In the 19th century, the political climate could be closely linked to a teeth-gnashing earthquake or a tremendous volcanic eruption. As Europe moved toward Romanticism, classical socialists and liberals began to emerge across Europe with many different ideas. In America, slavery and social reforms were a hotbed of debate sparking numerous controversies, one of which nearly led to the secession of South Carolina. No one, other than Charles Fourier, Alexis de Tocqueville, and John C. Calhoun, better represented the powerful cocktail of varied social ideas and political theories of the 19th century. These three men were unique in their ideas and have a very impactful legacy. Charles Fourier was a utopian socialist according to Karl Marx. Fourier was one of the first known utopian socialists to discover that while industry could produce wealth, its working methods were alienating. Fourier proposed that the work be done in what he called a phalanx; this means that work was distributed on a rational, rotating basis. Several of these phalanxes were created in the United States, but none were successful for long. The idea, however, took hold of the institution of the kibbutz among the Zionist settlers in Palestine. Fourier thought that within a few years, the whole world could be organized into these Phalanges. As improbable as it may seem, Fourier wrote numerous books on an idea that still fascinates us today. Fourier vehemently believed that a divine social order should be created on Earth to organize the social and domestic relations of the human race: "Freedom, if not appreciated by all, is unreal and illusory." Charles Fourier dominated the first quarter of the 19th century as Europe underwent a shift to the R...... middle of paper ......The visionary and his world. University of California Press. 1986, p. 195-196. Internet History Sourcebooks. " Internet History Sourcebooks. Np, nd Web. November 18, 2013. Peter Kropotkin. The Conquest of Bread. New York and London, Putnam, 1906. Siedentop, L. (1994). Tocqueville. New York: Oxford University Press. Manent, P. (1996) Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and LittlefieldBartlett, Irving H. John C. Calhoun: A Biography (1994) American National Biography; John C. The Papers of John C. Calhoun Edited by Robert Meriwether, W. Edwin Hemphill and Clyde N. Wilson to date, Gerald M. John C. Calhoun, Opportunist: A Reappraisal (1960) Peterson, Merrill D. Grand. triumvirate: Webster, Clay and Calhoun (1987)