The Crisis of the Standing Order : Clerical Intellectuals and Cultural Authority in Massachusetts, 1780-1833

A study of the clash of cultural elites in the early American republic. Historian Peter Field focuses on the issues of power, prestige, and self-interest that fueled the struggle between the Boston Brahmins and their orthodox rivals, the Congregational Standing Order--and laid the groundwork for New England's remarkable literary flowering in the19th century. This Book Examines The Demise Of One Massachusetts Intellectual Elite, The Congregational Standing Order, And The Rise Of Another, The Boston Brahmins, During The Late Eighteenth And Early Nineteenth Centuries. Peter S. Field Traces This Division Within The Culturally Dominant Class To The Emergence Of A New Group Of Wealthy Urban Merchants, Who Funded Brahmin Efforts To Create America's First Secular High Culture. With The Founding Of The Monthly Anthology, The Establishment Of The Exclusive Boston Athenaeum, And The Takeover Of Harvard College, The Merchant-backed Brahmins Constructed A Competing Locus Of Cultural Authority Against The Claims Of The Orthodox Ministry.--book Jacket. Introduction -- The Standing Order To 1780: An Overview -- The Birth Of The Brahmins -- Toward A Secular High Culture -- Harvard And The Brahmin Class -- Orthodoxy In Massachusetts -- Schism From Below: Parshioner, Communicant, And The Standing Order -- Toward Disestablishment -- Select Bibliography --index. Peter S. Field. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 237-259) And Index. We are currently updating our website and have not yet posted complete information for this title. Many of our books are in the Google preview program, which allows readers to view up to 20% of the book. If this title is active in the program, you will find the Google Preview button in the sidebar below.