Abstract
The American Revolution transformed and popularized politics, which expanded beyond the traditional assemblies to revolutionary committees and the community at large, but the Anglican clerical community experienced an opposite but parallel process of depoliticization. One result of the political mobilization of the people consisted of a corresponding decline in the relative socio-political influence of traditional community leaders, including the clergymen of many denominations. The Revolution also witnessed a broadening of the republican aversion to artificial social distinctions into a denunciation of all differences. Among a growing segment of the voting public, experience, education, and wealth became liabilities rather than assets in attaining public office.
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Chapter 5 The Depoliticization of the Colonial Anglican Clergy
Emery Elliott, ‘The Dove and Serpent: The Clergy in the American Revolution, ‘American Quarterly 31 (1979), 194 –7.On New England Congregationalism, see: George B. Kirsch, ‘Clerical Dismissals in Colonial and Revolutionary New Hampshire,’ CH 49 (1980), 160 –77, esp. 167–75;and Donald M. Scott, From Office to Profession: The New England Ministry1750–1850 (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), xi, 1–35.
William Meade, Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia (Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott, 1900), II, 285– 6; George J. Cleave land, ‘The Church of Virginia Established and Disestablished,’ in Up From Independence: The Episcopal Church in Virginia, George J. Cleave land et al.,eds (Orange, VA: Green Publishers, 1976), 35; Lohrenz, ‘Virginia Clergy,’174; Dresbeck, ‘The Episcopalian Clergy in Maryland and Virginia,’ 160.
Patricia U. Bonomi and Peter R. Eisenstadt, ‘Church Adherence in the Eighteenth Century British American Colonies,’ WMQ 39 (1982), 245–86, esp. 275.
Harry S. Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 6.
Thomas Barton, The Conduct of the Paxton-Men, Impartially Represented: With Some Remarks on the Narrative (Philadelphia, PA: Andrew Steuart, 1764). On election sermons and New England dissenting clergy, see Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1928), 3–7.
William W. Rankin, ‘Anglican Attitudes and Behaviors Concerning War,’ in Paul Elmen, ed., The Anglican Moral Choice (Wilton, CT: Morehouse-Barlow, 1983), 223.
12. Edmund S. Morgan, ‘The Revolution Considered as an Intellectual Movement,’ in his The Challenge of the American Revolution (New York: W.W. Norton, 1976), 61, 75.
Jonathan Boucher, Reminiscences of an American Loyalist, 1738–1789.Being the Autobiography of the Reverend Jonathan Boucher, Rector of Annapolis in Maryland and Afterwards Vicar of Epsom, Surrey, England, Jonathan Bouchier, ed. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), 92; Anne Y.Zimmer, Jonathan Boucher: Loyalist in Exile (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University, 1978), 90, 106.
Joan R. Gundersen, The Anglican Ministry in Virginia 1723–1766: A Study of A Social Class (New York: Garland, 1989), 256; Lohrenz, ‘Virginia Clergy,’ 26, 138– 9; Dresbeck, ‘Episcopalian Clergy in Maryland and Virginia,’ 103; Frederick Dalcho, An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in South-Carolina, From the First Settlement of the Province, to the War of the Revolution (Charleston, SC, 1820), 220; and Michael T. Malone, ‘Sketches of the Anglican Clergy Who Served in North Carolina,’ 145.
George MacLaren Brydon, ‘The Clergy of the Established Church in Virginia and the Revolution,’ VMHB 41 (1933), 16, xiv. On William Bland’sserm on of 1769 or Thomas Davis Sr’s service as chairman of a committee opposing the Stamp Act, see Lohrenz, ‘Virginia Clergy,’ 121, 179.
17. Catherine S. Crary, ed., The Price of Loyalty: Tory Writings from the Revolutionary Era (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973), 24–5; Jordan, ‘Anglican Establishment in Colonial New York,’ 510; and on Boston’s reaction to the Solemn League and Covenant, see Colin Bonwick, The American Revolution (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1991), 79 –80.
