Jonathan Beecher Field

This book departs from customary historiographical method in a very interesting manner. The author is not a professional historian but rather a professor of American literature. Although he has a sure grasp of the principal historical developments of seventeenth-century New England and England, he does not focus on minutiae but rather selects relevant and significant historical facts to weave into his interpretative narrative of the founding texts of the colony and eventual state of Rhode Island. This procedure enables him to show the interrelationships of these texts and their historical circumstances and consequences. Specifically, he establishes, quite convincingly, that Rhode Island founders Roger Williams, Samuel Gorton, and John Clarke each crafted certain of their writings in a careful rhetorical manner to achieve and maintain the political independence and principles (most importantly, liberty of conscience) of their emerging colony in opposition to the designs of other colonies, most notably Massachusetts Bay. In each instance, they were successful with the government du jour of England. I found especially interesting the discussion of Williams's Key into the Language of America in chapter 2. The author explains how Williams brilliantly constructed this work to support his unorthodox theory that land acquisition in America should proceed by purchase from the Native Americans and not by proclamation from a Christian king.

Chapter 5 contains something of a digression from the Rhode Island focus of the book in discussing the remarkable rhetorical efforts of the persecuted religious group called Quakers, resulting in the prohibition, in 1661, by King Charles II of any further executions in Massachusetts Bay of Quakers. Although Massachusetts Bay soon circumvented that order by passing a law (the Cart and Whip Act) that effectuated extreme torture on Quakers by means of severe whipping, the 1661 royal order was a step in the right direction. This and other episodes in the book show that English rule was not always inimical to the just rights of colonists. Indeed, during the seventeenth century, the threat to what we now call democratic principles originated more from the New England theocracies than from the various republican and monarchical governments of England. The Rhode Island Charter that John Clarke obtained in 1663 from Charles II was the most enlightened constitutional document of its time.
… (more)

Errands into the Metropolis: New England Dissidents in Revolutionary London by Jonathan Beecher Field (Dartmouth University Press, 2009) is a fascinating and tightly-focused study of a particular culture of print: that of New England dissidents (specifically those connected with the Rhode Island settlements) publishing works in London in the mid-17th century. Field argues that these dissidents (including Rogers Williams, Samuel Gorton and others) "availed themselves of specific discursive opportunities produced by a historically distinct combination of political, cultural and technological circumstances" (p. 5).

Field argues that the Rhode Island dissidents were as successful as they were partly because the distance required for the mediation of disputes (between them and their counterparts in the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies) allowed them to level the playing field: "to a degree, rhetorical ability in print could outweigh overmatched political power" (p. 5). Persuasive written accounts of feuds could win out, Field suggests, and did in a remarkable number of Rhode-Island-related cases. While some of this might have been a case of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' I think Field's onto something, and his argument worked for me.

Through close readings of certain dissident texts, including Williams' Key Into the Language of America, John Clarke's Ill Newes from New England and others, Field argues that the dissidents did more to shape their appeals to the ears and minds of their British readers, and deployed the goal of toleration as a pragmatic tactic, rather than some idealistic goal.

A very succinct and finely-honed work, which is interesting from first page to last, both for its depictions of mid-17th century publishing practices and techniques, and for its intriguing argument. Recommended.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2009/08/book-review-errands-into-metropolis.html… (more)