On Reading History
Notice To All Americans: #ReadHistory. Why? Because when you read history you will discover that what you thought was circumstantial is actually systemic. It is not a question of this or that personality, of this or that piece of legislation or policy, of this or that spiritual trend, the downward spiral we are living out is structural. It is built into our culture and our system of government, a system that is working as intended by those who created it.
A good place to start is Vernon L. Parrington’s “Main Currents in American Thought,” volume one, “The Colonial Mind: 1620-1800.” Parrington writes lyrically, wittily, incisively. He critically examines the personalities he brings up for study. You will see these historical figures, some of whom you know and some not, through the eyes of this highly intelligent and thoughtful human being. You will get to know our origins and by knowing a country in its origins you know a country truly and objectively.
Those Pilgrims who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony were hard as flint Calvinists who believed they were angels, building a city of God on earth, that is to say a theocracy. They believed literally that the were holier than thou and that they alone had heard God’s word and they had been called to spread the word and bring the western world to a new dawn. Any deviation from doctrine as defined by these Puritan angels was met with a harsh and unyielding response: exile, flogging, hanging.
Could it be that the religious extremes being lived out in this country have their origins in this earlier theocracy and that what has come to be known as “American exceptionalism,” America’s mission to spread the word as known to those who have the word, is not far removed from the Puritan mentality that animated the early settlers? Read Parrington and you will learn more about this important period in American history and the players whose passions have help to shape our ethos.
A good place to start is Vernon L. Parrington’s “Main Currents in American Thought,” volume one, “The Colonial Mind: 1620-1800.” Parrington writes lyrically, wittily, incisively. He critically examines the personalities he brings up for study. You will see these historical figures, some of whom you know and some not, through the eyes of this highly intelligent and thoughtful human being. You will get to know our origins and by knowing a country in its origins you know a country truly and objectively.
Those Pilgrims who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony were hard as flint Calvinists who believed they were angels, building a city of God on earth, that is to say a theocracy. They believed literally that the were holier than thou and that they alone had heard God’s word and they had been called to spread the word and bring the western world to a new dawn. Any deviation from doctrine as defined by these Puritan angels was met with a harsh and unyielding response: exile, flogging, hanging.
Could it be that the religious extremes being lived out in this country have their origins in this earlier theocracy and that what has come to be known as “American exceptionalism,” America’s mission to spread the word as known to those who have the word, is not far removed from the Puritan mentality that animated the early settlers? Read Parrington and you will learn more about this important period in American history and the players whose passions have help to shape our ethos.
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