16. “The Poorest He Hath a Life to Live as the Greatest He“
When England’s Parliament and King Charles I fought each other in the 1640s, Puritans were a major Parliamentarian constituency. At the time, Puritans happened to be pretty thick on the ground in New England. So in 1644, a Puritan Colonel Thomas Rainsborough sailed across the Atlantic with a regiment of New Englanders to fight against Charles.
The American side, presaging future events, proved radical, and pushed for universal male suffrage three centuries before it was actually granted in England. As Rainsborough put it: “I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, I think it’s clear that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government“.