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Robert Hare: Politics, Science, and Spiritualism in the Early Republic
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Robert Hare (1781–1858), the foremost American chemist of his generation, assembled his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School on Monday, May 10, 1847. When they met, Hare surprised the group by tendering his resignation as professor of chemistry at the medical school, a position he had held since 1818.1 Following his retirement from teaching, Hare embarked on a number of new projects. In the 1840s, he assisted in the founding of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also continued his scientific investigations, and he became involved in a debate over the origin of storms.2 He wrote and published two novels: Standish the Puritan and Overing, or, The Heir of Wycherly.3 Finally, in the 1850s, he converted to Spiritualism and became a vociferous advocate of it as a science and a religion.4 |
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As the only well-known scientist of his time to take up Spiritualism, Hare became an important figure in the early Spiritualist movement, and Spiritualists touted his conversion as proof of the scientific and empirical basis of their claims. Scientists, on the other hand, viewed his actions quite differently. Prior to his conversion, they lauded Hare as one of the greatest American chemists; afterwards, they rejected, scorned, or pitied him. A. A. Gould, an internationally recognized naturalist, suggested that his colleagues were witnessing the "break-up of a powerful mind." Benjamin Silliman, Hare's close friend and the founder of the first scientific journal in the United States, urged Hare to return to Christian orthodoxy. In less diplomatic language, the faculty at Harvard College denounced Hare for his "insane adherence" to a "gigantic humbug." In his obituary, the New York Times noted Hare's contributions to science, but lamented his Spiritualist "delusion."5 Subsequent generations of historians have followed suit by depicting Hare's conversion to Spiritualism as somehow being divorced from his earlier scientific work.6 |
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Close scrutiny of Robert Hare's life, however, reveals that his attraction to Spiritualism was not a late-in-life aberration. Rather, it was consistent with beliefs that he held throughout his entire career as a public intellectual in the fields of science, politics, and culture. Indeed, Hare's Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations, Demonstrating the Existence of Spirits and Their Communion with Mortals (1855) was the culmination of his lifelong efforts to promote the restoration of a social order constructed on the principles of republicanism, as he understood them.7 Thus, Spiritualism allowed Hare to harmonize his political, scientific, social, and religious beliefs. |
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By birth and conviction, Hare was a firm believer in social hierarchy. His father, Robert Hare Sr., was an English brewer who immigrated to America in 1773, joined the patriot cause, assisted in drafting Pennsylvania's first constitution, served as speaker of the Pennsylvania State Senate, and was a trustee for the University of Pennsylvania.8 Hare Sr. considerably enhanced his own wealth and status when he married Margaret Willing, a member of one of Pennsylvania's most prominent families. Robert Hare Jr.'s maternal uncle, Thomas Willing, first headed the Bank of North America and then the Bank of the United States.9 Hare solidified his social standing with his marriage to Harriet Clark, the daughter of a wealthy Rhode Island mercantile family. Robert and Harriet lived in a mansion on Chestnut Street, a central location for many of Philadelphia's most affluent families. Throughout his life, Hare enjoyed all the privileges of wealth. He was not only a man of science, but also a man of business: a speculator, a landlord, and an investor.10 |
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