Robert D. Owen | |
|---|---|
 Owenc. 1847 | |
| United States Minister to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies | |
| In office August 25, 1853 – June 15, 1858 | |
| President | Franklin Pierce |
| Preceded by | Edward Joy Morris |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Ripley Chandler |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's1st district | |
| In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1847 | |
| Preceded by | George H. Proffit |
| Succeeded by | Elisha Embree |
| Member of theIndiana House of Representatives from the76th district | |
| In office 1851–1853 | |
| In office 1835–1838 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1801-11-07)7 November 1801 |
| Died | 24 June 1877(1877-06-24) (aged 75) Lake George, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | British-American |
| Political party | Working Men's (1829–1831) Democratic (1832–1877) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Florence Julian Dale Ernest Rosamond |
| Parent(s) | Robert Owen and Ann (or Anne) Caroline Dale Owen |
| Signature |  |
Robert Dale Owen (7 November 1801 – 24 June 1877) was a Scottish-born Welsh-American social reformer who was active inIndiana politics as member of theDemocratic Party in theIndiana House of Representatives (1835–39 and 1851–53) and represented Indiana in theU.S. House of Representatives (1843–47). As a member of Congress, Owen successfully pushed through the bill that established theSmithsonian Institution and served on the Institution's first Board of Regents. Owen also served as a delegate to theIndiana Constitutional Convention in 1850 and was appointed as U.S.chargé d'affaires (1853–58) toNaples.
Owen was a knowledgeable exponent of the socialist doctrines of his father,Robert Owen, and managed the day-to-day operation ofNew Harmony, Indiana, the socialistic utopian community he helped establish with his father in 1825. Throughout his adult life, Robert Dale Owen wrote and published numerous pamphlets, speeches, books, and articles that described his personal and political views, including his belief inspiritualism. Owen co-edited theNew-Harmony Gazette withFrances Wright in the late 1820s in Indiana and theFree Enquirer in the 1830s inNew York City. Owen was an advocate of married women's property and divorce rights, and secured inclusion of an article in theIndiana Constitution of 1851 that provided tax-supported funding for a uniform system of free public schools and established theIndiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. Owen also wrote a series of open letters in 1862 that favored the abolition of slavery and supported general emancipation, as well as suggesting that the federal government should provide assistance tofreedmen.
Robert Dale Owen was born on 7 November 1801, inGlasgow,Scotland, to Ann (or Anne) Caroline Dale andRobert Owen. His mother was the daughter ofDavid Dale, a Scottish textile manufacturer; his Welsh-born father became part-owner and manager of the New Lanark Mills, his father-in-law's textile mill atNew Lanark, Scotland.[2][3] Robert Dale was the eldest surviving son of eight children; his younger siblings (three brothers and three sister) were William, Ann (or Anne) Caroline, Jane Dale, David Dale, Richard Dale, and Mary.[4]
Owen grew up in Braxfield, Scotland, and was privately tutored before he was sent at the age of sixteen toPhilipp Emanuel von Fellenberg'sschool at Hofwyl,Switzerland. The Swiss school exposed Owen toJohann Heinrich Pestalozzi's method of education. After completing his formal education, Owen returned to Scotland to join his father in the textile business at New Lanark.[5][6]
Owen's father, a successful textile manufacturer and philanthropist, became a noted socialist reformer whose vision of social equality included, among other projects, the establishment of experimental utopian communities in the United States and the United Kingdom.[7] Robert Dale Owen, who shared many of his father's views on social issues immigrated to the United States in 1825, in his early 20s. He became a U.S. citizen and helped his father manage the socialistic community atNew Harmony, Indiana. Owen's three surviving brothers (William, David, and Richard) and his sister, Jane, also immigrated to the United States and became residents of New Harmony.[8][9]
Between 1825 and 1828, Owen managed the day-to-day operations of the socialistic community at New Harmony, Indiana, while his father returned to Britain to resume his social reform and philanthropic work in Europe.[10] In addition to his other work, Owen andFrances Wright, a wealthy, Scottish philanthropist and radical reformer, published articles in theNew-Harmony Gazette, the town's liberal weekly newspaper, and served as its co-editors. Established in 1825, theGazette was one of Indiana's earliest newspapers; however, it ceased publications in February 1829.[11][12]
After the New Harmony utopian community dissolved in 1827, Owen traveled in Europe before returning to the United States in 1829. During this period Owen wroteMoral Physiology; or, A Brief and Plain Treatise on the Population Question (1830), a controversial pamphlet on the topic of population control.[13] It was one of the first books in the United States to advocate birth control, along with Dr.Charles Knowlton'sFruits of Philosophy.[14][15] Knowlton and Owen were contemporaries and apparently knew each other. Content from Knowlton's book appears in Owen's, and the second edition of Knowlton's book includes some of Owen's content.
