Well, like most fanatical dogma in America, these ideas come from old Puritan beliefs.

To all appearances the act of a Puritan fanatic, the authorities suspected Berchet of being a part of an organized Puritan conspiracy. He was to be questioned to divulge the names of his co conspirators and then executed.

Its banishment would be poetic justice for his Taliban like destruction of so many of England's cultural and religious artefacts carried out by his fanatical Puritan followers.

During the Industrial Revolution, working hours increased by 20 as factories replaced feasting. With our post machine standard of living, we can afford to shed some of the Puritan guilt that has, for centuries, kept our noses to the grindstone.