"The Puritan movement was essentially democratic. Every individual stood without distinction of rank or fortune before his God... Here, and not in Rousseau or the teachings of French philosophy, is the origin of the doctrine of the rights of man, and the establishment of government upon these principles was the beginning of a new social order." -- E. Parmalee Prentice, "The New opportunity of the Small College," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 123
"Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but corresponded in many points with the most absolute democratic and republican theories. It was this tendency which had aroused its most dangerous adversaries." -- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, New York: Appleton, 1904
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