What is the Black Robe Regiment?
A Brief History by David Barton
The Black Robe Regiment was the name that the British placed on the
courageous and patriotic American clergy during the Founding Era (a
backhanded reference to the black robes they wore). [1] Significantly,
the British blamed the Black Regiment for American Independence, [2] and
rightfully so, for modern historians have documented that:
There is not a right asserted in the Declaration of Independence
which had not been discussed by the New England clergy before 1763. [3]
It is strange to today’s generation to think that the rights listed
in the Declaration of Independence were nothing more than a listing of
sermon topics that had been preached from the pulpit in the two decades
leading up to the American Revolution, but such was the case.
But it was not just the British who saw the American pulpit as
largely responsible for American independence and government, our own
leaders agreed. For example, John Adams rejoiced that “the pulpits have
thundered” [4] and specifically identified several ministers as being
among the “characters the most conspicuous, the most ardent, and
influential” in the “awakening and a revival of American principles and
feelings” that led to American independence. [5]
Across subsequent generations, the great and positive influence of
the Revolutionary clergy was faithfully reported. For example:
As a body of men, the clergy were pre-eminent in their attachment to
liberty. The pulpits of the land rang with the notes of freedom. [6] The
American Quarterly Register [MAGAZINE], 1833
If Christian ministers had not preached and prayed, there might have
been no revolution as yet – or had it broken out, it might have been
crushed. [7] Bibliotheca Sacra [BRITISH PERIODICAL], 1856
The ministers of the Revolution were, like their Puritan
predecessors, bold and fearless in the cause of their country. No class
of men contributed more to carry forward the Revolution and to achieve
our independence than did the ministers. . . . [B]y their prayers,
patriotic sermons, and services [they] rendered the highest assistance
to the civil government, the army, and the country. [8] B. F. Morris,
HISTORIAN, 1864
The Constitutional Convention and the written Constitution were the children of the pulpit. [9] Alice Baldwin, HISTORIAN, 1918
Had ministers been the only spokesman of the rebellion – had
Jefferson, the Adamses, and [James] Otis never appeared in print – the
political thought of the Revolution would have followed almost exactly
the same line. . . . In the sermons of the patriot ministers . . . we
find expressed every possibly refinement of the reigning political
faith. [10] Clinton Rossiter, HISTORIAN, 1953
The American clergy were faithful exponents of the fullness of God’s
Word, applying its principles to every aspect of life, thus shaping
America’s institutes and culture. They were also at the forefront of
proclaiming liberty, resisting tyranny, and opposing any encroachments
on God-given rights and freedoms. In 1898, Methodist bishop and church
historian Charles Galloway rightly observed of these ministers:
Mighty men they were, of iron nerve and strong hand and unblanched
cheek and heart of flame. God needed not reeds shaken by the wind, not
men clothed in soft raiment [Matthew 11:7-8], but heroes of hardihood
and lofty courage. . . . And such were the sons of the mighty who
responded to the Divine call. [11]
But the ministers during the Revolutionary period were not
necessarily unique; they were simply continuing what ministers had been
doing to shape American government and culture in the century and a half
preceding the Revolution.
For example, the early settlers who arrived in Virginia beginning in
1606 included ministers such as the Revs. Robert Hunt, Richard Burke,
William Mease, Alexander Whitaker, William Wickham, and others. In 1619
they helped form America’s first representative government: the Virginia
House of Burgesses, with its members elected from among the people.
[12] That legislature met in the Jamestown church and was opened with
prayer by the Rev. Mr. Bucke; the elected legislators then sat in the
church choir loft to conduct legislative business. [13] As Bishop
Galloway later observed:
[T]he first movement toward democracy in America was inaugurated in
the house of God and with the blessing of the minister of God. [14]
In 1620, the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts to establish their
colony. Their pastor, John Robinson, charged them to elect civil leaders
who would not only seek the “common good” but who would also eliminate
special privileges and status between governors and the governed [15] – a
radical departure from the practice in the rest of the world at that
time. The Pilgrims eagerly took that message to heart, organizing a
representative government and holding annual elections. [16] By 1636,
they had also enacted a citizens’ Bill of Rights – America’s first. [17]
In 1630, the Puritans arrived and founded the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, and under the leadership of their ministers, they, too,
established representative government with annual elections. [18] By
1641, they also had established a Bill of Rights (the “Body of
Liberties”) [19] – a document of individual rights drafted by the Rev.
Nathaniel Ward. [20]
In 1636, the Rev. Roger Williams established the Rhode Island Colony
and its representative form of government, [21] explaining that “[t]he
sovereign, original, and foundation of civil power lies in the people.”
