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diff --git a/7436-8.txt b/7436-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc7a453 --- /dev/null +++ b/7436-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13981 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Development of Religious Liberty in +Connecticut, by M. Louise Greene, Ph. D. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut + +Author: M. Louise Greene, Ph. D. + +Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7436] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 30, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Maddock, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT + +BY + +M. LOUISE GREENE, PhD. + + +PREFACE + + +The following monograph is the outgrowth of three earlier and shorter +essays. The first, "Church and State in Connecticut to 1818," was +presented to Yale University as a doctor's thesis. The second, a +briefer and more popularly written article, won the Straus prize +offered in 1896 through Brown University by the Hon. Oscar S. Straus. +The third, a paper containing additional matter, was so far approved +by the American Historical Association as to receive honorable mention +in the Justin Winsor prize competition of 1901. + +With such encouragement, it seemed as if the history of the +development of religious liberty in Connecticut might serve a larger +purpose than that of satisfying personal interest alone. In +Connecticut such development was not marked, as so often elsewhere, by +wild disorder, outrageous oppression, tyranny of classes, civil war, +or by any great retrograde movement. Connecticut was more modern in +her progress towards such liberty, and her contribution to advancing +civilization was a pattern of stability, of reasonableness in +government, and of a slow broadening out of the conception of liberty, +as she gradually softened down her restrictions upon religious and +personal freedom. + +And yet, Connecticut is recalled as a part of that New England where +those not Congregationalists, the unorthodox or radical thinkers, +found early and late an uncomfortable atmosphere and restricted +liberties. By a study of her past, I have hoped to contribute to a +fairer judgment of the men and measures of colonial times, and to a +correct estimate of those essentials in religion and morals which +endure from age to age, and which alone, it would seem, must +constitute the basis of that "ultimate union of Christendom" toward +which so many confidently look. The past should teach the present, +and one generation, from dwelling upon the transient beliefs and +opinions of a preceding, may better judge what are the non-essentials +of its own. + +Connecticut's individual experiment in the union of Church and State +is separable neither from the New England setting of her earliest days +nor from the early years of that Congregationalism which the colony +approved and established. Hence, the opening chapters of her story +must treat of events both in old England and in New. And because +religious liberty was finally won by a coalition of men like-minded in +their attitude towards rights of conscience and in their desire for +certain necessary changes and reforms in government, the final +chapters must deal with social and political conditions more than with +those purely religious. It may be pertinent to remark that the passing +of a hundred years since the divorce of Church and State and the +reforms of a century ago have brought to the commonwealth some of the +same deplorable political conditions that the men of the past, the +first Constitutional Reform Party, swept away by the peaceful +revolution of 1818. + +For encouragement, assistance, and suggestions, I am especially +indebted to Professor George B. Adams and Professor Williston Walker +of Yale University, to Professor Charles M. Andrews of Bryn Mawr, to +Dr. William G. Andrews, rector of Christ Church, Guilford, Conn., and +to Professor Lucy M. Salmon of Vassar College. Of numerous libraries, +my largest debt is to that of Yale University. + +M. LOUISE GREENE. + +NEW HAVEN, October 20, 1905. + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I. THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM + +Preparation of the English nation for the two earliest forms of +Congregationalism, Brownism and Barrowism.--Rise of Separatism and +Puritanism.--Non-conformists during Queen Mary's reign.--Revival of +the Reformation movement under Queen Elizabeth.--Development of +Presbyterianism.--Three Cambridge men, Robert Browne, Henry Greenwood, +and Henry Barrowe.--Brownism and Barrowism.--The Puritans under +Elizabeth, her early tolerance and later change of policy.--Arrest of +the Puritan movement by the clash between Episcopal and Presbyterian +forms of polity and the pretensions of the latter.--James the First +and his policy of conformity.--Exile of the Gainsborough and Scrooby +Separatists.--Separatist writings.--General approachment of Puritans +and Separatists in their ideas of church polity.--The Scrooby exiles +in America.--Sympathy of the Separatists of Plymouth Colony with both +the English Established Church and with English Puritans. + +II. THE TRANSPLANTING OF CONGREGATIONALISM + +English Puritans decide to colonize in America.--Friendly relations +between the settlements of Salem and Plymouth.--Salem decides upon the +character of her church organization.--Arrival of Higginson and +Skelton with recruits.--Formation of the Salem church and election of +officers.--Governor Bradford and delegates from Plymouth present.--The +beginning of Congregational polity among the Puritans and the break +with English Episcopacy.--Formation and organization of the New +England churches. + +III. CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND + +Church and State in the four New England colonies.--Early theological +dissensions and disturbances.