New England Politics

Author : Frank M. Bryan
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2010-03-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780226077987

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Real Democracy by Frank M. Bryan Pdf

Relying on an astounding collection of more than three decades of firsthand research, Frank M. Bryan examines one of the purest forms of American democracy, the New England town meeting. At these meetings, usually held once a year, all eligible citizens of the town may become legislators; they meet in face-to-face assemblies, debate the issues on the agenda, and vote on them. And although these meetings are natural laboratories for democracy, very few scholars have systematically investigated them. A nationally recognized expert on this topic, Bryan has now done just that. Studying 1,500 town meetings in his home state of Vermont, he and his students recorded a staggering amount of data about them—238,603 acts of participation by 63,140 citizens in 210 different towns. Drawing on this evidence as well as on evocative "witness" accounts—from casual observers to no lesser a light than Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn—Bryan paints a vivid picture of how real democracy works. Among the many fascinating questions he explores: why attendance varies sharply with town size, how citizens resolve conflicts in open forums, and how men and women behave differently in town meetings. In the end, Bryan interprets this brand of local government to find evidence for its considerable staying power as the most authentic and meaningful form of direct democracy. Giving us a rare glimpse into how democracy works in the real world, Bryan presents here an unorthodox and definitive book on this most cherished of American institutions.

Author : Duane Lockard
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2015-12-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781400878215

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New England State Politics by Duane Lockard Pdf

A down-to-earth and fact-filled discussion of New England state politics based on seven years of research and over 1,000 interviews. Originally published in 1959. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Author : Gary L. Rose
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2021-03
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1680539027

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New England Local Government by Gary L. Rose Pdf

Local government in the New England states has historically been regarded as a style of government that most closely embodies the spirit of American democracy. Although models of local government vary from one town to the next, the common thread which unites all New England towns is that the people are empowered to choose their own form of government, and in doing so control their own destiny. In this fresh and insightful book, Professor Gary L. Rose, a well known commentator on American politics and native New Englander, introduces readers to local government in Connecticut. Rose takes readers on a journey showcasing the origin of Connecticut towns, the different models of government in existence among the state's 169 communities, the means by which towns and cities finance public services, the status of party politics in urban, suburban, and rural communities, the creative endeavors currently underway at the local level of government, and the serious challenges facing local media with respect to performing their "watchdog" role over the affairs of local decision makers. Intended for students, political practitioners, and a general audience, Professor Rose's book not only fills a void in the literature on local government, but will also serve to inspire those who want to make a positive difference in the political life of their local communities.

Author : Neal R. Peirce
Publisher : W. W. Norton
Page : 452 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1976-07-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0393337537

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The New England States by Neal R. Peirce Pdf

Author : Barry Levy
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : History
ISBN : 0812241770

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Town Born by Barry Levy Pdf

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, British colonists found the New World full of resources. With land readily available but workers in short supply, settlers developed coercive forms of labor—indentured servitude and chattel slavery—in order to produce staple export crops like rice, wheat, and tobacco. This brutal labor regime became common throughout most of the colonies. An important exception was New England, where settlers and their descendants did most work themselves. In Town Born, Barry Levy shows that New England's distinctive and far more egalitarian order was due neither to the colonists' peasant traditionalism nor to the region's inhospitable environment. Instead, New England's labor system and relative equality were every bit a consequence of its innovative system of governance, which placed nearly all land under the control of several hundred self-governing town meetings. As Levy shows, these town meetings were not simply sites of empty democratic rituals but were used to organize, force, and reconcile laborers, families, and entrepreneurs into profitable export economies. The town meetings protected the value of local labor by persistently excluding outsiders and privileging the town born. The town-centered political economy of New England created a large region in which labor earned respect, relative equity ruled, workers exercised political power despite doing the most arduous tasks, and the burdens of work were absorbed by citizens themselves. In a closely observed and well-researched narrative, Town Born reveals how this social order helped create the foundation for American society.

Author : David D. Hall
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2012-08-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807837115

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A Reforming People by David D. Hall Pdf

In this revelatory account of the people who founded the New England colonies, historian David D. Hall compares the reforms they enacted with those attempted in England during the period of the English Revolution. Bringing with them a deep fear of arbitrary, unlimited authority, these settlers based their churches on the participation of laypeople and insisted on "consent" as a premise of all civil governance. Puritans also transformed civil and criminal law and the workings of courts with the intention of establishing equity. In this political and social history of the five New England colonies, Hall provides a masterful re-evaluation of the earliest moments of New England's history, revealing the colonists to be the most effective and daring reformers of their day.

Author : Jane Kamensky
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : History
ISBN : 0195090802

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Governing the Tongue by Jane Kamensky Pdf

Governing the Tongue explains why the spoken word assumed such importance in the culture of early New England. Author Jane Kamensky re-examines such famous events as the Salem witch trials and the banishment of Anne Hutchinson - as well as the little-known words of unsung individuals - to expose the ever-present fear of what the Puritans called "sins of the tongue." But if New Englanders despised some kinds of speech, they cherished others. While they were enjoined to "govern" their tongues in daily life, laypeople were also told to lift up their voices "like a trumpet" when speaking to or of God. By placing speech at the heart of New England's early history, Kamensky develops new ideas about the relationship between language and power both in that place and time and, by extension, in our world today.

