The Fruits of the Reformation
The Reformation inaugurated great accomplishments. The Scientific Revolution depended on the biblical understanding of nature by Protestant scientists, and Protestantism led to the great arts of the age. These curricula discuss possible and actual New World explorers, all motivated by their desire to spread Protestantism. The textbooks argue that the Reformation brought not only religious but also political liberty. They cannot easily incorporate the period of the English Civil War into their tale of English post-Reformation virtue. Since the Reformation neither had political ramifications nor sanctioned political revolt, the English Civil War cannot be a political revolution; it is thus construed as a religious quest or a minor Parliamentary dispute. These curricula cannot recognize French power and influence during the seventeenth century. Instead, French economic policies, Catholicism, and immorality foretell the coming demise of the French Revolution. England, in contrast, was inexorably moving toward the Glorious Revolution.