New England and the Bavarian Illuminati

In the chaotic decades after the American Revolution, New England's old Puritan establishment faced an existential threat. Or so its defenders believed. A secret European society called the Bavarian Illuminati had supposedly infiltrated American institutions, spreading dangerous Enlightenment ideas that threatened to demolish the religious and social order. Ministers preached against it. Politicians denounced it. An entire culture of fear took shape. Stauffer's 1918 study, based on exhaustive original research, excavates this fevered moment in American history. He traces how Illuminati conspiracy theories merged with genuine anxieties about religious declension, political radicalism, and the boundaries of legitimate authority. The result is a window into how early Americans made sense of rapid change: by finding conspiracies, real and imagined. Essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of American political paranoia and the enduring tension between tradition and Enlightenment.