ABSTRACT
On the eve of the American Revolution, the followers of a small group of Shakers reached the western frontier of New York State. The Shakers first set foot in America in 1774 as a small group of nine immigrants from Manchester, England, with their spiritual leader Ann Lee. Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright's initiated the move to Mount Lebanon and lived there, leading the experiment of spiritual, social, and economic communal life. The Shaker theology, as expressed in The Testimony, included several radical elements. The deity in their theology was manifest in male and female form like all other beings in nature. A comprehensive formulation of the communal principles of the Shakers was first published in 1818. Parallel to the formulation of Shaker theology and communal principles, the religious rituals were formalized. After 1808 special thought was invested in establishing educational principles and institutions. Shaker spiritualism was thus the beginning of a social phenomenon throughout the United States.
