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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  22
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] The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
选项 A、comparing several current interpretations of early American history.
B、suggesting that new social research on migration should lead to revisions in current interpretations of early American history.
C、providing the theoretical framework that is used by most historians in understanding early American history.
D、refuting an argument about early American history that has been proposed by social historians.
E、discussing a reinterpretation of early American history that is based on new social research on migration.
答案 E
解析 主题题型：A．比较几种解释。文中只有Bailyn的解释。B．指出新的关于移民的调查应导致当前一些早期美国历史解释的更正。文中作者对Bailyn的新论点也不完全赞成，此选项不能推出。C．“theoretical framework that is used by most historians”文中未提。D．反驳一观点。不合作者主态度。E．正确。讨论一个基于对移民的社会调查而对美国早期史的新解释。
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