Conceptions of idiocy in colonial

Massachusetts.
Little is known about idiocy IDIOCY, med. jur. That condition of mind, in which the reflective, or
all or a part of the affective powers, are either entirely wanting, or are manifested to the least
possible extent.
2. Idiocy generally depends upon organic defects. in colonial America. A condition analogous to
mental retardation mental retardation, below average level of intellectual functioning, usually
defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily
living. , idiocy has been neglected in studies of the American colonies partly because of the paucity
of documentation and partly because of the disinterest dis·in·ter·est
n.
1. Freedom from selfish bias or self-interest; impartiality.

2. Lack of interest; indifference.

tr.v.
To divest of interest.

Noun 1. of scholars. Those works which do touch on idiocy leave fragmented, incomplete, and
sometimes inaccurate impressions of the ways colonists thought about and responded to the
condition. In 1983 Richard Scheerenberger, in his history of mental retardation, produced the only
text which treats idiocy in the colonial era in depth. (1) According to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3. Scheerenberger, the colonists in America were initially tolerant of idiocy. They extended to idiots
the same provisions they did to all others who were destitute and without family members and they
imposed the same restrictions upon them. When the colonies were first settled, he wrote, the towns
sometimes provided relief for their care. But beneficence beneficence (b ·neˑ·fi·s toward idiots
gradually eroded and generosity changed to hostility. Scheerenberger told the story this way,
incorporating the words of Albert Deutsch:

While in the beginning, such efforts may well have been charitable and noble in intent, mentally
retarded persons soon were viewed as innately inferior and without rights and dignity and, in
general, were treated with contempt rather than sympathy or compassion. Any problems arising
from mental retardation were usually handled under laws intended for paupers: the "sick poor, old
poor, able-bodied poor, infant poor, insane, and feeble-minded--all were grouped together under the
same stigmatizing labels, paupers, and all were treated in very much the same manner." (2)

Contemporary historians of mental retardation tend to adopt this account of idiocy in the colonial era
in the absence of revised interpretations, yet it is incomplete at best and inaccurate otherwise.

Scheerenberger's account brings to mind several problems that obscure the meaning of idiocy in
colonial America. In the first place, it perpetuates the myth that colonists thought of idiocy as a
circumscribed circumscribed /cir·cum·scribed/ (serk´um-skribd) bounded or limited; confined to a
limited space.

cir·cum·scribed
adj.
Bounded by a line; limited or confined. condition with fixed dimensions. It assumes that all
colonists had a unitary concept of idiocy. Second, it suggests the colonists' views of idiocy changed
over time from benign tolerance to deliberate hostility. Such a transformation, it is alleged, occurred
uniformly across the colonies starting in the mid 1600s. Third, idiocy is traditionally identified with
all the difficulties poor people experienced; there was no perceptible difference between idiocy and
other afflictions. Most notably scholars frequently fail to distinguish mental retardation from mental
illness in their studies of colonial America. Fourth, idiocy is portrayed primarily as a problem of
social welfare in the evolution of poor relief. Absent are examinations of scientific commentary
recorded by colonial scholars or literary allusions provided by Puritan preachers.

Such a singular approach incorporating these multiple myths ignores the complex nature of idiocy in
the diverse cultures of colonial America and fails to capture the many factors that contributed to a
socially constructed interpretation of idiocy. The problem with this approach is that it presumes
more knowledge about idiocy than the scholarship merits. In the absence of documentation, some
historians have extrapolated interpretations of idiocy from the more substantial evidence regarding
poverty, madness, and physical illness. Moreover, most historians have simply avoided altogether an
investigation into idiocy in the colonial era. This study attempts to address some of these problems
of scholarship. It questions the long-standing myths and provides a more comprehensive and
accurate picture of idiocy in colonial Massachusetts.

It is easy to see why the history of idiocy in colonial America has been neglected: There is little
evidence to document conclusively the situation of idiocy, and the evidence that exists is often
fragmented and ambiguous. Although records of idiocy are scattered throughout the colonies, some
of the most important documentation is found in Massachusetts. I have concentrated this study in the
region of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Massachusetts Bay Colony

Early English colony in Massachusetts. It was settled in 1630 by a group of 1,000 Puritan refugees
from England (see Puritanism). In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Co. because of all the New England
New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to
have been so named by Capt. colonies, Massachusetts offers the most comprehensive insights into
the condition. Furthermore, the religious orientation Noun 1. religious orientation - an attitude
toward religion or religious practices
orientation - an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs

agnosticism - a religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of

God; "agnosticism and the origins of settlement of Massachusetts are sufficiently unique to justify a
differentiated approach. Finally, Massachusetts established the cultural patterns, including the laws
and approaches to poor relief, that became models for other colonies, particularly those in New
England.

The material I consulted for this study includes the laws and records of the courts, the towns, and the
colony of Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay, with its arms
(Boston, Cape Cod, and Plymouth bays), extends 65 mi (105 km) from Cape Ann on the north to
Cape Cod on the south. , the published sermons and other writings of Puritan preachers, including
scientific treatises, and published personal journals, diaries, and letters. In quoting these sources I
have adhered to original spellings and grammar except for a few entries that required modifications
in order to make their meanings clear. The study of idiocy is complicated by confusing language.
The term idiot and its derivatives is found only in colonial laws and in the writings of Puritan
preachers: Apparently its application was intended for formal purposes of communication rather
than for conversation. Perhaps the term idiot was reserved for persons most seriously afflicted
af·flict
tr.v. af·flict·ed, af·flict·ing, af·flicts
To inflict grievous physical or mental suffering on.

[Middle English afflighten, from afflight, or those who had certain personal characteristics or
who held a particularly lowly social status. Sometimes the more informal term natural, or natural
fool NATURAL FOOL. An idiot; one born without the reasoning powers, or a capacity to acquire
them. , is found. While it probably had the same meaning as idiot, natural was u sed in more casual
conversation. A natural fool was not to be confused with a fool who adopted mannerisms of idiocy
for the amusement of others and compensation for himself, or one who was castigated by the clergy
for his spiritual obstinacy Obstinacy

Obtuseness (See DIMWITTEDNESS.)

Oddness (See ECCENTRICITY.)

Oldness (See AGE, OLD. . Often I have relied on inference from descriptions of behavior to
represent the situation of idiocy. I have avoided altogether references to dementia, which sometimes
accompanied old age, and distraction, the condition which most closely resembles contemporary
mental illness. The terms weakness and simplicity did not necessarily imply idiocy, for they were
used freely to describe many different kinds of personal problems.

The language of idiocy was well suited for Puritan portrayals of human despair and spiritual
negation, but if idiocy were only an allusion to the human situation and merely a metaphor, we
would fail to capture the complex ways that colonists understood the condition. Apparently there
were indeed persons whose behavior corresponded with the collectively constructed definitions of
idiocy, and these individuals seem to have influenced the development of colonial laws and aroused
the curiosity of early scientists. On the surface the multiple ways to understand idiocy in the
colonies might seem incongruous, but this is not the case because they were bound together by the
most important element of colonial life: the convictions of Puritanism. More than a religion,
Puritanism was a way of life. It was the defining feature of the original settlement as well as the
basis for governance, and it influenced the behavior of individuals in their ordinary affairs and
shaped their social relationships.

Puritanism was, according to Miller, "the most coherent and most powerful single factor in the early
history of America History of America may refer to either:

• The History of the Americas

• The History of the United States
." (3) The strength of the community lay in the focus of its purpose, the order of its society, and the
discipline of its members. In colonial Massachusetts the principles of Puritanism regulated both
individual and collective behavior The term "collective behavior" was first used by Robert E. Park,
and employed definitively by Herbert Blumer, to refer to social processes and events which do not
reflect existing social structure (laws, conventions, and institutions), but which emerge in a
"spontaneous" way. in a web of covenanted relationships. Covenant theology
Covenant Theology is not to be confused with the Covenanters

For Covenantal Theology in the Roman Catholic perspective, see .

Covenant Theology (also known as Covenantalism or Federal theology or Federalism derived

from Puritans' belief that they were chosen by God for his mission on earth. He promised
forgiveness of sins for believers who embraced his ordered universe and satisfied his demands for
piety and upright living. God's covenant with the faithful eased the burden of guilt and alleviated
their fears for the future, but his bargain was hard: Without compliance they would suffer eternal
spiritual alienation. Nevertheless, despite their best intentions, Puritans could never achieve lasting
reunion with God due to the enormity of their sins. Indeed, the principles of the covenant provided
compelling evid ence of God's ultimate supremacy and mankind's utter failure. (4) It was therefore
all the more remarkable to Puritans that God extended to them his promise of reconciliation and the
possibility of grace.

