PLCY 702 M1 DR2

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School

Northwest Vista College *

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Course

101

Subject

Political Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by AdmiralFieldQuetzal15

Good evening, Deneen, thank you for sharing your observations on Tocqueville’s experiences with Puritanism, it’s democratic and republican traits and how it compared to other influences in the political culture of the day. I wish these courses were not so fast and that we had time to air out concepts and opinions. I found your writing on the political culture of 1800’s awaiting religious migrants intriguing. When you wrote “When settlers came to America the only thing that was known was Republican party, which made it difficult for the immigrants to express their religion and perspective of not following behind the Republican party,” it sparked immediate curiosity. Here is what I learned on the US Senate’s “About Parties and History” page. 1 By the early 1800s, the main parties were divided by which policies their members supported. Most people were ideologically aligned with Washington or Adams, however there were other contributors as well. Among many pressing issues to a budding country, my area of study, foreign affairs, and the responsibilities and limits of national government were the hot topics. Washington’s and Adam’s supporters were referred to as federalists, and Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and president, and his supports took on the title of Democratic Republicans. It’s important to understand however that there were no formalized political parties at the time. In the decade prior to de Tocqueville’s visit the republican’s split and new parties emerged. By the time Tocqueville and his study subjects arrived both the Democrats and the Whigs were firmly in control of the legislative branch of the government. From that moment, the leaders of our parties decided to isolate themselves from peers with differing views and express openly that constituency came after party loyalty. Another sentence that sparked my interest was your assertion that religious migrants became known as Puritans. I remember the module video discussing the Quakers and so wanted to pull on that thread. I won’t go into it here but I will say for the group, its quite interesting! Before closing this thread response I will leave what a University of Birmingham Quaker chaplain wrote in 2020: “Quakers seek to experience God directly, within ourselves and in our relationships with others and the world around us. Quakerism is a way of life, rather than a set of beliefs. It has roots in Christianity and many Quakers find the life and teachings of Jesus inspirational, but we have no creed…. In the early years it used to be a Christian-based religion, but that is no longer true in the last 50+ years. Some members of the Society associate themselves exclusively with Quakerism, others combine with other faiths. Probably in the 21st century, it is true to say that a majority come to Quakerism dis-satisfied with other religions.” 2 1 https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/parties-leadership/overview.htm#:~:text=The %20Federalists%20largely%20represented%20New,party%20organizations%20in%20the%20Senate. 2 https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/multi-faith-chaplaincy/about/news/what-do-quakers- believe.aspx#:~:text=Quakers%20seek%20to%20experience%20God,but%20we%20have%20no%20creed.

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