[22]
The same year, the Rev. Thomas Hooker (along with the Revs. Samuel
Stone, John Davenport, and Theophilus Eaton) founded Connecticut. [23]
They not only established an elective form of government [24] but in a
1638 sermon based on Deuteronomy 1:13 and Exodus 18:21, the Rev. Hooker
explained the three Biblical principles that had guided the plan of
government in Connecticut:
I. [T]he choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance.
II. The privilege of election . . . belongs to the people . . .
III. They who have power to appoint officers and magistrates [i.e., the
people], it is in their power also to set the bounds and limitations of
the power and place. [25]
From the Rev. Hooker’s teachings and leadership sprang the
“Fundamental Orders of Connecticut” – America’s first written
constitution (and the direct antecedent of the federal Constitution).
[26] But while Connecticut produced America’s first written
constitution, it definitely had not produced America’s first written
document of governance, for such written documents had been the norm for
every colony founded by Bible-minded Christians. After all, this was
the Scriptural model: God had given Moses a fixed written law to govern
that nation – a pattern that recurred throughout the Scriptures (c.f.,
Deuteronomy 17:18-20, 31:24, II Chronicles 34:15-21, etc.). As renown
Cornell University professor Clinton Rossiter affirmed:
[T]he Bible gave a healthy spur to the belief in a written
constitution. The Mosaic Code, too, was a higher law that men could live
by – and appeal to – against the decrees and whims of ordinary men.
[27] (emphasis added)
Written documents of governance placed direct limitations on
government and gave citizens maximum protection against the whims of
selfish leaders. This practice of providing written documents had been
the practice of American ministers before the Rev. Hooker’s constitution
of 1638 and continued long after.
For example, in 1676, New Jersey was chartered and then divided into
two religious sub-colonies: Puritan East Jersey and Quaker West Jersey;
each had representative government with annual elections. [28] The
governing document for West Jersey was written by Christian minister
William Penn. It declared:
We lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty . . .
that they may not be brought in bondage but by their own consent, for we
put the power in the people. [29]
Under Penn’s document . . .
Legislation was vested in a single assembly elected by all the
inhabitants; the elections were to be by secret ballot; the principle of
“No taxation without representation” was clearly asserted; freedom of
conscience, trial by jury, and immunity from arrest without warrant were
guaranteed. [30]
In 1681, Penn wrote the Frame of Government for Pennsylvania. It,
too, established annual elections and provided numerous guarantees for
citizen rights. [31]
There are many additional examples, but it is indisputable that
ministers played a critical role in instituting and securing many of
America’s most significant civil rights and freedoms. As Founding Father
Noah Webster affirmed:
The learned clergy . . . had great influence in founding the first
genuine republican governments ever formed and which, with all the
faults and defects of the men and their laws, were the best republican
governments on earth. At this moment, the people of this country are
indebted chiefly to their institutions for the rights and privileges
which are enjoyed. [32]
Daniel Webster (the great “Defender of the Constitution”) agreed:
[T]o the free and universal reading of the Bible in that age men were much indebted for right views of civil liberty. [33]
Because Christian ministers established in America freedoms and
opportunities not generally available even in the mother country of
Great Britain, they were also at the forefront of resisting
encroachments on the civil and religious liberties that they had helped
secure.
For example, when crown-appointed Governor Edmund Andros tried to
seize the charters of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts,
revoke their representative governments, and force the establishment of
the British Anglican Church upon them, opposition to Andros’ plan was
led by the Revs. Samuel Willard, Increase Mather, and especially the
Rev. John Wise. [34] The Rev. Wise was even imprisoned by Andros for his
resistance but he remained an unflinching voice for freedom, penning in
1710 and 1717 two works forcefully asserting that democracy was God’s
ordained government in both Church and State, [35] thus causing
historians to title him “The Founder of American Democracy.” [36]
And when Governor Berkley refused to recognize Virginia’s
self-government, Quaker minister William Edmundson and the Rev. Thomas
Harrison led the opposition. [37] When Governor Thomas Hutchinson
ignored the elected Massachusetts legislature, the Rev. Dr. Samuel
Cooper led the opposition. [38] And a similar pattern was followed when
Governor William Burnet dissolved the New Hampshire legislature,
Governor Botetourt disbanded the Virginia House of Burgesses, Governor
James Wright disbanded the Georgia Assembly, etc.