God's plan for his people provided the rationale and structure for the governance of Puritan society.
Colonial leaders, convinced they were chosen by God for his work on earth, imposed on their fellow
settlers the terms of a social contract. For their part, the men who governed promised to fulfill God's
purpose for his people in Massachusetts with a strictly ordered, just society based on scriptural
interpretation. For those who submitted to the rule of the leaders, the contract required obedience to
the laws and satisfaction of personal obligations within families and communities. Facing the
uncertainties of settling in the New World, the original inhabitants
:This article is about the video game. For Inhabitants of housing, see Residency
Inhabitants is an independently developed commercial puzzle game created by S+F Software.
Details
The game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. agreed, by and large, to yield to the
discipline imposed by their superiors in exchange for safety and stability. Most settlers found
comfort in the responsibilities of social covenant and security in the social order even though the
terms were imposed with coercion, the threat of punishment, and entrenched en·trench also
in·trench
v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es

v.tr.
1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.

2. inequality. The authority of leadership, most colonists believed, derived directly from God. These
gentlemen embodied material, intellectual and spiritual superiority and they thought that they alone
possessed sufficient reason to apprehend God's will Noun 1. God's Will - the omnipotence of a
divine being
omnipotence - the state of being omnipotent; having unlimited power and interpret it for those less
capable. On earth, as in heaven, a ranked order prevailed which, while dividing society into two
parts, assured every individual, from the meanest to the most prestigious, with a place and a
purpose. (5) Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5 1586 – July 7 1647) was a prominent Puritan
religious and colonial leader remembered as one of the founders of the Colony of Connecticut. Born
at rural Marefield, Leicestershire, England, the son of a farm manager, Thomas Hooker won a good
scholarship employed a familiar metaphor to explain the distinctions between the leaders of the
colony and their subordinates:

...So a Christian must take the season to forecast duties, not to hinder one with another, but every
dutie must be so performed, that it may further and nor hinder another: as it is with a Wagon, the
little Wheeles goe before to make way for the greater that come after them, and the greater follow
after, and serve to drive on the former. Thus one is helpfull to the others; so should we doe with
duties, so to forecast it, and so to performe it.... (6)

Hooker, like all Puritan believers, justified social inequality as an important manifestation of God's
creative hand and an indication of his intention to create on earth a system of social organization that
replicated his own ordered universe. Just as God conferred grace on grateful believers, so his elect
extended charity to the worthy poor and needy; they in turn were expected to serve their benefactors
with gratitude. (7)

It is within this context of social cohesion and religious conviction that idiocy in colonial
Massachusetts is best understood. Even as the grip of Puritanism on New England society gradually
loosened, the Puritan social ethic remained an influential force. It permeated all aspects of the
colonial experience, giving form to the laws and systems of government and church organization,
supplying substance and imagery to intellectual discourse and ordinary conversation, and providing
inspiration and meaning to the lives of every inhabitant INHABITANT. One who has his domicil in
a place is an inhabitant of that place; one who has an actual fixed residence in a place.
2. A mere intention to remove to a place will not make a man an inhabitant of such place,
although as a sign of such intention he . While it separated superior beings from the inferior, the
Puritans' predilection for social sorting fostered the welfare of all individuals deemed worthy who
embraced the covenants of family and community. In the remainder of the paper I discuss the ways
Puritans' ideas about idiocy were revealed in their written laws laws deriving their force from
express legislative enactment, as contradistinguished from unwritten, or common, law. See the Note
under Law, and Common law, under Common,

a. os>

See also: Write and in the few extant records of the courts; I provide examples of the language of
idiocy that Puritans employed in verbal and written communication to offend th eir antagonists; and
I present Puritans' interpretations of idiocy in emerging concepts of science. In the discussion that
follows I speculate on the ways that the colonists' Puritan beliefs probably influenced their
interpretations of the condition. I conclude the paper with a review of the changes in thinking about
idiocy that began in the mid 1800s and continue in the present day.

Legal Interpretations of Idiocy

The early laws of Massachusetts provide an important example of the extent to which Puritan ideals
governed the settlements in the New World. The first code of laws in New England, published in
1648, represented a unique compilation of traditional English law The system of law that has
developed in England from approximately 1066 to the present.

The body of English law includes legislation, Common Law, and a host of other legal norms
established by Parliament, the Crown, and the judiciary. , Biblical mandates and practical
regulations that suited the needs of settlers. As Haskins described it,

The [1648] Code was no mere collection of English laws and customs, but was a fresh and
considered effort to order men's lives and conduct in accordance with the religious and political
ideals of Puritanism. (8)

The heritage of English law consisted of a combination of statutes, decisions handed down by courts
of common law, and interpretations of custom law from various regions of the old country. The
terms of the colony's original charter required conformance with English law. Yet traditional law did
not satisfy the needs of settlers whose purpose was quite different from that of the original investors:
Although they shared a common economic interest, they intended to build a religious community
rather than merely a commercial outpost. (9)

The legal record of colonial Massachusetts provides some insight into how idiocy was understood in
New England and it offers indications of the ways that colonists adopted and modified English law
and developed innovative provisions to suit the colonial experience. The indirect influence of
Puritanism emerges throughout. By the end of the seventeenth century three laws The Three Laws
may refer to:

• Three Laws of Robotics, written by Isaac Asimov

o Three Laws of Robotic Sexuality, parodies Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
o

concerning idiocy had been enacted, although only two were retained: One of these two established
rights for idiots in criminal proceedings and the other extended relief in the event of need. No new
laws New Laws: see Las Casas, Bartolomé de. regarding idiocy were written in Massachusetts
between 1700 and the Revolution. The law absolving idiots of guilt in capital crimes can be traced
directly to English statute, while the other two were unique to colonial Massachusetts. (10) The
existence of these three laws signifies that idiocy was an important enough problem to attract the
attention of public officials. Unfortunately, however, there are only these three laws plus a scattering
o f notations in official records to suggest whom the laws were intended to protect, what problems
those individuals presented, and how those problems were actually resolved.

The first reference to idiocy appeared in the Body of Liberties, the earliest draft of Massachusetts
laws published in 1641. Libertie 14 granted to "any woman that is married, any childe childe
n. Archaic
A child of noble birth.

[Middle English childe, child, child; see child.] under age, Ideott or distracted person
DISTRACTED PERSON, This term is used in the statutes of Illinois; Rev. Laws of Ill. 1833, p.
332; and New Hampshire; Dig. Laws of N. H. 1830, p. 339; to express a state of insanity. " the right
to convey property with the approval of the General Court. (11) In England, married women,
children, idiots and distracted persons were prohibited from transferring property out of their estates.
(12) English law specifically conveyed feudal property of an idiot to the king's custody during the
lifetime of the person; after death it was returned to the idiot's heirs. (13) The purpose was to prevent
interruptions in heritable her·i·ta·ble
adj.
1. Capable of being passed from one generation to the next; hereditary.

2. Capable of inheriting or taking by inheritance. transfers of wealth as well as to increase the

revenues of the king. We have no idea what occasioned the law in Massachusetts and what effect it
might have had, because Libertie 14 was omitted from the next edition of the Massachusetts code.
The reason commonly given is that Libertie 14 contradicted English law, to which the colonists
were subject. (14)

In contrast, the origins of Libertie 52 were deeply embedded in English statute. Libertie 52 provided
that

Children, Idiots, Distracted persons, and all that are strangers, or new commers to our plantation,
shall have such allowances and dispensations in any Cause whether Criminall or other as religion
and reason require. (15)

With this accommodation colonists relaxed the standards which governed legal practice when
criminals were considered incompetent or unfamiliar with the laws. According to Nigel Walker
Nigel Walker born (15 June 1963 in Cardiff) is a former Welsh athlete and Wales international
rugby union player. He is currently Head of Internal Communications at BBC Wales. , English laws
have incorporated modifications that take into account a criminal offender's mental state as far back
as the tenth century. (16) What might be the earliest record of a case brought before the king was
described as "an idiot who [in 1212] is in the prison because in his witlessness he confessed that he
is a thief, although in fact he is not to blame." (17) No comparable records exist in Massachusetts
Bay; there is no evidence that idiots were brought before the courts of the colony and the constituent
towns on criminal charges, so there is no way to know if and how the law was implemented. There
are three reasons that might explain this absence of information: First, idiots may have been
dismissed by the court before their trials began. (18) Second, it is possible their cases were heard by
justices who settled them without the benefit of jury. (19) And third, the ambiguous language of
court records might have concealed the presence of idiots before the justices. In a few cases of
litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a
lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute.

