The lost world of John Witherspoon : unravelling the Snodgrass affair, 1762 to 1776 / Ronald Lyndsay Crawford ; foreword by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Hope of Craighead KT, PC, FRSE.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crawford, Ronald Lyndsay, author.

Contributor:

Aberdeen University Press.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Statesmen--United States--Biography.

Statesmen.

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

Presbyterian Church.

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

United States.

Witherspoon, John, 1723-1794.

Witherspoon, John.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 389 p.) ill

Place of Publication:

Aberdeen : Aberdeen University Press, 2014.

Summary:

John Witherspoon (1723 - 1794) is remembered today as one of only two Scots among the 56 'signers' of the Declaration of American Independence and the only clergyman to have added his name to the list of founding fathers of the nation that was set to become the United States. On that basis alone, Witherspoon earns his place as an important figure in the early history of the 'Empire of Liberty' - even though he has been described by some American scholars as the 'forgotten Founder.'But Witherspoon had two careers. His American career (as College President at Princeton and an influential politician in the revolutionary and immediate post-revolutionary war period) has understandably tended to overshadow his earlier career in Scotland as a leading light within the Popular (or Evangelical) party in the Church of Scotland at a time when the Kirk was dominated by the Moderates led by such men as William Robertson, Hugh Blair and Alexander 'Jupiter' Carlyle. This study shows that he had few friends among the preponderance of Moderate ministerial colleagues in the Presbytery of Paisley. The ground-breaking research underpinning this book reveals for the first time the full astonishing story of Witherspoon's involvement in an action against him in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, a process that was begun by a lawyer, John Snodgrass, and five others in 1762 and was not determined until 1776, by which time the Paisley minister had long left Scotland for a new life as sixth President of the College of New Jersey. The process would engage the professional skills of some of the most celebrated figures in Scottish advocacy of the period, including George Wallace, Henry Dundas, David Dalrymple, Charles Hay and Andrew Crosbie.

Notes:

Description based on information from the publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-368) and index.

ISBN:

1-85752-130-7

1-85752-015-7

Access Restriction:

Unrestricted online access