Stephen Pearl Andrews (original) (raw)

Stephen Pearl Andrews (March 22, 1812 - May 21, 1886) was an anarchist.

Born in Templeton, Massachusetts, he went to Louisiana at age 18 and studied and practiced law there; appalled by slavery, he became an abolitionist. Having moved to Texas in 1839, he and his family were almost killed because of his abolitionist lectures and had to flee 1843. He went off to England where he failed at his scheme to raise funds to free slaves in America.

He became interested in Pitman's new shorthand writing system and on his return to the USA he taught and wrote about this new passion while continuing his abolitionist lectures. He also became interested in phonetics and the study of foreign languages, eventually learning 30 languages. By the end of the 1840s he began to focus his energies on utopian communities, establishing Modern Times in Islip, NY, (1851), and then Unity Home in New York City (1857). By the 1860s he was propounding an ideal society called Pantarchy, and from this he moved on to a philosophy he called "universology", which stressed the unity of all knowledge and activities.

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"Every variety of interpretation has been put upon my opinions, usually the least favorable which the imagination of the writer could devise, with a view, apparently, of cultivating still further the natural prejudice existing in the public mind against any one bold enough to agitate the delicate and difficult question of the true relations of the sexes, and the legitimate role which the Passions were intended to play in the economy of the Universe.

In the absence of any readiness on the part of the public to know the truth on the subject, false, extravagant and ridiculous notions have flooded the country in its stead.

I reject and repudiate the interference of the State, precisely as I do the interference of the Church.

A grand social revolutions will occur. Tyranny of all kinds will disappear, freedom of all kinds will be revered, and none will be ashamed to confess that they believe in the Freedom of Love."

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