The Evolution of Massachusetts Town Government, 1640 to 1740
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3495387 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kenneth A Lockridge (corresponding author), Alan Kreider |
| Year | 1966 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 549 |
| Publication date | 1966-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The William and Mary Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-5597 • E-ISSN: 1933-7698 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1919125 |
| OpenAlex | W2330924574 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
N i _ Co historian has yet attempted a careful study of how New England town government actually operated as it evolved. To be sure, several studies-notably those of Anne Bush MacLear and George Lee Haskins-stand out by virtue of the clarity of their analysis and the perceptiveness of their use of town records.' But MacLear and Haskins do not venture very far beyond i66o, by which time the basic institutional structure of the town was complete. The workings of town government during the succeeding years, down to the American Revolution, have not yet been examined. The work which comes closest to performing this task, John F. Sly's Town Government in Massachusetts (Cambridge, Mass., 1930), sketches certain general trends over a period of three hundred years. But Sly's study is wanting in careful analysis. He concentrates his attention upon the continuity of external forms2 and completely overlooks the possibility of striking shifts of political power beneath the surface similarities during the lengthy period between the first settlements and the Revolution. His failure to take into account the tendency of established political institutions to gain and lose power, to win and surrender initiative with the passage of time, is particularly unfortunate in that Sidney and Beatrice Webb had supplied a model for just such an investigation as early as i906. In that year was published the first volume of their monumental study of English Local Government. . ., subtitled The Parish and the County.3
Government (linguistics · Political science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · American Environmental and Regional History · History · Philosophy · Public Administration
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 1974 - 2019 (46) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |