《宪政文化:新英格兰与复辟帝国反对专制统治的斗争》作者:阿德里安·查斯坦·韦默(书评)

IF 1.1 2区 历史学 Q1 HISTORY
Carla Gardina Pestana
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The initial sense of mission disappeared as the founding generation passed from the scene. Young people failed to join their local churches and the sense of shared purpose fractured with rising concern for material success. Preachers, trying to reverse this dismaying trend, delivered sermons that rebuked the populace, and Miller labeled their laments \"jeremiads\" after the Old Testament prophet who harangued his people to forgo their sinful ways. New Englanders lost confidence, focus, and unity. He brilliantly illustrated a society in crisis with his treatment of the tribulations of Cotton Mather, son and grandson of illustrious ministers, who frantically labored to defend the witchcraft prosecutions even though he lacked both the information and the conviction to do so.1 In Adrian Chastain Weimer's hands, the 1660s emerge as the opposite of diminished and insignificant. To be sure, as she demonstrates in A Constitutional Culture, New Englanders faced challenges and, like the youngest of the famous Mathers, they struggled over how best to respond. These colonials, however, presented a largely united front that relied upon a common understanding of their circumstances. They shared, she argues, a commitment to a constitutional arrangement that sustained their connection to England, accepted monarchy, and sought local control over institutions. Over three decades in North America, starting in the 1630s, these colonists learned to manage their own affairs in church and state, and they hoped to retain this right. They did not seek autonomy beyond what local control entailed; they did not long for independence or even imagine that such a state was sustainable. They willingly fought for what they did desire, even as they debated the best strategy for achieving their goals. [End Page 785] Weimer sees New Englanders—magistrates, clergymen, merchants, and farmers—as eager to protect a shared \"constitutional culture.\" This culture reflected their view of how their own settlements and their relationship to empire ought to function, valuing local participation in decision making by male householders (who were also typically, but decreasingly, church members), a distant monarch who interfered little but accepted settlers as loyal subjects, and a church organization under the control of male church members and the clergymen they appointed. With decades of experience running their own affairs without much oversight—indeed, in a remarkable number of cases, setting up thriving though unsanctioned colonies—they organized churches, distributed land, and managed trade, warfare, and relations with neighboring colonies. Four of the New England polities established a mutual defense pact in the 1643 United Colonies, allowing a regional approach to problems that affected all, with wars against displaced Indigenous residents and the neighboring Dutch dominating their deliberations. Most residents supported these arrangements; participation extended to most adult men and decisions were made locally and coordinated regionally. The goal of upholding constitutional culture reverberated across the region once the Stuart government moved to curtail it in the early 1660s. Weimer deals primarily with Massachusetts, which wielded outsized power and where a preponderance of evidence remains, but she attends to other polities as well. She examines the smaller entities of Connecticut, New Haven (which became part of the Connecticut Colony in 1664), Plymouth Plantation, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and even Maine and New Hampshire—usually (and regrettably) overlooked in studies purporting to deal with New England. Weimer does not minimize the differences that divided them, acknowledging the peculiarities of each outpost, but she demonstrates that all engaged in local governance and felt a commitment to...","PeriodicalId":51566,"journal":{"name":"WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire by Adrian Chastain Weimer (review)\",\"authors\":\"Carla Gardina Pestana\",\"doi\":\"10.1353/wmq.2023.a910413\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Reviewed by: A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire by Adrian Chastain Weimer Carla Gardina Pestana A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire. 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They shared, she argues, a commitment to a constitutional arrangement that sustained their connection to England, accepted monarchy, and sought local control over institutions. Over three decades in North America, starting in the 1630s, these colonists learned to manage their own affairs in church and state, and they hoped to retain this right. They did not seek autonomy beyond what local control entailed; they did not long for independence or even imagine that such a state was sustainable. They willingly fought for what they did desire, even as they debated the best strategy for achieving their goals. 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引用次数: 0

