A Reforming People
A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England by David D. Hall
How they set up society and government in New England -- colonial times, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut.
Things like the tension between popular and arbitrary power -- democratic and elite, in modern terms, but at the time, respect for the elite was much more influential. Dread of disorder put a lot of limits on such things as petitions. Still they were implementing much of what the Levelers wanted, far more than they achieved in England.
Division of land and questions of taxes were fierce issues, especially given the conflict between wanting to choose good residents for the town and the advantages of a free market in land. The original, literally apocalyptic attempts to create church of visible saints and put them in power. The enormous controversies over whether the churches were excluding too many good Christians, or including hypocrites, and what the standards should be. Questions of equity. A particular discussion of how they played out in Cambridge.
How they set up society and government in New England -- colonial times, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut.
Things like the tension between popular and arbitrary power -- democratic and elite, in modern terms, but at the time, respect for the elite was much more influential. Dread of disorder put a lot of limits on such things as petitions. Still they were implementing much of what the Levelers wanted, far more than they achieved in England.
Division of land and questions of taxes were fierce issues, especially given the conflict between wanting to choose good residents for the town and the advantages of a free market in land. The original, literally apocalyptic attempts to create church of visible saints and put them in power. The enormous controversies over whether the churches were excluding too many good Christians, or including hypocrites, and what the standards should be. Questions of equity. A particular discussion of how they played out in Cambridge.