ABSTRACT
Robert Dale Owen was Anne Caroline and Robert Owen’s eldest child. An early supporter of his father’s theories, he followed him to New Harmony in 1825. After the community collapsed, he became an American citizen and made a career as a politician in the United States. Though he slowly drifted away from cooperative socialism, he remained a lifelong opponent of slavery, and a defender of women’s rights, under the influence of his close friend and associate Frances Wright. Among the human instincts which contribute to man’s preservation and well-being, the instinct of reproduction holds a distinguished rank. Were the reproductive instinct disconnected from pleasure of any kind, it would neither afford enjoyment nor admit of abuse. As it is, the instinct is susceptible of either; just as wisdom or ignorance governs human laws, habits, and customs. It behooves us, therefore, to be especially careful in its regulation; else what is a great good may become for us a great evil.
