Kris Maulden's Discussion Questions - March 2/3

This week, we'll be discussing Unit 3 of the online reader and the Introduction to Kramnick's Portable Enlightenment Reader. If you're writing the first paper, you'll also have an opportunity at the end to ask questions about your paper or about the Axtell and Kramnick volumes. All of that aside, here are this week's questions:

1. How would you compare William Penn's ideas to those of John Locke and other philosophers you've read in the Kramnick reader? Also, using Kramnick's introduction as a guide, where do you think that Penn would fit into the Enlightenment? Is there anything that disqualifies Penn from being part of the Enlightenment?

2. Both William Penn and Patricia Bonomi point out that English government relied upon a balance between monarchy, aristocracy, and the commoners. Without a titled aristocracy, what changes does Bonomi see in colonial governments? How does this new system of politics affect older orders of patriarchy within the family?