The Beginnings of New England | Page 2

John Fiske
... 13
Vices in the Roman system. ... 14
Its fundamental defect ... 15
It knew nothing of political power delegated by the people to
representatives ... 16

And therefore the expansion of its dominion ended in a centralized
Despotism ... 16
Which entailed the danger that human life might come to stagnate in
Europe, as it had done in Asia ... 17
The danger was warded off by the Germanic invasions, which, however,
threatened to undo the work which the Empire had done in organizing
European society ... 17
But such disintegration was prevented by the sway which the Roman
Church had come to exercise over the European mind ... 18
The wonderful thirteenth century ... 19
The ENGLISH method of nation-making; incorporation with
representation ... 20
Pacific tendencies of federalism ... 21
Failure of Greek attempts at federation ... 22
Fallacy of the notion that republics must be small ... 23
"It is not the business of a government to support its people, but of the
people to support their government" ... 24
Teutonic March-meetings and representative assemblies ... 25
Peculiarity of the Teutonic conquest of Britain ... 26, 27
Survival and development of the Teutonic representative assembly in
England ... 28
Primitive Teutonic institutions less modified in England than in
Germany ... 29
Some effects of the Norman conquest of England ... 30

The Barons' War and the first House of Commons ... 31
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty ... 32
Conflict between Roman Idea and English Idea begins to become
clearly visible in the thirteenth century ... 33
Decline of mediaeval Empire and Church with the growth of modern
nationalities ... 34
Overthrow of feudalism, and increasing power of the crown ... 35
Formidable strength of the Roman Idea ... 36
Had it not been for the Puritans, political liberty would probably have
disappeared from the world ... 37
Beginnings of Protestantism in the thirteenth century ... 38
The Cathari, or Puritans of the Eastern Empire ... 39
The Albigenses ... 40
Effects of persecution; its feebleness in England ... 41
Wyclif and the Lollards ... 42
Political character of Henry VIII.'s revolt against Rome ... 43
The yeoman Hugh Latimer ... 44
The moment of Cromwell's triumph was the most critical moment in
history ... 45
Contrast with France; fate of the Huguenots ... 46, 47
Victory of the English Idea ... 48
Significance of the Puritan Exodus ... 49

CHAPTER II.
THE PURITAN EXODUS.
Influence of Puritanism upon modern Europe ... 50, 51
Work of the Lollards ... 52
They made the Bible the first truly popular literature in England ... 53,
54
The English version of the Bible ... 54, 55
Secret of Henry VIII.'s swift success in his revolt against Rome ... 56
Effects of the persecution under Mary ... 57
Calvin's theology in its political bearings ... 58, 59
Elizabeth's policy and its effects ... 60, 61
Puritan sea-rovers ... 61
Geographical distribution of Puritanism in England; it was strongest in
the eastern counties ... 62
Preponderance of East Anglia in the Puritan exodus ... 63
Familiar features of East Anglia to the visitor from New England ... 64
Puritanism was not intentionally allied with liberalism ... 65
Robert Brown and the Separatists ... 66
Persecution of the Separatists ... 67
Recantation of Brown; it was reserved for William Brewster to take the
lead in the Puritan exodus ... 68

James Stuart, and his encounter with Andrew Melville ... 69
What James intended to do when he became King of England ... 70
His view of the political situation, as declared in the conference at
Hampton Court ... 71
The congregation of Separatists at Scrooby ... 72
The flight to Holland, and settlement at Leyden in 1609 ... 73
Systematic legal toleration in Holland ... 74
Why the Pilgrims did not stay there; they wished to keep up their
distinct organization and found a state ... 74
And to do this they must cross the ocean, because European territory
was all preoccupied ... 75
The London and Plymouth companies ... 75
First explorations of the New England coast; Bartholomew Gosnold
(1602), and George Weymouth (1605) ... 76
The Popham colony (1607) ... 77
Captain John Smith gives to New England its name (1614) ... 78
The Pilgrims at Leyden decide to make a settlement near the Delaware
river ... 79
How King James regarded the enterprise ... 80
Voyage of the Mayflower; she goes astray and takes the Pilgrims to
Cape Cod bay ... 81
Founding of the Plymouth colony (1620) ... 82, 83
Why the Indians did not molest the settlers ... 84, 85

The chief interest of this beginning of the Puritan exodus lies not so
much in what it achieved as in what it suggested ... 86, 87
CHAPTER III.
THE
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