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“Unenthusiastic” Proselytization: The Unitarian Effort to Merge National Identity and Religion Connor McCain Henry Whitney Bellows resolved to achieve related goals in the Christian Inquirer. Abstract Published in New York from 1846 to This study discusses the modes of 1863—but having Bellows as its primary proliferating the agenda of a rational, editor from October 1846 to June 1850,1 the “unenthusiastic” religion across the mid- Inquirer conflated American identity with nineteenth-century United States, as liberal-Christian notions of truth and exemplified by the Unitarian newspaper The morality. emphasized the Christian Inquirer. The motivations for and imitableness of Christ’s character, with strategies used to spread the Unitarian optimism about human potential that are highly nuanced, as the leaders of that appealed to Americans’ sense of self- prided themselves on having a reliance. By emphasizing the overlap progressive religion that relied on neither between religious and political outlook, the blind faith nor fanatical devotion. The chief newspaper sought to place Unitarianism at editor of the Inquirer for several years, the forefront of U.S. culture and destiny. Henry Whitney Bellows, conflated The Inquirer thusly related American icons American national identity with his to religious figures and deemed truth and Unitarian outlook. The main obstacle to this integral to liberal . But achievement was the influence of Calvinistic at the same time the paper challenged the denigration embedded in the nation’s political limitations imposed by Locke and history, most significantly by the New by European revolutionary outlook. By England . The result was a careful extolling the United States, in particular, the balancing act between respect for tradition, Inquirer subtly elevated itself as the image iconoclastic , and appeals to of a patriotic, reliable source of information figures of national pride. and perspective that would alert readers to the importance of linking Unitarian confidence in to American Christian proselytizing, since the identity and therefore to what Bellows, first British settlements of the New World, incorporating political rhetoric, called “the proved a central cultural influence in what manifest destiny of our souls” (Bellows, 2 became the United States, with evangelical Religious 5). In so doing, Bellows and the Christianity growing thereafter—to the Inquirer enacted a plan to ensure the point, some three-and-a-half centuries later, ascendancy of liberal-Christian sentiment of having sufficient followers to qualify as a over traditional notions of human fragility, major interest group in elections. From all the while tying such melioristic outlooks Puritan New England to Prohibition, on human nature to American progress, Christian leaders sought to make their , and expansionism. Attentive to beliefs universal and convert church such contexts, the current study explores doctrine into public policy. They have more how the newspaper’s strategies to achieve recently pursued this agenda through that conflation were specifically tailored to newspapers, television, and online blogging. appeal to national pride and liberal politics, In the nineteenth century, Unitarian minister all the while diminishing the influence of McCain 1 orthodox —that is, a newspaper was the best way to ensure that Trinitarian outlook steeped in doctrine the Unitarian message earned a national espousing imputed sin and imputed grace, in audience, thereby garnering ever-increasing the New World. support. Frequent publishing on behalf of the church would also establish an image for Bellows chose a newspaper as the Unitarianism as being modern and vehicle for his “theo-political” plans because sophisticated, while providing more newspapers had risen to singular importance consistent and more thoughtful input on in Western society. They had become issues and debates than any one preacher universally accessible as a result of the might alone communicate. Bellows dramatic rise in literacy in the early doubtless had these advantages in mind nineteenth-century, establishing themselves when he wrote that the Unitarians needed a as one of the most popular reading sources paper “for upholding and disseminating for scholars and laymen alike. A Unitarian more clearly our faith.”7 Sharing and newspaper would be powerful because, in preserving Unitarian wisdom would be the Inquirer’s words, the United States’ essential to the Inquirer’s long-term goals, “real national literature is found almost encompassing policy and culture, alike, to wholly in speeches, pamphlets, and 3 liberate Americans from the “five points of newspapers.” Since the young