Values,+Women,+Communism,+and+the+Rise+and+Fall+of+the+Bishop+Hill+Utopia+in+Illinois

Original Author: Joseph R. Brorby, ENG299 FL10 Revision Author:
 * Values, Women, Communism, and the Rise and Fall of the Bishop Hill Utopia in Illinois**

There is much to say about the 19th century Illinois utopia known as Bishop Hill, but this essay will focus on four aspects of the community. The areas of focus will be presented in four sections, and will cover the values, women, communism and the rise and fall of Bishop Hill. The first section will supply a general history of the life, and rise and fall, of the community. The second section will address some of the values of the community. The third section will discuss the operation of communism of the community. And the fourth section will describe what the women’s lives were like in the community.
 * Introduction**

Bishop Hill was founded in 1846 in Cambridge, Illinois of Henry County by the Swedish immigrant, Erik Jansson (Mikkelsen 163). Jansson lived in Sweden during a time when the human writings of Luther, Arndt, Scriver, and Nohrborg were replacing the bible (Mikkelsen 22). Jansson believed the Bible to be the only source of religious guidance, and he claimed that he was “sent by God to restore faith and show sinners the way of salvation” (Mikkelsen 23). He held a public burning of several alternative religious writings, and was arrested for it on more than one occasion (Mikkelsen 22-23). But other than being arrested, Jansson also began to attract a number of followers, known as “Janssonists.” The rise of Janssonism in Sweden caused Jansson to remain constantly on the run from the government, so he decided to flee to America. The appeal of America to Janssonism was that there was “no established church,” and there was “religious liberty” (Mikkelsen 26). The state of Illinois was recommended to Jansson, and in July of 1846 he settled in Illinois. It was in Illinois that Jansson planned to start the “socialistic theocratic community” known as Bishop Hill (Mikkelsen 25). The idea of this community was separate those who practiced Christianity from the rest of the world, and then “the heirs of his body, should, as the representatives of Christ, reign to the end of all time” (Mikkelsen 26).
 * Rise and Fall of Bishop Hill**

Men and Women between the ages of 25 and 35 made up the majority of the 1,100 Janssonists willing to immigrate to the United States, from Sweden. (Mikkelsen 28). Though not all of the Swedish Janssonists could come at once, and some not surviving the trip at all, the first group of Janssonists arrived in Cambridge, Illinois in 1846, and Bishop Hill was born. By the middle of 1847, the fifth party of Janssonists arrived, and nearly 350 acres of land had been purchased for Bishop Hill (Mikkelsen 32). In the beginning, things were not great for the Janssonists. The community had trouble sustaining a sufficient amount of food, people suffered from cold and sickness, and already about 200 people had left the utopia. People were even dying (Mikkelsen 30-33). But the Janssonists were determined to persevere and the members began to improve living conditions, construct the appropriate facilities, and sharpen their agricultural and labor skills. The labor in Bishop Hill was far from lax as members worked long days in continual shifts on the farms of the community. And, until they found night labor to be hazardous to the health of the workers and established an 18 hour work day, they would work all day and night (Mikkelsen 34). Eventually though, things began to turn up for the community. The members of Bishop Hill became skilled laborers and developed efficient systems of work execution. “As they learned the ways of the country...they became as expert as any in the use of improved machinery” and “starvation was impossible” (Mikkelsen 34, 70). By 1850, the community owned “4,000 acres of land, an attractive church building, a four-story dwelling house, two other brick houses” and many other buildings. And though about 550 members died or left the community, they still had 550 members left – “100 men, 250 women, and 200 children” (Elmen 148).

The downfall of Bishop Hill began when its leader and founder, Erik Jansson, was murdered. At some point during the utopia’s life, a man named John Root entered the community. It is said that he came to Bishop Hill looking for a wife and “whatever gold was to be found in the local streams (Elmen 149). When Root came he married Jansson’s cousin and she became Charlotte Louise Root. The marriage was permitted on Erik Janssons terms that if Root were to leave the community, Charlotte had the choice to stay. Eventually Root decided to leave the community, but his wife did not wish to leave with him. Root attempted multiple times to kidnap his wife from Bishop Hill, and each time she was taken back by members of this community. This led to a feud between Root and Jansson, and on May 13 of 1850, Root shot Jansson in the shoulder and heart, killing him (Elmen 160). The murdering of Jansson began the start of the downfall of Bishop Hill. “The [community’ of Janssonists was founded upon a religious basis. As soon as this basis should be withdrawn, the superstructure was destined to fall. And that is what happened, for with the death of its founder, Janssonism rapidly went into decay” (Mikkelsen 69-70). Bishop Hill reached the end of its downfall in March of 1862 (Mikkelsen 67).

