The Yankee is a product of nineteenth-century America and
detests the unfairness inherent in sixth-century institutions of
inherited rank and social stratification. He blames the Catholic
Church for providing justifications for social inequality, and he
wants to destroy the Church's potential for abuse by breaking it
into separate sects that people could join at will. The Yankee is
an idealist and believes firmly in the power of technology to
improve people's lives and bring about positive social change. In
the end, though, as R. L. Fisher observes, the book loses its
idealistic tone, and the promise of technology falls short of the
Yankee's lofty goals: "For while it mocks the British monarchy, it
also makes a mockery of Hank Morgan's hope that technology might
further the moral improvement of humanity."