Owen moved toNew York City, where he and Wright co-edited the weeklyFree Enquirer until 1831–32.[16][17] As they had done in theNew Harmony Gazette, theFree Enquirer continued to express their radical views on a variety of subjects, including abolition of slavery, women's rights, universal suffrage, free public education, birth control, and religion. Owen returned to New Harmony, Indiana, in 1833, after he and Wright discontinued their editorship of the New York newspaper.[16]
Owen and Mary Jane Robinson were married before a justice of the peace on 12 April 1832, in New York City. After an extended trip to Europe, they relocated to New Harmony, Indiana. The couple had six children, two of whom died at an early age. Their surviving children were Florence (b. 1836), Julian Dale (b. 1837), Ernest (b. 1838), and Rosamond (b. 1843).[18][19]
On June 23, 1876, five years after the death of his first wife, Owen married Lottie Walton Kellogg at Caldwell, New York; he died a year later.[1]
During 1829–30, Owen became an active leader in theWorking Men's Party inNew York City. In contrast toDemocraticPresidentsAndrew Jackson andJames K. Polk, Owen was opposed toslavery, although his partisanship distanced him from other leadingabolitionists of the era.[20]
After Owen's return to New Harmony, Indiana in 1833, he became active in state politics.[16] Owen served in theIndiana House of Representatives (1835–38; 1851–53).[6] He distinguished himself as an influential member of theIndiana General Assembly during his first term by securing appropriations for the state's tax-supported public school system.[17] In addition, Owen was instrumental in introducing legislation and argued in support of widows and married women's property rights, but the bill was defeated. He also proposed laws granting women greater freedom of divorce.[14]
In addition to serving in the state legislature, Owen was elected as a delegate fromPosey County, Indiana, to theIndiana Constitutional Convention in 1850.[21] At the convention, Owen initiated a proposal to include provisions for women's property rights in the state constitution. Although it was not approved, this early effort to protect women's rights led to later laws that were passed to secure women's property, divorce, and voting rights.[22] One of Owen's lasting legacies was his authorship and efforts to secure the inclusion of an article in theIndiana Constitution of 1851 that provided state funding for a uniform system of common schools that are free and open to all and established the office of the state's superintendent of public instruction.[23]
After his first term in the Indiana legislature and two unsuccessful campaigns for election to theU.S. Congress in 1838 and in 1840, Owen was elected as a Democrat to theU.S. House of Representatives in 1842. He served from 1843 to 1847 in the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses. Owen was chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals during the Twenty-eighth Congress. He was also involved in the debates about theannexation of Texas and anOregon boundary dispute in 1844 that led to the establishment of the U.S-British boundary at the49th parallel north, the result of theOregon Treaty (1846).[24]
While serving as a member of Congress, Owen introduced and helped to secure passage of thebill that founded theSmithsonian Institution in 1846.[25] Owen was appointed to the Smithsonian Institution's first Board of Regents and chaired its Building Committee, which oversaw the construction of theSmithsonian Institution Building inWashington, D.C., and recommendedJames Renwick Jr. as architect, James Dixson and Gilbert Cameron as the contractors, and theSeneca Quarry for its distinct, dark-red sandstone.[26]
Owen, his brotherDavid Dale Owen, and architectRobert Mills, were involved in developing preliminary plans for the Smithsonian Building. These early plans influenced Renwick's choice of theRomanesque Revival architectural style (sometimes referred to asNorman-style architecture) and his three-story design for the building, which was finally selected, although not without controversy.[27] Owen's bookHints on Public Architecture (1849) argued the case for the suitability of Renwick's Romanesque Revival (Norman) architectural style for public buildings such as the Smithsonian "Castle," which he discussed in detail. Seven full-page illustrations and details of the building's architectural elements were prominently featured in the book, leading some to criticize Owen for his bias toward Renwick and his preference for Norman-style architecture over other popular styles.[28][29]
Owen was defeated in his bid for re-election to Congress in 1846; however, he remained active in public service and was once again elected to serve in the Indiana General Assembly.[6] On 24 May 1853, while Owen was serving as a state legislator in Indiana, PresidentFranklin Pierce appointed him as U.S. minister (Chargé d'Affaires and Minister Resident) to theKingdom of the Two Sicilies atNaples.[30] Owen served in the diplomatic post until 20 September 1858, and then retired from political life, although he remained actively interested in public affairs and social reform issues.[6]
During theAmerican Civil War, Owen served in theOrdnance Commission to supply theUnion Army; on 16 March 1863, he was appointed to the Freedman's Inquiry Commission. The commission was a predecessor to theFreedmen's Bureau.[17][31]
