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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2018 Establishing Disestablishment: Federal Support for Religion in the Early Republic Daniel Roeber Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ESTABLISHING DISESTABLISHMENT: FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR RELIGION IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC By DANIEL ROEBER A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Daniel Roeber defended this dissertation on April 4, 2018. The members of the supervisory committee were: Amanda Porterfield Professor Directing Dissertation Edward Gray University Representative John Corrigan Committee Member Michael McVicar Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For Sarah Beth iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS While researching and writing a dissertation can be an individual and lonely endeavor, this project could not have been accomplished without the advice and assistance of several people and constituencies. My thanks first to my doctoral committee. John Corrigan and Michael McVicar have been gracious with their time and comments on my work, be it during my prospectus defense, in the American Religious History colloquium, or in other conversations. Edward Gray saw my potential in bringing me to Florida State University in the first place and fully supporting my transition to the Religion Department. I find his willingness to be my university representative particularly affirming. The greatest thanks go to Amanda Porterfield, my advisor and the director of my dissertation. Under her guidance, I always felt like it was possible to achieve this goal. From my first class learning about Native American religious history until the present day, all of my meetings with Dr. Porterfield have left me encouraged and motivated to pursue my research with a strong goal in mind. Her careful reading and insightful comments have led her fingerprints to be all over this project. Of course, any mistakes and omissions are mine. My thanks as well to Florida State University and the myriad institutions therein that have helped me complete this project. The History Department welcomed me to Tallahassee and introduced me to doctoral studies. The Religion Department was kind enough to accept me to a field I love, consistently fund my studies, and allowed me to further my desire to teach by allowing me to teach several different courses. The Congress of Graduate Students provided funding for travel to several conferences where I could present and receive feedback on my work. Strozier Library and the interlibrary loan staff was an invaluable asset as I navigated the wide variety of literature that discussed my topics. I am thankful for a university that continues iv to provide funds for the upkeep and renovation of the library. Most of this project was written in the recently-renovated study carrels on the second floor. My thanks to all the fellow graduate students and colleagues too numerous to mention who provided helpful feedback to my work, be it in the context of a course, the American Religious History colloquium, the Religion Department graduate symposium, or conferences that permitted me to present my work including the Evangelical Theological Society National Conference, the Graduate Conference on Religion at Harvard Divinity School, the Society for U.S. Intellectual History Annual Conference, the American Society of Church History Meeting, and the Religion and Politics in Early America Conference. Independent researcher Margaret Shannon was kind enough to take ninety minutes out of her day and discuss a common research interest in the Senate chaplains. This project could not have been completed without the love and support of my wife, partner, and friend. Sarah’s love for new experiences and places has been a necessary foundation for this stage of our lives. Sarah took on our move to Tallahassee in much the same way she prepared for our transitions to Chengdu and Dallas: with confidence and expectation of good things. We began doctoral studies as a small family of two and Bailey, our miniature schnauzer, but finish it much larger as we’ve joyously welcomed Emily Grace, Ethan Daniel, and Hannah Joy into the world over the past five years. All along the way Sarah has sacrificially provided financial, emotional, and spiritual support for our family that has been indispensable in my studies and writing. Sarah has been my greatest cheerleader. For all these reasons and more, I dedicate this project to her. v DRR March 20th, 2018 Soli Deo Gloria vi TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Abstract ............................................................................................................................................x 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. THE POST OFFICE: TRANSPORTING RELIGION AT REDUCED RATES .....................33 3. CHURCH IN STATE: RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN THE U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING ........83 4. FEDERAL CHAPLAINCY PROGRAMS IN CONGRESS AND IN THE MILITARY ......115 5. FUNDING AND FORGING IDENTITY AND EMPIRE: GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONS ...........................................................................................155 6. EPILOGUE .............................................................................................................................180 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................188 A. CHURCH SERVICES IN THE U.S. CAPITOL ....................................................................188 B. CONGRESSIONAL CHAPLAINS UP TO THE YEAR 1860 ..............................................194 References ....................................................................................................................................198 Biographical Sketch .....................................................................................................................216 vii LIST OF TABLES 1 View of the Post Office Establishment from 1789 to 1809 .....................................................57 2 Postmasters in the Federal Civilian Work Force, 1816-1841. .................................................79 viii LIST OF FIGURES 1 1796 Map of the United States, Exhibiting the Post-roads, the Situations, Connections & Distances of the Post-offices Stage Roads, Counties, Ports of Entry and Delivery for Foreign Vessels, and the Principal Rivers. By Abraham Bradley junr. ................................................58 2 1804 Map of the United States, Exhibiting the Post-roads, the Situations, Connexions & Distances of the Post-offices Stage Roads, Counties, & Principal Rivers. By Abraham Bradley junr. ............................................................................................................................59 3 David Austin’s Advertisement ...............................................................................................104 ix ABSTRACT This project considers the relationship between religion and governance in the early republic period of the United States. The goal of this project is to uncover the ways the inchoate federal government provided support for religion in an era when disestablishment is the law of the land. Using the lens provides a new and distinct way to understand how the federal government interpreted and applied the concept of disestablishment as seen in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. I argue that the federal government, while never formally endorsing a particular denomination, recognized and supported an underlying common Protestant ethos centered around biblicism to both develop and disrupt aspects of religious freedom in the early republic. Such a balancing act was necessitated by competing religious denominations in different states; ideals of both Protestant dissent and enlightenment rationality; and the fragile nature of federal governance in the early republic that sought out security in the absence of previous colonial ideals. Because of all of this, cooperation between church and state was steady and active. But the nature of that cooperation, expressed in the disestablishment language of the First Amendment, reflected a new reality distinct from European Christendom. The subjects of this project illustrate the diverse ways religion was supported by the government and show how the new reality of disestablishment was worked out in the developing federal bureaucracy. They include the postal service, which allowed for the dissemination of religious information through the mail at favorable rates; religious services held in the governmental buildings, especially the U.S. Capitol building; chaplaincy programs, both within Congress and the military; and federal policy regarding Native Americans, which included providing support for Christian missionaries in their