And because American preachers consistently opposed encroachments on
civil and religious liberties, when the British imposed on Americans the
1765 Stamp Act (an early harbinger of the rupture between the two
nations soon to follow), at the vanguard of the opposition to that act
were the Revs. Andrew Eliot, Charles Chauncey, Samuel Cooper, Jonathan
Mayhew, and George Whitefield [39]
(Whitefield even accompanied Benjamin Franklin to Parliament to
protest the Act and assert colonial rights). [40] In fact, one of the
reasons that American resistance to the Stamp Act became so widespread
was because the “clergy fanned the fire of resistance to the Stamp Act
into a strong flame.” [41]
Five years later in 1770 when the British opened fire on their own
citizens in the famous “Boston Massacre,” ministers again stepped to the
forefront, boldly denouncing that abuse of power. A number of sermons
were preached on the subject, including by the Revs. John Lathrop,
Charles Chauncey, and Samuel Cooke; [42] the Massachusetts House of
Representatives even ordered that Rev. Cooke’s sermon be printed and
distributed. [43]
As tensions with the British continued to grow, ministers such as the
Rev. George Whitefield [44] and the Rev. Timothy Dwight [45] became
some of the earliest leaders to advocate America’s separation from Great
Britain.
There are many additional examples, but the historical records
respecting the leadership of the clergy were so clear that in 1851,
distinguished historian Benson Lossing concluded:
[T]he Puritan preachers also promulgated the doctrine of civil
liberty – that the sovereign was amenable to the tribunal of public
opinion and ought to conform in practice to the expressed will of the
majority of the people. By degrees their pulpits became the tribunes of
the common people; and . . . on all occasions, the Puritan ministers
were the bold asserters of that freedom which the American Revolution
established. [46] (emphasis added)
However, Christian ministers did not just teach the principles that
led to independence, they also participated on the battlefield to secure
that independence. One of the numerous examples is the Rev. Jonas
Clark.
When Paul Revere set off on his famous ride, it was to the home of
the Rev. Clark in Lexington that he rode. Patriot leaders John Hancock
and Samuel Adams were lodging (as they often did) with the Rev. Clark.
After learning of the approaching British forces, Hancock and Adams
turned to Pastor Clark and inquired of him whether the people were ready
to fight. Clark unhesitatingly replied, “I have trained them for this
very hour!” [47] When the original alarm sounded in Lexington to warn of
the oncoming British menace, citizens gathered at the town green, and
according to early historian Joel Headley:
There they found their pastor the [Rev. Clark] who had arrived before
them. The roll was called and a hundred and fifty answered to their
names . . . . The church, the pastor, and his congregation thus standing
together in the dim light [awaiting the Redcoats], while the stars
looked tranquilly down from the sky above them. [48]
The British did not appear at that first alarm, and the people
returned home. At the subsequent alarm, they reassembled, and once the
sound of the battle subsided, some eighteen Americans lay on Lexington
Green; seven were dead – all from the Rev. Clark’s church. [49] Headley
therefore concluded, “The teachings of the pulpit of Lexington caused
the first blow to be struck for American Independence,” [50] and
historian James Adams added that “the patriotic preaching of the
Reverend Jonas Clark primed those guns.” [51]
When the British troops left Lexington, they fought at Concord Bridge
and then headed back to Boston, encountering increasing American
resistance on their return. Significantly, many who awaited the British
along the road were local pastors (such as the Rev. Phillips Payson [52]
and the Rev. Benjamin Balch [53]) who had heard of the unprovoked
British attack on the Americans, taken up their own arms, and then
rallied their congregations to meet the returning British. As word of
the attack spread wider, pastors from other areas also responded.
For example, when word reached Vermont, the Rev. David Avery promptly
gathered twenty men and marched toward Boston, recruiting additional
troops along the way, [54] and the Rev. Stephen Farrar of New Hampshire
led 97 of his parishioners to Boston. [55] The ranks of resistance to
the British swelled through the efforts of Christian ministers who “were
far more effective than army recruiters in rounding up
citizen-soldiers.” [56]
Weeks later when the Americans fought the British at Bunker Hill,
American ministers again delved headlong into the fray. For example,
when the Rev. David Grosvenor heard that the battle had commenced, he
left from his pulpit – rifle in hand – and promptly marched to the scene
of action, [57] as did the Rev. Jonathan French. [58]
This pattern was common through the Revolution – as when the Rev.