When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. which will
be discussed later, idiots were identified as victims or they were represented in civil actions brought
by friends or relatives.

The other significant act regarding idiocy in Massachusetts was incorporated into the colony's poor
laws in 1693. An Act for the Relief of Ideots and Distracted Persons extended assistance to idiots
and distracted persons when "no Relations appear that will undertake the care of providing for
them." (20) Selectmen SELECTMEN. The name of certain officers in several of the United States,
who are invested by the statutes of the several states with various powers. and Overseers of the Poor
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR. Persons appointed or elected to take care of the poor with moneys
furnished to them by the public authority.
2. The duties of these officers are regulated by local statutes. were appointed as guardians to
determine their needs and make the necessary arrangements. For the first time in Massachusetts law,
a definition of idiocy appeared. An idiot, according to the Act, was "any person to be naturally
wanting of understanding, so as to be uncapable to provide for him or herself." A distracted person,
by contrast, was anyone who "by the Providence of God, shall fall into distraction, and become Non
compos mentis non compos mentis (nahn calm-pose meant-is) adj. referring to someone who is
insane, or not mentally competent to conduct one's affairs. (See: compos mentis, competent)

NON COMPOS MENTIS, persons. ." To colonists, then, distraction was a mental disability with
possibly temporary effects; it was likely to occur later in life and it could be seriously debilitating
de·bil·i·tat·ing
adj.
Causing a loss of strength or energy.

Debilitating
Weakening, or reducing the strength of.

Mentioned in: Stress Reduction , while idiocy was life-long and permanent, a condition of mental
inferior ity with material consequences.

Compare this brief definition of idiocy with the summary provided by Brydall, who, writing in
England in 1700, gave this description:

... Among the English Jurists The following lists are of prominent jurists, including judges, listed
in alphabetical order by jurisdiction. See also list of lawyers. Antiquity

• Hammurabi
• Solomon
• Manu
• Chanakya

, idiot is a Term of Law, and taken for one that is wholly deprived of his Reason and Understanding
from his Birth; and with us in our common Speech is called a Fool Natural; of whom there has been
given a Description by several of our Law-Authors. Master Fitzherbert describes an Idiot thus: He
who shall be said to be an Idiot from his Birth, is such a Person, who cannot account or number
twenty pence Twenty pence may refer to:

• A British Twenty Pence coin, a decimal subdivision of the pound sterling (United Kingdom).
• An Irish twenty pence (decimal coin), a decimal subdivision of the now defunct Irish pound
(Republic of Ireland).

, or cannot tell who is his Father or Mother, or how old he is, &c. So that it may appear that he hath
no understanding of Reason, what shall be for his Profit, or what shall be for his Loss. (21)

Colonists' understanding of idiocy, as represented in the laws of Massachusetts, seemed to conform

with this description. However, while the courts in England conducted examinations of persons
thought to be idiots, (22) there are no corresponding records in Massachusetts to suggest there was a
need for similar tests. Idiocy in Massachusetts was either merely an artifact of the laws, a deliberate
attempt to replicate the language of English statutes This is a list of statutes of England excluding
Acts of Parliament. 11th century
 • Laws of William the Conqueror 1070-1087[1]

, or there was simply no need to make determinations of competence in defendants of capital crimes
or recipients of public relief. In any event, Massachusetts incorporated idiocy with distraction into
the colony's poor laws in 1693, twenty-one years before England did so. (23)

Despite the uncertainties regarding the purpose of the laws, there is some indication that colonists
assessed informally the mental capacities of certain individuals who were brought before the courts
either as victims or as unwitting defendants in civil procedures. For example, Mary Phips, a victim
of sexual abuse, was described in the Charlestown Court in 1690 as one who was

... void of common reason and understanding that is in other children of her age, nor capable of
discerning between good and evil or any morality ... but she knows persons and remembers persons.
She is next to a mere naturall in her intellectuals.... She is incapable of resisting a rape have[ing] one
side quite plsied.... [We] have to help her as a meer child. (24)

Mary Phips, "next to a mere naturall in her intellectual," escaped the opprobrium OPPROBRIUM,
civil law. Ignominy; shame; infamy. (q.v.) of idiocy. Nevertheless, she failed to measure up to the
abilities of other children her age. The extent of her physical and mental disabilities combined with
her child-like behavior, left her vulnerable to violence as well as morally deficient.

Samuel Hadley, an older man, was described differently in a deposition given in Essex Court in
1670:

[Deponent An individual who, under oath or affirmation, gives out-of-court testimony in a

deposition. A deponent is someone who gives evidence or acts as a witness. The testimony of a
deponent is written and carries the deponent's signature.

deponent n. ] and his sisters took a great deal of care and diligently instructed [Hadley] in reading
and he was also put to school, but he did not gain much of what might have been expected. "In his
ordenary imployment he was incapashous that I neuar saw one of that age soe unfit for larning &
any work in which was needfull to haue discresion used." (25)

Hadley apparently was unable to learn like others and he was incompetent at work. His failures were
of a more practical nature than moral. A few other colonists shared his problems; none of them was
considered an idiot, nor were they called natural fools. They were deficient, but probably not to the
extent that they might be called naturals or idiots. Consider, for example, Michael Smith Michael or
Mike Smith may refer to: Journalists

• Michael Smith (sports reporter), American sports reporter for the The Boston Globe and
ESPN
• Mike Smith (television presenter), British television and radio presenter
•
, who in 1647 had difficulties when it came to voting:

It is ordered, that the fine of Mighill Smith for his puting in of three beanes at once for one mans
election, it being done in simplicity, & he being pore & of an harmles disposition, it is ordered his
fine is suspended till further order from the Generall Corte. (26)

"Simplicity" combined with poverty and inoffensive behavior earned Mr. Smith the sympathy of the
court. Whereas Mary Phips was thought to be "next to a mere naturall" and Samuel Hadley
"incapashous," Michael Smith was only simple. Such descriptions covered a wide range of ability
with various measures of competence, yet none of these individuals qualified for the extremities of
idiocy.

Idiocy, then, was a term which appeared in the formal laws of Massachusetts but apparently never in
the colloquial col·lo·qui·al
adj.
1. Characteristic of or appropriate to the spoken language or to writing that seeks the effect of
speech; informal.

2. Relating to conversation; conversational. speech of ordinary inhabitants. Although there were

many individuals deemed incompetent, they were not identified in court records as idiots. In fact,
aside from the laws mentioned above, colonists used the word idiot in only three other contexts: One
was the figure of speech used pejoratively pe·jor·a·tive
adj.
1. Tending to make or become worse.

2. Disparaging; belittling.

n.
A disparaging or belittling word or expression. to demonstrate contempt; the second was the
metaphor signifying spiritual incompetence; and the third was the rare entry in scientific reports. All
are found only in the writings of Massachusetts' Puritan clerics.

Figures of Speech and The Language of Idiocy

The term idiocy appears as a figure of speech and a metaphor in the writings of a few of the
clergymen of Massachusetts. Idiocy as a figure of speech expressed one person's disdain for another,
much as it does today. For Puritan writers, idiocy was a useful epithet ep·i·thet
n.
1.
a. A term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the
Great in Catherine the Great.

b. for insult and slander. Cotton Mather This article is about the 17th century Puritan minister. For
the rock band, see Cotton Mather (band).

Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728). A.B. 1678 (Harvard College), A.M. , for
example, employed images of idiocy in one of his frequent fits of exasperation: In 1720 he called his
political opponents "idiots and fuddle-caps and men that love and make a lie." (27) He scorned the
citizens of Boston when he wrote that "people are seized with folly, and continue in the fancies and
actions of natural fools for several days together." (28) In 1749 Jonathan Mayhew Jonathan
Mayhew (October 8, 1720 – July 9, 1766) was a noted American clergyman and minister at Old
West Church, Boston, Massachusetts. He is credited with coining the phrase "no taxation without
representation", and with very early advocacy of what became Unitarianism. condemned the
"enlightened Ideots" caught up in the hysteria of the Great Awakening Great Awakening, series of
religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th cent. It
resulted in doctrinal changes and influenced social and political thought. . (29) Yet as a derogatory
figure of speech, idiocy represented an image of human nature that sounds familiar today, for the
associations of the language were more than colorful phrases. Indeed, they were intended to insult
and humiliate with refer ence to such an abject condition. Furthermore, the pejorative
pejorative Medtalk Bad…real bad figure of speech defined idiocy as social construct and reinforced
the notion that idiots constituted a contemptuous class of incompetent persons worthy only of
ridicule.

