小结
综上所述，新英格兰殖民地在其早期成长过程中，经历了从封闭、保守、排外的清教共同体到相对宽容、开放的人民共同体的逐步演变；与此同时，殖民地人民的主体也由早期的教会成员转变成为后来的社区公民。在马萨诸塞湾殖民地初期，只有那些自认为是上帝选民的教会成员才有资格享有全部政治权利。而一个人要成为教会成员，需要向全体会员表明自己行为端正、信仰虔诚，而且还需主动皈依。一旦被接纳为正式会员，加入者就有资格享用圣餐。公理会就是要用这种严格的区分来保证他们神学实验的完整性。经过精心挑选的志同道合的清教会员再经历教会活动的培养，有着普通居民无法具备的优越感和责任心，而这正是建立一个民主社会所需要的公民素质，即所谓公共道德（public virtue）。通过小范围的封闭实验，培养起合格选民的公共道德基础，然后再由选民扩大到一般民众，为公民意识的最终形成创造了条件。
对于新英格兰殖民地初期的政府和社会诸多特征的形成，除了来自公理会清教主义的影响之外，殖民公司及其特许状的作用也不可忽视。特许状在殖民地发挥着基本法的功能。随着宗教控制的放松，基于特许状的世俗政府的权力结构也逐步得到完善。共同体的神圣光环慢慢褪去，一个以自由人为基础的公民社会渐渐呈现于新大陆。上帝选民的观念虽然在美国独立之时仍然存在，并且在其后的历史上不绝如缕，却随着其适用范围的扩大而逐渐淡化，代之而起的是基于理性的公民观。这种公民观作为一种超越宗教信仰差异的认同意识，成为美国人民政治参与和社会凝聚的核心。
当然，北美殖民地时期的公民社会还远未完善，即使放松了宗教要求，带有财产资格限制的成年男性自由人在数量和比例上也十分有限。即使像罗得岛这样标榜宗教信仰自由的殖民地也没有实现完全的宗教宽容，教友派和天主教徒都曾在这里受到歧视和排斥。在1663年罗得岛获得特许状后颁布的第一批法律中，就包含了将天主教徒排除在选举权和担任公职的权利之外的一条。[116]由此看出，实现宗教乃至文化上的真正宽容并不是一件可以一蹴而就的事，在美国这个一直标榜民主、自由、平等的国家，仅仅为实现法律意义上的平等就花了三百多年的时间，在20世纪60年代的民权运动中才初步完成。
所谓清教传统，并不是一连串具有永恒意义的静态概念和理论，而是北美殖民地早期清教徒主观意愿与客观现实在对立统一的矛盾交错中产生的动态实践活动。处于不同历史阶段的美国学者对清教传统的褒扬和贬抑往往可以折射出这些文本背后的历史语境：他们或是站在科学、理性立场上，对殖民地早期的神权特征无情挞伐，或是站在传统文化维护者立场上，对清教传统中的积极因素任意放大，牵强附会。中国学者以旁观者的心态来观察美国清教传统，可以更为准确地把握这一传统在时间和空间上的演变轨迹，更为冷静、客观地接近历史的原貌。
[1]Gary B.Nash, et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Volume One, New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1994, p.39.
[2]Gary B.Nash, et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Volume One, New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1994, p.46.
[3]John Demos, A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony, Oxford and New York:Oxford University Press, 2000, p.4.
[4]《剑桥协议》的签署者共12人，包括理查德·索顿斯托尔（Richard Saltonstall），托马斯·达德利（Thomas Dudley），威廉·瓦萨尔（William Vassall），尼克·韦斯特（Nich West），艾萨克·约翰逊（Isaac Johnson），约翰·汉弗莱（John Humphrey），托马斯·夏普（Thomas Sharp），英克里斯·诺埃尔（Increase Nowell），约翰·温斯洛普（John Winthrop），威廉·平琼（William Pynchon），凯拉姆·布朗（Kellam Browne），威廉·科尔布隆（William Colbron）。他们是马萨诸塞湾殖民地的第一批移民中的精英，其中有些人，如约翰·温斯洛普、托马斯·杜德利等成为殖民地的领导人；也有一些人，如贵族出身的理查德·萨尔通斯塔奥1630年下半年曾经在马萨诸塞湾殖民地领导建立了第一批种植园，但因为忍受不了新英格兰寒冷的冬天，翌年就回到了英国，在母国支持北美的殖民事业。
[5]Francis J.Bremer, John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father, Oxford and Now York: Oxford University Press, 2003, p.xv.