Thomas Reed marched to the defense of Philadelphia against British
General Howe; [59] the Rev. John Steele led American forces in attacking
the British; [60] the Rev. Isaac Lewis helped lead the resistance to
the British landing at Norwalk, Connecticut; [61] the Rev. Joseph
Willard raised two full companies and then marched with them to battle;
[62] the Rev. James Latta, when many of his parishioners were drafted,
joined with them as a common soldier; [63] and the Rev. William Graham
joined the military as a rifleman in order to encourage others in his
parish to do the same [64]. Furthermore:
Of Rev. John Craighead it is said that “he fought and preached
alternately.” Rev. Dr. Cooper was captain of a military company. Rev.
John Blair Smith, president of Hampden-Sidney College, was captain of a
company that rallied to support the retreating Americans after the
battle of Cowpens. Rev. James Hall commanded a company that armed
against Cornwallis. Rev. William Graham rallied his own neighbors to
dispute the passage of Rockfish Gap with Tarleton and his British
dragoons. [65]
There are many additional examples. No wonder the British dubbed the
patriotic American clergy the “Black Regiment.” [66] But because of
their strong leadership, ministers were often targeted by the British.
As Headley confirms:
[T]here was a class of clergymen and chaplains in the Revolution whom
the British, when they once laid hands on them, treated with the most
barbarous severity. Dreading them for the influence they wielded and
hating them for the obstinacy, courage, and enthusiasm they infused into
the rebels, they violated all the usages of war among civilized nations
in order to inflict punishment upon them. [67]
Among these was the Rev. Naphtali Daggett, President of Yale. When
the British approached New Haven to enter private homes and desecrate
property and belongings, Daggett offered stiff and at times almost
single-handed resistance to the British invasion, standing alone on a
hillside, repeatedly firing his rifle down at the hundreds of British
troops below. Eventually captured, over a period of several hours the
British stabbed and pricked Daggett multiple times with their bayonets.
Local townspeople lobbied the British and eventually secured the release
of the preacher, but Daggett never recovered from those wounds, which
eventually caused his death. [68] When the Rev. James Caldwell offered
similar resistance in New Jersey, the British burned his church and he
and his family were murdered. [69]
The British abused, killed, or imprisoned many other clergymen, [70]
who often suffered harsher treatment and more severe penalties than did
ordinary imprisoned soldiers. [71] But the British targeted not just
ministers but also their churches. As a result, of the nineteen church
buildings in New York City, ten were destroyed by the British, [72] and
most of the churches in Virginia suffered the same fate. [73] This
pattern was repeated throughout many other parts of the country.
Truly, Christian ministers provided courageous leadership throughout
the Revolution, and as briefly noted earlier, they had also been largely
responsible for laying its intellectual foundation. To understand more
of their influence, consider the Rev. John Wise.
As early as 1687, the Rev. Wise was already teaching that “taxation
without representation is tyranny,” [74] the “consent of the governed”
was the foundation of government, [75] and that “every man must be
acknowledged equal to every man.” [76] In 1772 with the Revolution on
the horizon, two of Wise’s works were reprinted by leading patriots and
the Sons of Liberty to refresh America’s understanding of the core
Biblical principles of government. [77] (The first printing sold so fast
that a quick second reprint was quickly issued. [78]) Significantly,
many of the specific points made by Wise in that work subsequently
appeared four years later in the very language of the Declaration of
Independence. As historian Benjamin Morris affirmed in 1864:
[S]ome of the most glittering sentences in the immortal Declaration
of Independence are almost literal quotations from this [1772 reprinted]
essay of John Wise. . . . It was used as a political text-book in the
great struggle for freedom. [79]
And decades later when President Calvin Coolidge delivered a 1926
speech in Philadelphia on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence, he similarly acknowledged:
The thoughts [in the Declaration] can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was writing in 1710. [80]
It was Christian ministers such as John Wise (and scores like him)
who, through their writings and countless sermons (such as their
Election Sermons and other sermons on the Biblical principles of
government) laid the intellectual basis for American Independence.
Christian clergy largely defined America’s unique political theory
and even defended it in military combat, but they were also leaders in
the national legislative councils in order to help implement what they
had conceived and birthed. For example, the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon
was a member of the Continental Congress who served during the
Revolution on the Board of War as well as on over 100 congressional
committees. [81] Other ministers who served in the Continental Congress
included the Revs. Joseph Montgomery, Hugh Williamson, John Zubly, and
more.
Numerous ministers also served in state legislatures – such as the
Rev. Jacob Green of New Jersey, who helped set aside the British
government in that state and was made chairman of the committee that
drafted the state’s original constitution in 1776; [82] the Rev.
Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, who helped draft Pennsylvania’s 1776
constitution; [83] the Rev. Samuel Stillman, who helped draft
Massachusetts’ 1780 constitution; [84] etc.