More significantly, idiocy figured into theological discussions about the ways individuals
experienced the mercy of God and achieved salvation. Idiocy represented two contrasting spiritual
situations: On the one hand, it stood for the supremely pure and innocent nature of God's chosen
people, while on the other hand idiocy symbolized the ignorant and spiritually incompetent who
were hopelessly estranged es·trange
tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es
1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate.

2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. from God's kingdom. In either case,
the purpose was to contrast one extreme situation with another in order to make the meanings of
sermons clear and emphatic. With all Puritan preachers, Biblical texts provided the fundamental
concepts for religious discourse. Two New England Puritan clerics, Thomas Hooker and Samuel
Parris Samuel Parris (1653 – February 27, 1720) was the Puritan minister in Salem Village (now
Danvers) Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father to one of the supposedly
afflicted girls, and uncle of another. , represented idiocy from contrasting points of view. Thomas
Hooker found signs of God's grace in the innocence of idiocy. In 1638 he wrote

In a word, take the meanest Saint, that ever breathed on the earth, and the greatest scholar for
outward parts, and learning, and reason and policie, the meanest ignorant soule, that is almost a
naturall foole, that soule knows and understands more of grace and mercy in Christ, than all the
wisest and learnedst in the world.... (30)

Like other Puritan clerics, Hooker was not so much interested in idiocy as he was in the image it
promoted. He employed idiocy in analogy to contrast the purity and simplicity of God's grace with
the corruption of human nature. In fact, he was expanding on the Biblical reference of I Corinthians
Noun 1. I Corinthians - a New Testament book containing the first epistle from Saint Paul to the
church at Corinth
First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:18-19: "If any
man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." (31) In the following passage Hooker extended
the image of idiocy as a figure of enlightenment. He reminded his listeners that God, the Master,
was present for willing learners, no matter how insignificant they might be:

... The humble are informed, they are nor instructed; therefore the others know not what they cannot
conceive. As suppose one dull blocke, and a quicke wit, are both set to one trade, yet if the dullard
had an expert master, and did bear into him the will of the trade, and the quicke spirit was with a
master that could not teach him his trade; wee see that the dull blocke is more wise in his trade than
the other: so it is here, they have the Lord as their master. (32)

Here Hooker contrasted the intelligent but recalcitrant backslider back·slide

intr.v. back·slid , back·slid·ing, back·slides
To revert to sin or wrongdoing, especially in religious practice.

back with the ignorant but eager learner in a graphic metaphor based on I Corinthians 1:27: "But
God hath chosen the foolish things Foolish Things is a Rock/Alternative/Christian rock band signed
with Inpop Records. History
The band took their name from 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 "God chose the foolish things of the world to
shame the wise". of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty." (33) The image of idiocy was well suited for the
scriptural style of antithetical an·ti·thet·i·cal also an·ti·thet·ic
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or marked by antithesis.

2. Being in diametrical opposition. See Synonyms at opposite. positions represented in Hooker's

sermon.

Despite the magnanimity mag·na·nim·i·ty

n. pl. mag·na·nim·i·ties
1. The quality of being magnanimous.

2. A magnanimous act.

Noun 1. of the scriptural lessons and Hooker's explications, other Puritan preachers employed
idiocy in far less attractive images. In Puritan New England, where reason and religious
regeneration went hand in hand, idiocy also represented a spiritual situation of utter despair. Without
the use of intellect, one was not only socially and economically incapable but spiritually hopeless as
well. The Congregational churches of Massachusetts required three tests for membership: The first
was a demonstration of knowledge of the scriptures and the tenets of the faith; the second was an
indication of upright living, and the third required evidence of the personal experience of
conversion. (34) Those who passed the tests were likely to achieve salvation; those who failed were
excluded forever from the kingdom of Cod. Idiots served as suitable figures for persons deemed
spiritual failures. Furthermore, idiots shared a similar fate with infants: Both were tainted by the sins
of Adam and ineligible for re demption, yet infants might one day grow into regeneration, while
idiots were left hopelessly behind.

Samuel Parris' ministry was marked with dissension which spilled over from his church into the
wider community, and helped foment fo·ment
tr.v. fo·ment·ed, fo·ment·ing, fo·ments
1. To promote the growth of; incite.

2. To treat (the skin, for example) by fomentation. the witchcraft controversy in Salem Village in
1692-93. (35) From the pulpit Parris remonstrated the members of his congregation to forbear
for·bear 1
v. for·bore , for·borne , for·bear·ing, for·bears

v.tr.
1. To refrain from; resist: forbear replying. See Synonyms at refrain1. evil in the guise of Satan and
witches and declare their allegiance to Christ. With graphic depictions Parris separated saints from
sinners, and he employed the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to divide church members from non-
members. In a sermon prepared in 1693 he denied the sacrament of communion to both children and
idiots because they lacked discernment:

Must communicants examine themselves? Why then hince we may learn that there are two sorts of
persons altogether unfit for this Ordinance viz: Such as cannot examine themselves, & such as will
nor examine themselves (1) Such as cannot examine themselves are altogether unmeet un·meet
adj.
Not fitting or proper; unseemly. for this Ordinance. As (1) Infants. Infants cannot shew shew
v. Archaic
Variant of show.

Verb 1. shew - establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment;

"The experiment demonstrated the instability of the compound"; "The mathematician forth the
Lords death: Infants cannot examine themselves, & therefore are not meet Subjects for this
Ordinance.... (2) Fools & Idiots are not meet subjects for this ordinance. For those being void of
Reason cannot examine themselves. There is a degree of knowledge, & a considerable degree of it
required in all communicants. So much knowledge as to discerne the Lords body. I. Cor. 11.29. (36)

It seems improbable that Parris cared about either idiots or infants. More likely they served as
literary figures to separate people incapable of church membership from those who refused to join.
Far worse were those who refused the grace of God than those who were unable to comprehend the
meaning. Idiots and infants were exonerated in their exclusion, yet willful sinners suffered endless
guilt.

Compare this passage of Parris' with the words of William Bates

For the politician, see William H. Bates. For the ship named after the same, see USS
William H. Bates (SSN-680).
William Horatio Bates (December 23, 1860 - July 10, 1931) was an American physician and
ophthalmologist who developed what is now known as the , English Puritan preacher, who denied
the spirituality of both idiots and distracted persons. The passage is important for two reasons: First
it provides an indication of the similar ways that English and New England Puritan preachers
incorporated images of idiocy into their writings; and second, it offers an etiology for idiocy and
distraction that may well have been adopted on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, Bates Bates ,
Katherine Lee 1859-1929.

American educator and writer best known for her poem "America the Beautiful," written in 1893
and revised in 1904 and 1911. offered a pessimistic assessment of both idiocy and distraction in
religious metaphor when he wrote in 1680:

'Tis observable that Faith is exprest in Scripture, by Prudence, Wisdom, and Knowledg, whereby a
Man knows the grounds and motives of his Judgment and Actions. And Sin is called Folly. For as
when the understanding Faculty, either from the indisposedness of the Organs, as in Idiots, or from
the disorder of Fancy by the inflammation of the Humours, as in distracted persons, cannot weigh
and compare, and therefore makes a perverse judgment of things; so the carnal
carnal adjective Referring to the flesh, to baser instincts, often referring to sexual “knowledge”
Mind by not due measuring and pondering, judges faisly of Spiritual Things. (37)

Such bleak prospects for mentally incapable persons extended to willfully willfully adv. referring to
doing something intentionally, purposefully and stubbornly. Examples: "He drove the car willfully
into the crowd on the sidewalk." "She willfully left the dangerous substances on the property." (See:
willful) ignorant souls who failed the basic tests of faith. However, the deficiencies of idiocy and
distraction were organic in nature, whereas the deficiencies of degeneration were spiritual.

Literary devices notwithstanding, theological issues concerning the spiritual status of children (and
by association, idiots) consumed Puritan clergy on both sides of the Atlantic. Born into sin, children
depended on the covenants between God and their parents for the hope of salvation. Children who
were brought up by believing parents were more likely than others to be saved. Baptism at birth
provided additional assurances of grace. (38) Despite this protection, children remained sinners until
they achieved full covenant with God through experiences of faith. Insofar as many children died
young in both old and New England, without special dispensation DISPENSATION. A relaxation of
law for the benefit or advantage of an individual. In the United States, no power exists, except in the
legislature, to dispense with law, and then it is not so much a dispensation as a change of the law. ,
they died sinners. To correct this bleak possibility, some members of the clergy proposed that
infants should be accorded special status in God's kingdom, a view that gained favor in the
eighteenth century. (39) In an extended analogy Richard Baxter This article is about the clergyman.
For the jurist, see Richard Baxter (jurist).)
Richard Baxter (November 12, 1615 - December 8, 1691) was an English Puritan church leader,
theologian and controversialist, called by Dean Stanley "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen".
, English clergyman, defended the practice of baptism for infants and idiots alike and compared
them to parts of a body and to members of a nation. In 1676 Baxter wrote:

... The Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ. But
Kingdoms and Nations contain Infants; and he Discipleth not a Nation that Discipleth no Infants in
the Nation.... I have before land else-where fully] proved Infants capable parts, as Christ was of
being Head, and as Infants are of Societies, and of a part in Covenants with men: and Ideots having
not the use of reason from the birth, are in the same case with Infants; and the Distracted, after at
age, are nothing to our case, but are capable of being Distracted members; and Distraction is not
Excommunication excommunication, formal expulsion from a religious body, the most grave of all
ecclesiastical censures. Where religious and social communities are nearly identical it is attended by
social ostracism, as in the case of Baruch Spinoza, excommunicated by the Jews. , nor Unchurcheth
any. (40)

In this passage Baxter not only presented his argument regarding infant baptism This article may
contain original research or unverified claims.

Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.

This article has been tagged since March 2007. , he, like Bates, provided a definition of idiocy: To
Baxter, idiocy was a condition that was different from distraction because it was present at birth; it
extended throughout one's lifetime; and it resulted in intellectual incompetence. Furthermore, idiocy
shared common meanings with infancy; they both represented mankind in its natural state, innocent
in terms of intent yet culpable Blameworthy; involving the commission of a fault or the breach of a
duty imposed by law.
Culpability generally implies that an act performed is wrong but does not involve any evil intent by
the wrongdoer. due to inherited sin. Thus for some of the more optimistic clergymen on both sides
of the Atlantic, the simplicity of infancy and idiocy assured salvation in God's kingdom while for
others of a more pessimistic bent, it gave reason for exclusion. Puritan ministers did not necessarily
hold a unitary view of the religious principles that defined their faith any more than they agreed on
every aspect of the political situation. Furthermore, theology, like the politics of the day, shifted
over time as the growing societies evolved. (41) For most Puritans, however, idiocy had little to do
with theology; it served mainly as a colorful, useful figure of speech. Even so, if the clerics agreed
that idiocy was a condition analogous to infancy, in-born and permanent, innocent yet sinful, most
of the rest of the colonists probably thought of it the same way, for the Puritan ministers in New
England were among the most influential writers and speakers of the period. (42)

Scientific Interpretations of Idiocy

Two New England pastors, Charles Morton Charles Morton (28 January 1907, Illinois, USA - 26
October 1966, North Hollywood, California, was an American actor.

His career started in the late silent era as a leading man and continued into sound features and finally
television. and Cotton Mather, mentioned idiocy in some of the colony's earliest scientific texts.
Morton prepared one of the first scientific references intended for teaching, while Mather produced
a number of manuscripts reporting his observations and interpretations of the natural world. Both
men explored new dimensions of the physical sciences while remaining firmly ensconced
en·sconce
tr.v. en·sconced, en·sconc·ing, en·sconc·es
1. To settle (oneself) securely or comfortably: She ensconced herself in an armchair.

2. in medieval philosophy medieval philosophy: see scholasticism. and religion. They anticipated
the advent of modem science with ideas derived from contemporary writers in England, particularly
among the members of the Royal Society; at the same time, they both relied on classic sources,
especially the works of Aristotle. Their purpose was to provide descriptions and explanations of the
natural world as they perceived it and as it was represented by others. Essentially, however, both
Morton and Mather were Puritan preachers, and their aim was to understand God's purpose for
mankind and to discover theological truths in His creations. (43)

Despite their attention to scientific matters, neither Morton nor Mather was particularly interested in
idiocy. Both mentioned the condition in passing and adopted established interpretations. In
Compendium Physicae, a textbook compiled in London and adopted at Harvard between 1687 and
1728 to introduce students to the physical sciences, (44) Morton included idiocy as a deviation from
the physical and intellectual superiority of mankind. Mather, a keen observer of natural phenomenon
and a prolific writer, wrote numerous accounts of idiocy, including a report for the Royal Society, of
which he was a member. (45) However, the absence of idiocy from Mather's Angel of Bethesda, the
first medical text in colonial America, (46) suggests that idiocy was a condition more suitable for
theological discussion than scientific reports or medical treatment.

Morton's ideas about idiocy originated in the works of Aristotle, as well as more contemporary
philosophers and scientists. (47) Morton specifically mentioned idiocy in his discourse on memory
in the Compendium. Whereas Aristotle distinguished between retentive re·ten·tive
adj.
1. Having the quality, power, or capacity of retaining.

2. Having the ability or capacity to retain knowledge or information with ease: a retentive memory.
memory and the activities of recollection, (48) Morton differentiated between "simple" and
"complex" memory. Furthermore, like Aristotle, Morton characterized defects of memory in terms
of organic malfunctions, and extended the limitations of memory to the very young. Both were
concerned to identify characteristics of mankind that set them apart from lower forms of animals.
According to Morton:

The kinds of memory are 2. Simple, and Complex. 1. Simple memory is that which is now Spoken
[of] common to man, and beast, yea Idiots have it Sometimes, and that in an admirable manner. The
reason may be not only a peculiar temperament in Some part of the brain but that all or most of the
brains Spirits are only imployed about this work, and few cal'd of[f] or Spent in the Servise of the
Understanding 2. Complex or Intellectuall, Joyn'd with Serviseable to, and Established by the
understanding. This is Peculiar to men, and is Eminent in wise men, Especially as to things rather
than words. The tr[e]asures of this are not only Phantasms, but also intellectuall Ideas; and it can
recal its objects by a Small hint or Circumstance. This by way of distinction from the former
common memory is termed Reminiscence rem·i·nis·cence
n.
1. The act or process of recollecting past experiences or events.

2. An experience or event recollected: "Her mind seemed wholly taken up with reminiscences of
past gaiety" , or Recordation.

[Bare] memory in fools, and brutes, is found

Mans Reminiscence hath in reason Ground (49)

Morton explained further the difference between the simple memory of children and fools and the
complex memory of scholars:

The Exercise of intellectual memory dos mostly belong to wise men and Scholars. Whereas fools
and Children have the more common Use of the other; for that they are unable to form those
abstracted Ideas and are less Capable of rationall method.

Memory Intellectual Serves the mind.

Children, and fools use that of th'other kind (50)

Reason, Morton said, was the faculty that differentiated man from brute beasts (and apparently
children as well as idiots). Yet the powers of the intellect alone were not sufficient for the Puritan
cleric. They found purpose in religious apprehension and devotion:

He that would Sermons profitably hear,

had need to Understand the method Clear. (51)

Puritan themes resonated throughout Morton's Compendium, even as they would a short time later
in the sermons of Samuel Parris.
The views of Cotton Mather were not appreciably different; it may be simply because Mather wrote
copiously on a great variety of topics that he happened to touch on idiocy a number of times. A keen
observer of nature and a witness to the human condition as well as a Puritan cleric, Mather recorded
his reflections assiduously as·sid·u·ous
adj.
1. Constant in application or attention; diligent: an assiduous worker who strove for perfection. See
Synonyms at busy.

2. . He was a prolific writer of both religious tracts and scientific treatises, and many times he
combined the two. His Angel of Bethesda, a compilation of physical afflictions, practical advice and
spiritual exhortation, weaves together the most extensive medical text of the colonial period
Colonial Period may generally refer to any period in a country's history when it was subject to
administration by a colonial power.

• Korea under Japanese rule

• Colonial America

See also

• Colonialism

with religious dictum. It is within this conglomerate of physico-spirituality that Mather wrote about
idiocy, slipping it into the entry on epilepsy. To Mather, the situation of idiocy provided a reference
point to locate the fears of that scourge:

Will the Spectator be perswaded unto Gratitude and Piety, Knowing this Terror of the Lord. But the
Patient also, Coming out of his Fitt, will have Opportunity to Entertain some affecting Thoughts
upon his own Deplorable Condition. At least, if he be not so far gone, as to become a meer Ideot,
which is often the unhappy Consequence of this Distemper distemper, in veterinary medicine, highly
contagious, catarrhal, often fatal disease of dogs. It also affects wolves, foxes, mink, raccoons, and
ferrets. Distemper is caused by a filtrable virus that is airborne; it is also spread by infected utensils,
brushes, and , when it has Long Prevailed. Epileptic epileptic /ep·i·lep·tic/ (ep?i-lep´tik)
1. pertaining to or affected with epilepsy.

2. a person affected with epilepsy.

ep·i·lep·tic
n.
One who has epilepsy. , Thou are already worse than an Ideot, if thou hast no Religious Thoughts,
upon they grievous Calamity. (52)

These were threatening reminders from a leading physician-preacher about the presence of
Almighty God in the colonists' afflictions. Epilepsy, "the falling sickness (Med.) epilepsy.

