The Amana Colonies consisted of about 1,500 people living in seven villages and owning 25,000 acres of Iowa land. Born of religious enthusiasm, this brotherhood was founded in Germany in 1714 as the Community of True Inspiration in protest against the arbitrary rule of church and state. Oppressive governments drove the Inspirationists to seek a new home in America, and under Christian Metz they crossed the Atlantic in 1842 and established six small villages near Buffalo, New York, called Ebenezer. When Buffalo’s rapid expansion threatened the isolation they wanted, a committee visited the West in 1854 and chose a home in the Iowa River Valley. Metz laid out the first village there in 1855 and named it Amana, meaning “Remain True” or “Believe Faithfully.” Five more villages were established within six miles of Amana: West Amana, South Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, and East Amana. A seventh village, Homestead, was purchased to provide access to the railroad. In 1859 the Inspirationists incorporated in Iowa as the Amana Society and adopted a constitution that took effect in 1860. It declared that God should “remain forever” the foundation of “our civil organization,” that all property acquired should remain the property of the Amana Society, that agriculture and “some manufactures” should cover expenses, and that any surplus should support churches, schools, and old and infirm members. That constitution remained the law of the Society for nearly a century. With the coming of the automobile and paved roads, isolation was no longer possible, spiritual enthusiasm declined, memories of the founders faded, and the old ideal waned. In 1932 the Society reorganized as a joint stock company in which the stockholders became both owners and employees. Although church and state are now separated, this cooperative capitalism retains elements of the old Amana and is still regarded as one of the most successful experiments in communal living in American history.