nation had ,” consistent with a Trinitarian little history of literature in longer works, godhead to make sense of infinite atonement newspapers were the most popular reading to compensate for humanity’s infinite material. They were more influential also depravity.8 because of their “light and clever” features4; they could thus hold the reader’s attention That notion of infinite depravity ran better than might lengthy treatises. directly contrary to the kind of progressive Newspapers also reached people quickly and liberal-Christian Bellows hoped expressed multiple outlooks. Whereas books to instill into the nation. Further, the took months or even years to create, publish, influence of Calvinism was, at least in the and disseminate, newspapers were Unitarian view, a religion rooted in, and immediately and widely accessible. Indeed, sensible only in, the context of a highly the Inquirer would pronounce Americans stratified, static, monarchical society.9 Not “emphatically a reading people,”5 an only did Calvinism appear antiquated in especially significant claim, since a form, but its orthodoxy had long been Unitarian newspaper would “reach where criticized for prioritizing adherence to the voice of a preacher is never heard.”6 doctrine over ethical and moral considerations (Haroutunian 10-11). This This reasoning would be especially would be the initial fuel for the fire that important to a minister like Bellows forged Unitarianism, which was rooted in because, though a skilled orator who was New England patriotism and secular popular among congregants, he often humanitarianism (179-180). That a religion doubted his own abilities to preach well and so deeply indebted to modern liberal ethics reach a great audience (Kring 36-37, 44). He would be opposed to Calvinism’s almost envisioned a future in which people “would single-minded focus on self-deprecating hear very little about Catholicism or piety should come as no surprise. That same Protestantism,” but he did not feel he could liberal-humanist sentiment persuaded many accomplish such a feat on his own (119). He to object to the Calvinist emphasis on thus believed that publishing a Unitarian imputed sin. With the increasingly popular McCain 2 that humans were essentially good, the well-being of universal man.”13 the notion that every person is inherently Underlying this statement is the implication sinful by his very nature, regardless of intent that only a Unitarian paper could effect that or personal choice, came under assault by stature; as Channing had asserted, Unitarians (19-20, 200). That an individual Trinitarianism, especially that of Calvinism, had no possible escape from sin was was “a doctrine which violates reason” and antithetical to the rationalism of liberal “breaks down the distinctions and barriers Christianity and opposed to the between truth and falsehood” (III: 201). espoused by the Founders. Unitarian papers, on the other hand, Were humans unable to escape the infinite encouraged the universal well-being weight of sin, the idea of self-government envisioned by the Framers, rendering would be absurd. To promote both liberal progressively spiritual oversight requisite for government and liberal religion, the Inquirer theo-political constitutional democracy. The thus needed to combat the dominance of Inquirer sought to place itself at the center Calvinism. of that endeavor. To liberate Americans from a To tie that democratic mission to morphology of conversion predicated on systematic Unitarianism, the paper extended human frailty—and to augment its praise far beyond . Unitarianism’s patriotic reputation—the Indeed, if humans were capable of elevated Inquirer praised individualistic ideals character and comportment, they were exemplified in the Bill of . The obliged to demonstrate as much in a host of newspaper thus celebrated American venues, including political enlightenment. freedom of the press, insisting that such The writers of the Christian Inquirer were protection ensured that the press could therefore self-proclaimed “earnest lovers of “never be bribed, or its patronage won over everything popular and free,” as good by unlawful means.”10 Unhampered by members of a democracy ought to be.14 The censorship and free from corruption, paper encouraged liberal doctrine as newspapers would continue to reveal the necessary for encouraging an upright truth, ostensibly without officially citizenry. Just as the United States rejected sanctioned agendas, therefore rendering the the formal hierarchy of nobility, so American press superior to that of other Protestant religion had departed from the countries. At its best, freedom of the press hierarchical structure of the Catholic and encouraged upright, proper conduct