The constant challenge of the political necessities of the times, it may be urged, was altogether too compelling to admit of any such looseness. Still, one cannot scan the newspapers of the period, or read the story of the social commerce of the times as it pieces itself together out of the private records and correspondence of the day, or listen even to the pulpit’s copious flood of denunciations,[44] without a feeling of mingled admiration and astonishment that in an age everywhere characterized by upheaval and ferment there was really as little of shameless and wanton conduct in New England as the records of the period reveal. It cannot but be viewed as a notable tribute to the essential soundness and nobility of that type of moral and religious culture which Puritanism had supplied from the first that the New England character should be able to pass through a period of profound social readjustment, of the discarding of old value judgments and the adoption of new, such as came near the close of the eighteenth century, and this without serious loss of moral power and prestige. Manifestly, whatever hollowness and insincerity Puritanism may have developed in other lands and times, it did not so cramp and fetter the human spirit in New England as to render it incapable of self-guidance when the old restraints and limitations were no more.[45]

Now that its controlling spirit of gravity and provincialism was being replaced by a general temper of comparative light-heartedness and open-mindedness, of unaffected enjoyment of the good things of life, of the acceptance of standards far more natural than those of the earlier day, the transition was accomplished with a relative absence of accompanying instances of moral lapse and disaster nothing less than remarkable. A considerable amount of the boisterousness and heat of the day over which clerical Jeremiahs and others of like conservative leanings ceased not to pour out their complaints,[46] is explicable on the ground of the growing habit of the mass of the people to exercise the rights of citizenship through direct participation in the affairs of the day. For far more significant than any evidence of moral blindness and perversity on the part of the people in general is the fact that a great, crowding, hungry democracy was knocking at the gates of the old aristocratic régime and insistently urging the consideration of its rights.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] An early and yet typical example of this unfavorable view of the moral and religious life of the people after the first generation of the Puritans was gone, may be found in The Result of 1679,—a document prepared by the Synod in response to directions from the Massachusetts General Court, calling for answers to the following questions: “What are the euills that haue provoked the Lord to bring his judgments on New England? What is to be donn that so those euills may be reformed?”. The following brief excerpt from The Result supplies the point of View: “Our Fathers neither sought for, nor thought of great things for themselves, but did seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things were added to them. They came not into the wilderness to see a man cloathed in soft raiment. But that we have in too many respects, been forgetting the Errand upon which the Lord sent us hither; all the world is witness: And therefore we may not wonder that God hath changed the tenour of his Dispensations towards us, turning to doe us hurt, and consuming us after that he hath done us good. If we had continued to be as once we were, the Lord would have continued to doe for us, as once he did.” The entire document, together with much valuable explanatory comment, may be found in Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, pp. 421–437. Backus, History of New England, vol i, pp. 457–461, contains a group of similar laments.

[5] Snow, A History of Boston, p. 333.

[6] Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, vol. ii, p. 696.

[7] Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. iii, pp. 500 et seq. The Preamble of this Act is highly interesting: “For preventing and avoiding the many and great mischiefs which arise from publick stage-plays, interludes and other theatrical entertainments, which not only occasion great and unnecessary expenses, and discourage industry and frugality, but likewise tend generally to increase immorality, impiety and a contempt for religion,—Be it enacted”, etc.

[8] Seilhamer, History of the American Theatre, vol. ii, pp. 51 et seq.; Winsor, The Memorial History of Boston, vol. iv, ch. v: “The Drama in Boston,” by William W. Clapp, pp. 358 et seq.

[9] Seilhamer, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 13; Dunlap, _History of the American Theatre_, vol. i, p. 244; Snow, History of Boston, pp. 333 et seq.

[10] Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1792–3, pp. 686 et seq.