When hostilities ceased at the end of the Revolution, Christian
ministers led in the movement for a federal constitution. For example,
the Revs. Jeremy Belknap, Samuel Stanhope Smith, John Witherspoon, and
James Manning began pointing out the defects of the Articles of
Confederation, [85] and when the Constitution was finally complete and
submitted to the states for ratification, nearly four dozen clergymen
were elected as ratifying delegates, [86] many of whom played key roles
in securing its adoption in their respective states.
Following the adoption of the new federal Constitution, ministers
were highly active in celebrating its ratification. For example, of the
parade in Philadelphia, signer of the Declaration Benjamin Rush happily
reported:
The clergy formed a very agreeable part of the procession. They
manifested by their attendance their sense of the connection between
religion and good government. They. . . . marched arm in arm with each
other to exemplify the Union. [87]
When the first federal Congress under the new Constitution convened,
several ministers were Members, including the Revs. Frederick Augustus
and John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, Abiel Foster, Benjamin Contee,
Abraham Baldwin, and Paine Wingate.
Ministers were intimately involved in every aspect of introducing,
defining, and securing America’s civil and religious liberties. A 1789
Washington, D. C., newspaper therefore proudly reported:
[O]ur truly patriotic clergy boldly and zealously stepped forth and
bravely stood our distinguished sentinels to watch and warn us against
approaching danger; they wisely saw that our religious and civil
liberties were inseparably connected and therefore warmly excited and
animated the people resolutely to oppose and repel every hostile
invader. . . . [M]ay the virtue, zeal and patriotism of our clergy be
ever particularly remembered. [88]
Incidentally, besides their contributions to government and civil and
religious liberty, the Black Robed Regiment was also largely
responsible for education in America. Ministers, understanding that only
a literate people well versed in the teachings of the Bible could
sustain free and enlightened government, therefore established an
education system that would teach and preserve the religious principles
so indispensable to the civil and religious liberties they forcefully
advocated.
Consequently, in 1635 the Puritans established America’s first public
school, [89] and in 1647 passed America’ first public education law
(“The Old Deluder Satan Act” [90]). And Harvard University was founded
through the direction of Puritan minister John Harvard; [91] Yale was
founded by ten congregational ministers; [92] Princeton by Presbyterian
ministers Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, and Ebenezer Pemberton; [93]
William and Mary by Episcopal minister James Blair; [94] Dartmouth by
Congregational minister Eleazar Wheelock; [95] etc.
This trend of Gospel ministers founding and leading American
educational institutions continued for the next two-and-a-half
centuries, and by 1860, ninety-one percent of all college presidents
were ministers of the Gospel – as were more than a third of all
university faculty members. [96] Of the 246 colleges founded by the
close of that year, only seventeen were not affiliated with some
denomination; [97] and by 1884, eighty-three percent of America’s 370
colleges still remained denominational colleges. [98] As Founding Father
Noah Webster (the “Schoolmaster to America”) affirmed, “to them [the
clergy] is popular education in this country more indebted than to any
other class of men.” [99]
In short, history demonstrates that America’s elective governments,
her educational system, and many other positive aspects of American life
and culture were the product of Biblical-thinking Christian clergy and
leaders. Today, however, as the influence of the clergy has waned, many
of these institutions have come under unprecedented attack and many of
our traditional freedoms have been significantly eroded. It is time for
America’s clergy to understand and reclaim the important position of
influence they have been given. As the Rev. Charles Finney – a leader of
the Second Great Awakening – reminded ministers in his day:
Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If
immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If
there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If
the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible
for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is
responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the
pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of
legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so
corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall
away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my
dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to
our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation. [100]
America once again needs the type of courageous ministers described by Bishop Galloway:
Mighty men they were, of iron nerve and strong hand and unblanched
cheek and heart of flame. God needed not reeds shaken by the wind, not
men clothed in soft raiment [Matthew 11:7-8], but heroes of hardihood
and lofty courage. . . .And such were the sons of the mighty who
responded to the Divine call. [101]
It is time to reinvigorate the Black Robed Regiment!
———————————————————–
[1] Boston Gazette, December 7, 1772, article by “Israelite,” and
Boston Weekly Newsletter, January 11, 1776, article by Peter Oliver,
British official. See also Peter Oliver, Peter Oliver’s Origin &
Progress of the American Rebellion, Douglas Adair and John A. Schutz,
editors (San Marino California: The Huntington Library, 1961), pp. 29,
41-45; Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1962), p. 334; and Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and
the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), pp. 98, 155.
