarianism was wholly dropped from the discourse.
My sense is that the failure of vegetarianism was directly tied to the moral weight that followers attributed to the decision to eat meat. Dr. Alcott and Rev. Metcalfe regularly stretched the point, claiming that many moral evils of the world would not end without society first ending consumption of "flesh foods." In the vegetarian colonies that did come to power, the only records of punitive action against citizens is for violations of vegetarianism. This shows that the diet of members was more strictly regulated than other aspects of their life and that unequal weight was given to vegetarianism.
This problem is, in some way, the same problem for modern vegetarians. This book will end with a Hank Green video on modern vegetarian culture. Think about how followers of vegetarians in the 1800s may have had very similar feelings.