among Anglican churches. In the young, democratic publishers and readers. To that end, the United States, the ideal religion would have Inquirer vowed “to discuss religious topics no ties to such rule; the doctrine of the from an independent stand-point,”11 religion, like the law of the land, would providing relatively unbiased information instead be determined by the people. and supporting the American ideal that a Unitarianism was indeed a prime example of free press was the best source of factual a religion based on notions of democracy information. This mission was, of course, a and popular rule, to a degree that some natural extension of the Unitarian creed that orthodox Christians would call heretical. humans were regenerate and could ascend to Calvinists in particular took issue with the higher status by education.12 The editors Unitarian confidence in humanity’s limitless therefore considered “a newspaper rightly potential; they certainly would have conducted”—that is, one that is factual and disagreed with the Inquirer’s claim that the impartial— “a potent power in promoting was not “superior to man. It was made McCain 3 for man, and not man for it.”15 William government, it asserted, was the best way to Ellery Channing—a major influence on achieve a balance between freedom and Bellows’ belief and career16—described tyranny. Democracy was, of course, Unitarian Christianity as “not a mere code of necessary to maintain that balance. laws, not an abstract system…. It is a living, Channing points out that the “best code is embodied religion.”17 The claim that the that which had its origin in the will of the Bible and its religion helped people to guide people who obey it” (I:75). By their lives—rather than dictating prescriptive appropriating the arguments made by the standards of comportment—fit neatly into most influential philosophers in the liberal insistence on non-intervention into American consciousness and linking them to personal self-governance. The Unitarian a Unitarian worldview, the Inquirer would church would therefore reflect popular conjoin liberal Christianity and American American political philosophy. The stronger republicanism. this conviction, the more persuasive the argument for Unitarian dominance in In thusly balancing religious and America. patriotic sentiment, the Inquirer prescribed a solution for the Christian citizen who might Reinforcing that connection between find fault in a civil government that liberal and enlightened governance enhanced its religious compatibility with required a cohesive political theory that American democracy. That outlook in some satisfied both Unitarian beliefs and degree contrasted with that of the Founding traditional American convictions. To this Fathers, as the newspaper discouraged end, the Inquirer assured its readers that overthrowing the government, even if “duty to government and duty to God are not tyrannical. It advocated instead for the civil inconsistent.”18 Such compatibility was vital disobedience that would soon be to maintaining a viable society; and popularized by William Lloyd Garrison’s Unitarians, if they had any hope of Non-Resistant Society and then by Thoreau. becoming the American religion, needed a It advised its readers that “subjection under creed to enforce such responsibilities. It government is a duty. . . . But obedience is a therefore prescribed a philosophy that duty only under certain conditions, and to a maintained democratic ideals sans mob rule. certain extent.”21 Bellows, by elsewhere The Inquirer fancied itself advancing this advocating the supremacy of conscience, agenda by echoing the Founding Fathers— was in accord with Thoreau in stating that a that is, by encouraging a small centralized citizen had conscientiously to defy immoral government. In such a progressive society, laws. That stance mirrored outlooks of the duty of a citizen, especially that of a Channing and Harvard Unitarians who Christian citizen, was to “look upon the civil believed that human conscience was government . . . with as unblanching an eye” founded in religion (Duban 216, 213). as one “would look upon anything else.”19 Channing, in fact, insisted on the And to ensure that government remain small ascendancy of individual piety—necessary and non-intrusive, the Christian citizen for proper conscience—over physical would be “at to inquire whether any freedom; for if one lacks “this inward, act of government transgresses” its proper spiritual freedom, outward liberty is of little limits of authority.20 The Inquirer thereby worth” (Works, I: 76). He argued that encouraged readers to live within the limits tyranny is worst when it robs persons of of civil society and the without devotion to God, breaking