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Loading... A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England (edition 2011)by David D. Hall
Work InformationA Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England by David D. Hall
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In this revelatory account of the people who founded the New England colonies, historian David D. Hall compares the reforms they enacted with those attempted in England during the period of the English Revolution. Bringing with them a deep fear of arbitrary, unlimited authority, these settlers based their churches on the participation of laypeople and insisted on ""consent"" as a premise of all civil governance. Puritans also transformed civil and criminal law and the workings of courts with the intention of establishing equity. In this political and social history of the five New England colo No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)974.02History and Geography North America Northeastern U.S.LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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In four initial chapters, Hall explores the development of colony-wide and town governments, the putting of "godly" rule into practice, and the concept of "equity" as it was seen by the Puritan settlers. A fifth chapter, framed as a case study of early Cambridge, completes the package.
This is a dense book, not one to be taken up lightly. But Hall's drawn on a wealth of recent scholarship, and his careful examination of the Puritans on their own terms is well worth a close read.
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