[6]Robert C.Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1864, p.296.
[7]有的当代学者认为托克维尔早在1831—1832年旅居美国之前，就已经形成了将美国作为民主的典范的观念体系：“同英国相比，美国代表一个彻底的民主革命的模式，同法国相比，它是一个彻底非革命的民主范例”（参见《托克维尔评论》编委会“前言”，载雷蒙·阿隆、丹尼尔·贝尔编《托克维尔与民主精神》，陆象淦、金烨译，社会科学文献出版社2008年版，第3页）。他到美国的目的，是为了“对民主理念和革命理念之间区别的划分”,“为了探索完整的民主法规在什么条件下如何造就了美国的共和制度，即人民自己治理自己的政体”（参见弗朗索瓦·费雷《托克维尔思想的知识渊源》，载雷蒙·阿隆、丹尼尔·贝尔编《托克维尔与民主精神》，陆象淦、金烨译，社会科学文献出版社2008年版，第68、70页）。如果是这样的话，清教这种与法国革命关系甚微而又在美国得以发扬光大的文化因素自然会受到托克维尔的青睐。
[8]Alexi de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, New York: Vintage Books, 1945, p.33.
[9]对此，曾任美国文物协会主席的克利福德·施普顿抱怨说：“上一代有关殖民时代的新英格兰的作者们对于清教职业冷嘲热讽，将马萨诸塞海湾殖民地看作一个自我中心的独裁政体，致力于将一种特殊的神学正统恒久化。”见Clifford K.Shipton,“Authority and the Growth of Indi-vidualism”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early America, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.68。相关述评另见张孟媛《关于美国民主的清教起源》,《世界历史》2007年第6期。
[10]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, pp.35-36.
[11]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.41.
[12]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973,p.35.
[13]前者较早见于毕健康的《清教对殖民地初期马萨诸塞政治的影响》（《世界历史》1991年第5期），董爱国在《清教主义与美国民主》（《世界历史》2000年第1期）中进一步阐释了新英格兰清教主义的专制特征；而后者则常见于过去10年来发表的有关美国清教主义传统的诸多论文，较集中表现于前引张孟媛的《关于美国民主的清教起源》一文。
[14]Gary B.Nash, et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Volume One, New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1994, p.48.
[15]Avihu Zakai, Exile and Kingdom: History and Apocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.9.
[16]Robert Cushman,“Reasons and Considerations Touching the Lawfulness of Removing out of England into Parts of America”（1622）, Quoted in Avihu Zakai, Exile and Kingdom: History and A-pocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.75.
[17]“Mayflower Compact: 1620”, in Francis Newton Thorpe, ed., The Federal and State Consti-tutions Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies Now or Hereto-fore Forming the United States of America, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1909.
[18]李剑鸣认为：“这个协议标志着政治社会的起源，此后经常为人援引，名称是《普利茅斯联合协议》或《联合协议》；直到1793年，才出现《“五月花号”公约》的说法。”参见李剑鸣《美国通史第1卷：美国的奠基时代（1585—1775）》，人民出版社2002年版，第116页。
[19]Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956, p.5.
[20]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.17.
[21]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.17.
[22]参见李剑鸣《美国通史第1卷：美国的奠基时代（1585—1775）》，人民出版社2002年版，第120页。
[23]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.17.
[24]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.22.
[25]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, p.146.
[26]E.Digby Baltzell, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia: Two Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Class Authority and Leadership, Boston: Beacon Press, 1979, p.125.
[27]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.25.
[28]现存的新英格兰教会契约至少包括：The Salem Covenant（1629）, The Enlarged Salem Covenant（1636）, The Covenant of the Charles-Boston Church（1630）, The Watertown Covenant （1630）, The Dedham Covenant（1636）, The Covenant of Exeter, New Hampshire（1639）。在温斯洛普日记（1636年2月25日）转载的扩充后的波士顿教会契约在内容上是一个较为丰富、完善的版本。见 Robert C.Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, Volume Two, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1864, pp.138-139。
[29]Robert C.Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, Volume Two, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1864, p.139.
[30]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, pp.28-29.
[31]Perry Miller, The New England Mind: From Colony to Province, Cambridge: Harvard Univer-sity Press, 1962, p.26.
