Sticks and Stones · Chapter
I explained
This chapter examines the New England village as a medieval-style community that flourished in early America, contrasting its cooperative, land-sharing, and religiously centered social structure with the individualistic and commercial tradi
What happens
This chapter examines the New England village as a medieval-style community that flourished in early America, contrasting its cooperative, land-sharing, and religiously centered social structure with the individualistic and commercial trading posts like Manhattan. The author argues that the pioneer myth obscures how these settlements preserved European medieval traditions, and that their organic, limited growth and 'Yankee communism' fostered a dignified architecture and communal life.
Themes in this chapter
Community vs. Individualism
The chapter contrasts the cooperative, corporate village-community of New England, where land was held in common and growth was limited for social cohesion, with the individualistic, profit-driven trading post of Manhattan, where private ownership and speculation led to overcrowding and a lack of organic community.
The Myth of Progress and the Pioneer
The author explicitly challenges the 'myth of the pioneer' as a free band starting afresh, arguing instead that New England settlements were a continuation of medieval European traditions, and that the true pioneer spirit of cooperative community-building was distinct from the later exploitative expansion westward.
Economic and Social Foundations of Art
The chapter links the architecture and dignity of New England villages to their economic basis: roughly equal land distribution, common fields, and restrictions on land transfer, which prevented speculation and fostered a stable, rooted community capable of good building.
Key passages
“So far from giving birth to a new life, the settlement of the northern American seaboard prolonged for a little while the social habits and economic institutions which were fast crumbling away in Europe, particularly in England.”
The colonization of New England did not create a completely new society; instead, it temporarily preserved the social and economic patterns that were disappearing in Europe.
The author refutes the idea of American exceptionalism, emphasizing continuity with European medieval traditions.
“A friend of mine has called this system 'Yankee communism,' and I cheerfully bring the institution to the attention of those who do not realize upon what subversive principles Americanism, historically, rests.”
A colleague described this cooperative land-sharing as 'Yankee communism,' and I am happy to point out that American history is founded on such communal principles.
Highlights the radical, communal basis of early American settlements, challenging conventional narratives of individualism.