their spirit and compromising religious values. Limited turning them against Christian values. To McCain 4 revolt against the government, then, would Bellows champion cohesion between be reminiscent of Aesop’s “The Dog and government and religion that he would His Shadow”: the perpetrators would preach, during the Civil War, that those sacrifice their Christian morals for the lesser entities shared “common organs and prize of civil . Taking the stance of functions,” amounting to a sort of conflation disobedience over revolution put the of the structure of American government as Inquirer in the most favorable position by itself a form of religion (Kring 223). appealing to Americans’ self-reliant nature Accordingly, he saw the Inquirer as a without appearing to be politically seditious. vehicle with which to replace revolutionary By advocating peaceful means of checking political theory with philosophy more government, Unitarian outlook could be suitable to a cohesive, Unitarian-inspired bold and patriotic without becoming national identity. militant. This line of pro-civil-government Perhaps because any undermining of reasoning, a necessary component to the American government would jeopardize Unitarian dominance in the U.S., runs Bellows’ mission to place Unitarianism at directly contrary to the the forefront of American culture, the outlined by , subverting the Inquirer rebuked violent revolutionary arguments that were central to the action. Were readers to use the newspaper to ideological origins of the United States. That justify political rebellion, their actions the Inquirer would adopt such a strategy is would sow disorder and would endanger a initially somewhat surprising, considering unified American identity, nullifying the that Locke so immensely influenced Inquirer’s end goal. The endurance of, and Unitarian rationalism (Howe 36-37). In fact, faith in, democratic institutions were the rejection by Unitarians of the necessity essential to the paper’s liberal-Christian of was an extension of Locke’s goals. Unitarians looked to civil government “firm reliance on the knowledge which God to maintain social cohesion, as they believed offered mankind, . . . which was that “an emotional reverence for American independent of scriptural revelation” (Howe institutions had to be created if society were 38). Unitarianism rested on Lockean- not to disintegrate in the vast new continent” inspired belief in knowledge and its power (Howe 130). Bellows was thus adamantly to improve the human experience. opposed to the secession of the Southern Additionally, Arminians (to whom states just before the Civil War; he insisted Unitarians were indebted) drew upon that the sanctity of the Union was important Locke’s arguments concerning personal above all else—but not so much that the identity to refute the doctrine of imputed sin, Northern states should sacrifice their a mainstay of Calvinism (Wright 85). integrity to preserve it from secession (Kring Clearly, the ideas that form the basis of 219). The Inquirer supported this stance Unitarian philosophy—and therefore the when it rejected revolution as a viable basis for the ideas with which the Inquirer course of action in 1850, stating that, were sought to imbue the American identity—are one to pursue this goal by “raising a popular predicated on Locke’s contributions to commotion and exciting armed resistance, Western discourse. he would be guilty of want of submission to rulers.”22 This argument was a vital step, For all that, the Inquirer needed to because an overthrown government would encourage a pro-civil-government attitude to issue in social chaos. So passionately did promote a Unitarian merger with American McCain 5 identity; this meant dispensing with Locke’s outlooks on moral certitude and human views on governmental power. His political reasonableness—Unitarians could further theory, so popular with the writers of the their theories on human potential, both as Constitution, left little room for liberal- individuals and as a collective. Doing so Christian humanism; the Inquirer therefore allowed the Inquirer to push an agenda needed to convince its readers to reevaluate friendlier to civil government. this philosophy and accept a more forward- looking creed. Locke had asserted that Although Unitarian humanism government was merely a necessary evil, insisted on the potential of each individual protecting society from itself without need and the ability of the government to enhance for further responsibility. Channing openly it, the Inquirer still needed to augment the refutes this notion by stating that, although capacity of liberal Christians to live up to “government has so often been the scourge that potential to gain cultural