[2] Alpheus Packard, “Nationality,” Bibliotheca Sacra and American
Biblical Repository (London: Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1856), Vol. XIII
p.193, Article VI. See also Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life
and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States
(Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.
[3] Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), p. 170.
[4] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor
(Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. III, p. 476,
“The Earl of Clarendon to William Pym,” January 20, 1766.
[5] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1850), Vol. X, p. 284, to Hezekiah
Niles, February 13, 1818. See also John Adams, The Works of John Adams,
Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1856),
Vol. X, pp. 271-272, letter to William Wirt, January 5, 1818.
[6] “History of Revivals of Religion, From the Settlement of the Country
to the Present Time,” The American Quarterly Register, (Boston: Perkins
and Marvin, 1833) Vol. 5, p. 217. See also Benjamin Franklin Morris,
Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United
States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.
[7] Alpheus Packard, “Nationality,” Bibliotheca Sacra and American
Biblical Repository (London: Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1856), Vol. XIII
p.193, Article VI. See also Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life
and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States
(Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.
[8] Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil
Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs,
1864), pp. 334-335.
[9] Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution
(New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1958), p. 134.
[10] Clinton Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1953), pp. 328-329.
[11] Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth
(Nashville, TN: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), p.
77.
[12] Colonial National Historical Park, “The First Legislative Assembly
at Jamestown, Virginia,” National Park Service (at:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/colo/Jthanout/1stASSLY.html) (accessed on
September 24, 2010).
[13] Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth
(Nashville, TN: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), pp.
1131-114; John Fiske, Civil Government in the United States Considered
with some Reference to Its Origins (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
1890), p. 146.
[14] Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth
(Nashville, TN: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), p.
114.
[15] Old South Leaflets, (Boston: Directors of the Old South Work), p.
372, “Words of John Robinson (1620)”; “John Robinson’s Farewell Letter
to the Pilgrims, July 22, 1620,” Pilgrim Hall Museum, July 22, 1620 (at:
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/RobinsonLetter.htm).
[16] “Plymouth Colony Legal Structure,” Plymouth Colony Archive Project
(at: http://etext.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/ccflaw.html)
(accessed on September 24, 2010). See also Robert Baird, Religion in
America (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1845), p. 51.
[17] “Plymouth Colony Legal Structure,” Plymouth Colony Archive Project
(at: http://etext.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/ccflaw.html)
(accessed on September 24, 2010).
[18] Henry William Elson, History of the United States of America, (New
York: The MacMillan Company, 1904), Ch. IV, pp. 103-111. See also
“Massachusetts Bay,” History of the USA (at:
http://www.usahistory.info/New-England/Massachusetts.html) (accessed on
September 30, 2010).
[19] “Plymouth Colony Legal Structure,” Plymouth Colony Archive Project
(at: http://etext.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/ccflaw.html)
(accessed on September 30, 2010).
[20] George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of
the American Continent (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1858), Vol. I,
p. 416-417; Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American
Commonwealth (Nashville, TN: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal
Church, 1898), pp. 124-125; Old South Leaflets, (Boston: Directors of
the Old South Work), p. 261-280, “The Body of Liberties: The Liberties
of the Massachusetts Colonie in New England, 1641.”
[21] “Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” The Avalon
Project, July 15, 1663 (at:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ri04.asp).
[22] Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American
Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), p. 27 quoting Roger
Williams’ The Bloody Tenet, p. 137, quoted by Isaac Backus, Church
History of New England, I. 62 of 1839.
[23] “Connecticut to 1763,” Connecticut’s Heritage Gateway (at:
http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/ctto1763/overviewctto1763.htm)
(accessed on September 30, 2010).
[24] The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other
Organic Laws, Francis Newton Thorpe, editor (Washington: Government
Printing Office, 1909), Vol. 1, p. 534, “Charter of Connecticut-1662.”
[25] Clinton Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1953), p. 171.
[26] John Fiske, The Beginnings of New England (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1898), pp. 127-128.
[27] Clinton Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic (New York: Harcourt,
Brace and Co., 1953), p. 32. See also, J. M. Mathews, The Bible and
Civil Government, in a Course of Lectures (New York: Robert Carter &
Brothers, 1851), pp. 67-68.
[28] “Province of West New Jersey in America,” Art. I, The Avalon
Project, November 25, 1681 (at:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj08.asp); “The Fundamental
Constitutions for the Province of East New Jersey in America, Anno
Domini 1683,” Art. II-III, The Avalon Project, 1683 (at:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj10.asp). See also “Colonial
America,” United States History (at:
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h591.html) (accessed on September 23,
2010).