Author : Josephine F. Milburn,Victoria Schuck
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1981
Category : Political Science
ISBN : UOM:39015011810176

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New England Politics by Josephine F. Milburn,Victoria Schuck Pdf

Author : Joseph F. Zimmerman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1999-03-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780313003639

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The New England Town Meeting by Joseph F. Zimmerman Pdf

In this groundbreaking study, Zimmerman explores the town meeting form of government in all New England states. This comprehensive work relies heavily upon surveys of town officers and citizens, interviews, and mastery of the scattered writing on the subject. Zimmerman finds that the stereotypes of the New England open town meeting advanced by its critics are a serious distortion of reality. He shows that voter superintendence of town affairs has proven to be effective, and there is no empirical evidence that thousands of small towns and cities with elected councils are governed better. Whereas the relatively small voter attendance suggests that interest groups can control town meetings, their influence has been offset effectively by the development of town advisory committees, particularly the finance committee and the planning board, which are effective counterbalances to pressure groups. Zimmerman provides a new conception of town meeting democracy, positing that the meeting is a de facto representative legislative body with two safety valves—open access to all voters and the initiative to add articles to the warrant, and the calling of special meetings to reconsider decisions made at the preceding town meeting. And, as Zimmerman points out, a third safety valve—the protest referendum—can be adopted by a town meeting.

Author : Scott McDermott
Publisher : Anthem Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2022-02-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781785274749

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The Puritan Ideology of Mobility by Scott McDermott Pdf

The Puritan Ideology of Mobility: Corporatism, the Politics of Place, and the Founding of New England Towns before 1650 examines the ideology that English Puritans developed to justify migration: their migration from England to New England, migrations from one town to another within New England, and, often, their repatriation to the mother country. Puritan leaders believed firmly that nations, colonies, and towns were all “bodies politic,” that is, living and organic social bodies. However, if a social body became distempered because of scarce resources or political or religious discord, it became necessary to create a new social body from the old in order to restore balance and harmony. The new social body was articulated through the social ritual of land distribution according to Aristotelian “distributive justice.” The book will trace this process at work in the founding of Ipswich and its satellite town in Massachusetts.

Author : Joseph F. Zimmerman
Publisher : Praeger
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1999-03-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : UOM:39015043824807

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The New England Town Meeting by Joseph F. Zimmerman Pdf

This work explores the town meeting form of government. It provides a conception of town meeting democracy, positing that it is a de facto representative legislative body with three safety valves - access to all voters, the ability to add articles and call meetings, and the protest referendum.

Author : Jerold Duquette,Erin O'Brien
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2022-04-29
Category : History
ISBN : 1625346689

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The Politics of Massachusetts Exceptionalism by Jerold Duquette,Erin O'Brien Pdf

Are claims of Massachusetts's special and instructive place in American history and politics justified? Alternately described as a "city upon a hill" and "an organized system of hatreds," Massachusetts politics has indisputably exerted an outsized pull on the national stage. The Commonwealth's leaders often argue for the state's distinct position within the union, citing its proud abolitionist history and its status as a policy leader on health care, gay marriage, and transgender rights, not to mention its fertile soil for budding national politicians. Detractors point to the state's busing crisis, sky high levels of economic inequality, and mixed support for undocumented immigrants. The Politics of Massachusetts Exceptionalism tackles these tensions, offering a collection of essays from public policy experts that address the state's noteworthy contributions to the nation's political history. This is a much-needed volume for Massachusetts policymakers, journalists, and community leaders, as well as those learning about political power at the state level, inside and outside of the classroom. Contributors include the editors as well as Maurice T. Cunningham, Lawrence Friedman, Shannon Jenkins, and Luis F. Jiménez, and Peter Ubertaccio.

Author : Charles Andrews
Publisher : Litres
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2022-01-29
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9785040761203

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The Fathers of New England: A Chronicle of the Puritan Commonwealths by Charles Andrews Pdf

Author : Josephine F. Milburn,William Doyle
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 1983
Category : Political Science
ISBN : UOM:39015008362769

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New England Political Parties by Josephine F. Milburn,William Doyle Pdf

Author : Ronald Arthur Petrin
Publisher : Balch Institute Press
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : History
ISBN : 0944190073

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French Canadians in Massachusetts Politics, 1885-1915 by Ronald Arthur Petrin Pdf

Emigrating from Quebec to New England in large numbers after the Civil War, French Canadians became by 1900 the largest non-English-speaking ethnic group in Massachusetts. This study reevaluates the political behavior of French Canadians in Massachusetts from 1885 to 1915 and analyzes the complex relationship between ethnicity and politics.