.对《A Reforming People》的笔记(1)

全书摘要(WIP)

这本书的主题很明确：新英格兰殖民地的建立者们是当时最为先进的改革者。可能历史的开创者们自身未必意识得到；但是，从作者所呈现出的历史图景来看，这却是显而易见的；因为种种得天独厚的因素，使得殖民者们最终造就了独一无二的政治系统。全书一共有五个章节，第五节是一个具体的案例，而前四节则从殖民地政府和市镇政府的建立，圣徒治理与政治、伦理四个方面展开刻画。
…the people who founded the New England colonies in the early seventeenth century brought into being churches, civil governments, and a code of laws that collectively marked them as the most advanced reformers of the Anglo- colonial world.（Preface）
Thanks to these circumstances, the people who colonized New England were virtually unique in establishing a system of church governance that, as their critics angrily complained, shifted authority from the clergy to the laymen of the congregation and made church membership voluntary and selective. They were unique in accomplishing a thorough reform of the legal system that some in England wanted but could never accomplish.They were virtually unique in the care with which they built participation into every level of governance, from town and congregation to colony and confederation. They were singular in distributing land to households in the form of tenure known as freehold—that is, private ownership. 
Chapter 1 The Making of Colony Governments
殖民地政府的建立之初，尽管并没有出现清晰的、世俗的“主权”观念，甚至连平等派也不敢使用“民主”一词，但是，从英国继承而来的权力制衡传统、阻止权力泛滥的意识等因素，却促成了人民主权学说的出现。
Whether of ordinary or elite status, the “people” who campaigned against the negative voice, the Standing Council, and judicial discretion wanted clear safeguards against the abuse of power.
在1640中期，几个殖民地政府基本上建成，从中也形成了他们所认可的原则（P47-48），例如:
Certain “liberties” were “fundamental,” secured for all time in a written code or by general consensus;
One of these fundamentals reiterated a point in the Petition of Right, that the state could not take someone's property without the consent of that person's representatives. Particular to thecolonists situation was a related principle, that colony lands be distributed with broad- based consent；
等等。
Chaper 2 The Making of Town Governments
Beginning with decision- making about land and taxes, the men in every town had many opportunities for making their opinions felt. The governance of towns, and, to an even greater extent, the governance of local congregations, was deeply participatory.
最为重要的原因就是经济利益的趋势，更为明确地说，就是土地和税收。这就促使人民建立代表团里来监管、划分土地，同时，随着土地市场的活跃，人们又建立了其他机构来监督、确保镇务的正常运行。
Starting afresh, and with traditional hierarchies in disarray, the colonists put together a form of government designed to distribute land in ways that satisfied most people. There was near- universal agreement that the surest means of meeting this goal was to refer decision- making to as many townspeople as possible and, concurrently, to keep local officers on a short leash.
殖民地人民参与公共生活的途径是多种多样的，例如请愿、手抄本的传阅等，每个人都竭力为自己的观点发声。而另一方面，殖民地政府和教会也为民众自发而来的行动提供了平台。
就司法而言，其情形也有所不同。霍桑的《红字》也许被视为代表作，但并不能全然真正地反映事实。在这里，忏悔才是目的：
Judges and juries would have agreed that the purpose of justice was to uphold righteousness, or the moral law spelled out in the Ten Commandments and elsewhere in the Bible. The ideal of righteousness and therefore scriptural precedents figured in every colony code (even Rhode Island’s) and permeated the judicial system, including the rules of evidence. But every trial that took place within this framework turned on the guilty party’s confessing hismisdeeds. Confession, not punishment, was the crucial moment in this drama, the one sure and certain means of purging a person and a society of the taint of sin—and every breach of the moral law contaminated the entire community. Confession had a double significance: socially, it discharged some of the fear, anger, and feelings of revenge that accumulated around misdeeds; and theologically, it deflected God’s anger at both person and culture. Justice within the framework of righteousness was about overcoming sin in people and communities, the same principle behind the practice of fast days and ceremonies of covenant renewal. Always, confession opened the way to reconciliation and restoration.