--Colonial legislation in behalf of +religion.--Development of state authority at the cost of the +independence of the church.--Desire of Massachusetts for a platform of +church discipline.--Practical working of the theory of Church and +State in Connecticut. + +IV. THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM AND THE HALF-WAY COVENANT + +Necessity of a church platform to resist innovations, to answer +English criticism, and to meet changing conditions of colonial +life.--Summary of the Cambridge Platform.--Of the history of +Congregationalism to the year 1648.--Attempt to discipline the +Hartford, Conn., church according to the Platform.--Spread of its +schism.--Petition to the Connecticut General Court for some method of +relief.--The Ministerial Convention or "Synod" of 1657.--Its Half-Way +Covenant.--Attitude of the Connecticut churches towards the +measure.--Pitkin's petition to the General Court of Connecticut for +broader church privileges.--The Court's favorable reply.--Renewed +outbreak of schism in the Hartford and other churches.--Failure in the +calling of a synod of New England churches.--The Connecticut Court +establishes the Congregational Church.--Connecticut's first toleration +act.--Settlement of the Hartford dispute.--The new order and its +important modifications of ecclesiastical polity. + +V. A PERIOD OF TRANSITION + +Drift from religious to secular, and from intercolonial to individual +interests.--Reforming Synod of 1680.--Religious life in the last +quarter of the seventeenth century.--The "Proposals of 1705" in +Massachusetts.--Introduction in Connecticut of the Saybrook System of +Consociated Church government. + +VI. THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM + +The Confession of Faith.--Heads of Agreement.--Fifteen +Articles.--Attitude of the churches towards the Platform.--Formation +of Consociations.--The "Proviso" in the act of establishment.--Neglect +to read the proviso to the Norwich church.--Contention arising.--The +Norwich church as an example of the difficulty of collecting church +rates. + +VII. THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM AND THE TOLERATION ACT + +Toleration in the "Proviso" of the act establishing the Saybrook +Platform.--Reasons for passing the Toleration Act of 1708.--Baptist +dissenters.--Rogerine-Baptists, Rogerine-Quakers or Rogerines, and +their persecution.--Attitude toward the Society of Friends or +Quakers.--Toward the Church of England men or +Episcopalians.--Political events parallel in time with the dissenters' +attempts to secure exemption from the support of the Connecticut +Establishment.--General Ineffectiveness of the Toleration Act. + +VIII. THE FIRST VICTORY FOR DISSENT + +General dissatisfaction with the Toleration Act.--Episcopalians resent +petty persecution.--Their desire for an American +episcopate.--Conversion of Cutler, Rector of Yale College, and +others.--Bishop Gibson's correspondence with Governor Talcott. +--Petition of the Fairfield churchmen.--Law of 1727 exempting +Churchmen.--Persecution growing out of neglect to enforce the +law.--Futile efforts of the Rogerines to obtain exemption.--Charges +against the Colony of Connecticut.--The Winthrop case.--Quakers +attempt to secure exemption from ecclesiastical rates.--Exemption +granted to Quakers and Baptists.--Relative position of the dissenting +and established churches in Connecticut. + +IX. "THE GREAT AWAKENING" + +Minor revivals in Connecticut before 1740.--Low tone of moral and +religious life.--Jonathan Edwards's sermons at Northampton.--Revival +of religious interest and its spread among the people.--The +Rev. George Whitefield.--The Great Awakening.--Its immediate results. + +X. THE GREAT SCHISM + +The Separatist churches.--Old Lights and New.--Opposition to the +revival movement.--Severe colony laws of 1742-43--Illustrations of +oppression of reformed churches, as the North Church of New Haven, the +Separatist Church of Canterbury, and that of Enfield.--Persecution of +individuals, as of Rev. Samuel Finlay, James Davenport, John Owen, +and Benjamin Pomeroy.--Persecution of Moravian missionaries,--The +colony law of 1746, "Concerning who shall vote in Society +meeting."--Change in public opinion.--Summary of the influence of the +Great Awakening and of the great schism. + +XI. THE ABROGATION OF THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM + +Revision of the laws of 1750.--Attitude of the colonial authorities +toward Baptists and Separatists.--Influence on colonial legislation of +the English Committee of Dissenters.--Formation of the Church of Yale +College.--Separatist and Baptist writers in favor of +toleration.--Frothingham's "Articles of Faith and Practice."--Solomon +Paine's "Letter."--John Bolles's "To Worship God in Spirit and in +Truth."--Israel Holly's "A Word in Zion's Behalf."--Frothingham's "Key +to Unlock the Door."--Joseph Brown's "Letter to Infant +Baptizers."--The importance of the colonial newspaper.--Influence of +English non-conformity upon the religious thought of New England.--The +Edwardean School.--Hopkinsinianism and the New Divinity.--The clergy +and the people.--Controversy over the renewed proposal for an American +episcopate.--Movement for consolidation among all religious +bodies.--Influences promoting nationalism and, indirectly, religious +toleration.--Connecticut at the threshold of the +Revolution.--Connecticut clergymen as advocates of civil +liberty.--Greater toleration in religion granted by the laws of +1770.--Development of the idea of democracy in Church and +State.--Exemption of Separatists by the revision of the laws in +1784.--Virtual abrogation of the Saybrook Platform.--Status of +Dissenters. + +XII. CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION + +Expansion of towns.--Revival of commerce and industries.--Schools and +literature.--Newspapers.--Rise of the Anti-Federal party.