See also: Falling ," was one of the most feared and least well understood problems in early New
England, as it was throughout the world. (53) Its association with idiocy confirmed the deleterious
effects of the disease and contrasted it with the even more reprehensible rep·re·hen·si·ble
adj.
Deserving rebuke or censure; blameworthy. See Synonyms at blameworthy.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin repreh idiocy. Yet Mather situated idiocy in
the order of society above those with "no Religious thoughts." For epileptics, there was at least a
modicum mod·i·cum
n. pl. mod·i·cums or mod·i·ca
A small, moderate, or token amount: "England still expects a modicum of eccentricity in its
artists" Ian Jack. of hope if there was faith; not so, for idiots. Neither an illness nor a disease,
idiocy, to Mather, was a station in the social order, a useful image to portray the hopeless despair
that sinners experienced.

While idiocy served Mather well as a metaphor, he also recognized its practical aspects. He knew,
for example, that idiocy could be the outcome of a debilitating case of epilepsy. Boylston,
contemporary physician and friend of Mather's, acknowledged that idiocy could be one of many
afflictions resulting from another frightening disease, smallpox:

Some who live are Cripples, others Idiots, and many blind all their Days; beside the other
Deformities it brings upon many, in their Faces, Limbs, or Body, with many more grievous
Symptoms, which the World has had too great Experience of, as being the Attendants of that fatal
Distemper called the Confluent con·flu·ent
adj.
1. Flowing together; blended into one.

2. Merging or running together so as to form a mass, as sores in a rash. Small-Pox. (54)

Not merely a metaphor, idiocy thus assumed a reality in the presence of the diseases that struck
colonists. Indeed, these writings confirm that colonists understood that idiocy, a chronic condition,
could be acquired later in life as a result of acute illness.

Mather's natural inquisitiveness and his personal ambition to impress the members of the Royal
Society are evidenced in his Curiosa cu·ri·o·sa
pl.n.
Books or other writings dealing with unusual, especially pornographic, topics.

[New Latin c Americana, a compilation of letters describing strange and wonderful examples of
natural phenomena. Adding his contributions of observations to the collection submitted for
publication to the Royal Society, Mather wrote of two daughters, ages nine and three, of a disabled
man in Dunstable whom he personally visited in 1713. He offered this description:

[The girls] continued for several months after their nativity in the same circumstances of sensibility
that other infants of their age use [sic] to have. But anon a·non
adv.
1. At another time; later.

2. In a short time; soon.

3. Archaic At once; forthwith.

Idiom:
ever/now and anon they were taken with odd convulsive con·vul·sive
adj.
1. Characterized by or having the nature of convulsions.

2. Having or producing convulsions.

convulsive

pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a convulsion. motions, which carried a little of an
epileptical aspect upon them. The fits would be short, and many of them in an hour; but after some
while the fits grew seldomer, and lasted longer, and the screeches of the little wretches in them
would be very doleful dole·ful
adj.
1. Filled with or expressing grief; mournful. See Synonyms at sad.

2. Causing grief: a doleful loss. . These fits anon left them wholly deprived of almost everything in
the world, but only a little sight, and scent, and hunger. Nothing in the whole brutal world so
insensible INSENSIBLE. In the language of pleading, that which is unintelligible is said to be
insensible. Steph. Pl. 378. ! They move not their limbs: you may twist them, and bend them to a
degree that none else could bear, and they feel it not. They take notice of nothing in the world, only
they seem to see and smell victuals, at the approach of which they will gape, and be very restless,
and make something of a bray. They are in good health, and ear rather more than other children of
their age. But they let th eir excrements pass from them without the least regard. The elder is ever
drivelling, the younger never has any salival discharge. They shed no tears. They never sneeze
sneeze, involuntary violent expiration of air through the nose and mouth. It results from stimulation
of the nervous system in the nose, causing sudden contraction of the muscles of expiration. . They
have no speech. They have no way to discover any sentiments of their minds. They never use their
hands to take hold of anything. Was idiocy ever seen so miserable! (55)

Again Mather made the connection between epilepsy and idiocy; perhaps his observation of the
twins provided the material for the oblique entry in Angel of Bethesda, which was completed in
1724. This detailed, albeit pejorative description of idiocy in the Curiosa among Mather's letters
provides the only narrative depiction of idiocy as a genuine human condition experienced in colonial
Massachusetts.

In contrast, Mather included his theory of idiocy in The Christian Philosopher, the first book written
by an American to provide an account of the physical and natural sciences, and a prime example,
according to Winton Solberg, of an effort to portray the relation between science and religion. (56)
Completed in 1715, The Christian Philosopher represented Mather's version of "physicotheology ...
a branch of natural theology natural theology
n.
A theology holding that knowledge of God may be acquired by human reason alone without the aid
of revealed knowledge.

Noun 1. that seeks to prove the existence and attributes of God from the evidence of purpose and
design in the universe." (57) Here, Mather mentioned idiocy as an aberration of God's purpose and
design. His theory, derived from the writings of Nathaniel Grew which were published in London in
1701, found structural deformity Deformity
See also Lameness.

Calmady, Sir Richard

born without lower legs. [Br. Lit.: Sir Richard Calmady, Walsh Modern, 84]

Carey, Philip

embittered young man with club foot seeks fulfillment. [Br. Lit. in idiocy:

A great Philosopher [Nehemiah Grew Nehemiah Grew (September 1641 - March 25, 1712) was an
English vegetable anatomist and physiologist.

Grew was the only son of Obadiah Grew (1607-1688), Nonconformist divine and vicar of St
Michaels, Coventry, and was born in Warwickshire. ] observes and affirms, that the Clearness of our
Fancy depends on the regular Structure of the Brain; by which it is fitted for the receiving and
compounding of all Impressions with the more Regularity. In Fools the Brain is deformed. The
Deformity is not easily noted in other People: But, no doubt, a smaller Difference than can be
imagined, may alter the Symmetry of the Brain, and so the Perspecuity of the Fancy. (58)

Never one to pass up an opportunity to teach from the pulpit and to assert his own integrity, Mather
exclaimed:

Gracious God! how much ought I to adore the Goodness of thy superintending Providence, which
gave my Brain that Conformation con·for·ma·tion
n.
One of the spatial arrangements of atoms in a molecule that can come about through free rotation of
the atoms about a single chemical bond. , that enables me now to see and write thy Praises. (59)

Mather, like Morton, adopted this physicotheological model to explain that idiocy represented a
defect of physical formation that was in-born, permanent, and devastating dev·as·tate
tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates
1. To lay waste; destroy.

2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. in its effect. Like his friend
Boylston, Mather realized that idiocy could be acquired through serious illness, and that once
afflicted, idiocy represented a pitiable pit·i·a·ble
adj.
1. Arousing or deserving of pity or compassion; lamentable.

2. Arousing disdainful pity. See Synonyms at pathetic.

pit yet contemptible con·tempt·i·ble

adj.
1. Deserving of contempt; despicable.
2. Obsolete Contemptuous.

con·tempt human condition. Yet Mather not only feared and deplored the consequences of idiocy,
he was truly awed by this manifestation of God's work in the physical creations. Mather's interest in
the diverse aspects of idiocy, his deeply personal response, and the spiritual and emotional
contradictions he represented portray the varieties of interpretation the condition yielded in colonial
Massachusetts.

Discussion

This account refutes the common myths that portray idiocy in colonial America as a unitary concept
and it contradicts the notion that the settlers' views on idiocy changed markedly during the colonial
period. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that colonists thought of idiocy as something quite
distinct from other afflictions, especially madness, and it was considerably more complex than
poverty alone could explain. Indeed, defining idiocy is a complicated matter because it represented
both a lived experience and the social construction of a human condition. There were indeed
individuals who apparently shared characteristics of ascribed incompetence, but at the same time
idiocy took on metaphoric meanings that eclipsed personal experience. These meanings, which had
their origins in England, reflected colonists' interpretations of personal defect and social inferiority.
In addition, however, the meaning of idiocy in colonial Massachusetts was influenced by the unique
features of settlement and the convictions of Puritanism. To colonists, idiocy was a pitiable and
vulnerable condition, one more manifestation of God's diverse creations.