[29] Ernest Sutherland Bates, American Faith (New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1940), pp. 186-187.
[30] Ernest Sutherland Bates, American Faith (New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1940), pp. 186-187.
[31] “Charter for the Province of Pennsylvannia-1681,” The Avalon
Project, February 28, 1681 (at:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/pa01.asp).
[32] Noah Webster, Letters of Noah Webster, Harry R. Warfel, editor (New
York: Library Publishers, 1953, p. 455, letter to David McClure,
October 25, 1836.
[33] Daniel Webster, Address Delivered at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1843, on
the Completion of the Monument (Boston: T. R. Marvin, 1843), p. 31.
[34] John Fiske, The Beginnings of New England (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898), pp. 267-272.
[35] John Wise, A Vindication of the Government of New- England Churches (Boston: John Boyles, 1772), p. 45.
[36] “Top Ipswich Patriots by Thomas Franklin Waters & Mrs. Eunice
Whitney Farley Felten,” Lord Family Album, 1927 (at:
http://www.bwlord.com/Ipswich/Waters/TwoPatriots/JohnWise.htm).
[37] John Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors (Boston: Houghton,
Mifflin, and Company, 1901), Vol. II, p. 57, and Vol. I, pp. 306, 311.
[38] Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), s.v. “Samuel Cooper.”
[39] Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American
Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), p. 90; Stephen Mansfield,
Forgotten Founding Father: The Heroic Legacy of George Whitefield
(Cumberland House, 2001), p. 112.
[40] Stephen Mansfield, Forgotten Founding Father: The Heroic Legacy of George Whitefield (Cumberland House, 2001), p. 112.
[41] Alice M. Baldwin, The Clergy of Connecticut in Revolutionary Days (Yale University Press, 1936), p. 30.
[42] Claude H. Van Tyne, The Causes of the War of Independence (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922), p. 362.
[43] John Wingate Thornton, Pulpit of the American Revolution (Boston:
Gould and Lincoln, 1860), pp. 147-148. See also Claude H. Van Tyne, The
Causes of the War of Independence (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1922), p. 362.
[44] George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of
the American Continent (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1858), Vol. V,
p. 193.
[45] B.F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions
of the United States, Developed in the Official and Historical Annals
of the Republic (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 367-368.
[46] Benjamin Lossing, Pictorial Fieldbook of the Revolution (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851), Vol. I, p. 440.
[47] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 34. Only source we can locate is Cole’s.
[48] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), p. 79.
[49] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), pp. 79-82
[50] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Scribner, 1864), p. 82.
[51] James L. Adams, Yankee Doodle Went to Church: The Righteous
Revolution of 1776 (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1989), p.
22.
[52] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[53] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[54] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[55] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[56] James L. Adams, Yankee Doodle Went to Church (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1989), p. 153.
[57] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[58] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[59] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), p. 68.
[60] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New
York: Charles Scribner, 1864), p. 69; Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American
Biography, s.v. “John Steele.”
[61] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), pp. 71-72.
[62] Franklin Cole, They Preached Liberty (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941), p. 36.
[63] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), p. 72.
[64] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Chrarles Scribner, 1864), p. 69.
[65] Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States from the First
Settlement Down to the Present Time (New York: Phillips & Hunt,
1888), p. 265.
[66] Boston Gazette, December 7, 1772, article by “Israelite,” and
Boston Weekly Newsletter, January 11, 1776, article by Peter Oliver,
British official. See also Peter Oliver, Peter Oliver’s Origin &
Progress of the American Rebellion, Douglas Adair and John A. Schutz,
editors (San Marino California: The Huntington Library, 1961), pp. 29,
41-45; Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1962), p. 334; and Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and
the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), pp. 98, 155.
[67] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), p. 58.
[68] William Buell Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit: Trinitarian
Congregation, (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857), p. 482.
[69] B.F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions
of the United States, Developed in the Official and Historical Annals
of the Republic (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864) p. 350.
[70] Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States from the First
Settlement Down to the Present Time (New York: Phillips & Hunt,
1888), p. 265.
[71] J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (New York: Charles Scribner, 1864), p. 58.
[72] Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States from the First
Settlement Down to the Present Time (New York: Phillips & Hunt,
1888), p. 266.
[73] Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States from the First
Settlement Down to the Present Time (New York: Phillips & Hunt,
1888), p. 267.
[74] Linda Stewart, “The Other Cape,” American Heritage (at:
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2001/2/2001_2_50.shtml)
(accessed on September 24, 2010).
[75] Clinton Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1953), p. 219.