摘要

《宪政文化:新英格兰与反对复辟帝国专制统治的斗争》作者:阿德里安·查斯坦·魏默卡拉·加尔迪纳·佩斯塔纳早期美国研究。作者:Adrian Chastain Weimer。费城:宾夕法尼亚大学出版社,2023。379页。布,电子书。17世纪60年代的新英格兰曾经被认为是衰落和相对不重要的,一个曾经团结和鼓舞人心的社会已经失去了最初的方向。佩里·米勒1953年的伟大著作《新英格兰思想:从殖民地到省》,既以这一时期为开端,又以这一时期为终结。按照他的思维方式——这种观点主导了早期美国史学几十年——新英格兰是一个衰落的社会。最初的使命感随着开国元勋一代的离开而消失。年轻人没有加入当地的教会,共同目标感随着对物质成功的日益关注而破裂。传教士们试图扭转这一令人沮丧的趋势,开始布道,谴责民众,米勒将他们的悲叹称为“哀哭”,以旧约先知的名字命名,这位先知长篇大论地告诫他的人民放弃罪恶的生活方式。新英格兰人失去了信心、专注和团结。他通过描写科顿·马瑟(Cotton Mather)的苦难,出色地描绘了一个危机中的社会。科顿·马瑟是杰出牧师的儿子和孙子,尽管他既缺乏信息,也缺乏信念,却疯狂地为巫术起诉辩护在艾德里安·查斯坦·魏默的笔下,1660年代是衰落和无足轻重的对立面。诚然,正如她在《宪政文化》一书中所阐述的那样,新英格兰人面临着挑战,就像著名的马瑟家族中最年轻的一位一样,他们为如何最好地应对而苦苦挣扎。然而,这些殖民地基于对自身环境的共同理解,在很大程度上形成了统一战线。她认为,他们共同致力于宪法安排,以维持他们与英格兰的联系,接受君主制,并寻求地方对机构的控制。从17世纪30年代开始,在北美的30多年里,这些殖民者学会了管理自己的教会和国家事务,他们希望保留这种权利。他们没有寻求超越地方控制范围的自治;他们并不渴望独立,甚至认为这样一个国家是可持续的。他们心甘情愿地为自己渴望的东西而战,即使他们在争论实现目标的最佳策略。韦默认为新英格兰人——地方法官、神职人员、商人和农民——都渴望保护共同的“宪政文化”。这种文化反映了他们对自己的定居点以及他们与帝国的关系应该如何运作的看法,重视男性户主(他们通常也是教会成员,但越来越少)在当地参与决策,一个很少干预但接受定居者作为忠诚臣民的远方君主,以及一个由男性教会成员和他们任命的牧师控制的教会组织。几十年来,他们在没有太多监督的情况下管理自己的事务——事实上,在相当多的情况下,他们建立了蓬勃发展的殖民地,尽管没有得到批准——他们组织了教会,分配了土地,管理了贸易,战争,以及与邻近殖民地的关系。在1643年的联合殖民地(United Colonies)中,四项新英格兰政策建立了共同防御条约,允许用地区方法解决影响所有人的问题,与流离失所的土著居民和邻国荷兰人的战争主导了他们的审议。大多数居民支持这些安排;参与扩大到大多数成年男子,决策在当地作出,并在区域协调。当斯图亚特政府在1660年代早期开始限制宪法文化时,维护宪法文化的目标在整个地区引起了反响。韦默主要处理的是马萨诸塞,那里拥有巨大的权力,证据优势依然存在,但她也关注其他政治。她考察了康涅狄格、纽黑文(1664年成为康涅狄格殖民地的一部分)、普利茅斯种植园、罗得岛和普罗维登斯种植园,甚至缅因州和新罕布什尔州等较小的实体——在旨在研究新英格兰的研究中,这些实体通常(令人遗憾地)被忽视。韦默并没有淡化他们之间的差异,她承认每个前哨站的特殊性,但她表明,所有人都参与了地方治理,并感到有责任……
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire by Adrian Chastain Weimer (review)
Reviewed by: A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire by Adrian Chastain Weimer Carla Gardina Pestana A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire. Early American Studies. By Adrian Chastain Weimer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. 379 pages. Cloth, ebook. The 1660s in New England were once considered diminished and relatively unimportant, a once united and inspired society that had lost its original direction. The 1953 great work of Perry Miller, The New England Mind: From Colony to Province, both began with and dismissed the period. To his way of thinking—a perspective that dominated early American historiography for decades—New England was a society in decline. The initial sense of mission disappeared as the founding generation passed from the scene. Young people failed to join their local churches and the sense of shared purpose fractured with rising concern for material success. Preachers, trying to reverse this dismaying trend, delivered sermons that rebuked the populace, and Miller labeled their laments "jeremiads" after the Old Testament prophet who harangued his people to forgo their sinful ways. New Englanders lost confidence, focus, and unity. He brilliantly illustrated a society in crisis with his treatment of the tribulations of Cotton Mather, son and grandson of illustrious ministers, who frantically labored to defend the witchcraft prosecutions even though he lacked both the information and the conviction to do so.1 In Adrian Chastain Weimer's hands, the 1660s emerge as the opposite of diminished and insignificant. To be sure, as she demonstrates in A Constitutional Culture, New Englanders faced challenges and, like the youngest of the famous Mathers, they struggled over how best to respond. These colonials, however, presented a largely united front that relied upon a common understanding of their circumstances. They shared, she argues, a commitment to a constitutional arrangement that sustained their connection to England, accepted monarchy, and sought local control over institutions. Over three decades in North America, starting in the 1630s, these colonists learned to manage their own affairs in church and state, and they hoped to retain this right. They did not seek autonomy beyond what local control entailed; they did not long for independence or even imagine that such a state was sustainable. They willingly fought for what they did desire, even as they debated the best strategy for achieving their goals. [End Page 785] Weimer sees New Englanders—magistrates, clergymen, merchants, and farmers—as eager to protect a shared "constitutional culture." This culture reflected their view of how their own settlements and their relationship to empire ought to function, valuing local participation in decision making by male householders (who were also typically, but decreasingly, church members), a distant monarch who interfered little but accepted settlers as loyal subjects, and a church organization under the control of male church members and the clergymen they appointed. With decades of experience running their own affairs without much oversight—indeed, in a remarkable number of cases, setting up thriving though unsanctioned colonies—they organized churches, distributed land, and managed trade, warfare, and relations with neighboring colonies. Four of the New England polities established a mutual defense pact in the 1643 United Colonies, allowing a regional approach to problems that affected all, with wars against displaced Indigenous residents and the neighboring Dutch dominating their deliberations. Most residents supported these arrangements; participation extended to most adult men and decisions were made locally and coordinated regionally. The goal of upholding constitutional culture reverberated across the region once the Stuart government moved to curtail it in the early 1660s. Weimer deals primarily with Massachusetts, which wielded outsized power and where a preponderance of evidence remains, but she attends to other polities as well. She examines the smaller entities of Connecticut, New Haven (which became part of the Connecticut Colony in 1664), Plymouth Plantation, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and even Maine and New Hampshire—usually (and regrettably) overlooked in studies purporting to deal with New England. Weimer does not minimize the differences that divided them, acknowledging the peculiarities of each outpost, but she demonstrates that all engaged in local governance and felt a commitment to...
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