首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The advantage of associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is easy to do so. The public believes
The advantage of associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is easy to do so. The public believes
admin
2012-12-01
54
问题
The advantage of associating the birth of democracy with the Mayflower Compact is that it is easy to do so. The public believes a simple explanation that on November 11, 1620, when the compact was approved, a cornerstone of American democracy was laid. Certainly it makes it easier on schoolchildren. Making the start of democracy in 1620 relieves students of the responsibility of knowing what happened in the hundred some years before, from the arrival of the Santa Maria to the landing of the Mayflower.
Surely, the compact demonstrated the Englishman’s striking capacity for self-government. And in affirming the principle of majority rule, the Pilgrims showed how far they had come from the days when the king’s whim was law and nobody dared say otherwise.
But the emphasis on the compact is misplaced. Scholarly research in the last century indicates that the compact had nothing to do with the development of the self-government in America. In truth, the Mayflower Compact was no more a cornerstone of American democracy than the Pilgrim hut was the foundation of American architecture. As Samuel Morison so emphatically put it, American democracy "was not born in the cabin of the Mayflower".
The Pilgrims indeed are miscast as the heroes of American democracy. They spurned democracy and would have been shocked to see themselves help up as its defenders. George Willison, regarded as one of the most careful students of the Pilgrims, states that "the merest glance at the history of Plymouth" shows that they were not democrats.
The mythmakers would have us believe that even if the Pilgrims themselves weren’t democratic, the Mayflower Compact itself was. But in fact the compact was expressly designed to check freedom, not promote it. The Pilgrim governor and historian, William Bradford, from whom we have gotten nearly all of the information there is about the Pilgrims, frankly conceded as much. Bradford wrote that the purpose of the compact was to control traitors aboard the Mayflower who were threatening to go their own way when the ship reached land. Because the Pilgrims had decided to settle in an area outside the jurisdiction of their royal patent, some aboard the Mayflower had hinted that upon landing they would "use their own liberty, for none had power to command them". Under the terms of the compact, they couldn’t; the compact required all who lived in the colony to "promise all due submission and obedience" to it.
Moreover, despite the compact’s mention of majority rule, the Pilgrim fathers had no intention of turning over the colony’s government to the people. Plymouth was to be ruled by the elite. And the elite wasn’t shameful in the least about advancing its claims to superiority. When the Mayflower Compact was signed, the elite signed first. The second rank consisted of the "goodmen" and the bottom four servants. No women or children signed.
The public considers the Mayflower Compact as
选项
A、the birth of English democracy.
B、the birth of American responsibility.
C、the birth of American democracy.
D、the birth of American freedom.
答案
C
解析
事实细节题。由题干中的关键词the public可以将信息定位于第一段第二句。从该处可知,公众相信这样一种简单的解释:1620年的11月11日,也就是协议生效的那天,是美国民主的奠基日。由此可见,公众认为“五月花号协议”是“美国民主的诞生”,故[C]正确。“五月花号协议”是由从英国逃离的清教徒签订的,他们虽是英国人,但这份协议的签订是为了摆脱英国的统治,因此[A]不正确;第一段虽然提到了responsibility,但是指对学生而言的,故[B]排除;本段并未提到freedom,虽然下文中出现过,但与本题无关,属于偷换概念的迷惑项,所以[D]也不正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/TDaO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Peopleusuallycommunicatebyspokenandwrittenlanguage,yettheycanalsocommunicatewithoutwordsandthiskindofcommunic
Eachyear,acoupleofnationalbigbudgetmoviessweartotakeusbysurprise.Butinfact,theyoftenendupreceivingmoremo
Formanyofus,petshavecometooccupycriticalrolesinourlives.Thelonelinessandisolationinsomelifestylescanbes
LearningalanguageLinguistsareinterestedintheabilitiesthatpeoplehavetolearnlanguageandaretryingtosolvethepr
Extraordinarycreativeactivityhasbeencharacterizedasrevolutionary,flyinginthefaceofwhatisestablishedandproducing
WhichofthefollowingisconsideredanAmericanmasterpiece?
HowtoConquerPublicSpeakingFearⅠ.IntroductionA.Publicspeaking—acommonsourceofstressforeveryoneB.Thetru
MargaretSpellings,thesecretaryofeducation,announcedapilotreformtotheNoChildLeftBehindAct(NCLB),GeorgeBush’se
Tolive,learn,andworksuccessfullyinanincreasing【M1】______complexandinformation-richsociety,studentsmustbeable
In2009,Pfizerpaid$301millionsettleallegationsbytheJustice1.______DepartmentthatcompanyrepresentativesmarketedGe
随机试题
A.以病人作为受试对象的试验B.以人作为受试对象的试验C.人体实验时必须要做到真正的知情同意D.选择受试者的时候需遵循的E.保障受试者身心安全公平原则是
A.政府指导价B.药品电子监管码C.政府定价D.药品通用名称国家基本药物零售指导价格的制定按照()
沥青针入度作为条件粘度,在测定时采用了()的规定条件。
隧道检测项目中,锚杆抗拔力是锚杆材料、加工及锚固质量的综合反映,因此,锚杆抗拔力试验可以完全反映锚杆的安装质量。()
代理关系的核心内容是( )。
证监会建立监管信息系统,对财务顾问及其财务顾问主办人进行持续动态监管,并且记入其诚信档案的事项包括()。Ⅰ.在持续督导期间,上市公司违反公司治理有关规定、相关资产状况及上市公司经营成果等与财务顾问的专业意见出现较大差异Ⅱ.在持续
下列属于商业银行贷款承诺业务的有()。
传统的促销决策包括()。
佛教教义中的“三法印”指的是()。
设n阶矩阵A满足(aE-A)(bE-A)=O且a≠b.证明:A可对角化.
最新回复
(
0
)