The Beginnings of New England

The Beginnings of New England

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Title: The Beginnings of New England Or the Puritan Theocracy in its
Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty
Author: John Fiske
Release Date: June 28, 2004 [EBook #12767]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND ***

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THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND
OR THE PURITAN THEOCRACY IN ITS RELATIONS TO CIVIL
AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
BY

JOHN FISKE
"The Lord Christ intends to achieve greater matters by this little
handful than the world is aware of." EDWARD JOHNSON,
Wonder-Working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England 1654
1892

To
MY DEAR CLASSMATES,
BENJAMIN THOMPSON FROTHINGHAM,
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS WHITE,
AND
FREDERIC CROMWELL,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.

PREFACE.
This book contains the substance of the lectures originally given at the
Washington University, St. Louis, in May, 1887, in the course of my
annual visit to that institution as University Professor of American
History. The lectures were repeated in the following month of June at
Portland, Oregon, and since then either the whole course, or one or
more of the lectures, have been given in Boston, Newton, Milton,
Chelsea, New Bedford, Lowell, Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield,
Mass.; Farmington, Middletown, and Stamford, Conn.; New York,
Brooklyn, and Tarrytown, N.Y.; Philadelphia and Ogontz, Pa.;
Wilmington, Del.; Chicago, 111.; San Francisco and Oakland, Cal.
In this sketch of the circumstances which attended the settlement of

New England, I have purposely omitted many details which in a formal
history of that period would need to be included. It has been my aim to
give the outline of such a narrative as to indicate the principles at work
in the history of New England down to the Revolution of 1689. When I
was writing the lectures I had just been reading, with much interest, the
work of my former pupil, Mr. Brooks Adams, entitled "The
Emancipation of Massachusetts."
With the specific conclusions set forth in that book I found myself
often agreeing, but it seemed to me that the general aspect of the case
would be considerably modified and perhaps somewhat more
adequately presented by enlarging the field of view. In forming
historical judgments a great deal depends upon our perspective. Out of
the very imperfect human nature which is so slowly and painfully
casting off the original sin of its inheritance from primeval savagery, it
is scarcely possible in any age to get a result which will look quite
satisfactory to the men of a riper and more enlightened age. Fortunately
we can learn something from the stumblings of our forefathers, and a
good many things seem quite clear to us to-day which two centuries
ago were only beginning to be dimly discerned by a few of the keenest
and boldest spirits. The faults of the Puritan theocracy, which found its
most complete development in Massachusetts, are so glaring that it is
idle to seek to palliate them or to explain them away. But if we would
really understand what was going on in the Puritan world of the
seventeenth century, and how a better state of things has grown out of it,
we must endeavour to distinguish and define the elements of
wholesome strength in that theocracy no less than its elements of
crudity and weakness.
The first chapter, on "The Roman Idea and the English Idea," contains
a somewhat more developed statement of the points briefly indicated in
the thirteenth section (pp. 85-95) of "The Destiny of Man." As all of the
present book, except the first chapter, was written here under the
shadow of the Washington University, I take pleasure in dating it from
this charming and hospitable city where I have passed some of the most
delightful hours of my life.

St. Louis, April 15, 1889.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA.
When did the Roman Empire come to an end? ... 1-3
Meaning of Odovakar's work ... 3
The Holy Roman Empire ... 4, 5
Gradual shifting of primacy from the men who spoke Latin, and their
descendants, to the men who speak English ... 6-8
Political history is the history of nation-making ... 8, 9
The ORIENTAL method of nation-making; conquest without
incorporation ... 9
Illustrations from eastern despotisms ... 10
And from the Moors in Spain ... 11
The ROMAN method of nation-making; conquest with incorporation,
but without representation ... 12
Its slow development