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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