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A Charitable Scheme: William Smith, Michael Schlatter, and the German Free Schools

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A Charitable Scheme: William Smith, Michael Schlatter, and the German Free Schools City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works School of Arts & Sciences Theses Hunter College Spring 5-9-2017 A Charitable Scheme: William Smith, Michael Schlatter, and the German Free Schools Daniel M. Crown CUNY Hunter College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/165 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] A Charitable Scheme: William Smith, Michael Schlatter, and the German Free Schools by Daniel Crown Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History, Hunter College The City University of New York 2017 Thesis Sponsor: Angelo Angelis 4/21/2017 Angelo Angelis Date Signature Angelo Angelis 4/21/2017 Benjamin Hett Date Signature of Second Reader Benjamin Hett Contents Introduction: A Charitable Scheme ..................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Pennsylvania’s German Problem ............................................................... 10 AN INCONVENIENT ALLIANCE .................................................................................................. 14 OBSERVATIONS ON MANKIND ................................................................................................. 22 Chapter Two: William Smith ............................................................................................. 27 NEW YORK AND BEYOND ......................................................................................................... 30 A FORTUITOUS MEETING ......................................................................................................... 35 Chapter Three: Michael Schlatter ..................................................................................... 39 YOUTHFUL TRANSGRESSIONS .................................................................................................. 42 THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA ......................................................... 45 MISSION TO AMERICA .............................................................................................................. 53 SCHLATTER’S “TRUE HISTORY” ................................................................................................. 59 PETTY DISPUTES ....................................................................................................................... 62 Chapter Four: London, October 1753-May 1754 ............................................................. 70 THE MAKING OF A CAREER ...................................................................................................... 72 THE SCHEME BEFORE SMITH.................................................................................................... 75 TWO DRAFTS AND A FINAL PITCH ............................................................................................ 80 HANDLING SCHLATTER ............................................................................................................. 86 Chapter Five: 1754. Implementation and Politicization ................................................... 90 MINUTES OF THE GERMAN FREE SCHOOLS ............................................................................. 94 ADDRESSING CHRISTOPHER SAUER ......................................................................................... 96 SHORING UP SUPPORT ............................................................................................................. 99 SCHLATTER ON TRIAL ............................................................................................................. 103 BRIBERY .................................................................................................................................. 106 Chapter Six: Failure 1755-1762 ....................................................................................... 111 A MATTER OF CHARACTER ..................................................................................................... 114 SAUER .................................................................................................................................... 120 AN INVIDIOUS PAMPHLET ...................................................................................................... 122 Epilogue: A Good Name in the World ............................................................................. 132 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 138 1 Introduction: A Charitable Scheme Origin stories are by their very nature mythological. Most fall into one of two camps. The first is an act of celebration: a commemorative tale intended to remind an already happy and productive society of the shared legacy that binds it together. The second is an act of defense: someone or something has questioned the motives or the ethics of a group of people, necessitating a corrective myth to simultaneously silence critics, reestablish pride within a group’s own ranks, and resuscitate trust among the unfaithful. As William Smith sat down in September 1754 to record his history of the Society for the Education of Germans in Pennsylvania, he seems to have understood this. At the age of twenty-seven, the young Scot and nascent Anglican priest was already a master of persuasion. He knew how to make one type of origin myth look very much like the other. Ostensibly a celebratory paean to an organization with “a true Christian Concern,” Smith wrote his history unquestionably from a position of defense.1 For months, Christopher Sauer, a powerful German-language printer from nearby Germantown, had been openly questioning the motives of the Society for Germans in his widely-read Pennsylvanische Berichte.2 Arguably the most powerful German in a colony that contained nearly 100,000 of them, Sauer considered himself a watchdog for non-English-speaking colonists. His newspaper, along with his popular 1 He admitted as much himself. See, Minutes of the German Free Schools, William Smith Papers, Box 3, University of Pennsylvania. Pages 35-36. Accessed online on June 11, 2016. The minutes are held by the University of Pennsylvania and have been scanned and made available for digital download at: http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/franklin/txt_doc_wsmithpapers_title.cfm. The document is one part of the university’s William Smith Papers collection, hereafter referred to as “Smith Papers.” Regarding the Society for German’s “true Christian Concern,” see William Smith, A Brief History of the Rise and Progress of the Charitable Scheme, Carrying on by a Society of Noblemen and Gentleman in London, For the Relief and Instruction of poor Germans, and their Decendents, settled in Pennsylvania, and the adjacent British Colonies in North-America, (Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, 1755), 3. 2 For the controversy, see Minutes of the German Free Schools, 32-36. For the pamphlet’s publication plans see, Ibid., 36 and 59-60. 2 German-language almanac, Der Hoch-Deutsch Americanische Calender, not only kept readers abreast of daily happenings in Pennsylvania, but also taught them how to take advantage of their rights as naturalized English citizens. It was in this vein, during the summer of 1754, that Sauer had first published a harmless rumor about the construction of a free English school for German settlers. Upon further investigation, the publisher had had sobering news to report: In our issue number 159 a mistake was advertised [that said] a High School was to be erected in Philadelphia for the benefit of the Germans, etc. But we are now by certain Accounts informed that Six English Free Schools will be kept in this Province, for the Germans in the Cities of Philadelphia, Lancaster, York, Reading, Easton, etc. German ministers are urged to learn to preach in English so that the Germans may by degrees become one nation with the English, and be provided with English clergymen. These accounts further tell us that this was done out of fear that the multitude of Germans might make up or form themselves into one separate people or body, and in time of war go over to the French, and join with them to hurt the English nation.3 With his eye on an upcoming General Assembly election, Sauer encouraged his readers to reject those who thought so little of German loyalty. “The Irish, the Swedes, and the Welsh, do keep their languages” he wrote, “and yet for all that [they] are not looked upon as a disloyal people.”4 Implying that the English schools were politically motivated, and, indeed, had been dreamt up by Proprietary agents to break apart the Quaker and German alliance that had benefited both groups for more than a decade, he encouraged his fellow Germans to “take it into Consideration…who will in these dangerous and Critical times preserve the libertys of the land.”5 Sauer’s criticism sent shock waves through the Society for Germans’ North American leadership. Their school scheme relied entirely upon the support of leaders from Reformed and Lutheran churches. As Sauer’s newspapers were “universally read by the Germans all over 3 Article from The Pennsylvanische Berichte oder Sammlung Wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur- und Kirchenreich, September 1, 1754. Translation copied by Smith into Minutes of the German Free Schools, 32-33. 4 Ibid., 35. 5 Ibid. 3 Pennsylvania
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