ABSTRACT
In the early nineteenth century, a few years after the advent of the Shakers, further waves of religious immigrant sects from Europe reached the shores of the United States to establish communal settlements there. During their immigration to the United States those ties were reinforced and their settlements established as communes. The first group of about 500 arrived in America in 1804 and within a year organized the Harmony Society, founded on February 15, 1805. During their first years in Pennsylvania the Harmony group underwent a religio-spiritual upheaval. The schism in Economy was traumatic and left its members with a profound suspicion of every newcomer. The spiritual experience of music enhanced the ties of brotherhood and harmony among the members. Harmony Society became a capitalist enterprise, its enormous capital invested in a variety of economic activities whose extent is as astonishing as its business acumen. During Henrici's leadership the number of members in Economy continued to drop.
