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Birth of Josiah Warren
Although the specific date of birth is unknown, Josiah Warren was born in the first half of 1798. Widely known as the first American Anarchist, he grew up in Boston, learning to become a skilled musician. After moving to Cincinnati to become a music teacher, he began to talk with others about founding a anarcho-communist colony. He was one of the founding residents of the attempted utopian community New Harmony, IN, but it failed. He published many writings on his philosophy and anarchism -
Josiah Warren opens the Cincinnati Times Store
The Cincinnati Times Store was one of the earliest experiments in the feasibility of anarchy. Josiah Warren wanted to test wether or not anarchist principles could actually hold in real life so he created the store on the principles that people should be charged fairly in the labor that it took to produce the goods that they bought. People could pay by agreeing to do a fair amount of labor and as a result, sales increased and prices decreased. -
Josiah Warren Publishes The Peaceful Revolutionist
After the community of New Harmony failed, Josiah blamed one main part of the community: Communism. This lead to his strong views on Individualist Anarchism, which emphasized the importance of the individual. In 1833, he then started publishing The Peaceful Revolutionist, a four-page weekly paper that he made by himself. He made is own font, printing press, and printing plates, all so he could get out his ideas to the world -
Adin Ballou Publishes Standard of Practical Christianity
Adin Ballou, an anarchist and radical pacifist converted to Christian Pacifism in 1938. The very next year he published Standard of Practical Christianity, thoroughly explaining his ideas and those of other Christian Pacifists. His ideas included having no organization, as he didnt want governments to interfere with the natural course of the world. During the Civil War, he continued to follow the same views even though other Christiam Pacificts didn't -
Founding of the Hopedale Community
Adin Ballou's Christian views showed that he could not live among the administrations governing the world, so he founded the Hopedale Community in 1842. He settled in Worcester County, MA, and blended a factory town with a religious one. People joining the community invested their money in it, and if they left they would get at least 90% back. He still wanted the town to fit in with the rest of society, but be a model of reform for a country in civil war as well. It went bankrupt 14 years later. -
Haymarket Affair
On May 3, 1886, an anarchist protest was underway when police showed up to break it up. When the police approached the protesters, one protester threw a bomb at the policemen, killing 1 and injuring dozens. In the subsequent attack by the police, one protester was killed and many more were injured. This was the first major incident involving anarchy in the U.S. and it gained much media attention -
Leon Czolgosz Shoots and Kills President William McKinley
On September 6, 1901, Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist shot and killed President William McKinley. He was motivated to do so when he lost his job during a recession. He had seen anarchists kill their leaders in foreign countries and blamed the government for his troubles. Other anarchists were initially suspected to be involved but nothing was proved. -
Anarchist Exclusion Act Passed
The Anarchist Exclusion Act further limited who could immigrate to the United States, and was signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on March 3, 1903. Anarchy had not gotten attention in the U.S., and no one really paid attention to it until the Haymarket Affair of 1886. After a bomb exploded in Chicago killing seven people, members of an anarchist group were found guilty of the attack. Talks of restricting anarchists from immigrating to the US began in the late 1800's and the act passed in 1903. -
International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam
Anarchists from all over the world, including many from the U.S. met it Amsterdam to discuss their beliefs and decide on a course of action. This was the first major anarchist meeting. They discussed issues such as trade unions and education, but no common opinions emerged due to a divide in the anarchist community. -
Palmer Raids
In response to a rising number of anarchists in the U.S., the government carried out a series of raids specifically to arrest and deport anarchists. Over 500 foreigners were deported, including a significant number of leadesr. At the time, anarchy was growing more popular in the world, especially in Russia where the Bolsheviks were gaining power. This led to the Red Scare, which caused anti-communist and anarchist movements to begin.
