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  3. Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United St

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United St

游客2024-01-13  52
问题     Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of preindustrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.  The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside; migrating to the New World was simply a "natural spillover." Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English—they would rather have stayed home—by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that used to flourish in America history textbooks, there was never a typical New World community. For example, the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.
    Bailyn’s third proposition suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly, Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were the driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to preindustrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled laborers were re- cruited; by the 1730 ’ s, however, American employers demanded skilled artisans.
    Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of an Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery, as Bailyn does, devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true, as Bailyn claims, that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New Eng- land, where the settlers created effective laws, built a distinguished university, and published books? Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However, the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.
    Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of in- dentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution, he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they passed up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political cul- ture began, among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic. [br] According to the passage, Bailyn and the author agree on which of the following statements about the culture of colonial New England?
选项 A、High culture in New England never equaled the high culture of England.
B、The cultural achievements of colonial New England have generally been unrecognized by historians.
C、The colonists imitated the high culture of England, and did not develop a culture that was uniquely their own.
D、The southern colonies were greatly influenced by the high culture of New England.
E、New England communities were able to create laws and build a university, but unable to create anything innovative in the arts.
答案 A
解析 Bailyn和作者在关于新英格兰地区的文化的哪个观点相同?Bailyn关于新英格兰文化的论述及作者评价见原文第四段。A．正确。高层次文化在新英格兰从来没有和英国本土相当。见原文L51—53。B．“unrecognized by historians”原文无。C．移民都模仿共同的文化，并没发展出自己独特的文化。这是Bailyn一个人的观点。D．南部殖民地深受新英格兰文化影响。这是作者自己的观点，见L59—62。E．新英格兰团体能制定法律、建立大学，但不能创造独特的艺术。这是符合历史的，但原文未提。
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