power. Thus of mankind,” that deleterious tendency has arose the case that religion was necessary to arisen because “statesmen have seldom support both the individual and the understood the sacredness of human government. To that end, the Inquirer stated society” (I: 69), and because proper that France was unable to achieve prosperity democratic institutions “contribute in no akin to that of the U.S. because France “lack[ed] religion, and the kind of home small degree to freedom and force of mind, 25 by teaching the essential equality of men” education that comes from religion.” (I:75). Channing rejects even Locke’s Bellows doubtless here refers to premise for government, stating that people revolutionary France. The piety of do not “agree to live together for the Americans allegedly created a more protection of private interests” alone (Works, righteous society, which reinforced the I: 101). In the same spirit, Bellows preached Inquirer’s message that the American that true liberty required both positive and identity was both compatible with, and negative input, for absolute freedom to act improved by, Unitarian ethos. Without according to one’s interests alone resulted in Christianity’s driving progress, the country a freedom “worse than tyranny” (Kring would allegedly fall behind in the French 119). Accordingly, the newspaper echoed manner of political and social regression. Channing’s statement, claiming that, in This accusation drew a clear connection searching for a “higher and purer form of between religious and socio-political religious thought, men will not rest progress, as liberal Christianity allied with contented until they embody it in practical progressive society in opposition to old- institutions.”23 This belief that people are so world worship and chaos. drawn to institutions stands in direct contrast To highlight the vital role of to Locke’s statement that when people Unitarianism in American social and “enter into society” they “give up the political progress, the Inquirer took after equality, liberty, and executive power they Bellows’ co-religionists in implicating had in the state of Nature into the hands of orthodox religion in criticism of Europe. the society” (Locke, Treatises 161).24 against Catholicism and Calvinism Without explicitly mentioning the name or especially were common among Unitarians, works of Locke, the Inquirer sought to and those countries in which orthodoxy was convince its readers of the philosopher’s predominant were most often targets of political irrelevance. In refuting Locke’s attack. Channing, as a skilled writer and civic ideas—while retaining reliance on his scholar, was especially clever in his McCain 6 critiques of Old-World religion and politics. reasonableness of sanctifying the connection In a meeting with Channing, Alexis de via adherence to Unitarian doctrine. Tocqueville had quipped that Catholicism bred aristocratic rule whereas Protestantism To make liberal Christianity yet birthed democracy. Although Channing was more enticing as a national religion to the wary of certain features of American average citizen, the Christian Inquirer not democracy, he does not refute the only framed itself and its religion as ideal superiority of either Christianity or candidates to augment American culture and democracy; nor does he deny the connection politics generally, but also to improve between the two.26 In fact, he goes so far as journalism and education specifically. The to claim that religion ought to be more newspaper thus asserted that the reliability and “purity of the public press will be democratically oriented than even 27 government. Clearly, he wished to affirm increased as Christianity advances” — Tocqueville’s sentiment without appearing meaning, of course, the kind of Christianity vain. from which the Inquirer was born. The truth, according to the newspaper, could be Channing nonetheless did not fully understood only if placed in proper hesitate to publish strong statements about religious context. Publishing a paper would the superiority of Christianity. In “Evidences therefore benefit readers by dispersing the of Christianity” he explicitly states that Unitarian viewpoint and providing more Christianity in (predominantly Catholic) reliable access to all issues. A wholly Spain and Portugal was manifested “only as secular press, on the other hand, would be a bulwark of despotism, as a rearer [sic] of akin to the distorted outlook in atheistic inquisitions, as a stern jailer. . . as an France and would as readily regress. executioner stained with the blood. . . of the Accordingly, the Inquirer saw itself as a friends of freedom” (Works, III: 323). pillar of reliable and productive journalism. Channing here identified the