Case Study Christian Utopian Dedham
1. What is Lockridge's objective, as outlined in the introduction?
Lockridge intends to challenge the idea that society in the United States has always embodied ‘American values’ and show that the notions of a democratic political and social structure and equal opportunities for all were in fact developed over time. He will use the town of Dedham, Massachusetts as a case study to prove his points.
2. Did the Dedham settlers see a contradiction between hierarchy and harmony in their community? Why or why not?
No they didn’t, as in their Puritan culture it was believed that God did not create all men equal and that some men were simply more righteous and capable than others, therefore a natural hierarchy was formed. This hierarchy served …show more content…
The town of Dedham was strictly governed by Puritan beliefs and anyone who deviates from these beliefs was shunned from the community. Moreover, it was incredibly difficult to be accepted into the community in the first place as they were close minded and prejudiced against those different to them,which directly counters the idea of acceptance. Finally, the hierarchy they had in place as opposed to the democracy that the United States has now allowed a selected few to make the decisions and create the laws while everyone else has to follow them. The land distribution is a great example of this as it allows high ranking Dedham members to have control over everyone in the …show more content…
The number of youth joining the church were decreasing rapidly as the requirements for membership and the desire for perfection and purity among members was so difficult to attain. Since children of non-members could not be baptized the number of babies undergoing this ceremony halved. The "half-way" covenant was implemented in order to increase church membership to the second generation youth of New England settlements and allow their children to be baptized.
6. Dedham's political life "was a thing unto itself, full of contradictions which the modern mind is hard put to resolve but which were no contradictions at all to the mind of the seventeenth century" (p. 38). Explain.
Democracy which plays a vital role in modern day politics was not present in the 17th century new England settlements. This is obvious when they chose 7 men to have control over almost all of the town affairs. In our modern minds this seems like a bizarre thing to do as it takes away many people’s freedom of choice and doesn’t comply with our understanding of good politics. On the other hand, among the members if the community, perhaps based on their previous political experiences in England, this was
Lockridge intends to challenge the idea that society in the United States has always embodied ‘American values’ and show that the notions of a democratic political and social structure and equal opportunities for all were in fact developed over time. He will use the town of Dedham, Massachusetts as a case study to prove his points.
2. Did the Dedham settlers see a contradiction between hierarchy and harmony in their community? Why or why not?
No they didn’t, as in their Puritan culture it was believed that God did not create all men equal and that some men were simply more righteous and capable than others, therefore a natural hierarchy was formed. This hierarchy served …show more content…
The town of Dedham was strictly governed by Puritan beliefs and anyone who deviates from these beliefs was shunned from the community. Moreover, it was incredibly difficult to be accepted into the community in the first place as they were close minded and prejudiced against those different to them,which directly counters the idea of acceptance. Finally, the hierarchy they had in place as opposed to the democracy that the United States has now allowed a selected few to make the decisions and create the laws while everyone else has to follow them. The land distribution is a great example of this as it allows high ranking Dedham members to have control over everyone in the …show more content…
The number of youth joining the church were decreasing rapidly as the requirements for membership and the desire for perfection and purity among members was so difficult to attain. Since children of non-members could not be baptized the number of babies undergoing this ceremony halved. The "half-way" covenant was implemented in order to increase church membership to the second generation youth of New England settlements and allow their children to be baptized.
6. Dedham's political life "was a thing unto itself, full of contradictions which the modern mind is hard put to resolve but which were no contradictions at all to the mind of the seventeenth century" (p. 38). Explain.
Democracy which plays a vital role in modern day politics was not present in the 17th century new England settlements. This is obvious when they chose 7 men to have control over almost all of the town affairs. In our modern minds this seems like a bizarre thing to do as it takes away many people’s freedom of choice and doesn’t comply with our understanding of good politics. On the other hand, among the members if the community, perhaps based on their previous political experiences in England, this was