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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;sshafer11, post: 2031062, member: 67540&quot;]Egalitarian might have actually been the wrong word choice..at least slightly hehe. It was really more what we&#039;d consider now a &quot;communist&quot; society. Basically the Harmonists or Rappites believed that the only real purpose in life was to prepare for the imminent return of Christ. They basically saw their settlement as a sign of commitment to god. So lets say your a carpenter in this society. The profits you make from carpentry go to the coffers of the society rather than your own pocket. The society, in turn provides you with the supplies, shelter, food, that you need to survive and prosper. </p><p><br /></p><p>And this is just a general note about the &quot;west&quot; of America as it was known during the era of the Harmornists. Most people did not use hard money for transactions in general. Hard money was scarce and it was only used when necessary. It was the best form of payment because it was universal and intrinsically valued but most people would either use credit with other merchants, dubiously backed paper money, or simply barter for most transactions. The harmonists did not take kindly to these methods of payment and instead preferred coin, but the way their society was built, they would have been less prone to needing to spend it when the time came as they were self sufficient. And as I mentioned during times of economic uncertainty throughout the 19th and early 20th century people tended to hoard hard money, the harmonists would have wanted to protect their &quot;real&quot; wealth and thus the monetary backing of their society, just like other civilians. At least this is my interpretation of it from the sources I read. I couldn&#039;t find any sources specifically mentioning know why the hoard stop growing, but it is timed perfectly with the panic of 1837 which brought about some of the worst change hoarding the country has ever seen.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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