tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post7039848775096928477..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: The Levellers: A Forgotten or Distorted History? Part IIIBrad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-60372195113237384572009-10-01T10:51:09.829-06:002009-10-01T10:51:09.829-06:00This is an interesting series, Brad. I'll hav...This is an interesting series, Brad. I'll have to check in a little more regularly. I hope you will keep up on the Levelers being that it is a unique topic, and finding unique topics is hard to do when a blog like this has over 700 posts and been around for almost 2 years.<br /><br />I enjoyed it.Lindsey Shumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13536959819608584779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-85919121707855960832009-10-01T10:32:46.695-06:002009-10-01T10:32:46.695-06:00Thanks, Mr. Bell. I'm anxious to find some so...Thanks, Mr. Bell. I'm anxious to find some sources on how the Levellers impacted/didn't impact England after 1647. Mendle's book does offer a few good footnotes and sources. Now it's just a matter of tracking them down.<br /><br />I think you are probably right about the transcripts of the Putney Debates not being accessible to the public. From what I have read it sounds like it was all but extinct. However, I still tend to think that their movement had a legitimate and palpable impact on English society. The Corkbrush Field Mutiny seems evidence enough of this fact.Brad Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-69551680888861277752009-10-01T10:22:19.712-06:002009-10-01T10:22:19.712-06:00Mendle’s introduction to The Putney Debates of 164...Mendle’s introduction to <i>The Putney Debates of 1647</i> discusses public reporting on the first page. The initial remarks were brief, general, and, in his words, “coy”—no specifics about the participants or principles involved. And then they stopped altogether. He concludes, “It was, all in all, close to a news blackout.” <br /><br />The Levellers did manage to get out a pamphlet version of <i>An Agreement of the People</i>, so that might have had some wider influence on England’s political debate at the time.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-25496562240102638522009-09-30T19:58:19.860-06:002009-09-30T19:58:19.860-06:00You are right about some of the writings being fou...You are right about some of the writings being found and published in 1890 but my understanding was that the initial (like first 3 days) of the debates were published.<br /><br />From Michael Mendle, author of <em>The Putney Debates of 1647</em> states:<br /><br /><em>"The debates began on 28 October 1647. For three days, the proceedings were transcribed verbatim by the secretary William Clarke and a team of stenographers. From 2 November, however, all recording ceased. The debates were not reported and Clarke's minutes were not published at the time. They were lost until 1890 when they were rediscovered at the library of Worcester College, Oxford, by the historian C.H. Firth and subsequently published as part of the Clarke Papers."</em><br /><br />And while Cromwell did eventually ignore the Levellers' petitions during the Putney Debates, I am still undecided as to whether or not their influence went unnoticed. Seems to me that the Corkbrush Field Mutiny suggests that these ideas were growing everywhere. <br /><br />But I must admit that I am still quite undecided on the Levellers at this point. They are extremely interesting and I hope to do more research. Maybe at some point I'll make up my mind.Brad Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-10229094728661765082009-09-30T19:51:31.579-06:002009-09-30T19:51:31.579-06:00the Putney Debates carried trmendous political and...<i>the Putney Debates carried trmendous political and social clout</i>?<br /><br />Actually, the Putney Debates were not reported publicly at the time, and the record of those discussions was not published until 1890. The documents those soldiers had come to discuss were superseded by others written by Cromwell in the crisis atmosphere that followed the flight of Charles I. <br /><br />Thus, while the Putney Debates are a very interesting slice of English constitutional thinking (from one segment of society) in 1647, their influence was probably minimal.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.com