--Baptist, +Methodist, and Separatist dissatisfaction.--Growth of a broader +conception of toleration within the Consociated churches. + +XIII. CERTIFICATE LAWS AND WESTEKN LAND BILLS + +Opposition to the Establishment from dissenters, Anti-Federalists, and +the dissatisfied within the Federal ranks.--Certificate law of 1791 to +allay dissatisfaction.--Its opposite effect.--A second Certificate law +to replace the former.--Antagonism created by legislation in favor of +Yale College.--Storm of protest against the Western Land bills of +1792-93.--Congregational missions in Western territory.--Baptist +opposition to legislative measures.--The revised Western Land bill as +a basis for Connecticut's public school fund.--Result of the +opposition roused by the Certificate laws and Western Land bills. + +XIV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN CONNECTICUT + +Government according to the charter of 1662.--Party tilt over town +representation.--Anti-Federal grievances against the Council or +Senate, the Judiciary, and other defective parts of the machinery of +government.--Constitutional questions.--Rise of the +Democratic-Republican party.--Influence of the French Revolution.--The +Federal members of the Establishment or "Standing Order," the +champions of religious and political stability.--President Dwight, the +leader of the Standing Order.--Leaders of the +Democratic-Republicans.--Political campaigns of 1804-1806.--Sympathy +for the defeated Republicans.--Politics at the close of the War of +1812. + +XV. DISESTABLISHMENT + +Waning of the power of the Federal party in Connecticut.--Opposition +to the Republican administration during the War of +1812.--Participation in the Hartford Convention.--Economic benefits of +the war.--Attitude of the New England clergy toward the war.--The +Toleration party of 1816.--Act for the Support of Literature and +Religion.--Opposition.--Toleration and Reform Ticket of 1817.--New +Certificate Law.--Constitution and Reform Ticket of 1818.--Its +victory.--The Constitutional Convention.--New Constitution of +1818.--Separation of Church and State. + +APPENDIX + + NOTES + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM + + + The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the + corner.--Psalm cxviii, 22. + +The colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven +were grounded in the system which became known as Congregational, and +later as Congregationalism. At the outset they differed not at all in +creed, and only in some respects in polity, from the great Puritan +body in England, out of which they largely came.[a] + +For more than forty years before their migration to New England there +had been in old England two clearly developed forms of +Congregationalism, Brownism and Barrowism. The term Congregationalism, +with its allied forms Congregational and Congregationalist, would not +then have been employed. They did not come into general use until the +latter half of the seventeenth century, and were at first limited in +usage to defining or referring to the modified church system of New +England. The term "Independent" was preferred to designate the +somewhat similar polity among the nonconformist churches in old +England.[b] Brownism and Barrowism are both included in Dr. Dexter's +comprehensive definition of Congregationalism, using the term "to +designate that system of thought, faith, and practice, which starting +with the dictum that the conditions of church life are revealed in the +Bible, and are thence to be evolved by reverent common-sense, assisted +but never controlled by all other sources of knowledge; interprets +that book as teaching the reality and independent competency of the +local church, and the duty of fraternity and co-working between such +churches; from these two truths symmetrically developing its entire +system of principles, privileges, and obligations." [1] The +"independent competency of the local church" is directly opposed to +any system of episcopal government within the church, and is +diametrically opposed to any control by king, prince, or civil +government. Yet this was one of the pivotal dogmas of Browne and of +the later Separatists; this, a fundamental doctrine which Barrowe +strove to incorporate into a new church system, but into one having +sufficient control over its local units to make it acceptable to a +people who were accustomed to the autonomy and stability of a church +both episcopal and national in character. + +In order to appreciate the changes in church polity and in the +religious temper of the people for which Browne and Barrowe labored, +one must survey the field in which they worked and note such +preparation as it had received before their advent. It is to be +recalled that Henry VIII substituted for submission to the Pope +submission to himself as head of a church essentially Romish in +ritual, teaching, and authority over his subjects. The religious +reformation, as such, came later and by slow evolution through the +gradual awakening of the moral and spiritual perceptions of the +masses. It came very slowly notwithstanding the fact that the first +definite and systematic opposition to the abuses and assumptions of +the clergy had arisen long before Henry's reign. As early as 1382, the +itinerant preachers, sent out by Wyckliff, were complained of by the +clergy and magistrates as teachers of insubordinate and dangerous +doctrines. Thenceforward, outcroppings of dissatisfaction with the +clergy appear from time to time both in English life and +literature. This dissatisfaction was silenced by various acts of +Parliament which were passed to enforce conformity and to punish +heresy. Their character and intent were the same whether the head of +the church wore the papal tiara or the English crown. Two hundred +years after Wyckliff, in 1582, laws were still fulminated against +"divers false and