[11] The public discussion and legislative phase of the situation, together with the disorders occasioned by the determination of the supporters of the theatre to serve their enterprise at any cost, are well covered by Clapp in the chapter already cited in Winsor’s Memorial History of Boston. Cf. also Seilhamer, vol. iii, pp. 14 et seq.; Dunlap, vol. i, pp. 242 et seq.; Willard, Memories of Youth and Manhood, vol. i, pp. 324, 325; Bentley, Diary, vol. i. pp 340, 379, 380, 414, 415, 418, etc.

[12] The Speech of John Gardiner, Esquire, Delivered in the House of Representatives. On Thursday, the 26th of January, 1792, Boston, 1792, p. 18. Another publication of the same year, The Rights of the Drama: or, An Inquiry into the Origin, Principles, and Consequences of Theatrical Entertainments. By Philo Dramatis (pseud.), discussed the subject in different vein, but with the same object in view. In the final chapter on “The Outlines of a Theatre, it’s Necessary Appendages, a Plan of Regulation, Calculation of Expenses, Profits, &c.”, doubtless by way of turning the balance of public judgment in favor of the establishment of a local theatre, the author suggests that the following ends may be served: the development of native genius, and thus the elevation of America to a high rank in the republic of letters; the reservation of a certain portion of the revenues of the theatre by the Commonwealth, for the care of the poor of Boston, or of the state, and for the support of the University at Cambridge (Harvard), thus easing the burden of taxation. The closing words of this pamphlet, stripped of their bombast, are not unworthy to stand with Gardiner’s: “Whenever I consider this subject, and contemplate the formation of a Theatre, I cannot help feeling a kind of enthusiasm ... I anticipate the time when the Garricks and Siddons of America shall adorn the Stage, and melt the soul to pity. But here let me pause.—Let the most rigid Stoic, or the greatest fanatic in religion, or the most notorious dupe to prejudice, once hearken to the tale of the tragic muse, whose office it is to soften, and to subdue the violent passions of the mind, by painting the real misfortunes and distresses, which accompany our journey through life; or attend to the laughable follies, and vain inconsistencies, which daily mark the character of the human species—the deformity of vice—the excellence of virtue—, and, from the representation of the lively Comedy, ‘catch the manners living as they rise,’ and then say, if he can, that lessons of instruction are unknown to the Drama. If these have no effect, let him listen, with mute attention, to the occasional symphonies, which burst from a thousand strings, and accompany, and give life and animation to the Comic scene—and then, if sunk below the brute creation, let him be fortified against the impressions of sensibility. The stoicism of man must surpass our comprehension, if the dramatic scene can be contemplated without emotion; more especially when the representation of life and manners is intended to correct and to enlarge the heart....”

[13] Cf. (Boston) Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Thursday, March 28, 1793.

[14] Pseud.: Effects of the Stage on the Manners of a People: and the Propriety of Encouraging and Establishing a Virtuous Theatre. By a Bostonian, Boston, 1792. The author is insipid enough; none the less the pamphlet is by no means void of a certain practical-mindedness and good sense as the author argues for the frank acceptance of the theatre as an institution in the city’s life. The following constitute his chief contentions: The theatre, in some form or other, is bound to come, because of the fact that the people generally are interested in the subject of amusement; the tastes and appetites of the people already give painful evidence of serious debasement and corruption; the acceptance of a “Virtuous Theatre” is the only possible expedient if the people are to be saved from worse debauchment.

The view taken by the Reverend William Bentley, Salem’s well-known minister, was less specious, though tinged with a mildly pessimistic view of popular tastes. Under date of July 31, 1792, he wrote: “So much talk has been in the Country about Theatrical entertainments that they have become the pride even of the smallest children in our schools. The fact puts in mind of the effect from the Rope flyers, who visited N. England, after whose feats the children of seven were sliding down the fences & wounding themselves in every quarter.” Diary, vol. i, p. 384. Later, he wrote: “The Theatre opened for the first time [in Salem] is now the subject. The enlightened who have not determined upon its utter abolition have yet generally agreed that it is too early introduced into our country.” Ibid., vol. ii, p. 81. Cf. ibid., pp. 258, et seq., 299, 322. It is clear that Bentley was apprehensive.