I first read this book while in graduate school during the late 1970s, and I am glad it has been reissued in this new edition. John Demos was one of a group of "new social historians" in the latter 1960s that made colonial New England his domain and reinterpreted what we know about the Puritans "from the bottom up." Including Kenneth A. Lockridge ("A New England Town," 1970), Philip J. Greven ("Four Generations," 1970), and a few others, these historians employed the analysis of legal documents, especially wills and probate records, to uncover the past of the more "ordinary" New Englanders. Concentrating on small units in their study--Demos on Plymouth, Lockridge on Dedham, and Greven on Andover--they also employed, for the first time, material culture analysis of buildings, the accoutrements of everyday life, and findings from historical archeology and anthropology to understand better the nature of colonial New England.
Previously, historians had relied heavily upon letters, diaries, sermons, autobiographies, and other writings to construct their portrait of the Puritans of the seventeenth century. Almost by definition, this documentary record skewed the account toward telling the story of New England's social and political elites. The use of these new materials transformed our understanding of this time and place in American history. It may be hard to appreciate how exciting this approach to American history seemed at the time. These historians, using both the tools of social science and measured statistical analysis, rescued from obscurity the everyday lives of the rank and file who settled New England. William Bradford, Cotton Mather, John Winthrop, and other elites remained significant, but the story was now so much broader and interesting. It was such a breath of fresh air! Many of us in graduate school at the time embraced their lead and sought to apply at least some of their methodologies to our own work.
"A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony" is one of the best of these "new social histories." John Demos unearthed, in some cases literally through archaeological excavations, the style of life present at Plymouth Plantation. In the process he transformed our understanding of these religious separatists. He makes some startling revelations, destroying many old myths about marriage, family, and lifestyle. The basic organizing unit, according to Demos, was the nuclear family. He inferred this from probate records, but he also noted that the small size of the houses forced the exclusion of extended families under one roof. He was criticized for this conclusion, but subsequent research seems to support much of what he wrote. He also found that children married later than had been previously believed, between 23 and 28 years, starting their lives apart from their parents after greater maturity. He also found that the typical family numbered between seven and ten children, had an infant mortality rate of one in ten, that twenty percent of women died in childbirth, and that a man aged 21 could expect to live until 69.2 years but a woman at age 21 had a life expectancy of only 62.2 years.
By far the most path-breaking part of "A Little Commonwealth" deals with Puritan childrearing and the formation of the child's character. During the first year, Demos argues, a baby would receive much nurturing and support. Tranquility was the objective. In the second year, the child was weaned, usually had to deal with a younger sibling, and most interesting underwent an effort to break the spirit and bend it to the will the parents. Taking place in a crowded house, this experience was traumatic to say the least, and Demos asserts that it led to a set of psychological issues that revolved not so much around sex as a "tight cluster of anxieties about aggression" (pp. 134-37). Demos makes the case that fear of aggression, conflict, and loss are the dominant themes of Puritan life in the seventeenth century. At the same time, the Puritan family could be warm and supportive, and joy and fun was also part and parcel of their existence.
Equally important, Demos helps overturn the longstanding stereotype of Puritans. H. L. Mencken once said that the definition of Puritanism was "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Demos pretty much destroys this idea in "A Little Commonwealth" as well. They liked to dress colorfully, have parties, dance, sing, and drink. Despite their traumatic upbringings, he thinks they were not so nearly repressed as previously believed.
This is a very important benchmark in the history of early America and still deserving of serious consideration 35 years after its first publication.
