Moses Harman: free thought, free love, and eugenics in the Midwest, 1880-1910

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This thesis investigates the free thought, free love, and eugenics movements by examining the figure of Moses Harman. It considers the way in which free thought and free love came together to produce a unique movement in the Midwest and also looks at the beginnings of the eugenics movement as it emerged in the early twentieth century. These movements and their subsequent developments and interactions are viewed through the historical figure of Moses Harman. Harman's experiences with and influences on free thought, free love, and eugenics is shown by examining journals edited and published by him from 1880-1910. This study implicates that radical social movements were not limited to the East Coast, that there was significant activity in the Midwest during the late nineteenth century. Not only were Harman and his followers working to change social conditions based on their own ideas, they were primarily reacting to social controls of government reform and calling for a return to fundamental American principles of free speech and a secular government. The late nineteenth century, instead of being a time period of Victorian and Social Purity consensus, was a time period of increasing social conflicts as America transitioned into the modern twentieth century.