perverse people of certain new sects," for +Protestant England would support but one form of religion as the moral +prop of the state. She regarded all innovations as questionable, or +wholly evil, and their authors as dangerous men. Chief among the +latter was Robert Browne. But before Browne's advent and in the days +of Henry the Eighth, there had been a large, respectable, and steadily +increasing party whose desire was to remain within the English church, +but to purify it from superstitious rites and practices, such as +penances, pilgrimages, forced oblations, and votive offerings. They +wished also to free the ritual from many customs inherited from the +days of Rome's supremacy. It was in this party that the leaven of +Protestantism had been working. Luther and Henry, be it remembered, +had died within a year of each other. Under the feeble rule of Edward +the Sixth, the English reform movement gained rapidly, and, in 1550, +upon the refusal of Bishop Hooper to be consecrated in the usual +Romish vestments, it began to crystallize in two forms, Separatism and +Puritanism.[c] In spite of much opposition, the teachings of Luther, +Calvin, and other Continental reformers took root in England, and +interested men of widely different classes. They stirred to new +activity the scattered and persecuted groups, that, from time to time, +had met in secret in London and elsewhere to read the Scriptures and +to worship with their elected leaders in some simpler form of service +than that prescribed by law. Under Mary's persecution, these +Separatists increased, and with other Protestants swelled the roll of +martyrs. In her severity, the Queen also drove into exile many able +and learned men, who sought shelter in Geneva, Zurich, Basle, and +Frankfort, where they were hospitably entertained. Upon their return, +there was a marked increase in the Calvinistic tone both of preaching +and teaching in the English church and in the university lecture +rooms, especially those of Cambridge. Among the most influential +teachers was Thomas Cartwright,[d] in 1560-1562, Lady Margaret +Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. While having no sympathy with the +nonconformist or Separatist of his day, Cartwright accepted the polity +and creed of Calvin in its severer form. He became junior-dean of +St. John's, major-fellow of Trinity, and a member of the +governing-board. In 1565 he went to Ireland to escape the heated +controversy of the period which centred in the "Vestiarian" +movement. He was recalled in 1569 to his former professorship, and in +September, 1571, was forced out of it because, when controversy +changed from vestments to polity, he took extreme views of church +discipline and repudiated episcopal government.[e] While Cartwright +was very pronounced in his views, his desire at first was that the +changes in church polity should be brought about by the united action +of the Crown and Parliament. Such had been the method of introducing +changes under the three sovereigns, Henry, Mary, and Elizabeth. With +this brief summary of the reform movements among the masses and in the +universities covering the years until Cartwright, through the +influence of the ritualistic church party, was expelled from +Cambridge, and Robert Browne, as a student there, came under the +strong Puritan influence of the university, we pass to a consideration +of Brownism. + +Robert Browne was graduated from Cambridge in 1572, the year after +Cartwright's expulsion. The next three years he taught in London and +"wholly bent himself to search and find out the matters of the church: +as to how it was guided and ordered, and what abuses there were in the +ecclesiastical government then used." [2] When the plague broke out in +London, Browne went to Cambridge. There, he refused to accept the +bishop's license to preach, though urged to do so, because he had come +to consider it as contrary to the authority of the +Scriptures. Nevertheless, he continued preaching until he was silenced +by the prelate. Browne then went to Norwich, preaching there and at +Bury St. Edmunds, both of which had been gathering-places for the +Separatists. At Norwich, he organized a church. Writing of Browne's +labors there in 1580 and 1581, Dr. Dexter says: "Here, following the +track which he had been long elaborating, he thoroughly discovered and +restated the original Congregational way in all its simplicity and +symmetry. And here, by his prompting and under his guidance, was +formed the first church in modern days of which I have any knowledge, +which was intelligently and one might say philosophically +Congregational in its platform and processes; he becoming its pastor." +[3] Persecution followed Browne to Norwich, and in order to escape it +he, in 1581, migrated with his church to Middelburg, in +Zealand. There, for two years, he devoted himself to authorship, +wherein he set forth his teachings. His books and pamphlets, which had +been proscribed in England, were printed in Middelburg and secretly +distributed by his friends and followers at home. But Browne's +temperament was not of the kind to hold and mould men together, while +his doctrine of equality in church government was too strong food for +people who, for generations, had been subservient to a system that +demanded only their obedience. His church soon disintegrated. With but +a remnant of his following, he returned in 1583 by way of Scotland +into England, finding everywhere the strong hand of the government +stretched out in persecution. Three years later, after having been +imprisoned in noisome cells some thirty times within six years, +utterly broken in health, if not weakened also in mind, and never +feeling safe from arrest while in his own land, Browne finally sought +pardon for his offensive teachings and, obtaining it, reentered the +English communion. Though he was given a small parish, he was