[32]Francis J.Bremer and L.A.Botelho,“Introduction”, in Francis J.Bremer and L.A.Botelho, eds., World of John Winthrop: England and New England, 1588 -1649, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p.12.
[33]Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956, p.5.
[34]Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956, p.5.
[35]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.32.
[36]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.32.
[37]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.51.
[38]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, pp.52-53.
[39]Francis J.Bremer and L.A.Botelho,“Introduction”, in Francis J.Bremer and L.A.Botelho, eds., World of John Winthrop: England and New England, 1588 -1649, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p.15.
[40]Daniel Wait Howe, The Puritan Republic of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Indianapo-lis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1899, p.36.
[41]Richard L.Bushman, From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765, New York: W.Norton & Company, 1967, p.167.
[42]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.31.
[43]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.42.
[44]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.13.
[45]Perry Miller, The New England Mind: From Colony to Province, Cambridge: Harvard Univer-sity Press, 1962, p.47.
[46]John Cotton,“Letter to Lord Say and Seal, 1636”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early America, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.12.
[47]有关北美殖民地混合政体的更多讨论参见李剑鸣《美国革命时期民主概念的演变》，载李剑鸣编《世界历史上的民主与民主化》，上海三联书店2011年版，第256—264页。
[48]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.44.
[49]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.50.
[50]Richard L.Bushman, From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765, New York: W.Norton & Company, 1967, pp.3-10.
[51]Gary B.Nash, et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Volume One, New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1994, p.49.
[52]参见李剑鸣《美国通史第1卷：美国的奠基时代（1585—1775）》，人民出版社2002年版，第122—123页。
[53]Gary B.Nash, et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Volume One, New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1994, p.50.
[54]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.40.
[55]Richard Middleton, Colonial America: A History, 1565 -1776, Malden, M.A.: Blackwell Publishers, Ltd., 2002, p.111.
[56]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.42.
[57]Francis F.Bremer and Lynn Botelho,“Introduction”, in Francis F.Bremer and Lynn Botelho, eds., World of John Winthrop: England and New England, 1588 -1649, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p.10.
[58]Mark Peterson,“The Practice of Piety in Puritan New England: Contexts and Consequences”, in Francis F.Bremer and Lynn Botelho, eds., World of John Winthrop: England and New England, 1588-1649, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p.80.
[59]Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956, p.6.
[60]Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956, p.6.
[61]Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956, p.9.
[62]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, pp.49-50.
[63]Charles Chauncy,“Civil Magistrates Must Be Just, Ruling in the Fear of God”（1747）, in Ellis Sandoz, ed., Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805, Volume One, Indi-anapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998, p.142.
[64]Daniel J.Boorstin, The Americans: The Colonial Experience, New York: Random House, 1958, p.30.
[65]参见李剑鸣《美国通史第1卷：美国的奠基时代（1585—1775）》，人民出版社2002年版，第120—121页。
[66]见前引佩里·米勒观点。Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early America, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, pp.52-53。
[67]George Lowell Austin, The History of Massachusetts, Boston: B.B.Russell, 1876, p.28.
[68]George Lowell Austin, The History of Massachusetts, Boston: B.B.Russell, 1876, pp.32 -35.
[69]特许状中所说的“公庭”（Court）显然有别于我们现代意义上的“法庭”（court），而更接近于中文里的“朝廷”（Court）或“政府”（government）。这段引文的下文中还特别注明：“七位或更多的助理，加上总督或者副总督，就足以组成一个公庭。”参见 William Macdonald, ed., Selected Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606 -1775, New York:The Macmillan Company, 1899, p.40。
[70]William Macdonald, ed., Selected Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American Histo-ry, 1606-1775, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1899, p.41.
[71]F.L.Riley, Colonial Origins of New England Senates, Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1896, p.12.
[72]Daniel Wait Howe, The Puritan Republic of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Indianapo-lis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1899, p.32.
[73]F.L.Riley, Colonial Origins of New England Senates, Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1896, p.9.
[74]F.L.Riley, Colonial Origins of New England Senates, Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1896, pp.6, 13, 21.
[75]F.L.Riley, Colonial Origins of New England Senates, Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1896, p.16.
[76]William Macdonald, ed., Selected Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American Histo-ry, 1606-1775, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1899, pp.209-210.