[76] “Top Ipswich Patriots by Thomas Franklin Waters & Mrs. Eunice
Whitney Farley Felten,” Lord Family Album, 1927 (at:
http://www.bwlord.com/Ipswich/Waters/TwoPatriots/JohnWise.htm).
[77] “Top Ipswich Patriots by Thomas Franklin Waters & Mrs. Eunice
Whitney Farley Felten,” Lord Family Album, 1927 (at:
http://www.bwlord.com/Ipswich/Waters/TwoPatriots/JohnWise.htm).
[78] Claude H. Van Tyne, The Causes of the War of Independence (Boston
and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922), Vol. I, p. 357.
[79] John Wise, A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches:
and the Churches’ Quarrel Espoused (Boston: Congregational Board of
Publication, 1860), pp. xx-xxi, “Introductory Remarks” by Rev. J. S.
Clark. See also B.F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil
Institutions of the United States, Developed in the Official and
Historical Annals of the Republic (Philadelphia: George W. Childs,
1864), p. 341
[80] Calvin Coolidge, “Speech on the One Hundred and Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” Teaching American
History, July 5, 1926 (at:
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=41).
[81] Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805, Ellis
Sandoz, editor (Indianapolis, Liberty Fund: 1998), Vol. 1, p. 530, from
Sermons 17 on John Witherspoon intro.
[82] B.F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions
of the United States, Developed in the Official and Historical Annals
of the Republic (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), p. 366.
[83] William Warren Sweet, The Story of Religion in America (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1950), p. 182.
[84] Frank Moore, Patriot Preachers of the American Revolution (Boston: Gould and Lincoln: 1860), p. 260.
[85] James Hutchinson Smylie, American Clergymen and the Constitution of
the United States of America (New Jersey: Princeton Theological
Seminary, doctoral dissertation 1958), pp. 127-129, 139, 143.
[86] John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1987), p. 352, n. 15.
[87] Benjamin Rush, Letters of Benjamin Rush, L. H. Butterfield, editor
(Princeton: American Philosophical Society, 1951), Vol. I, p. 474,
letter to Elias Boudinot, “Observations on the Federal Procession in
Philadelphia,” July 9, 1788.
[88] Gazette of the United States (Washington, D.C.: May 9, 1789), p. 1,
quoting from “Extract from “American Essays: The Importance of the
Protestant Religion Politically Considered.”
[89] “About BLS: History,” Boston Latin School (at:
http://www.bls.org/podium/default.aspx?t=113646&rc=0) (accessed on
October 1, 2010)
[90] The Code of 1650, Being a Compilation of the Earliest Laws and
Orders of the General Court of Connecticut (Hartford: Silus Andrus,
1822), pp. 90-92. See alsoChurch of the Holy Trinity v. U. S., 143 U. S.
457, 467 (1892).
[91] Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1888), s.v. “John Harvard.”
[92] Noah Webster, Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education (New Haven: Howe & Spalding, 1823), p. 237.
[93] John Maclean, History of the College of New Jersey, from its Origin
in 1746 to the Commencement of 1854 (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott
& Co., 1877), Vol. I, p. 70.
[94] The History of the College of William and Mary, from its
Foundation, 1660, to 1874 (Richmond, VA: J.W. Randolph & English,
1874), p. 95.
[95] “Dartmouth History,” Dartmouth University (at:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/home/about/history.html) (accessed on October
1, 2010).
[96] Warren A. Nord, Religion & American Education (North Carolina:
The University of North Carolina Press, 1995), p. 84, quoting from James
Tunstead Burtchaell, “The Decline and Fall of the Christian College I,”
First Things, May 1991, p. 24, and George Marsden, The Soul of the
American University (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 11,
and Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth
(Nashville: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), p. 198.
[97] E. P. Cubberley, Public Education in the United States (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1919), p. 204. See also Luther A. Weigle, The
Pageant of America: American Idealism, Ralph Henry Gabriel, editor (Yale
University Press, 1928), Vol. X, p. 315.
[98] Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth
(Nashville: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), pp.
209-210.
[99] Noah Webster, A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and
Moral Subjects (New York: Webster and Clark, 1843), p. 293, from his
“Reply to a Letter of David McClure on the Subject of the Proper Course
of Study in the Girard College, Philadelphia. New Haven, October 25,
1836.”
[100] The Christian Treasury Containing Contributions from Ministers and
Members of Various Evangelical Denominations (Edinburgh: Johnstone,
Hunter and Co., 1877), p. 203.
[101] Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth
(Nashville, TN: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), p.
77.
