Josiah Warren and the Sovereignty of the Individual

In a Notebook “D” entry dated January 29, 1840, Josiah Warren gave the plan for his “New Social Arrangements” which would emphasize human freedom. Writing in New Harmony, Indiana, he claimed that his plan was intended to restore the natural liberty of mankind gradually — to render to labor its just reward — and to establish security, peace, and the means of enjoyment to all. His ideal society was to be conducted with a watchful and strict regard to the laws of human nature, particularly its individualities. Warren insisted that these laws teach us that our own happiness depends upon a proper respect for the happiness of others and that therefore we should not make social arrangements which require compulsion or the violation of the natural freedom of any individual.

Volume 4, Number 4 (1980)