I can add to Allen's historical survey with anecdotes from India. Community meetings for decisions have been the practice in India for thousands of years. The Moghuls tried to block it and the British tried to abolish it. But the Moghuls were advised by their religious leaders to allow religious gatherings to function. The British continued the process but shortened the allowable time. People got creative in throwing in indirect protest lyrics with devotional music. Gandhi used prayer meetings to mobilize people. Merry Christmas. Bijoy Misra
On Sat, Dec 23, 2023 at 8:05 AM Allen Vander Meulen <pastorall...@gmail.com> wrote: > This is from the Town of Sutton, MA website… > > Town Meeting Origin > *"Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they > bring it within the people's reach, they teach men how to use and how to > enjoy it."* > --Alex de Tocqueville > > The history of Town Meetings is the history of liberty in Massachusetts. > Massachusetts’s residents began holding Town Meetings over 350 years ago, > shortly after the Puritans arrived from England, seeking liberty. > > One reason that Massachusetts’s colonists revolted against Great Britain > was the British attempt to ban most Town Meetings except by permission. In > 1774, British Soldiers tried to stop a Salem Town Meeting in progress, but > the citizens barred the door of their town house and continued to meet. > > On the American Revolution's first day of fighting, members of the > Lexington militia gathered on the town common at around 2:00 in the morning > on April 19,1775. There they held an impromptu open-air Town Meeting to > "consult what might be done" about the British soldiers marching from > Boston, as the local minister later wrote. > > Attending Town Meetings was once mandatory for freemen who owned land. > > ========== > > I might also add that a long series of debates preceding the “Boston Tea > Party” were held from November 29th, 1773 until December 16, 1773: first at > Faneuil Hall and then (due to lack of space) moved to the Old South > Meetinghouse in Boston, were officially a Town Meeting. The meeting was > continued from day to day until the night of the Tea Party itself. It is > said that around 5,000 people attended those meetings. > > ========== > > As is widely known, many towns in Massachusetts used their meetinghouses > both for Town Meetings as well as religious services. Massachusetts at > that time was a Theocracy: church and state were one. This practice > persisted, gradually evolving and ultimately fading away, finally ending > entirely with the Disestablishment Act of 1833. This act was adopted in > response to the numerous church splits occurring at the time due to the > Unitarian controversy: the State finally gave up trying to arbitrate which > church merited the state’s financial support following each split. > —Numerous lawsuits were filed as each congregation tried to claim those > funds for their own use. > > =========== > > Thoughts... > > The free and open debate of issues in a public forum is a dangerous thing > - by its very nature it is a challenge to centralized authority. If done > well, they generate widespread consensus, which in turn form the basis for > communal action. This is why the British authorities tried to suppress the > practice in Massachusetts in the years leading up to the Revolution, and > why dictators (and would-be dictators) to this day continue to try and shut > down public debate in any form. > > I think it healthy to question if (and how) we should continue the > tradition of Town Meetings here in Lincoln, and throughout Massachusetts. > > It was never a perfect system. Many towns - including Lincoln - were > established because local families found it very difficult to get to the > local parish that they were required to attend on Sunday mornings, > especially in inclement weather, this included attendance at Town Meetings, > too. Also, as noted above, early Town Meetings were hardly representative > of the population since women and non-landowners were excluded. > > On the other hand, Town Meetings have long been crucial in promoting a > healthy, active, frequently entertaining, and often deeply thoughtful > public debate on the issues of the day. It has always been critical in > generating strong consensus and support within the community on how to > confront and address such issues. > > I also think we can separate the issue of debate - which is where the Town > Meeting has long been central and effective - from the act of voting. > > As political life has evolved in Massachusetts, the two have separated, > but remain complementary: we need both the debate, which may be prolonged, > strident, and exhausting; but which, by virtue of its nature, might be > attended throughout by only a subset of the town’s population. We also > need the vote that follows, which confirms the consensus generated in those > debates via a vote that the whole of the town is able to engage-in should > they choose to do so. > > - Allen Vander Meulen > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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