looked +upon as a renegade, and died in poverty about 1631, at an extreme old +age. He died while the Pilgrim Separatists were still a struggling +colony at Plymouth, repudiating the name of Brownists; before the +colonial churches had embodied in their system most of the +fundamentals of his; and long before the value of his teachings as to +democracy, whether in the church or by extension in the state, had +dawned upon mankind. + +The connecting link between Brownism and Barrowism, whose similarities +and dissimilarities we shall consider together, or rather the +connecting link between Robert Browne and Henry Barrowe, was another +Cambridge student, John Greenwood. He was graduated in 1581, the year +that Browne removed to Middelburg. Greenwood had become so enamored +with Separatist doctrines, that within five years of his graduation he +was deprived of his benefice, in 1586, and sent to prison. While +there, he was visited by his friend, Henry Barrowe, a young London +lawyer, who, through the chance words of a London preacher, had been +converted from a wild, gay life to one devout and godly. During a +visit to Greenwood, Barrowe was arrested and sent to Lambeth Palace +for examination. Upon refusing to take the oath required by the +bishop, Barrowe was remanded to prison to await further +examination. Later, he damaged himself and his cause by an +unnecessarily bitter denunciation of his enemies and by a too dogmatic +assertion of his own principles. Accordingly, he was sent back to +prison, where, together with Greenwood, he awaited trial until March, +1593. Then, upon the distorted testimony of their writings, both men +were sentenced as seditious fellows, worthy of death. Though twice +reprieved at the seemingly last hour, they were hanged together on +April 6, 1593. + +Both Greenwood and Barrowe frequently asserted that they never had +anything to do with Browne. [4] Yet it is probable that it was +Browne's influence which turned Greenwood's puritanical convictions to +Separatist principles. Barrowe had been graduated from Clare Hall, +Cambridge, in 1569-70; Browne, from Corpus Christi in 1572. The two +men, so different in character, probably did not meet in university +days, and certainly not later in London, where one went to a life of +pleasure and the other to teaching and to the study of the +Scriptures. Greenwood, however, had entered Cambridge in 1577-78, and +left it in 1581. Thus he was in college during the two years that +Browne was preaching in and near Cambridge. It is safe to assume that +the young scholar, soon to become a licensed preacher, and overflowing +with the Puritan zeal of his college, might be drawn either through +curiosity or admiration to hear the erratic and almost fanatic +preacher. Later, when Browne's writings were being secretly +distributed in England, both Barrowe and Greenwood had come in contact +with the London congregations to whom Browne had preached. The fact +that many men in England were thinking along the same lines as the +Separatists; that Browne had recanted just as Barrowe and Greenwood +were thrust into prison; and that they both disapproved in some +measure of Browne's teachings, might account for a denial of +discipleship. Browne's influence might even have been unrecognized by +the men themselves. Be that as it may, during their long +imprisonment, both Barrowe and Greenwood, in their teachings, in their +public conferences, and in their writings strove to outline a system +of church government and discipline, which was very similar to and yet +essentially different from Browne's. + +Thus it happened that in the last decade of the sixteenth century two +forms of Congregationalism had developed, Brownism and Barrowism. +Neither Browne nor Barrowe felt any need, as did their later +followers, to demonstrate their doctrinal soundness, because in all +matters of creed they "were in full doctrinal sympathy with the +predominantly Calvinistic views of the English Established Church from +which they had come out." + +"Browne, first of all English writers, set forth the Anabaptist +doctrine that the civil ruler had no control over the spiritual +affairs of the church and that State and Church were separate realms." +[5] In the beginning, Browne's foremost wish was not to establish a +new church system or polity, but to encourage the spiritual life of +the believer. To this end he desired separation from the English +church, which, like all other state churches, included all baptized +persons, not excommunicate, whether faithful or not to their baptismal +or confirmation vows to lead godly lives. [6] Moreover, as Browne did +not believe that the magistrates should have power to coerce men's +consciences, teaching, as he did, that the mingling of church offices +and civil offices was anti-Christian,[7] he was unwilling to wait for +a reformation to be brought about by the changing laws of the +state.[8] He further advocated such equality of power [9] among the +members of the church that in its government a democracy resulted, and +this theory, pushed to a logical conclusion, implied that a democratic +form of civil government was also the best.[f] Browne roughly +draughted a government for the church with pastors, teachers, elders, +deacons, and widows. He insisted, however, that these officers did not +stand between Christ and the ordinary believer, "though they haue the +grace and office of teaching and guiding.... Because eurie one of the +church is made Kinge, and Priest and a Prophet, under Christ, to +vpholde and further the kingdom of God." + +Browne and Barrowe both made the Bible their guide in all matters of +church life. From its text they deduced the definition of a true +church as, "A company of faithful people gathered by the Word unto +Christ and submitting themselves in all things;" of a Christian, as +one who had made a "willing covenant with God, and thereby did live a +godly and Christian life."