Joseph Palmer (communard)
Encyclopedia
Joseph Palmer was a member of the Fruitlands
Fruitlands (transcendental center)
Fruitlands was a Utopian agrarian commune established in Harvard, Massachusetts by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane in the 1840s, based on Transcendentalist principles...

 commune and an associate of Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...

 and other Transcendentalists.

Palmer was a veteran of the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

.

Few men in the territory that became the United States wore beards after about 1720. Palmer wore a full beard when he moved to Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Fitchburg is the third largest city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,318 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private elementary and high schools.- History :...

 in 1830 and was abused for it and told he "should be prosecuted for wearing such a monstrosity." One day a minister refused him communion, so he took a drink of the communion wine himself. A few days later, a group of men seized him and tried to shave his beard. He cut two of them with a knife while preventing them from shaving him. He publicized his case by writing letters from jail that were widely published after first appearing in the Worcester Spy
Worcester Spy
The Worcester Spy, originally known as the Massachusetts Spy, was a newspaper founded in 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts by Isaiah Thomas, dedicated to supporting the Revolutionary cause against the British...

. He refused to leave when the authorities tried to release him and they ultimately had to evict him from the jail. When he later visited Boston in 1840, crowds on the street mocked him.

Palmer joined the short-lived Fruitlands
Fruitlands (transcendental center)
Fruitlands was a Utopian agrarian commune established in Harvard, Massachusetts by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane in the 1840s, based on Transcendentalist principles...

 commune in Harvard, Massachusetts
Harvard, Massachusetts
Harvard is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. A farming community settled in 1658 and incorporated in 1732, it has been home to several non-traditional communities, such as Harvard Shaker Village and the utopian Transcendentalist center Fruitlands...

, where he proved one of the more practical farmers. He bought the group's property when it dissolved as a social experiment. Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

 and Thoreau visited him there. Palmer briefly tried to established a second communal enterprise, founding the Leominster and Harvard Benevolent Association with Charles Lane
Charles Lane (transcendentalist)
Charles Lane was an English-American transcendentalist, abolitionist, and early voluntaryist. Along with Amos Bronson Alcott, he was one of the main founders of Fruitlands.-Fruitlands:...

.

He appears as the character Moses White in Louisa May Alcott's Transcendental Wild Oats.

He supported the abolition of slavery.

Palmer died in 1875, by which time beards had become widely fashionable. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in North Leominster
North Leominster
North Leominster is a village or neighborhood of the city of Leominster, Massachusetts.Settlement started in 1725, and by 1740 Leominster was separated from the town of Lancaster. Settlers north of North Nashua river were in the North village. The name change over time from North Village to North...

 and his grave marker bears a portrait of him bearded with the inscription "Persecuted for Wearing the Beard".

Harvard Law School's Zechariah Chafee
Zechariah Chafee
Zechariah Chafee, Jr. was an American judicial philosopher and civil libertarian. An advocate for free speech, he was described by Senator Joseph McCarthy as "dangerous" to the United States...

cited Palmer's case in his classic Freedom of Speech (1920). In the context of World War I restrictions on free speech, he called Palmer's case the reductio ad abusurdam that refuted attempts to justify the imprisonment of those whose words or behavior arouse violent reactions in others.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK