tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post2770420558950543..comments2024-03-21T21:53:01.837-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Digging for “Heretical” Roots Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-9622197088888514842014-07-07T18:16:41.258-05:002014-07-07T18:16:41.258-05:00I read the book over the past week and it is the b...I read the book over the past week and it is the best attempt I can think of to explain what exactly our founders meant when they said things like "according to Nature and Nature's God," "self-evident truths," and "the pursuit of happiness."<br /><br />The book is no beach read, that is for sure, but I highly recommend it to anyone willing to make the effort to understand just how differently people thought in the late 18th-c. about these things and how facile efforts in our time to capture the founders' support for one political agenda or another can run aground.<br /><br />Couple of asides:<br /><br />Stewart uses Young and Ethan Allen not as epitomes but rather as examples demonstrating how deeply specific cosmopolitan ideas about nature and nature's god permeated late colonial and revolutionary society. If these guys were repeating these ideas then …<br /><br />Not only does Stewart clearly identify Young as a physician, that role plays a significant part in Stewart's argument, especially in the chapter on self-evident truths.<br /><br />Again, I highly recommend this book.Jerri Priesnoreply@blogger.com