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Infidels,
Freethinkers, Humanists, and Unbelievers |
Wright,
Frances (1795-1852) |
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| "The
hired preachers of all sects, creeds, and religions, never do, and
never can, teach any thing but what is in conformity with the opinions
of those who pay them."
"We
have seen that no religion stands on the basis of things known;
none bounds its horizon within the field of human observation;
and, therefore, as it can never present us with indisputable facts,
so must it ever be at once a source of error and contention."
--
Frances Wrigh
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Frances
Wright was a lecturer who grew up in London and toured the United
States from 1818 to 1820. She lived in France for a while and married
a French physician, Guillayme D'Arusmont. She became a naturalized
citizen of the United States in 1825. Wright advocated abolition,
universal equality in education, and feminism. She also attacked
organized religion, greed, and capitalism. Along with Robert Owen,
Wright demanded that the government offer free boarding schools.
Wright
was the co-founder of Free Inquirer magazine and is the author
of Views of Society and Manners in America (1821), A Few Days
in Athens (1822), and Course of Popular Lectures (1836).
Wright
founded the Nashoba Commune in 1825, intending to educate slaves
to prepare them for freedom and colonization in Haiti. Nashoba
was based on Owen's New Harmony settlement and theories of racial
equality, but outlasted New Harmony. Nashoba lasted until Wright
became ill with malaria and moved back to Europe to recover. The
interim management of Nashoba did not take Wright's benevolent
approach to the slaves living in Nashoba. Rumors spread of inter-racial
marriage and the Commune fell into financial difficulty, eventually
leading to its closing.
Wright's
opposition to slavery and that of Robert Dale Owen (Robert Owen's
son) contrasted to most other Democrats of the era, though their
artisan radicalism distanced them from the leading abolitionists
of the time. (Lott, 129)
As
an activist in the American Popular Health Movement between 1830
and 1840, Wright brought acceptance to women being involved in
health and medicine. After the midterm political campaign of 1838,
Wright suffered from a variety of health problems. She died in
1852. |
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