1. Boorstin highlights four societies that existed in the early years of American civilization. These societies are the New England Puritans, Quakers of Pennsylvania, Georgians, and the Virginians. The Puritans was a society based thoroughly upon religion. They were devout Calvinists, with their conservatist government also based around these beliefs. The families and communities in New England were very tightly nit because of the peoples shared orthodox beliefs. The puritans were very self-centered, they despised the native Americans and blacks because their culture was different.
The Quakers were very similar to the Puritans in their execution of the beliefs they practiced, yet the Quakers were in the opposite direction. The Quakers believed in freedom of speech, and shunned religion. Their government was ineffective because of the differing beliefs, and was not very effective at controlling the people. The Q
uakers thought highly of the native Americans, despite their different culture.
2. American philosophy was unlike its traditional European counterpart, because the Americans focused their hypothesis on real events and common sense. Americans began to make conclusions by collecting observations and experimentation, rather than the European method of thought and debate.
The settlers of Georgia were the poorest people from England. Their laws were vaguely similar to modern day communism, preventing any one person from becoming too powerful. The Georgian's government was weak because of its lack of leadership, and subsequently had the least productive society. The community had very idealistic thoughts and goals, with religion taking a secondary role.
The Virginian colony was an attempt to recreate England on a different continent. The seniority of the people in the Virginia was determined by their land ownershi
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