Studies in the Massachusetts Franchise 1631-1691

New York: Garland Publishing. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1989. Hardcover. 0824061780 . Library stamps/marks/labels/slip, otherwise light wear. Crisp hardcover.; "Respoding to the stimulus given to Puritan studies in the 1950s by the claims of the so-called consensus historians for the "democratic" nature of the franchise, of the Puritan political system and, by extension, of early American society, I shared with a number of younger scholars an ambition to investigate such questions less on the basis of scattered and impressionistic evidence than on the more solid ground of studies of local records and communities, of local church membership and political participation. At the same time, I sought to broaden the perspective of these enquiries by looking at the English background and the religious origins of the Massachusetts franchise. I also lengthened the time scale of many prevailing discussions by studying the years from 1660 to 1691." - author's Preface to the Garland Edition. ; Outstanding Studies in Early American History; Ex-Library; (ii), 130 pages .