James A. Morone Quotes

The Puritans helped establish American reverence toward a written constitution by organizing their system around a stunning idea: God was offering them a deal, a contract… the Puritans insisted they had biblical warrant for their covenants. Had not God made a covenant with Noah, abjuring His own power to destroy the earth by flood? And […]

The Puritan covenant would develop into a pillar of the American regime. For one thing, once the covenant idea takes hold, even a king can be accused of violating it. More important, covenants were forerunners of constitutions. As Kenneth Wald points out, the American Constitution not only reflects the covenant tradition but echoes its biblical […]

The jeremiad begins by holding up communal norms rooted in the scriptures. Then it condemns the sorry state of the community. And finally it works up to a prophetic dream of future glory – even the Second Coming of Jesus. In this way, the American jeremiad came to terms with the inexorable progress of progress. […]