A revelatory account of the aspirations and accomplishments of the people who founded the New England colonies; comparing the reforms they enacted with those attempted in England during the period of the English Revolution. Distinguished historian David D. Hall looks afresh at how the colonists set up churches; civil governments; and methods for distributing land. Bringing with them a deep fear of arbitrary; unlimited authority grounded in either church or state; these settlers based their churches on the participation of laypeople and insisted on “consent†as a premise of all civil governance. Encouraging broad participation and relying on the vigorous use of petitioning; they also transformed civil and criminal law and the workings of courts. The outcome was a civil society far less authoritarian and hierarchical than was customary in their age—indeed; a society so advanced that a few dared to describe it as “democratical.†They were well ahead of their time in doing so.As Puritans; the colonists also hoped to exemplify a social ethics of equity; peace; and the common good. In a case study of a single town; Hall follows a minister as he encourages the townspeople to live up to these high standards in their politics. This is a book that challenges us to discard long-standing stereotypes of the Puritans as temperamentally authoritarian and their leadership as despotic. Hall demonstrates exactly the opposite. Here; we watch the colonists as they insist on aligning institutions and social practice with equity and liberty.A stunning re-evaluation of the earliest moments of New England’s history; revealing the colonists to be the most effective and daring reformers of their day.
#1151770 in Books Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1990-03-01 1990-03-31Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.34 x 6.13l; 1.53 #File Name: 0674920988534 pages
Review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. worth while readBy harryThe great question for me was how did Serfdom end in Russia in a seemingly peaceful way while it took a massive war to accomplish in the US. This work provides answers to this question and many others. A very worth while read3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Historians -- this is how to do itBy Samuel C. GloverIf comparative histories are rare; part of the blame may fall on Prof. Peter Kolchin; because his "Unfree Labor" sets an extraordinary standard. Much of what he says about American slavery is a reprise of his own book by the same title; but readers new to the topic will gain from the treatment here. For me; his discussions of Russian serfdom were revelatory; and on their own justified the book's purchase.But what really sets the book apart is the dissection of the similarities and differences between these two contemporaneous institutions. This is an ambitious project; and Kolchin casts a vast net to carry it off. His analyses consider geography; agricultural markets; folk tales; the ratio of bondsmen to owners; and the rise of state power. He deftly examines the disparate origins of serf and slave populations -- the one an indigenous majority; the other a displaced minority. Kolchin often illuminates his comparisons with digressions on Brazilian and Caribbean slavery; which had characteristics intermediate between the American and Russian extremes. The book's thematic divisions ("The Masters and Their Bondsmen" and "The Bondsmen and Their Masters") nicely frame life for those on either side of the wall of privilege. Finally; although Kolchin necessarily takes a lofty and abstract view; anecdotes and quotations enliven almost every page.No review of "Unfree Labor" would be complete without mentioning what a fine model of historical presentation it is. Kolchin writes well; but he also appreciates how eloquent a well-crafted map or table of figures can be -- something that seems to elude far too many historians.