predominant It would denounce dishonest reporting in interpretation of Christianity as complicit in religious terms and with religious solutions, those states’ wrongdoings. His criticism of enhancing its own reputation. It would also European Catholicism becomes all the more berate sensationalist news as a product of virulent when he claims that the situation the “satanic press, the effect of which is to arose because “the Scriptures are not sear the conscience and debase the mind.”28 common” in those nations—a clear criticism The Inquirer proclaimed absolute disbelief of Catholic practice (III: 323). The in the audacity of such publications, placing proliferation of Protestantism, and especially them in direct opposition to its own Unitarianism, would of course prevent such independent, inquisitive reporting. The only injustice from reigning in America. Thus, conceivable solution for this issue appeared just as Unitarians sought to improve upon to be “the most thorough moral and religious orthodox and Trinitarian Christianity, so the training” for “those minds which have been United States, already more inclined toward debased by unhealthy stimulus.”29 In other Protestantism than toward Catholicism, words, the best way to avoid falling victim would move beyond the social order of to false reporting would be to adhere to Europe. If both Unitarian and American Unitarian teaching. Connecting itself with success were measured by increased education would further the paper’s mission, individual freedom and a greater focus on as readers would seek answers to their modern reason, then the Inquirer needed problems in the Inquirer’s pages and, from only articulate the connection to suggest the there, search for more within the Unitarian McCain 7 church. Such answers as the church extension, in the superiority of the ideals provided would, of course, support the claim that built it. Just as Unitarianism sought to that Unitarianism was the proper religion for free its followers from Old World religion, the United States. Without papers like the so the United States claimed a righteous Inquirer, therefore, the country would be battle against European influence in the New victimized—beyond despotic unreligious World—first in the Monroe Doctrine, and government and failing secular education— then in President Polk’s attack on “European by dishonest reporting and inferior interference” (Graebner 110). Though the education, therefore never living up to its “empire on the Pacific” may not have been democratic and personal potential. born of the fervent expansionist sentiment that appears on the surface, this fact only So that it might further convince brings the narrative closer to the Unitarian Americans of the timeliness of adopting outlook (Graebner 226-227). Accepting Unitarianism, the Inquirer embraced an Graebner’s thesis that there existed a innovative agenda in accord with the “magnificent vision for a democratic zeitgeist of the day—individualism, as best purpose” but that the real force behind characterized by Manifest Destiny. The expansionism was “precise and calculated Inquirer would therefore not hesitate to movement” (218), then the “unenthusiastic” publish strong opinions that may not have strategies employed by Unitarians to achieve been entirely popular; nor would its authors a far loftier goal is easily analogous. On the shy away from direct criticisms of other surface, as well, capturing the spirit of papers or of fellow citizens. Indeed, the individualism as a rational Unitarian feature publishers stated that they would could detract from the “messianic fervor” “sometimes feel like pitting ourselves, or 30 and Calvinistic determinism with which rather the truth, against the world.” Such a expansionism was otherwise identified.31 statement appealed to readers’ pride in Showing Unitarianism to be not only American rugged individualism, a staple of compatible, but ideally suited for, manifest the nation’s culture. The Inquirer, destiny would carry significant cultural established already as a herald of democracy weight. Of course, were the Inquirer to and personal freedom, sought to tie itself to become overcommitted to that cause, such this most enduring American value. And sentiment might morph into the kind of never was the spirit of individualism more fanaticism from which, following the anti- potent than in the Mexican War of 1846- revivalists of the eighteenth-century, it had 1848; in the annexation of new territories sought to separate. The best solution was to (soon to be states) following the Treaty of appeal to the individualism that fueled Guadalupe Hidalgo; in 1858, when the expansionism without committing wholly to country laid even more claim to the land the