[10] This covenanting together of Christians +constituted a church. From their interpretation of the New Testament, +Browne and Barrowe held that this covenanting included repentance for +sin, a profession of faith, and a promise of obedience. Moreover, to +their minds, primitive Christianity had insisted upon a public, +personal narration of each covenanter's regenerative experience. From +sacred writ they derived their church organization also.[ll] Their +pastors were for exhorting or "edifying by all comfortable words and +promises in the Scriptures, to work in our hearts the estimate of our +duties with love and zeal thereunto." Their teachers were for teaching +or "delivering the grounds of Religion and meaning of the Scriptures +and confirming the same." Both officers were to administer baptism and +the Lord's supper, or "the Seals of the Covenant." The elders included +both pastors and teachers and also "Ruling Elders," all of whom were +for "oversight, counsel, and redressing things amiss," but the ruling +elders were to give special attention to the public order and +government of the church. According to both Browne and Barrowe, these +officers were to be the mouthpiece of the church in the admission, +censure, dismissal, or readmission of members. They were to prepare +matters to be brought before the church for action. They were also to +adjust matters, when possible, so as to avoid overburdening the church +or its pastor and teacher with trivial business. In matters spiritual, +they were to unite with the pastor and teacher in keeping watch over +the lives of the people, that they be of good character and godly +reputation. + +Browne taught that the church had power which it shared with its +officers as fellow-Christians, but which lifted it above them and +their office. It lay with the church to elect them. It lay with the +church to censure them. Barrowe also maintained that the church was +"above its institutions, above its officers," [12] and that every +officer was responsible to the church and liable to its censure as +well as indebted to it for his election and office. But he further +maintained that the members of the church should render meek and +submissive, faithful and loving obedience to their chosen +elders. Barrowe thus taught that guidance in religious matters should +be left in the hands of those to whom by election it had been +delegated. The elders were to be men of discernment, able to judge +"between cause and cause, plea and plea," to redress evil, and to see +that both the people and their officers[g] did their full duty in +accordance with the laws of God and the ordinances of the +church. Barrowe had seen the confusion and disintegration of Browne's +church, and he planned by thus introducing the Calvinistic theory of +eldership to avoid the pitfalls into which the Brownists had plunged +while practicing their new-found principle of religious +equality. Barrowe hoped by his system to secure the independence of +the local churches and also to avoid the repellent attitude of a +nation that was as yet unprepared to welcome any trend towards +democracy.[h] Having devised this system of compromise, Barrowe made a +futile attempt to interest Cartwright, but the latter regarded the +reformer as too heretical. Yet Cartwright himself, tired of waiting +for the better day when his desired reforms should be brought about +through the operation of Parliamentary laws, was attempting in +Warwickshire and Northamptonshire to test his system of +Presbyterianism. + +To the list of church officers already enumerated, both reformers +added deacons and widows. The deacons were to attend to the church +finances and all temporal cares, and, in their visiting of the sick +and afflicted, they were to be aided by the widows. The latter office, +however, soon fell into disuse, for it was difficult to find women of +satisfactory character, attainments, and physical ability, since, in +order to avoid scandal or censoriousness, those filling the office had +to be of advanced years.[i] + +With respect to the relation of the churches among themselves, Browne +and Barrowe each insisted upon the integral independence and +self-governing powers of the local units. Both approved of the +"sisterly advice" of neighboring churches in matters of mutual +interest. Both held that in matters of great weight, synods, or +councils of all the churches should be summoned; that the delegates to +such bodies should advise and bring the wisdom of their united +experience to questions affecting the welfare of all the churches, and +also, when in consultation upon serious cases, that any one church +should lay before them. Browne insisted that delegates to synods +should be both ministerial and lay, while Barrowe leaned to the +conviction that they should be chosen only from among the church +officers. Both reformers limited the power of synods, maintaining that +they should be consultative and advisory only. [13] Their decisions +were not to be binding upon the churches as were those of the +Presbyterian synods,[j] whose authority both reformers regarded as a +violation of Gospel rule. The church system, outlined by these two +men, became, in time, the organization of the churches of Plymouth, +Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven. The character of their +polity fluctuated, as we shall see, leaning sometimes more to +Barrowism and sometimes, or in some respects, emphasizing the greater +democracy which Browne taught. In England, and because of the pressure +of circumstances among English exiles and colonists, Barrowe's +teachings at first gained the stronger hold and kept it for many +years. Moreover, as Barrowe's almost immediate followers embraced +them, there was no objection to the customary union of church and +state. And furthermore, if only the state would uphold this