[77]G.H.Hollister, The History of Connecticut: From the First Settlement of the Colony to the Adop-tion of the Present Constitution, Volume One, New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1855, pp.22-24.
[78]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, p.127.
[79]Comptroller's Office, comp., The Three Constitutions of Connecticut: 1638 - 1639, 1662, 1818, Hartford: Hartford Press, The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1901, p.11.
[80]Comptroller's Office, comp., The Three Constitutions of Connecticut: 1638 - 1639, 1662, 1818, Hartford: Hartford Press, The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1901, pp.12, 14.
[81]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, pp.127-128.
[82]G.H.Hollister, The History of Connecticut: From the First Settlement of the Colony to the Adop-tion of the Present Constitution, Volume One, New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1855, p.82.
[83]Edward Peterson, History of Rhode Island, New York: John S.Taylor, 1853, p.48.
[84]Edward Peterson, History of Rhode Island, New York: John S.Taylor, 1853, p.48.
[85]Edward Peterson, History of Rhode Island, New York: John S.Taylor, 1853, p.53.
[86]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, p.155.
[87]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, pp.154-155.
[88][英]霍布斯：《利维坦》，黎思复、黎廷弼译，杨昌裕校，商务印书馆1985年版，第137—138页。
[89][奥]弗里德里希·希尔：《欧洲思想史》，赵复三译，广西师范大学出版社2007年版，第393页。
[90]约翰·亚当斯曾把哈林顿的发现视作跟哈维发现的血液循环同样重要。参见弗里德里希·希尔《欧洲思想史》，赵复三译，广西师范大学出版社2007年版，第391页。
[91][英]詹姆士·哈林顿：《大洋国》，何新译，商务印书馆1981年版，第8页。
[92][英]詹姆士·哈林顿：《大洋国》，何新译，商务印书馆1981年版，第10页。
[93][英]詹姆士·哈林顿：《大洋国》，何新译，商务印书馆1981年版，第25—26页。
[94][奥]弗里德里希·希尔：《欧洲思想史》，赵复三译，广西师范大学出版社2007年版，第391页。
[95]Arthur M.Schlesinger, Jr., The Almanac of American History, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1993, pp.61-62.
[96]Wikipedia, https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_ Hooker.
[97]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.5.
[98]Daniel J.Boorstin, The Americans: The Colonial Experience, New York: Random House, 1958, p.5.
[99]Robert C.Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, Volume Two, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1864, p.139.
[100]Stephen Foster, The Long Argument: English Puritanism and the Shaping of New England Cul-ture, 1570-1700, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984, p.180.
[101]David Chidester, Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988, p.12.
[102]Ellis Sandoz, ed., Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730 -1805, Volume One, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998, p.52.
[103]Perry Miller, The New England Mind: From Colony to Province, Cambridge: Harvard Univer-sity Press, 1962, p.50.
[104]Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought, Volume One, Norman: Univer-sity of Oklahoma Press, 1987, p.7.
[105]Perry Miller,“The Puritan Way of Life”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early A-merica, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.53.
[106]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, p.103.
[107]Michael Zucherman, Almost Chosen People: Oblique Biographies in the American Grain, Berke-ley: University of California Press, 1993, pp.55-57.
[108]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, p.124.
[109]John Fiske, The Beginning of New England: The Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889, p.124.
[110]Robert Cushman, Sin and Danger of Self-Love: Described in a Sermon Preached at Plymouth, in New England, 1621, Boston: Charles Ewer, 1846, p.13.
[111]Avihu Zakai, Exile and Kingdom: History and Apocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.124；库什曼的布道词，见 Caleb Johnson's May-flower History, http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/PrimarySources/SinAndDanger.pdf。
[112]Perry Miller,“The Puritan State and Puritan Society”, in Michael McGiffert, ed., Puritanism and the American Experience, Reading, M.A.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1969, p.42.
[113]Clifford K.Shipton,“Authority and the Growth of Individualism”, in George M.Waller, ed., Puritanism in Early America, Lexington: D.C.Heath and Company, 1973, p.75.
[114]Edwin S.Gaustad and Mark A.Noll, eds., A Documentary History of Religion in America to 1877, Grand Rapids, M.I.: William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003, pp.96-97.
[115]Daniel Wait Howe, The Puritan Republic of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Indianapo-lis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1899, p.262.
[116]Daniel Wait Howe, The Puritan Republic of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Indianapo-lis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1899, p.265.
