ACLS Humanities E-Book: The Character of the Good Ruler

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There has long been a need for a monograph providing a solid seventeenth-century background for portions of Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. This work significantly addresses that need through its investigations into rhetoric, philosophy, and politics during the first hundred years after the Winthrop fleet's arrival in North America. The study alternates between exploring the New England conception of the ideal ruler and surveying the political history of the Bay Colony. These concurrent themes enhance its importance as a chronicle of change during a pivotal transition from an age of religion to an age of reason, with the Glorious Revolution identified as a key event in this transformation. Unlike recent scholarship, the author refrains from reading between the lines or making psychoanalytical judgments, focusing instead on the documents themselves without uncovering hidden meanings. While aimed at specialists in early American history, the discussions of political events on both sides of the Atlantic are accessible to readers with only a casual knowledge of New England's past. The inclusion of well-known historical elements does not overshadow the meticulous and extensive research that underpins the work.