concept of manifest destiny. from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 1869; and with a railway-accessible American frontier To highlight that commitment to occupying an important place in the nation’s individualism, thereby supporting the imagination. As self-proclaimed advocates conflation of Unitarianism and subdued of individual liberty and progress, Unitarians political policy, the Inquirer emphasized were uniquely disposed to uphold the that both the Protestant and the nation’s ideals in such a narrative. shared a narrative of rebelling against the establishment for The script sought to promulgate personal freedom and individualism. belief in the greatness of the nation and, by Finding commonality between the two such McCain 8 monumental events would put other shared popular ideas about life and society. These characteristics into clear relief, encouraging creators required a theology and outlook that a qualified merger of religion and state. If would embrace their contributions, whereas both Protestantism and American democracy Calvinism denied their ability to achieve shared a common goal, surely their anything that could surmount inherent sin. respective leaders had much in common. Or Unitarianism, in contrast, emphasized the so Inquirer sought to convince readers by imitableness of Christ’s character, with such proclaiming that “Luther and Washington optimism about human potential aiding to together represent the great idea of modern spread the message of liberal Christianity to times: practical freedom, civil and Americans en masse, at the same time religious.”32 Their missions—minus challenging the political limitations imposed difference in belief of imputed sin—were by Locke and by European revolutionary nearly identical and consistent with the outlook. Inquirer’s main goals. The Inquirer stressed the urgency of embracing the ideals of those As a result of the Inquirer’s efforts leaders, for the influence of each “was never and those of other religious media, many more potent, their inspiration never more Americans to this day conceive of their precious, than now.”33 Both the United identity, beyond federalist thinking, in a States and Protestantism were at the height manner consistent with Unitarian optimism of their influences, so they ought to be about human potential, constitutional and united at such an opportune time—by permanent republicanism, and a unity of implication in the Inquirer’s outlook. Once values implied by a destiny to free one’s self the Inquirer convinced its readers of this and others from denigration. Bellows, like consonance, a coherent system of thought many of his predecessors and successors, would follow. believed that proselytization was a necessary component to his religion, and that The Inquirer played its part in a long localizing religion inherently hindered its tradition of religious proselytization, though progress (Kring 183). This firm insistence markedly less “enthusiastic” than its on geographic universalism affected not revivalist predecessors. As implied by its only the future of Unitarianism, but also name, the paper hoped to incorporate into its American religion at large. Generations of own vision of American identity a charismatic preachers like Bellows have disposition toward open-mindedness and attempted to conflate national-political and discussion, similar to the way democracy religious values in accord with what they had brought political philosophy into believed to be a vital component of each of popular discourse—as illustrated in their faiths. The Christian Inquirer set an Tocqueville’s comments on America, and in example by using the most popular medium Channing’s response (above). Unitarians of its time and passionate but not partisan thus sought to enrich, for perpetuity, political commentary, along with American religion, politics, and culture. declarations of national pride, to convince Their plans to do so mandated the support, readers of the importance of Unitarianism. beyond that of the social intelligentsia, of a Though Henry Whitney Bellows would have literate populace. The Inquirer conveyed its taken issue with being called “enthusiastic,” outlook at a pivotal point in American the strategies used by the Christian Inquirer history when newspapers were becoming sometimes approach those used by increasingly popular. At such a juncture, evangelicals and other religious groups who writers, artists, and thinkers were redefining would yet wear that label with pride. McCain 9

