John Witherspoon and the founding of the American republic / Jeffry H. Morrison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morrison, Jeffry H., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Statesmen--United States--Biography.

Statesmen.

Presbyterian Church--United States--Clergy--Biography.

Presbyterian Church.

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

United States.

United States. Declaration of Independence--Signers--Biography.

Witherspoon, John, 1723-1794.

Witherspoon, John.

Witherspoon, John, 1723-1794--Political and social views.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Jeffry H. Morrison offers readers the first comprehensive look at the political thought and career of John Witherspoon-a Scottish Presbyterian minister and one of America's most influential and overlooked founding fathers. Witherspoon was an active member of the Continental Congress and was the only clergyman both to sign the Declaration of Independence and to ratify the federal Constitution. During his tenure as president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, Witherspoon became a mentor to James Madison and influenced many leaders and thinkers of the founding period. He was uniquely positioned at the crossroads of politics, religion, and education during the crucial first decades of the new republic. Morrison locates Witherspoon in the context of early American political thought and charts the various influences on his thinking. This impressive work of scholarship offers a broad treatment of Witherspoon's constitutionalism, including his contributions to the mediating institutions of religion and education, and to political institutions from the colonial through the early federal periods. This book will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in American political history and thought and in the relation of religion to American politics.

Contents:

Forgotten founder

"The public interest of religion" : virtue, religion, and the republic

"Plain common sense" : educating patriots at Princeton

"An animated Son of Liberty" : revolution

"An equal republican constitution" : confederation, union, and nationhood

John Witherspoon and early American political thought

Appendix A. Witherspoon and the debate in Congress on independence, July 1776

Appendix B. Dating the "Sermon delivered at a public thanksgiving after peace," 1782.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-204) and index.

ISBN:

9780268087227

0268087229

9780268086770

026808677X

OCLC:

929155571