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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
In Public Houses: Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts

In Public Houses: Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts

Conroy, David W.

Paperback

Series: Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American Histo

AnthropologyColonial Period (1600-1775)Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)

ISBN10: 0807845213
ISBN13: 9780807845219
Publisher: Univ Of North Carolina Pr
Published: Jun 19 1995
Pages: 368
Weight: 1.31
Height: 1.01 Width: 6.20 Depth: 9.27
Language: English
In this study of the role of taverns in the development of Massachusetts society, David Conroy brings into focus a vital and controversial but little-understood facet of public life during the colonial era. Concentrating on the Boston area, he reveals a popular culture at odds with Puritan social ideals, one that contributed to the transformation of Massachusetts into a republican society. Public houses were an integral part of colonial community life and hosted a variety of official functions, including meetings of the courts. They also filled a special economic niche for women and the poor, many of whom turned to tavern-keeping to earn a living. But taverns were also the subject of much critical commentary by the clergy and increasingly restrictive regulations. Conroy argues that these regulations were not only aimed at curbing the spiritual corruption associated with public houses but also at restricting the popular culture that had begun to undermine the colony's social and political hierarchy. Specifically, Conroy illuminates the role played by public houses as a forum for the development of a vocal republican citizenry, and he highlights the connections between the vibrant oral culture of taverns and the expanding print culture of newspapers and political pamphlets in the eighteenth century.

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