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Dividing the Faith: the Rise of Racially Segregated Northern Churches, 1730-1850 by Richard J. Boles BA in History, May 2005

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Dividing the Faith: the Rise of Racially Segregated Northern Churches, 1730-1850 by Richard J. Boles BA in History, May 2005 Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Racially Segregated Northern Churches, 1730-1850 by Richard J. Boles B.A. in History, May 2005, Boston College M.A. in History, December 2006, Boston College A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Colombian College of Arts and Sciences The George Washington University In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. May 19, 2013 Dissertation directed by David J. Silverman Professor of History Dewey Wallace Professor of Religion The Colombian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Richard J. Boles has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of February 8, 2013. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Racially Segregated Northern Churches, 1730-1850 Richard J. Boles Dissertation Research Committee: David J. Silverman, Professor of History, Dissertation Co-Director Dewey Wallace, Professor of Religion, Dissertation Co-Director Eric Arnesen, Professor of American Labor History, Committee Member Robert J. Cottrol, Professor of Law, History, and of Sociology and Harold Paul Green Research Professor of Law, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2013 by Richard J. Boles All rights reserved iii Acknowledgments The work of historians is sometimes portrayed as an isolated, solitary endeavor involving days alone in dusty archives researching and writing. My experience in creating this dissertation has been anything but solitary, and I am pleased to be able to thank many of the people who have shared this process with me. My research would not have been possible without the work of dedicated librarians, archivists, and other library staff members and the institutions that have made their collections available to researchers. I would like to thank the people who work at the following libraries and archives: Adams County Historical Society, Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Andover Newton Theological School’s Franklin Trask Library, Boston Athenæum, Boston Public Library, Congregational Library, Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut State Library, Heinz History Center Archive and Library, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society, New England Historical Genealogical Society, Newport Historical Society, New-York Historical Society, New York Public Library, Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, Presbyterian Historical Society, Princeton University Rare Book and Manuscript Department, Rhode Island Historical Society, Trinity Church Wall Street Archive, and University of Rhode Island Special Collections Unit. I especially want to thank and acknowledge the staff members of the Boston Athenæum, Congregational Library, Connecticut State Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, and New-York Historical Society; their abundant kindness and helpfulness made long research trips not only fruitful but also enjoyable. iv Fellowships and grants made research trips across the North possible, and I am pleased to recognize the institutions that provided me with invaluable support. Some of my coursework was funded by a District of Colombia Daughters of the American Revolution Graduate Fellowship, and my first research trip for this project was funded by the Cosmos Club Foundation’s Cosmos Scholars program. Significant research trips to Boston and New York were funded by a Massachusetts Historical Society’s African American Studies Fellowship (2010-2011), a Gilder Lehrman Fellowship (2011), and an American Congregational Association-Boston Athenæum Fellowship (2011-2012). None of my graduate studies and research would have been possible without consistent support from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the University Writing Program, and the History Department at The George Washington University, which provided six years of a graduate teaching assistantship and occasional summer funding. From the History Department I would especially like to thank Michael Weeks, William Becker, and Katrin Schultheiss. The hospitality of friends and family also made research trips pleasant and convenient. Thank you to Kevin Vetiac, Pete DeLuca, Tracy Noga, Geoff and Sam Short, Brian and Meg Gregor, Jared and Jenai Humphreys, John and Kristen DeVries, and the Snoke family for welcoming me into your homes during my research travels. I am grateful to the colleagues, friends, and family members who have read, critiqued, and commented on portions of my work. For the parts of this project that are noteworthy and illuminating, I share credit with these people; for the remaining faults in this work, I take sole responsibility. Thank you Stephen Jackson, Mary McPartland, Felix Harcourt, Bell Clement, Natalie Deibel, Kelsey Flynn, Jon Keljik, Janet Kilian, v Sara Berndt, Andrea O’Brien, Jared Hardesty, Jonathan W. White, Joanne Pope Melish, Carol Boles, and Christiane Boles for critically reading and responding to my work. In particular, I am grateful to Stephen Jackson for reading and evaluating not only every chapter of this dissertation but also nearly everything else I wrote in the last year during the process of writing, revising, defending, and applying for jobs. I could not have had more supportive dissertation directors and committee members whose critical readings of my work greatly improved its quality. David Silverman and Dewey Wallace, thank you for pushing me to write about a challenging topic, for patiently dealing with my questions and requests, for carefully reading, and for advocating for me in all regards. Eric Arnesen, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Robert J. Cottrol, and Denver Brunsman, thank you for the thought-provoking questions and critiques that will continue to inspire me to improve my telling of this history. At every stage of my education, there have been caring and capable educators, many of whom focused on history, who took the extra effort and time to encourage my academic growth. I know that without these teachers, I would not have succeeded in high school and college, much less earn a doctorate in history. Thank you to Kerry Kurtzman, Alfred Corral, Joyce Dougan, Laura Douglas, John Thompson, Julianne Benzel, and Cynthia L. Lyerly; excellent teachers and mentors all. Finally, my family deserves recognition. Thank you to my sister, Allison, and my extended family for always cheering me forward. I dedicate this dissertation to my wife Christiane, parents Bruce and Carol, and grandparents Beth, Jim, June, and Garth, who have supported my studies and this project in unique and vital ways. My parents and grandparents always demonstrated the value of education and hard work, and their vi generous provisions made my undergraduate and master’s degrees at Boston College feasible. Thank you for setting your examples, believing in me, and backing my many years of study. And to my wife, Christiane, more than anyone, you have patiently borne the challenges and shared the joys of graduate studies with me; I am grateful for your indispensable love, advice, and encouragements. vii Abstract of Dissertation Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Racially Segregated Northern Churches, 1730-1850 This dissertation uses the study of interracial church worship to argue that the American North experienced a high level of racial integration in the early to mid- eighteenth century and became more racially segregated following the Revolution. Churches, as both religious and social institutions, were on the frontlines of this change. This work argues that most northern Protestants experienced formal religion in interracial contexts between 1730 and 1820, but it is also attentive to differences among denominations and to change over time. It argues that scholars should have a complex view of the religious agency of oppressed peoples because significant numbers of blacks and Indians chose to participate not only in the evangelical and revivalist denominations but also in the more hierarchical and traditional forms of Christianity. By scrutinizing the similar and dissimilar experiences of blacks and Indians in the North, this dissertation also contributes to the growing historiography on the construction of racial identities and helps to fill the need in the American historiography to “triangulate” racial dynamics during the colonial and early national eras. viii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iv Abstract of Dissertation ........................................................................................................ viii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... x List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ xi Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: “Not of whites alone, but of blacks also”: Black, Indian, and European Protestants, 1730-1749 ............................................................ 18 Chapter 2: “I claim Jesus Christ to be my right Master”: Interracial Religious Conflicts and Indian Separatists, 1740-1763 .. .................................. 113 Chapter 3: Revolution,
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