In 1862 Owen wrote a series of open letters to U.S. government officials, including PresidentAbraham Lincoln andU.S. Secretary of the TreasurySalmon P. Chase, to encourage them to support general emancipation. Owen's letter of 23 July 1862, was published in theNew York Evening Post on 8 August 1862, and his letter of 12 September 1862, was published in the same newspaper on 22 September 1862. In another open letter that Owen wrote to PresidentLincoln on 17 September 1862,[32] he urged the president to abolishslavery on moral grounds. Owen also believed that emancipation would weaken theConfederate forces and help the Union army win the war.[16] On 23 September 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary version of theEmancipation Proclamation[33] (as he had first resolved to do in mid-July[34]). InEmancipation is Peace, a pamphlet that Owen wrote in 1863, he confirmed his view that general emancipation was a means to end the war. InThe Wrong of Slavery, the Right of Emancipation, and the Future of the African Race in the United States, a report that Owen wrote in 1864, he also suggested that the Union should provide assistance to freedmen.[16]
Toward the end of his political career, Owen continued his effort to obtain federal voting rights for women. In 1865 he submitted an initial draft for a proposedFourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would not restrict voting rights to males. However, Article XIV, Section 2, in the final version of the Amendment, which became part of theU.S. Constitution in 1868, was modified to limit suffrage to males who were U.S. citizens over the age of twenty-one.[35]
InThe authenticity of the Bible (1833), Owen remarked :
For acentury and a half, then, after Jesus' death, we have no means whatever of substantiating even the existence of the Gospels, as now bound up in the New Testament. There is a perfect blank of 140 years; and a most serious one it is.[36]
Like his father, Owen converted toSpiritualism and was the author of two books on the subject:Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World (1859) andThe Debatable Land Between this World and the Next (1872).[37]
Although he retired from active public service at the conclusion of his work as a member of the Freedman's commission on 15 May 1864, Owen continued his writing career.[38] Major writing projects in retirement includedBeyond the Breakers (1870), a novel;[39]The Debatable Land Between this World and the Next (1871), one of his two books on spiritualism;[39] andThreading My Way (1874), his autobiography.[40] Owen also wrote several articles that were published in theAtlantic Monthly andScribner's Monthly.[41]
In 1875 Owen suffered a mental breakdown that was severe enough for him to be hospitalized at theIndiana Hospital for the Insane inIndianapolis, where he underwent three months of treatment. Owen recovered from the illness, was released from the hospital, and resumed writing.[42] On 23 June 1876, a year before his death, Owen married Lottie Walton Kellogg at Caldwell, New York.[1]
On 24 June 1877, Owen died at his summer home at Crosbyville onLake George, New York. Initially he was buried in the town ofLake George inWarren County, New York.[6] Later, his remains were exhumed and interred at New Harmony, Indiana, beside his first wife, Mary Jane Owen.[1]
One of Owen's most significant legacies in Indiana was to secure the inclusion of an article in the Indiana Constitution of 1851 that provided tax-supported funding for a uniform system of free public schools and established the position ofIndiana Superintendent of Public Instruction.[23] His early efforts to protect women's rights were another of his political legacies.[16] Although he was unsuccessful in adding provisions to protect women's rights to Indiana's state constitution of 1851, his efforts paved the way for others to follow. Eventually, Indiana laws granted women's property and voting rights, as well as greater freedom in divorce.[22]
As a U.S. Congressman, Owen introduced federal legislation that founded the Smithsonian Institution in 1846.[25] He was also a member of the Smithsonian Institution's first Board of Regents and its Building Committee. His vision for the Smithsonian Institution Building, along with the preliminary plans and suggestions made by his brother, David Dale Owen, and architect Robert Mills, influenced architect James Renwick Jr.'s design for the Romanesque Revival-style building in Washington, D.C.[27]
Owen's impact on the issues of slavery and emancipation is less direct. In a series of open letters he wrote in 1862 and in publications that followed, Owen encouraged the abolition of slavery on moral grounds, supported general emancipation, and suggested that the federal government should provide assistance to freedmen.[16] Some historians have concluded that these open letters and Civil War-era pamphlets "helped immeasurably to solidify public opinion" in favor of emancipation.[43]
The town ofDale, Indiana, was named in Owen's honor.[44]
In 1911, the women of Indiana dedicated amemorial to Owen on the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis that included a bronze bust of the statesman created byNew Castle, Indiana native Frances Goodwin. The bust of Owen disappeared in the early 1970s; only its pedestal remains.[44][45]
Owen's published works included pamphlets, speeches, tracts, books, and numerous articles for periodicals and newspapers.[46]
For acentury and a half, then, after Jesus' death, we have no means whatever of substantiating even the existence of the Gospels, as now bound up in the New Testament. There is a perfect blank of 140 years; and a most serious one it is.
Moral Physiology.
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Media related toRobert Dale Owen at Wikimedia Commons
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's 1st congressional district 1843–1847 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador (asChargé d'Affaires andMinister Resident) to theTwo Sicilies 1853–1858 | Succeeded by |
| Chargé d'Affaires | |
|---|---|
| Minister Resident | |
| Chargé d'Affaires | |
| Minister Resident | |
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
