In Philadelphia, where the nation was founded, vegetarianism as a movement in America also began, and indeed much of the subsequent work to help animals was carried out by people living in Philly- many of them working for justice in other areas that they saw as overlapping ethical concerns. Here's a look at how social justice was pushed forward by a virtual parade of meatless advocates in the Delaware Valley prior to the Civil War. Together with one of his British admirers, Alcott founded a proto-vegan commune called Fruitlands, where not only animal foods were banned, but all work animals, leather shoes, wool clothing, cotton cloth (a slave-labor product), and manure fertilizer. For several years, this periodical was ground zero for Americans looking for and sharing information, often in the form of letters about vegetarian eating, including some who explicitly advocated abstaining from all animal products.