Post on 04-Jun-2018
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Errand into the
Wilderness
The Unlikely Origins of
American Democracy
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Salem Possessed
February 1692, Samuel Parriss daughterpossessed
- Sarah Good
Arrests did not calm fears- Court of Oyer and Terminer
Trial of George Jacob s
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The implications
1. Ooops!1697Day of Atonement
1711Restitution to survivors and heirs
2. Reason triumphant?- Church/state separation
- Natural Philosophy (science)
- Age of Enlightenment
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Last gasp of the medieval wor ld?
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A. Puritanism and American
Culture1. cultural empire
2. Emphasize education, reform &
progress through cooperative action
- Abolition
- Temperance
-Feminism
- Transcendentalism/Unitarianism
- communalism
- Evangelicalism
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3. A Model of Christian CharityJohn Winthrop, 1630
The Mission: City on a Hill
- Americans chosen by God
- American exceptionalism
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4. When the mission fails- recrimination, paranoia
- tendency to persecute
- Failure contradicts covenant
The Cruc ible- Arthur Miller
Joseph McCarthy
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A. Something about Mary
1. Reformation in England 1535
Henry VIII Bloody Mary I Elizabeth I James I
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B. The Ghost of John Calvin
1. Reform of the High Church- hierarchy v. assembly
What is a church?
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2. Predestination
a. Advantages- natural egalitarianism
antinomianism
Religion as Revolution
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b. Awful logic of Calvinism
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C. Your cheatin heart
1. Cheat #1
a. The Covenant
John Cotton, 1636
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b. Mayf lower Compact, 1620
- community first
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2. Cheat #2
Conversion process
[prominent role in American Protestantism]
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3. Cheat #3Visible Saints / the Elect
Max Weber
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D. Cheaters sometimes prosper
1. Full church membershipa. receive sacraments
b. baptize children (membership)
c. vote on ministerd. political rights
Egali tarian, democ ratic(?)
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III. Things fall apart
The fai lure of the Puri tan
Miss ion
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A. Internal division
1. Egalitarian but intolerant
Roger Wil liams Anne Hutchinson
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B. Prosperity
1. Diverse New England economy
- rise of the Yankee trader
Whal ing and commercia l centers
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C. Population Growth
4. Westward migration- shrinking farms
5. Visible Saints thing comes back to bite them
- Gods favor
- capitalist ethic conquers communal control
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D. Judgment Day deferred
1. English Commonwealth, 1649-60
2. Cromwells betrayal
3. the Restoration, 1660
Oliver Cromwel l
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E. Loss of Confidence
1. Lack of conversion (3rdgeneration)- fewer church members
- fewer voters
2. Halfway Covenant (S. Stoddard)cheat 4
- vote, but no sacraments
By 1700, Pur i tan church not so pure
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IV. Utopia Undone
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B. Wrath of God
1. King Philips War, 1675-76
2. 1680s smallpox epidemic
3. 1684Royal Colonyloss of political control
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C. Satans Sisters
- Tituba West Indian
- Sarah Good homeless beggar
- Sarah Osborne elderly; alone; poor church
attendance- Martha Corey had illegitimate, mixed-race
child; opinionated
- Rebecca Nurse elderly; dispute with previous
minister- Bridget Bishop 3 husbands; non-demure;
worked in pubs
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D. Do we know why?
1. Lysergic acid
(LSD)
Little Ice Age
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2. Economic/social rivalry
- Village v. Town- pro v. anti Parris
- Putnams v. Porters
- traditional v. mercantile
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E. The Upshot
1. Puritans fail upward
2. Communal ideals build democratic
tradition
- rights based on inclusion in community- participatory democracy
basis of independence
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Red vs. Blue regions?
Competing definitions of Liberty