Bower, Samuel

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Samuel Bower was a member of the ethical vegan community at Fruitlands for several months. During the 1830s, he was an active member of the English radical scene, having published the pamphlets Competition in Peril (1837), The Peopling of Utopia (1838) and A Sequel to The Peopling of Utopia (1838), as well as An outline of a scheme of government, framed to be in accordance with the principles of liberty, in the American Constitution (1842). He was a member of the Ham Concordium along with Charles Lane; here he met Bronson Alcott and was among those who returned to the United States with him to create a utopian community that became Fruitlands. Bower advocated that Fruitlands should be a fruitarian community because killing plants to eat them is tantamount to killing an animal for meat. He left Fruitlands reportedly to pursue a nudist lifestyle. Bower was a radical Owenite; he was opposed to private property, practiced a fruitarian style of veganism, he was a nudist and raw food advocate.

His publications listed below do not address ethical veganism, but provide the political and philosophical contexts for his involvement with Fruitlands.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Competition in Peril: or, The Present Position of the Owenites, or Rationalists, considered; together with Miss Martineau's Account of Communities in America. London: Cleave, 1837.

An outline of a scheme of government, framed to be in accordance with the principles of liberty, in the American Constitution; and intended to prepetuate those principles by extending the right of representation to minorities, by providing for the support of the government through voluntary contributions ... Also, of a plan for selling the state lands on the principle of life lease. 1842.

The Peopling of Utopia; or The Sufficiency of Socialism for Human Happiness: Being a Comparison of the Social and Radical Schemes. Bradford: C. Wilkinson, 1838.

A Sequel to The Peopling of Utopia; or The Sufficiency of Socialism for Human Happiness: Being a Comparison of the Social and Radical Schemes. Bradford: C. Wilkinson, 1838.

 

Last updated on May 23rd, 2024

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