William L. Saunders, ed., The Colonial Records of North Carolina, I–X(Raleigh, NC, 1886–90), IX, 1037; Malone, ‘Sketches of the Anglican Clergy Who Served in North Carolina,’ 153; Sarah McCulloh Lemmon,‘The Decline of the Church, 1776 –1816,’ The Episcopal Church in North Carolina, 1701–1959 (Raleigh, NC: Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, 1987), 64.
E. Clowes Chorley, ‘Samuel Provoost: First Bishop of New York,’ HMPEC 2 (1933), 9. Samuel Provoost held patriotic opinions which differed from those of his loyalist colleagues.
G. MacLaren Brydon, ‘The Clergy of the Established Church in Virginiaand the Revolution,’ VMHB 41 (1933), 140; Lohrenz, ‘Virginia Clergy,’203; and Walter H. Stowe et al., ‘The Clergy of the Episcopal Church in 1785,’ HMPEC 20 (1951), 273.
Jacob Duche, The Duty of Standing Fast in our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties, a Sermon, Preached in Christ-Church, July 7th, 1775 (Philadelphia, PA: James Humphreys Jr, 1775), ii, 18; and Emery Elliott, ‘The Dove and Serpent,’ 190.
23. Daniel Batwell, A Sermon, Preached at York-Town, Before Captain Morgan’s and Captain Price’s Companies of Rifle-men, on Thursday, July 20, 1775 (Philadelphia, PA: John Dunlap, 1775), 19 –20; and James Wetmore to SPG, New York, 10 January 1777, in SPG Ser B, III, 248.
Charles Inglis, The True Interest of America Impartially Stated, in Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet Intitled Common Sense. By an American, 2nd edn (Philadelphia, PA: James Humphreys Junior, 1776), 70.
Philip Reading, The Protestant’s Danger, and the Protestant’s Duty. A Sermon on Occasion of the Present Encroachments of the French. Preached at Christ-Church, Philadelphia, on Sunday June 22, 1755 (Philadelphia, PA:B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1755), 27–8.
Jonathan Boucher, A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution, in Thirteen Discourses (London: G.G. and J. Robinson, 1797), 501n.
Jonathan Boucher, A View of the Causes, 499. Boucher is probably responding to the poem which appeared in the Maryland Gazette on 18 March 1773which told him to stick to souls instead of politics. This poem is discussed in Right myer, Maryland’s Established Church, 163.
Samuel Peters, General History of Connecticut, From Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity With Great Britain Prior to the Revolution (New York: D. Appleton, 1877, orig. publ. London, 1781), 237. See also Richard Mansfield to SPG, 29 December 1775, Doc.Hist., II, 199
Henry Caner, The Great Blessing of Stable Times, Together With the Means of Procuring It. A Sermon Preached at King’s Chapel in Boston, August 11, 1763.Being a Day of Thanksgiving Appointed by Public Authority on Occasion of the General Peace (Boston, MA: Thomas and John Fleet, 1763), i–ii.
John Sayre, From the New-York Journal. ‘Mr. Holt, Sir, The letter which the Reverend Mr. Sayre sent unto the Committee, I here send you, as he is very Desirous of having it Published, to Shew the World Why he did not Sign the Association; and the Committee have agreed it may be (Philadelphia, 1775/6), Evans Early American Imprints 15078, 2, 5– 6.
Mary Beth Norton, The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England1774–1789 (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1972), 171–2, passim; Samuel Andrews to Samuel Peters, Wallingford, CT, 6 March 1786, EADC; Charles Mampoteng, ‘The Reverend Samuel Peters, M.A., Missionary at Hebron, Connecticut, 1760 –1774,’ HMPEC 5 (1936), 73– 91; and Wayne N. Metz,‘A Connecticut Yankee in King George III’s Court: A Loyalist Anglican Clergyman in England, 1774 –1804,’ HMPEC 52 (1983), 29 – 41, esp. 33–5.
78. Charles Inglis, True Interest of America Impartially Stated, 50; James Madison, New York, to John Norton, London, 30 July 1776 in Sm. Coll. Madison, James, Bp (1749 –1812), Special Collections, SL; and Thomas Barton to SPG, Lancaster, PA, 24 August 1775, SPG Ser B, XXI, 29. See also Manross, A History of the American Episcopal Church, 172.