Among the values in the Bishop Hill community were religion, celibacy, and education. Religion could easily be considered the main value at Bishop Hill, as it was the main inspiration for the founding of the community. Janssonists left Sweden to follow their Christian leader and become part of a “system of theology directly antagonistic to the authority of the Established Church” and Lutheran traditions (Mikkelsen 24-25). They only followed one book, which was the Bible, and “divine worship was held twice a day on week days and three times on Sundays.” Mass was about two hours long and conducted by Jansson himself. Another value at Bishop Hill was celibacy. Although it was not referred to as celibacy by Janssonists, there was definitely a feeling of “hostility towards sex,” and measures were taken to keep men and women separate from one another (Elmen 130). For example, men and women sat at separate tables during meals, sat in different sections during church, and all the single men and women lived in housing with their own sex (Elmen 166). Not only was there a hostility towards sex, but in the beginning of the community, marriage was not allowed. People who were married in Sweden remained together when they arrived in Cambridge, but there were no new marriages. This led to many of the members experiencing a longing for marriage. So, eventually, Jansson changed the rules, claiming that “marriage was not only permissible but highly pleasing in the eyes of God” (Elmen 130). A third value in the utopia was education. Though many of the community members were illiterate, they valued education. “They held progressive views with regard to elementary education,” and they even had “a school for adults that taught advanced arts of writing and ciphering” (Mikkelsen 31). Also an English school was opened among the community in 1847 (Mikkelsen 31).
 * Values**

At Bishop Hill, there was an “equal distribution of economic goods” (Mikkelsen 70). Jansson wanted Bishop Hill to be a “community of goods” and “based his adoption of communism entirely on scriptural grounds” (Mikkelsen 27). The practice of communism at Bishop Hill began from the start. When Janssonists were first planning their voyage to America, many of the members did not have the resources needed to make the trip. So since, in the book that Janssonists lived by, the Christain Church “had taken care of its poor and material goods had been held in common,” the wealthy Janssonists sold all of their property and all the proceeds went to the community (Mikkelsen 27). Another aspect of communism at Bishop Hill was that “to every person, male and female, that had attained the age of thirty-five years, a full share of all lands, timber, town lots, and personal property was given.” And “all under this age received a share corresponding in amount and value to the age of the individual, no discrimination being shown to either sex” (Mikkelsen 67).
 * Communism**

Though men and women, and boys and girls worked together at Bishop Hill, there were some differences between the two sexes. “Women made up two-thirds of the community and men were...needed at trades,” so there was a “great deal of unskilled labor performed by women” at Bishop Hill (Elmen 53). Besides working with the men in the fields and in the construction of buildings, some of the jobs in the community were performed strictly by women. The milking and the tending to the cheese were done solely by women, the spinning and weaving were done solely by women, and women also had to sew their own clothes (Elmen 53) (Mikkelsen 55). Though these women seem to have had more diverse occupational freedom than women in traditional societies of this time, it is said that the “communal child care centers, kitchens, dining rooms, laundries [at Bishop Hill] were used to free women to perform other economic functions in the community rather than for intellectual or aesthetic liberation” (Gutek 2). There were also some differences in the between men and women in the community that were degrading to women. For example, “among the Janssonists, women were not allowed to talk in public” (Mikkelsen 44). Also, when Jansson started allowing marriages in the community, “any woman a man wanted [to marry] he could take. women had no choice in the matter” (Elmen 130).
 * Women**

This was only a brief explanation of the community of Bishop Hill, and there is much more information out there. Whether successful or unsuccessful, the communities values, practice of communism, and role of women was a lifestyle the Janssonists risked their lives for. The Janssonists all contributed to the rise and fall of Bishop Hill, and to the history of Cambridge, Illinois, before the Quad-Cities.
 * Conclusion**

Elmen, P. “Wheat Flour Messiah: Eric Jansson of Bishop Hill.” Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. //Google Books.// Web. 3 Nov. 2010. Gutek, G. L., Gutek, P. “Visiting Utopian Communities: a guide to the Shakers, Moravians, and others.” Columbia: South Carolina, 1998. //Google Books.// Web. 24 Nov. 2010. Mikkelsen, Michael A. “The Bishop Hill Colony: a Religious Communistic Settlement in Henry County, Illinois.” 1891. Baltimore. //Google Books.// Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
 * Works Cited**

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