New England’s Puritan Utopia and Its Limits on Democracy

This article reexamines the political culture of seventeenth-century Puritan New England by foregrounding the tension between its collective utopian mission and the democratic practices it fostered. Rather than treating congregational autonomy, town meetings, or elective offices as early expressions of popular sovereignty, it argues that these practices emerged as byproducts of an eschatological project grounded in covenant theology. Through close analysis of John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity and the ideological premises of Puritan migration, the article shows how their “errand” to build a godly commonwealth gave rise to communal decision-making and accountable offices while simultaneously imposing strict limits on dissent, pluralism, and individual liberties. Examining their institutional structures reveals a hybrid political order, one blending bottom-up participation and elements of popular will with the authority of an “elective aristocracy” charged with safeguarding the community’s covenantal destiny. The article then traces how this collective mission broadened and transformed in the eighteenth century, on the frontier and during the Revolution, giving rise to more inclusive forms of governance. Highlighting the paradox of a utopian project that both enabled and constrained democratic life, the study raises broader questions about the compatibility of collective missions and liberal democracy. (BB)