Scathing assessments of idiocy, especially by Mather, suggest that colonists had little tolerance for
the situation. Such was not the case, however, for although they despised idiocy and its associated
images, most colonists adopted a fairly benign attitude. Indeed, the unconditional incompetence of
idiocy provided avenues for their spiritual salvation and social acceptance. This paradox is best
explained by principles of Puritan belief. The standards for acceptable behavior in Puritan
Massachusetts relied on the ability of individuals to achieve regeneration by way of demonstrations
of faith. Persons of intellect were thought likely to achieve salvation, while those without reason
were relegated to a state of spiritual incompetence. Individuals who willfully refused to comply with
Puritan precepts were excluded altogether from the promise of grace. Idiots were not only unable to
demonstrate the requisite intellectual capabilities, they also lacked the will to apply the intellect for
God's purpose. Thus they were doubly disabled with both intellectual deficiency and spiritual
ineptitude Ineptitude
See also Awkwardness.

Brown, Charlie

meek hero unable to kick a football, fly a kite, or win a baseball game. [Comics: “Peanuts” in Horn,
543]

Capt. Queeg

incompetent commander of the minesweeper Caine. . Nevertheless, this double disability provided
an element of protection, for Puritans were likely to tolerate persons whose defects were attributable
to absence of intellect and will and to castigate cas·ti·gate
tr.v. cas·ti·gat·ed, cas·ti·gat·ing, cas·ti·gates
1. To inflict severe punishment on. See Synonyms at punish.

2. To criticize severely. those who possessed the faculty of reason but refused to use it.

Apparently idiocy was not only tolerated, it played an essential role in Puritan society. To apply
Hooker's metaphor, idiots may have been the littlest "Wheeles" in the social hierarchy Social
hierarchy

A fundamental aspect of social organization that is established by fighting or display behavior and
results in a ranking of the animals in a group. . Insignificant yet accounted for, idiocy served
multiple purposes in colonial Massachusetts. In the first place, the condition represented God's
creative genius and a manifestation of the marvelous diversity of His works. Second, idiocy
provided Puritans with the opportunity to practice acts of mercy. Whereas charity represented status
within the brotherhood of believers and signified relationships with God, Puritan believers practiced
their faith with opportunities to "do good," which meant to Cotton Mather, at least, material
assistance as well as moral correction. (60) The most miserable and inferior sort such as idiots were
especially well suited recipients. Furthermore, idiocy may have represented the Puritan ideal of
affliction, through which God instructed believers and taught them humility. Surely idiocy informed
Purit ans of the purpose of affliction and tested their fortitude in its presence; if nothing else, it
served as a reminder that things could always be worse. (61)

Idiocy as a spiritual deficiency may have lasted only as long as Puritanism remained a dynamic
force in Massachusetts, although many of the meanings attributed to idiocy by the colonists
persisted well into the nineteenth century. The first new ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by
Scottish New Wave/Indie Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with
"Will It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for the track. about
idiocy in America were proposed by Samuel Howe, who, in 1846 as head of the Massachusetts
Asylum for the Blind, conducted a survey to determine the extent of the condition in the state of
Massachusetts. (62) One year later, inspired by the work of Edouard Seguin Edouard Seguin
(1812-1880) was a physician who worked with mentally handicapped children in France and the
United States. He was a student of French physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, who was the educator
of Victor of Aveyron, also known as the "The Wild Child". at the Bicetre, Howe admitted idiots to
his school in the Asylum for the Blind. Additional schools for idiots emerged, first in the northeast,
and then in other parts of the country. During this period the image of idiocy retained most of the
characteristics ascribed by colonists and accrued additional meanings. According to Trent,

... Americans during the [mid 1800s] emphasized a definition of idiocy that took into account not
only its moral and functional dimensions, but also its pathological, typological, and degenerative
properties. (63)

No longer was idiocy considered simply a structural defect and an incurable condition. By this time
theories of idiocy, reflecting ideas of etiology and treatment originating in the Enlightenment, had
crossed the Atlantic from France. Rather than a spiritual defect explained by theology, idiocy took
on the definition of disease, both physiological and moral, for which there might be correction if not
a cure. Now a medical condition, idiocy was classified and ranked by grades, descending from the
most capable to the "incurables." Howe's school and those that followed required improvements in
their pupils in order to attract support. Showing little progress and imposing a burden on educators
and their resources, the incurables were gradually abandoned in favor of those who showed more
promise. Justification for the exclusion of incurables from treatment programs focused not only on
physiological characteristics but moral qualities as well. In time, idiocy, defined once again as
permanent and untreatable Un`treat´a`ble

a. 1. Incapable of being treated; not practicable. , became identified with degeneracy Degeneracy
(quantum mechanics)

A term referring to the fact that two or more stationary states of the same quantum-mechanical
system may have the same energy even though their wave functions are not the same. , willful
noncompliance noncompliance

failure of the owner to follow instructions, particularly in administering medication as prescribed; a

cause of a less than expected response to treatment.
noncompliance and moral corruption.

By the 1870s the mission of schools for idiots gradually shifted to custodial care Custodial Care

Non-medical care that helps individuals with his or her activities of daily living, preparation of
special diets and self-administration of medication not requiring constant attention of medical
personnel. from education and treatment. With few services and no hope for their improvement,
idiots congregated in increasing numbers in institutional settings or they were isolated in their
homes, cared for by families but neglected by professionals. It was nearly one hundred years later
when scholars recognized idiocy (or mental retardation as it came to be known) as a construction of
society rather than solely a personal attribute. (64) In the 1960s many family members, scholars and
politicians adopted conceptions of mental retardation that emphasized possibilities for learning and
full participation in society. Medical research and treatment were developed to correct some
physical and biochemical problems and to prevent others. Public policies of the 1970s promoted
more positive images of mental retardation and established funding for programs. Thus the field of
mental retardation expanded into increasingly complex and varied definit ions of the situation. Such
contemporary interpretations and approaches to mental retardation, however, have not been free of
difficulties: They continue to incorporate many concepts from colonial Puritanism and perpetuate
some of the same problems. Most notably, constructed meanings of the situation still portray images
of personal failure and social inferiority. Perhaps, today, mental retardation serves the purposes of
professionals in health and education systems just as idiocy served the colony's spiritual needs. In
both past and present societies, persons with mental retardation have filled roles as worthy recipients
of charity and beneficence. More positively, colonists tolerated individuals thought to be idiots and
extended basic legal protections that still serve as models. For practical and religious reasons they
apparently accepted idiots within their communities. Today community integration for persons with
mental retardation is a practical matter, as it was in colonial Massachusetts, but it is also a social
goal defined by secular law rather than sacred precept An order, writ, warrant, or process. An order
or direction, emanating from authority, to an officer or body of officers, commanding that officer or
those officers to do some act within the scope of their powers. Rule imposing a standard of conduct
or action. .

ENDNOTES

(1.) Richard C. Scheerenberger, A History of Mental Retardation (Baltimore, 1983). Histories of

mental illness that offer interpretations of mental retardation include, for example, Albert Deutsch,
The Mentally Ill in America: A History of Their Care and Treatment from Colonial Times, 2nd ed.
(New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario
and the Canadian province of , 1949); and more recently, Gerald N. Grob, The Mad Among Us: A
History of the Care of America's Mentally Ill (Cambridge, 1994). See also Philip M. Ferguson,
Abandoned to Their Fate: Social Policy and Practice Toward Severely Retarded People in America,
1820-1920 (Philadelphia, 1994).

(2.) Scheerenberger, Mental Retardation, p. 94; the quotation within is from Deutsch, Mentally Ill, p.
116.

(3.) Perry Miller

For the ice hockey player, see Perry Miller (ice hockey)

Perry G. Miller (February 25, 1905, Chicago USA - December 9, 1963) was an American
intellectual historian and Harvard University professor. , The New England Mind: The Seventeenth
Century (Cambridge, MA, 1954), p. viii.

(4.) Miller, in The New England Mind, provides a comprehensive analysis of covenant theology.

(5.) Stephen Foster, Their Solitary Way: The Puritan Social Ethic in the First Century of Settlement
in New England (New Haven New Haven, city (1990 pop. 130,474), New Haven co., S Conn., a
port of entry where the Quinnipiac and other small rivers enter Long Island Sound; inc. 1784.
Firearms and ammunition, clocks and watches, tools, rubber and paper products, and textiles are
among the many and London, 1971).

(6.) Thomas Hooker, A Godly god·ly

adj. god·li·er, god·li·est
1. Having great reverence for God; pious.

2. Divine.

god and Fruitfull Sermon: The Plantation of the Righteous (London, 1639), pp. 124-5.

(7.) See Foster, Their Solitary Way, for a discussion of the Puritan principle of social inequality.

(8.) George Lee Several people share the name George Lee:

• Sir George Lee (English politician) (1700–1758), English politician, Privy Counsellor, MP
for Brackley 1733-1742, for Devizes 1742–1747, for Liskeard 1747-1754, and for
Launceston 1754-1758
•

Haskins, Law and Authority in Early Massachusetts: A Study in Tradition and Design (USA, 1968),
p. 2.

