A Reforming People

A revelatory account of New Englandrs"s Puritans that shows them to have been the most daring and successful reformers of the Anglo-colonial world. Distinguished historian David D. Hall delineates the program of reform that the colonists undertook and chronicles the previously unheralded success with which they put it into practice. He explains that while they took for granted the benefits of English law, hierarchy, and obedience, they broke with Englandrs"s customary forms of political and ecclesiastical authority. He describes how they accomplished a daring revision of church government that eliminated centralized and hierarchical authority; a thorough revamping of law and judicial practices that eliminated most of the cruelty and abuses rampant in England; and forms of civil government that some dared to call "democratical" and that many regarded as protecting them from arbitrary rule. Finally, he makes clear that the reforms achieved by the Puritans were the most complete expression of the English Revolution: animus against special privilege, and the fullest realization of "fundamental liberties" and the "principle of consent." A stunning reevaluation of the earliest moments of New Englandrs"s history.