European Background to American Colonial Society and Culture

1. European Background to American Colonial Society and Culture

2. European Social Structure • Social stratification in the 17th and 18th century Europe • Royalty • Land-owning nobility and church leaders • Middle class: merchants, tradesmen, and artisans • Masses of landless peasants

3. Daniel J. Boorstin

4. Boorstin’s Thesis: “American Exceptionalism” • Boorstin argued that the Americans in the 13 British colonies were from the very beginning more American than European in their society, culture, and politics.

5. America Differs from Europe • No Kings • No hereditary aristocracy • No Feudal traditions • Widespread acceptance of common values based on democratic government and republican virtues.

6. “American Exceptionalsim” • The natural abundance of the land gave Americans exceptional opportunities and encouraged a faith in upward mobility. • The fortuitous given in history was that American society had not had to pass through a feudal phase, with the result that the nation's body politic had been free of conflicts between supporters of an old regime and advocates of republican ideals. • Consensus School of American History: • Americans enjoyed a national consensus on the virtues of moderate liberalism [belief in “progress”] and entrepreneurial optimism [upward mobility] became the hallmark of American life.

7. Alternative: Conflict School of American History • Critics were quick to challenge this perspective, asserting that it ignored instances of deep-seated economic/ethnic conflict while giving inadequate attention to many Americans whose experience did not fit neatly with his claims for the United States as a land of opportunity.

8. Roots of Colonial Society Chapter 1 The Protestant Reformation: The Crucible of American Theism

9. Catholic Peasants in European Society

10. Corruption of Late Medieval Catholic Church • Sale of Indulgences • An indulgence, in Roman Catholic theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. • The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution.

11. Martin Luther [1483-1546] • Martin Luther initiated Protestantism, one of the major movements within Christianity. • He was a German monk, theologian, university professor, priest, and church reformer whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

12. Lutheranism • Luther taught that salvation is a free gift of God and received only through true faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin, not from good works. • His theology challenged the authority of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge • Luther opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians as priests before God (priesthood of all believers).

13. Anabaptists • Anabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. • Various groups at various times have been called Anabaptist, but the term is most commonly used to refer to the Anabaptists of 16th century Europe. • Today the descendants of the 16th century European movements (particularly the Amish, Mennonites, etc.) are the most common bodies referred to as Anabaptist.

14. John Calvin [1509-1564] • John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism.

15. Calvinism • Predestination is a religious concept, which involves the relationship between God and His creation. • The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will. • Those who believe in predestination, such as John Calvin, believe that before the creation God determined the fate of the universe throughout all of time and space. • Predestination is a decree by God that there are certain souls that were previously appointed to salvation.

16. The “Weber Thesis” • The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism • Weber wrote that capitalism evolved when the Protestant (Calvinist) ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth. • In other words, the Protestant ethic was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism.

17. Puritan [Protestant] Ethic • Hard Work • Thrift • Honesty • Austerity • Worldly prosperity is a sign of God’s favor • Poverty and want are a result of personal moral failings