peculiar +polity, it might even insist upon the payment of contributions, which +both Browne and Barrowe had distinctly stated were to be voluntary and +were to be the only support of their churches. Though Barrowism was +more welcomed, eventually--yet not until long after the colonial +period--Brownism triumphed, and it predominates in the +Congregationalism of to-day. + +The immediate spread of Barrowism was due to the poor Separatists of +London. Doubtless among them were many who in the preceding years had +listened to Browne and had begun to look up to him as their +Luther. While Barrowe and Greenwood were in prison, many of these +Separatists had gone to hear them preach and had studied their +writings. During the autumn of 1592, there had been some relaxation in +the severity exercised toward the prisoners, and Greenwood was allowed +occasionally to be out of jail under bail. He associated himself with +these Separatists, who, according to Dr. Dexter, had organized a +church about five years before, and who at once elected Greenwood to +the office of teacher. Dr. John Brown, writing later than Dr. Dexter, +claims this London church as the parent of English Congregationalism. +To make good the claim, he traces the history of the church by means +of references in Bradford's History, Fox's "Book of Martyrs," and in +recently discovered state papers to its existence as a Separate church +under Elizabeth, when, as early as 1571, its pastor, Richard Fitz, had +died in prison. Dr. Brown believes he can still farther trace its +origin to Queen Mary's reign, when a Mr. Rough, its pastor, suffered +martyrdom, and one Cuthbert Sympson was deacon. [l4] After the death +of Greenwood and Barrowe, this London congregation was sore pressed. +Their pastor, Francis Johnson, having been thrown into prison, they +began to make their way secretly to Amsterdam. There Johnson joined +them in 1597, soon after his release. To this London-Amsterdam church +were gathered Separatist exiles from all parts of England, for +converts were increasing,[k] especially in the rural districts of the +north, notwithstanding the fact that persecution followed hard upon +conversion. + +The policy of Elizabeth during the earlier years of her reign was one +of forbearance towards inoffensive Catholics and of toleration towards +all Protestants. Caring nothing for religion as such, her aim was to +secure peace and to increase the stability of her realm. This she did +by crushing malcontent Catholics, by balancing the factions of +Protestantism, and by holding in check the extremists, whether +High-Churchmen or the ultra-Puritan followers of Cartwright. She had +forced on the contending factions a sort of armed truce and silenced +the violent antagonism of pulpit against pulpit by licensing +preachers. The Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity placed all +ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as well as all legislative power, in the +hands of the state. They outlined a system of church doctrine and +discipline from which no variation was legally +permitted. Notwithstanding the enforced outward conformity, the Bible +was left open to the masses to study, and private discussion and +polemic writing were unrestrained. The main principles of the +Reformation were accepted, even while Elizabeth resisted the sweeping +reforms which the strong Calvinistic faction of the Puritan party +would have made in the ceremonial of the English church. This she did +notwithstanding the fact that about the time Thomas Cartwright, +through the influence of the ritualists under Whitgift, had been +driven from Cambridge, Parliament had refused to bind the clergy to +the Three Articles on Supremacy, on the form of Church government, and +on the power of the Church to ordain rites and ceremonies. Parliament +had even suggested a reform of the liturgy by omitting from it those +ceremonies most obnoxious to the Puritan party.[l] That representative +assembly had but reflected the desire of all moderate statesmen, as +well as of the Puritans. But, in the twelve years between Cartwright's +dismissal from Cambridge and Browne's preaching there without a +license, a great change took place, altering the sentiment of the +nation. All but extremists drew back when Cartwright pushed his +Presbyterian notions to the point of asserting that the only power +which the state rightfully held over religion was to see that the +decrees of the churches were executed and their contemners punished, +or when this reformer still further asserted that the power and +authority of the church was derived from the Gospel and consequently +was above Queen or Parliament. Cartwright claimed for his church an +infallibility and control of its members far above the claims of Rome, +and, tired of waiting for a purification of existing conditions by +legislative acts, he had, as has been said, boldly organized, in +accordance with his system, the clergy of Warwickshire and +Northamptonshire. The local churches were treated as self-governing +units, but were controlled by a series of authoritative Classes and +Synods. Having done this, Cartwright called for the establishment of +Presbyterianism as the national church and for the vigorous +suppression of Episcopacy, Separatism, and all variations from his +standard. As he thus struck at the national church, at the Queen's +supremacy, and, seemingly to many Englishmen, at the very roots of +civil government and security, there was a sudden halt in the reform +movement. The impetus which would have probably brought about all the +changes that the great body of Puritans desired was arrested. Richard +Hooker's "Ecclesiastical Polity" swept the ground from under Thomas +Cartwright's "Admonition to Parliament." Hooker's broad and +philosophic reasoning showed that no one system of church-government +was immutable; that all were temporary; and