C. H. Van Tyne, ‘Influence of the Clergy, and of Religious and Sectarian Forces, on the American Revolution,’ AHR 19 (1913), 44 – 64; Frank Dean Gifford, ‘The Influence of the Clergy on American Politics from1763–1776,’ HMPEC 10 (1941), 104 –23; and Harry P. Kerr, ‘Politics and Religion in Colonial Fast and Thanksgiving Sermons, 1763–1783,’ Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960), 372– 6.
Samuel Andrews, A Discourse, Shewing the Necessity of Joining Internal Repentance, with the External Profession of it. Delivered upon the General Fast, July 20th, 1775 (New Haven, CT: T. and S. Green, 1775), iii–iv, 6 –18.
The text of the oath appears in Walter Herbert Stowe, ‘A Study in Conscience: Some Aspects of the Relations of the Clergy to the State,’ HMPEC 19 (1950), 303.
95. Prichard, A History of the Episcopal Church, 74 –5; David Holmes, ‘The Episcopal Church and the American Revolution,’ 288– 91; and Philip Reading to SPG, 25 August 1776, Hist. Coll. II, 484
Stowe,‘A Study in Conscience,’ 309. On English clerical incomes, see: James Francis Godwin, ‘Clerical Incomes in Eighteenth Century England,’ HMPEC 18 (1949), 311–325, esp. 314.
97. E. Edwards Beardsley, The History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut from the Settlement of the Colony to the Death of Bishop Seabury, 2 vols(New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1865), I, 319; and Clark’s Address, March1777, Hist. Coll. III, 591.
98. Tingley to SPG, 5 March 1782, New York, Hist. Coll. V, 135– 6.
G. MacLaren Brydon, ‘The Clergy of the Established Church in Virginia and the Revolution,’ 13; William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, From the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619, 13 vols (Richmond, 1809 –23), IX, 281–3;George J. Cleave land, ‘The Church of Virginia Established and Disestablished,’
33.100. Guenther, ‘Alexander Murray,’ 14; and J. William Frost, A Perfect Freedom: Religious Liberty in Pennsylvania (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993, orig. publ. Cambridge University Press, 1990), 67.
Henry Caner to SPG, 18 April 1775, Hist. Coll. III, 578– 9.
Beardsley, History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut I, 318; Henry Caner to SPG, Halifax, 20 May 1776, SPG Ser B, XXII, 136; and Mampoteng, ‘New England Clergy in the American Revolution,’ 270. As discussed earlier, the 1777 decree imposed a £50 penalty on those who prayed for the king.
Jordan, ‘Anglican Establishment in Colonial New York,’ 612–13; and William Walter to SPG, New York, 23 December 1778, SPG Ser B, III, 346.
George MacLaren Brydon, ‘Clergy of the Established Church in Virginia,’15; and John R. Wennersten, ‘The Travail of a Tory Parson: Reverend Philip Hughes And Maryland Colonial Politics 1767–1777,’ HMPEC 44 (1975), 415.
Clifton E. Olmstead, History of Religion in the United States (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1960), 211–15.
Miles Selden, ‘The Great Duty of Publick Worship’ (August 1758), in Heth-Selden manuscripts, AL, Acc. 5071, 10 –11, 17–18. See also John Tyler, The Sanctity of a Christian Temple: Illustrated in a Sermon, at the Opening of Trinity-Church in Promfret, on Friday, April 12, 1771 (Providence, RI: John Carter, 1771), 4, 11–12, 17–18.
Roger Viets, A Serious Address and Farewell Charge to the Members of the Church of England in Simsbury and Adjacent Parts (Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin, 1787), 10; John Tyler, The Sanctity of a Christian Temple, 10; and William Walter to SPG, New York, 18 May 1780 in SPG Ser B,III, 348.
Thomas Bradbury Chandler, A Sermon Preached Before the Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Children of Clergymen, in Communion of the Church of England in America; at their Anniversary Meeting on October2d, 1771, at Perth-Amboy (Burlington, NJ: Isaac Collins, 1771), 18; and C. J., A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty (New York, 1775), 8.
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Rhoden, N.L. (1999). The Depoliticization of the Colonial Anglican Clergy. In: Revolutionary Anglicanism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230512924_5
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