Johann Georg Rapp

Personal Background:

• Hi, my name is Johann Georg Rapp
• I was born on November 1st, 1757 in Iptingen, Germany
• I do not have a formal education. However, I was highly involved with preaching and spreading the Harmony Society. Also, I studied the bible.
• In the 1780s, I began preaching and soon started to gather a group of my own followers. My group officially split with the Lutheran Church in 1785 and was promptly banned from meeting. The persecution that myself and my followers experienced caused us to leave Germany and come to the United States. We immigrated to the United States in 1803 to escape persecution. I was joined by about 600 disciples, and by 1805 we established our first “Community of Equality” in Harmony, Pennsylvania. In search of land suitable for vineyards and orchards, we, the Rappites, moved to southern Indiana, where we established Harmony (or Harmonie), with 800 members. Shortly after coming to the United States, we renounced marriage, and eventually all persons lived in celibacy, or the state of being unmarried. After 10 years in Indiana, I decided that the colony should move again. Harmony was sold in 1825 to the British utopian Robert Owen, who established a socialist community there and called it New Harmony. The Harmony Society built three American towns, became rich, famous, and survived for 100 years – roughly from 1805 until 1905. Even though I was threatened if I continued to preach, I did not stop and eventually, had become the outspoken leader of several thousand Separatists. The “Harmonist” sect and community was the most successful Utopian association in America in the 19^th century.

Issue(s):

• The issue I was involved in was the spreading of the Harmonist/Utopian society.
• My eloquence and fundamentalist views attracted many followers, and by 1787 I began preaching and spreading my beliefs. However, after the split with the Lutheran church, the persecution that I experienced did not stop me from meeting. I continued to spread the Harmony society which became extremely successful.
• The source of my motivation was religious. I believed in the Harmony/Utopian society so much that I, along with my followers, did not care what the authority insisted. For example, when I experienced the prosecution and was threatened to stop, I did not. I moved to American and continued spreading my beliefs.

Solution(s):

• The tactic I advocated was the creation of the Utopian community. My followers and I found around 20 settlements alone. Each society shared a common bond in a vision of communal living in a Utopian community. This vision was known as a group of people who attempted to establish a new social pattern based upon a vision of the ideal society and who have withdrawn themselves from the community at large to embody that vision in experimental form. Our religious communal movements originated from a deliberate attempt among various Christian sects to revive the structure of the Christian community of Jerusalem, which "held all things in common.
• This became unbelievably successful in that it was the most successful utopian association in the 19^th century. However, it was not easy to create the utopian association. My followers and I were faced with many challenges, none of which stopped us from our main goal. For example, during the separation from the Lutheran church, we were experienced with persecution and were threatened to stop spreading our beliefs. However, we continued by moving our beliefs from Germany to America and created the first community in Pennsylvania.

Relationship to Others:

• Temperance- I support the temperance movement because we, the Rappites, very much enjoyed family life, food and wine.
• Abolition- I support abolition of slavery because we emphasize cooperation rather than compulsion.
• Woman’s Rights- I am a strong supporter of Woman’s Rights. We, as a Harmony society, do not separate men from women, and also find importance in cooperation among people in a community.
• Education- I believe that education is important in that we should be teaching the children of our community about our own beliefs. However, I along with my followers do not believe in attending Lutheran schools.
• Prison Reform- I am for the prison reform because I do believe that all people should be treated equally and that there should be no such separation between anyone.
• Utopian Communities- I am for the Utopian communities because I am the leader of the movement of the Utopian communities but also I am for the Utopian communities because I wish to establish a new social pattern based upon a vision of the ideal society, and to revive the structure of the Christian community.
• Transcendentalists- I believe in transcendentalism because I believe in going beyond ordinary limits. For instance, my followers and I went above and beyond to create the Utopian communities and to revive the structure of the Christian community.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2714877/Johann_Georg_Rapp

Du Brock