A war of religion : dissenters, Anglicans, and the American Revolution / James B. Bell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bell, James B., 1932-

Contributor:

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Studies in modern history (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))

Studies in modern history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity and politics--Church of England.

History.

Anglicans.

Dissenters.

United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Religious aspects.

United States.

Dissenters--United States--History--18th century.

Anglicans--United States--History--18th century.

Dissenters--United States--Biography.

Anglicans--United States--Biography.

Christianity and politics--Church of England--United States--History--18th century.

Christianity and politics.

United States--Politics and government--1775-1783.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxii, 323 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Summary:

A War of Religion examines the impact of the establishment of the first Anglican Church in Boston in 1686, and the strident objections to its presence from leading Congregational ministers. The men decried that the province had an established church, objected to the Book of Common Prayer, and challenged the historic nature of the Episcopal Office. Their complaints were anchored in the rhetoric of the Puritan party in the Church of England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. James Bell argues that Increase Mather's criticisms of the English church were particularly influential in shaping the debates that persisted between Dissenters and Anglicans until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He shows how, after the Stamp Act in 1765, the radical political leaders John Adams and Samuel Adams in Boston, and John Wilkes in London, transformed the controversies from the realm of abstract ecclesiastical argument to the domain of fundamental political issues. The men exploited the disputes for a decade as political dynamite in concert with the contentious topics of taxation, trade, and the quartering of troops; topics which John Adams later recalled as causes of the American Revolution.

Contents:

Part I A Century of Controversies

1 The Seeds of Discord: An English Church Established in Boston 3

2 Discord Enlarged: The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 17

3 A Handmaiden for Episcopacy: John Checkley of Boston 33

4 The English Origins of a Colonial American Controversy 42

5 Noah Hobart Decries Anglican Expansion: Thomas Sherlock Proposes an American Bishop 58

6 Jonathan Mayhew Fears a Bishop and Challenges the Purpose of the S.P.G. 67

7 Pleas for an American Bishop in the 1760s: Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Secker and Thomas Bradbury Chandler 81

8 A Radical Response to a Bishop: John Adams, Samuel Adams, and John Wilkes 91

9 The Controversy over a Bishop in the Colonies outside New England 107

Part II A New Controversy: The Political Sentiments of the Clergymen

10 The Impact of the First Continental Congress and the Local Committees of Safety 123

11 Critics of the Continental Congress and Common Sense: Jonathan Boucher and Charles Inglis 140

12 A Challenge to Radical Politics: Samuel Seabury, Jr., and Thomas Bradbury Chandler 156

13 Quiet and Militant Patriots 170

14 William Knox Seeks to Establish an Ecclesiastical Imperial Policy for the American Church 187

15 The State of the Clergy in 1775 and 1783 195

16 The English Church, a Cause of the American Revolution 211

Appendix I Political Sentiments of Colonial Clergymen of the Church of England during the American Revolutionary War, 1775-83 222

Appendix II A Summary of the Birthplaces, Birth Years, and Colleges Attended by Colonial American Church of England Clergymen, 1775 241.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 294-315) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780230542976

0230542972

OCLC:

213408619