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The New England Clergy and the American Revolution

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The New England Clergy and the American Revolution the university crt Connecticut libraries E 210 B18 1958 hbl, stx E 210.B18 1958 d llf!lllinnflM.fi!Sffl}f,.ffl the America 3 T153 00701flM2 ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/newenglandclergy1958bald THE NEW ENGLAND CLERGY AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION THE NEW ENGLAND CLERGY AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION ALICE M. BALDWIN <7> FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO NEW YORK Second Printing, 1965 Printed 1958 in the United States of America First published 1928 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-9335 To the memory of My Father a Congregational Minister PREFACE The first half of this study, in somewhat different form, was submitted under the title The Influence of the New England Clergy upon American Constitutional Doctrine in partial ful- fillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Phil- osophy at the University of Chicago; and it is with sincere gratitude that I acknowledge my indebtedness to Professors Andrew C. McLaughlin and Marcus Jernegan for their sug- gestions, criticism, and constant encouragement during the preparation of my thesis. In the difficult process of transform- ing the thesis into a book I have been greatly aided by Pro- fessor W. K. Boyd, of Duke University. And for her help in the reading of proof and in various ways I am indebted to my assistant, Miss Louise Seabolt. I wish further to express my appreciation both of the gen- erosity of the Duke University Press in publishing this mono- graph and of its staff in seeing it through the troublesome transition from manuscript to print; and also of the courtesy shown me by the librarians of the many libraries whose collec- tions I have used, especially by Mr. G. S. Godard of the Con- necticut State Library, by Mr. A. C. Bates of the Connecticut Historical Society, and by Mrs. Shepherdson and Mr. J. H. Tuttle of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Finally, the following study has not been for me one of merely academic interest. My grandfather, Rev. Josiah Lyman, of Easthampton, Massachusetts, my father, Dr. Fritz W. Bald- win, and my uncle, Dr. Albert J. Lyman, were all Congrega- tional clergymen ; and it was through them that I first learned to appreciate, in some measure, the ministers of New England. To their memory, also, therefore, I owe an expression of my indebtedness. A. M. B. [vii] TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ix CHAPTER I. THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MINISTER, HIS POWER AND LEARNING 3 CHAPTER II. THE LEGALISM OF THEOLOGY AND CHURCH POLITY 13 CHAPTER III. CONCEPTS OF GOVERNMENT 22 CHAPTER IV. THEORIES CONCERNING RULERS IN CHURCH AND STATE 32 CHAPTER V. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND ECCLESIASTICAL CONTROVERSY BEFORE 1743 47 CHAPTER VI. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND ECCLESIASTICAL CONTROVERSY: 1743-1763 65 CHAPTER VII. LOYALTY AND RESISTANCE TO ENGLAND: 1754-1766 82 CHAPTER VIII. KEEPING ALIVE THE FLAME: 1766-1774 105 CHAPTER IX. RESISTANCE AT ALL COSTS: 1774-1776 122 CHAPTER X. THE MAKING OF CONSTITUTIONS 134 CHAPTER XL VARIED SERVICES DURING THE WAR 154 CONCLUSION 168 APPENDICES 173 BIBLIOGRAPHY 190 INDEX 211 INTRODUCTION In recent years historians have realized as never before the complexity of the American Revolution and that its roots stretch far back into the earlier days. To weigh fairly the different causes and factors, geographic, economic, social, political, and religious is a difficult task, and there is still controversy as to the emphasis which each should have. One factor which was recognized by contemporary writers as especially significant but which, until recent years, has been touched but lightly by later authors is the religious. Men of the time asserted that the dissenting clergy and especially the Puri- tan clergy of New England were among the chief agitators of the Revolution and, after it began, among the most zealous and successful in keeping it alive. Similar statements have been made by later writers and certain of the more prominent clergy, especially Mayhew, Cooper, and Chauncey, of Boston, have been mentioned frequently as Revolutionary leaders. A few of the more famous political sermons have been collected and repub- lished. 1 Biographies, town histories, histories of American liter- ature, etc., have given us bits about the work of this or that individual and have discussed, to some extent, his political theories. Among modern historians Cross in his careful study of the project of an Anglican Episcopate, 2 Van Tyne in his 3 studies on the American Revolution, and J. T. Adams in his first two volumes on New England history 4 are especially notable for their emphasis upon the significance of the religious factor and the work of the clergy. But the first deals with one phase only of the subject, and the limits of Van Tyne's single volume and short article preclude any detailed treatment. Adams, although he gives great weight to the clergy, especially during the seventeenth century, does not recognize sufficiently the part they played in teaching political theory to the people 1 J. W. Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution; Frank Moore, ed., The Patriot Preachers of the American Revolution; J. S. Loring, The Hundred Boston Orators, 1770-1852. s A. L. Cross, The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies. s C. Van Tyne, The Causes of the War of Independence; also, "Influence of the Clergy and of Religious and Sectarian Forces on the American Revolution," in Amer. Hist. Rev., XIX. 44-64. * J. T. Adams, The Founding of New England; Revolutionary New England, 1691-1776. [xi] xii Introduction both before and after 1763 and in giving to the theories religi- ous sanction, nor does he emphasize sufficiently the bearing of the ecclesiastical quarrels and religious movements of the eighteenth century upon the development of a spirit of inde- pendence, a love of liberty, and the use of arguments with which to support it. In short, the intimate relation of the New England minister to the thought and life of eighteenth-century New England has never been adequately developed. That is the purpose of this study : first, to make clear the similarity, the identity of Puritan theology and fundamental political thought ; second, to show how the New England clergy preserved, extended, and popular- ized the essential doctrines of political philosophy, thus making familiar to every church-going New Englander long before 1763 not only the doctrines of natural right, the social contract, and the right of resistance but also the fundamental principle of American constitutional law, that government, like its citizens, is bounded by law and when it transcends its authority it acts illegally. The author believes that here can be traced a direct line of descent from seventeenth-century philosophy to the doctrines underlying the American Revolution and the making of written constitutions. It is hoped that the study may explain, in some measure, why these theories were so widely held, so dearly cherished, and so deeply inwrought into American con- stitutional doctrine. And, finally, an attempt is made to present, in some detail, the activities of the clergy in the events of the Revolution and in establishing the institutions of the new-born states. Further, it should be remembered that throughout the colonial period the great majority of the people in all the New England colonies except Rhode Island were Congregationalists, who sometimes and in some places approached so closely to Pres- byterianism that it is hard to distinguish accurately between the two sects. Such distinction was frequently not made at all at the time of the Revolution by their adversaries, who applied the name Presbyterian to both indiscriminately. There were, how- ever, churches definitely organized into Presbyteries and, as the eighteenth century progressed, an increasing number of Bap- Introduction xiii tists and Episcopalians. 5 This study deals primarily with the Nonconformist clergy, making such distinction between the various sects as may be necessary when essential differences of opinion in theology or politics appear. Unless, then, the sect is mentioned the term "clergy" is to be understood as applying to the Nonconformists and especially to the Congregationalists and Presbyterians. 6 Ezra Stiles, in his Discourse on Christian Union, 1760, p. 130, estimates that there were at that time 300 Congregational churches in Massachusetts, 170 in Con- necticut, 43 in New Hampshire,—530 in all. Charles Chauncey, in A Letter to a Friend, 1767, note p. 8, says that at the lowest computation there were not less than 550 regularly ordained ministers in New England, some Presbyterian, mostly Congregational. Clark, in Congregational Churches in Massachusetts, p. 193, com- putes that in 1770 there were in Massachusetts 294 Congregational churches, 11 Episcopalian, 16 Baptist, 18 Quaker. The proportion was approximately the same elsewhere in New England, perhaps more Episcopalians in Connecticut and more Baptists in Rhode Island. Guild, in Chaplain Smith and the Baptists, note p. 157, says that in 1764 there were less than 70 Baptist churches in America, with pos- sibly 5000 members. They grew rapidly in numbers, especially after 1774. Briggs, in his American Presbyterianism, pp. 342-43, says that at the time of the Revo- lution there were five Presbyteries in New England with thirty-two ministers. Cer- tain of the Presbyterian churches, notably in the Grafton Presbytery, had been Congregational. The churches sometimes shifted from one to the other several times. In Connecticut, the consociated churches based on the Saybrook Platform, approached closely to Presbyterianism. THE NEW ENGLAND CLERGY AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Chapter I THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MINISTER HIS POWER AND HIS LEARNING The New England clergy of the eighteenth century occupied a position of peculiar influence and power in the life of their own communities and of the several colonies.
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