(9.) Haskins, Law and Authority.

(10.) Parnel Wickham, "Idiocy and the Law in Colonial New England," Mental Retardation, 2001,
39:104-113.

(11.) The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, 1641-1691, with an Introduction by John D.
Cushing (Wilmington, DE, 1976), p. 691.

(12.) For information about the status of women in colonial New England see Edmund S. Morgan,
The Puritan Family: Religion and Domestic Relations domestic relations. For psychological and
sociological aspects, see marriage. For legal aspects, see divorce; husband and wife; parent and
child. in Seventeenth Century New England, rev. ed. (New York, 1966).

(13.) Richard Neugebauer, "Mental Handicap mental handicap

Noun

any intellectual disability resulting from injury to or abnormal development of the brain

mentally handicapped adj in Medieval and Early Modern England: Criteria, Measurement and
Care," in From Idiocy to Mental Deficiency mental deficiency
n.
See mental retardation. : Historical Perspectives on People With Learning Disabilities, ed. David
Wright David Wright may refer to:

• David Wright (baseball), (born 1982) American Major League Baseball player for the New
York Mets
• David McKee Wright (1869-1928) Irish born Australian poet and journalist
• David Wright (artist), (1912-1967) British artist and illustrator
•

and Anne Dighy (London, 1996), pp. 22-43.

(14.) William H. Whitmore, "Introduction." The Colonial Laws of Massachusetts, Reprinted from
the Edition of 1660, with the Supplements to 1672 (Boston, 1889), pp. 1-28.

(15.) Laws and Liberties, p. 696.

(16.) Nigel Walker, Crime and Insanity in England: Volume One, The Historical Perspective
(Edinburgh, 1968).

(17.) Ibid., p. 19.

(18.) Edgar J. McManus, Law and Liberty in Early New England: Criminal Justice and Due Process,
1620-1692. (Amherst, MA, 1993).

(19.) Edwin Powers, Crime and Punishment Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступление и
наказание) is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, that was first published in the in Early
Massachusetts 1620-1692: A Documentary History (Boston, 1966).

(20.) Massachusetts Province Laws, 1692-1699. With an Editorial Note by John D. Cushing.
(Wilmington, DE, 1978), p. 79.

(21.) John Brydall, Non Compos Mentis: Or, the Law Relating to relating to relate prep →
concernant

relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc Natural Fools, Mad-Folks, and
Lunatick Persons, Inquisited, and Explained, for Common Benefit (London, 1700), p. 6.

(22.) Neugebauer, "Mental Handicap."

(23.) Jonathan Andrews, "Identifying and Providing for the Mentally Disabled mentally
disabled See Cognitively impaired. in Early Modern London," in Historical Perspectives on People
With Learning Disabilities, ed. David Wright & Anne Digby
This article is about the British children's author. For the Countess of Sunderland, see Anne
Spencer, Countess of Sunderland (d. 1715)
Anne Digby is a prolific British children's author best known for the Trebizon series. (London,
1996), pp. 65-92.

(24.) Roger Thompson, Sex in Middlesex: Popular Mores in a Massachusetts County, 1649-1699
(Amherst, MA, 1986), p. 138.

(25.) Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts Essex County is a
county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2000, the population
was 723,419. It has two county seats: Salem and Lawrence6. : Vol. IV, 1667-1671, ed. George F.
Dow (Salem, MA, 1914), p. 219.

(26.) Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England: Vol. II,
1642-1649, ed. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff Nathaniel B. Shurtleff was an American politician, serving
as the twentieth mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1868 to 1870.

Preceded by
Otis Norcross Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
1868 – 1870 Succeeded by
William Gaston (Boston, 1853), p. 189.

(27.) Kenneth Silverman Kenneth Silverman is a professor emeritus at New York University and a
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. Silverman was born in Manhattan in 1936. Books

• The Life and Times of Cotton Mather

, Selected Letters of Cotton Mather (New York, 1971), p. 329.

(28.) Ibid., p. 316.

(29.) Jonathan Mayhew, Seven Sermons Upon the Following Subjects ... (Boston, 1749), p. 38.

(30.) Thomas Hooker, The Soules Vocation or Effectual Calling (Theol.) a doctrine concerning the
work of the Holy Spirit in producing conviction of sin and acceptance of salvation by Christ, - one
of the five points of Calvinism. See Calvinism.
See also: Effectual to Christ (London, 1638) p. 108.

(31.) Scriptural passages are quoted from The Holy Bible Holy Bible

name for book containing the Christian Scriptures. [Christianity: NCE, 291]

See : Writings, Sacred , Containing the Old and New Testaments ... Conformable to the Edition of
1611 Commonly Known as the Authorized or King James Version (Saint Louis Saint Louis (l `ĭs),
city (1990 pop. 396,685), independent and in no county, E Mo., on the Mississippi River below the
mouth of the Missouri; inc. as a city 1822. St. , MI, n.d.).

(32.) Hooker, Soules Vocation, p. 109.

(33.) The Holy Bible

(34.) David Hackett Fischer David Hackett Fischer (b. December 2, 1935) is University Professor
and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. His major works have tackled
everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends (Albion's Seed, The Great Wave , Albion's
Seed: Four British Folkways folkways, term coined by William Graham Sumner in his treatise
Folkways (1906) to denote those group habits that are common to a society or culture and are
usually called customs. in America (New York and Oxford, 1989).

(35.) The Sermon Notebook of Samuel Parris 1689-1694, ed. James F. Cooper, Jr. and Kenneth P.
Minkema (Boston, 1993).

(36.) Ibid., p. 299.

(37.) William Bates, The Soveraign and Final Happiness of Man, with The Effectual ef·fec·tu·al
adj.
Producing or sufficient to produce a desired effect; fully adequate. See Synonyms at effective.

[Middle English effectuel, from Old French, from Late Latin Means to Obtain It (London, 1680),
p. 268.

(38.) Morgan, The Puritan Family.

(39.) Gerald F. Moran and Mans A.Vosinsky, Religion, Family, and die Life Course: Explorations
in the Social History of Early America (Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of
Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with
a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-
technology fields such as , 1992).

(40.) Richard Baxter, Review of the State of Christian's Infants (London, 1676), p. 18.

(41.) John Spurr, English Puritanism 1603-1689 (New York, 1998).

(42.) Fischer, Albion's Seed.

(43.) Ian G. Barbour, Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues (New York, 1997).

(44.) Charles Morton's Compendium Physicae, Publications of The Colonial Society of

Massachusetts, vol. 33 (Boston, 1940).

(45.) Silverman, Selected Letters of Cotton Mather.

(46.) Otho T. Beall, Jr. and Richard H. Shryock, Cotton Mather: First Significant Figure in
American Medicine (Baltimore, 1954).

(47.) Theodore Hornberger, "Introduction." Charles Morton's Compendium Physicae, Publications

of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol.33 (Boston, 1940).

(48.) Aristotle's On the Soul, Parva Naturalia, on Breath, Trans. by W. S. Hett (London, 1986).

(49.) Morton's Compendium, p. 183.

(50.) Ibid., p.202.

(51.) Ibid.

(52.) Gordon W. Jones (ed.), The Angel of Bethesda by Cotton Mother (Barre, MA: 1972), p. 142.

(53.) Owsei Temkin, The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings
of Modern Neurology (Baltimore, 1971).

(54.) Zabdiel Boylston, Historical Account of the Small-Pox Inoculation inoculation, in medicine,
introduction of a preparation into the tissues or fluids of the body for the purpose of preventing or
curing certain diseases. The preparation is usually a weakened culture of the agent causing the
disease, as in vaccination against in New England ... (London, 1726), p. 38.

(55.) Silverman, Selected Utters of Cotton Mother, p. 139.

(56.) Winton U. Solberg (ed.), Cotton Mother: The Christian Philosopher (Urbana and Chicago,
1994).

(57.) Ibid., p. xliii.

(58.) Ibid., p. 251.

(59.) Ibid.

(60.) Silverman, Life and Times of Cotton Mather.

(61.) For discussion about charity in colonial Massachusetts as well as the nature of affliction, see
Foster, Their Solitary Way.

(62.) See Trent, Inventing the Feeble Mind, for a history of idiocy in the nineteenth century.
(63.) Ibid, p.16.

(64.) For a review of literature concerning the social construction of mental retardation, see Robert
Bogdan and Steven J. Taylor, The Social Meaning of Mental Retardation: Two Life Stories (New
York and London, 1994).
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