President s it established and the legacies that left. There is a strong case to be made that november 11, the day that a battered square rigor called the mayflower made safe harbor in a place near what is today in massachusetts. That day should be one of the greatest moments in our national theory, comparable to fourth of july, independence day, and september 17, constitution day. But let me qualify that statement a little bit. As ourk of the pilgrims forebears and we are right to do so but it is important to remember they and the other new puritans that were selling new england at the time did not imagine they were settling establishing the United States of america. Nothing could have been further from their minds. They were doing something entirely different. They were about the business of establishing a place where they could enjoy a pure and uncorrupted church. The early settlers of virginia were motivated by material considerations they wanted, what the spaniards wanted from the
We think of the pilgrims as our forbearers and we have a right to do so but it is important to remember they and the other new englanders settling at the time did not imagine they were settling United States of america. Nothing could have been further from their minds. They were doing something entirely different. They were about the business of establishing a place where they could enjoy a pure and uncorrupted church. The settlers of virginia were motivated by material considerations, gold, wealth, material wealth. The settlers of new england were driven by religious zeal. Most of them were puritans, men and women of a company spent who believed the church of england had not gone far enough to purge itself of its corrupt aspects and would despair of a cleansing renewal ever coming in their lifetimes, and hence their decision to emigrate to the new beginning. In particular were not only calvinists but separatists, meaning they had separated themselves from the aurch of england as they
Here is a little damp and cold, we just drove back en route to from williamstown, massachusetts. So our first snow of the year in, of all places, the top peaks en route to in the berkshires, in the town of wait for it, florida and florida, mass situations. I always thought that was some kind of a joke. But anyway, it gets the first snow. This year and just a little harbinger of things to come and not enough to make the roads impassable, which will happen later on in the year. But anyway, i want to first thank a couple of folks who are here to thank our friends from cspan, who are going to be recording this for future use on television. Thank Rachel Hobson from the library, who was here making sure everything is set up properly and and most importantly, thank chris meyer, who is the sponsor of this series, a member of our board and a longtime member of the wellesley historical society. And also, just so you know, there will be refreshments. Youre after the talk by tom paine, although ma
Minded place. Partly because we read the principle in high school. Half of the people dissented from the families affected in 1692 were when they were in high school. Partly because it has such resonance. Brian when you were here four years ago for cleopatra, you were talking about this book. I want to look at a minute. Stacy something reassuring about a biography, an obvious structure most of the time. A beginning, middle, and end. And a pleasure of killing off your subject. It is gratifying kind of work. Brian what year . A good question, 1994. The next book about vera nabokov , the wife of the writer. And known for lolita, about the marriage. The third book about ben franklin. It was a pleasure, very difficult to research. , cleopatra. Tasks one of the blessings of biography is it you do not have to look at your own life. You examine somebody elses life. I am sure theres a reason about that. Then doesoug and salem witch trials. I am from massachusetts. Brian when will it come out .
Century not less early the was not necessarily involved in salem. And the pieces began to come together. I am glad to say it would take four or five years. Brian in update about the whole story in case there are people like i was who deny know very who did not know very much about it. What were the years youre talking about . Stacy really nine months. The witchcraft breaks out, first diagnosed in february 1692. The crisis, snowball over the the crisis will snowball over the next few months. The tighter incident is over by the fall. Really nine months from start to end. I think largely, conceptions of it are very skewed. Wheres not an incident men are choosing women. An incident all of the victims are women. We had five male victims. We hang to the witches. In addition to the speed, so much encrusted myth and misunderstanding here. I thought it was important to dispel. Brian where is salem in massachusetts . Stacy northeastern massachusetts. 20 or 30 minutes from boston. Brian how many