19. Bellows, “Duties of a Citizen.” CI, 13 May 1858, pg. 121 col. 6. Notes 20. Bellows, “Duties of a Citizen.” CI, 13 1. Duban, “Emerson to Edwards.” Pg. 392 May 1848, pg. 121 col. 6. n. 16. 21. G.F.S., “The Two Kingdoms.” CI, 28 2. Bellows, Religious Education (Boston: December 1850, pg. 1 col. 6 Crosby, Nichols, and Co., 1857). 22. G.F.S., “The Two Kingdoms.” CI, 28 3. Bellows, “American Literature.” The December 1850, pg. 1 col. 6 Christian Inquirer, 31 March 1849, pg. 23. Bellows, “Nature of the Cristian 100 col. 2. Inquirer.” CI, 2 October 1858, pg. 2 col. 4. Bellows, “Newspapers and Novels.” CI, 1. 15 March 1856, pg. 1 co. 2. 24. Locke, John. Two Treatises of 5. Bellows, “Periodical Journals.” The Government. 1823. Christian Inquirer, 11 January 1851, pg. 25. Bellows, “The French Ouvrier.” CI, 5 1 col. 2. August 1848, pg. 170 col. 5. 6. Bellows, “Our Duty as Unitarians.” CI, 26. Pierson, Tocqueville and Beaumont 22 May 1847, pg. 1 col. 1. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 7. Bellows, “Our Duty as Unitarians.” CI, 1938). Pp. 393-396, 448. 22 May 1847, pg. 1 col. 1. 27. Bellows, “Newspapers.” CI, 22 April 8. Wright, The Liberal Christians (Boston: 1854, pg. 3 col. 1. Beacon Press, 1970). 28. Bellows, “Magazine Literature.” CI, 13 9. Haroutunian, Piety Versus Moralism August 1853, pg. 3 col. 1. (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 29. Bellows, “Magazine Literature.” CI, 13 Inc., 1932). August 1853, pg. 3 col. 1. 10. Bellows, “Newspapers.” CI, 22 April 30. Bellows, “.” CI, 1854, pg. 3 col. 1. 23 October 1858, pg. 1 col. 7. 11. Bellows, “Prospectus of the Christian 31. Duban, Melville’s Major Fiction. Pp. 90- Inquirer.” CI, 2 October 1858, pg. 2 col. 91. Melville, who for several years was 1. involved with Henry Whitney Bellows’ 12. Howe, The Unitarian Conscience All Souls Church, criticized the rhetoric (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, behind Manifest Destiny, via Vivenza in 1970). Mardi, as “inspired by self-serving 13. Bellows, “Newspapers.” CI, 22 April outlooks which are more hypocritical 1854, pg. 3 col. 1. than redemptive” (Duban 30). 14. Bellows, “Letter From France.” CI, 22 Considering that Melville maintained July 1848, pg. 162 col. 6. “liberal Christian ideas about human 15. Bellows, “Christian Denomination.” CI, regeneracy” while harboring at least the 23 October 1858, pg. 1 col. 7. beginnings of “discontent with excessive 16. For more extensive discussion of liberal optimism” by the publication of Channing’s influence on Bellows, see Mardi (Duban 31, 35), as well as Walter Donald Kring, Henry Whitney Bellows’ appropriation of the phrase in Bellows, esp. pp. 44, 119. speaking of “the manifest destiny of our 17. Channing, Works vol. I (Boston: James souls” (see note 1), it would not be Munroe and Company, 1845). Pg. 135. surprising that Melville and Bellows 18. G.F.S., “The Two Kingdoms.” CI, 28 could have agreed on the negative December 1850, pg. 1 col. 6. aspects of manifest destiny, but had McCain 10

opposed reactions: Melville denouncing ‘Ideal’ Metaphysics of Sovereignty.” and Bellows attempting to lay religious The Harvard Theological Review, claim to it. Duban more recently seeks to vol. 81, no. 4, 1988, pp. 389-411. reconcile aspects of Melville’s encounter with Unitarianism; see Duban, James. ————. Melville’s Major Fiction: “‘The Oracle of God Within’: Human Politics, Theology, and Imagination. Nature and Personal Faith in the DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Epilogue to Clarel and Melville’s Press, 1983. Annotated Bible.” Literature & Graebner, Norman A. Empire on the Pacific. Theology, vol. 28, no. 4, 2014, pp. 425- New York: The Ronald Press 437. Company, 1955. 32. Bellows, “Luther and Washington.” CI, 8 May 1852, pg. 1 col. 4. Haroutunian, Joseph. Piety Versus 33. Bellows, “Luther and Washington.” CI, Moralism: The Passing of the New 8 May 1852, pg. 1 col. 4. England Theology. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., Works Cited 1932. Bellows, Henry Whitney. Religious Howe, Daniel Walker. The Unitarian Education, from Within and from Conscience: Harvard Moral Above. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Philosophy, 1805-1861. Cambridge: Co., 1857. Harvard University Press, 1970. Channing, William Ellery. The Works of Kring, Walter Donald. Henry Whitney William E. Channing, D.D., vol. I Bellows. Boston: Skinner House and III. Boston: James Munroe and Press, 1979. Company, 1845. Pierson, George W. Tocqueville and Duban, James. “Conscience and Beaumont in America. Oxford: Consciousness: The Liberal Oxford University Press, 1938. Christian Context of Thoreau's Political Ethics.” The New England Wright, Conrad. Beginnings of Unitarianism Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 2, 1987, pp. in America. Berkeley: Starr King Press, 208–222. 1955. ————. “From Emerson to Edwards: ————. The Liberal Christians. Boston: Henry Whitney Bellows and an Beacon Press, 1970.