that not upon any man's +interpretation of Scripture, or upon that of any group of men alone, +could the divine ordering of the world, of the church or of the state, +be based. Such order depended upon moral relations, upon social and +political institutions, and changed with times and nations. + +The death of Mary Queen of Scots crushed the Catholic party, and the +defeat of the Armada left Elizabeth free to turn her attention to the +phases of the Protestant movement in her own realm. While Browne was +preaching in Norwich, the Queen raised Whitgift to the See of +Canterbury. He was the bitter opponent of all nonconformity, and +immediately the persecution both of Separatists and of Puritans became +severe. Elizabeth, sure at last of her throne and of her position as +head of the Protestant cause in Europe, gave her minister a free +hand. She demanded rigid conformity, but wisely forbore to revive many +of the customs which the Puritans had succeeded in rendering +obsolete. Notwithstanding such modifications, the English liturgy had +been so slightly altered that, "Pius the Fifth did see so little +variation in it from the Latin service that had been formerly used in +that Kingdom that he would have ratified it by his authority, if the +Queen would have so received it."[m] Elizabeth now forbade all +preaching, teaching, and catechising in private houses, and refused to +recognize lay or Presbyterian ordination. Ministers who could no +longer accept episcopal ordination, or subscribe to the Thirty-nine +Articles, or approve the Book of Common Prayer and conform to its +liturgy were silenced and deprived of their salaries. In default of +witnesses, charges against them were proved by their own testimony +under oath, whereby they were made to incriminate themselves. The +censorship of the press was made stringent, printing was restricted to +London and to the two universities, and all printers had to be +licensed. Furthermore, all publications, even pamphlets, had to +receive the approval of the Primate or of the Bishop of London. In +addition, the Queen established the Ecclesiastical Commission of +forty-four members, which became a permanent court where all authority +virtually centred in the hands of the archbishops. English law had not +as yet defined the powers and limitations of the Protestant +clergy. Consequently, this Commission assumed almost unlimited powers +and cared little for its own precedents. Its very existence undid a +large part of the work of the Reformation, and the successive +Archbishops of Canterbury, Parker, Whitgift, Bancroft, Abbott, and +Laud, claimed greater and more despotic authority than any papal +primate since the days of Augustine. The Commission passed upon all +opinions or acts which it held to be contrary to the Acts of Supremacy +and Uniformity. It altered or amended the Statutes of Schools and +Colleges; it claimed the right of deprivation of clergy and held them +at its mercy; it passed from decisions upon heresy, schism, or +nonconformity to judgment and sentence upon incest and similar +crimes. It could fine and imprison at will, and employ any measures +for securing information or calling witnesses. The result was that all +nonconformists and all Puritans drew closer together under +trial. Another result was that the Bible was studied more earnestly in +private, and that there was a public eager to read the religious books +and pamphlets published abroad and cautiously circulated in +England. Though the Presbyterians were confined to the nonconformist +clergy and to a comparatively small number among them, they were +rising in importance, and were accorded sympathetic recognition as a +section of the Puritan party. This party, as a whole, continued to +increase its membership. The Separatists also increased, for, as of +old, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church. + +The hope that times would mend when James ascended the throne was soon +abandoned. As he had been trained in Scotch Presbyterianism, the +Presbyterians believed that he would grant them some favor, while the +Puritans looked for some conciliatory measures. Eight hundred Puritan +ministers, a tenth of all the clergy, signed the "Millenary Petition," +asking that the practices which they most abhorred, such as the sign +of the cross in baptism, the use of the surplice, the giving of the +ring at marriage, and the kneeling during the communion service, +should be done away with. The petition was not Presbyterian, but was +strictly Puritan in tone. It asked for no change in the government or +organization of the church. It did ask for a reform in the +ecclesiastical courts, and it demanded provision for the training of +godly ministers. James replied to the petition by promising a +conference of prelates and of Puritan ministers to consider their +demands; but at the conference it was found that he had summpned it +only to air the theological knowledge upon which he so greatly prided +himself. His answer to the petition was that he would have "one +doctrine, one religion, in substance and in ceremony," and of the +remonstrants he added, "I will make them conform or I will harry them +out of the land." The harrying began. The recently organized +Separatist church at Gainsborough-on-Trent endured persecution for +four years, and then emigrated with its pastor, John Smyth, M.A., of +Christ's College, Cambridge. It found refuge in Amsterdam by the side +of the London-Amsterdam church and its pastor, Francis Johnson, who +had been Smyth's tutor in college days. The next year, after more of +the King's harrying, the future colonists of Plymouth, the Separatist +Church of Scrooby, an offshoot of the Gainsborough church, attempted +to flee over seas to Holland. The magistrates would not give them +leave to go, and to emigrate without permission had been counted a +crime since the reign of Richard II. Their first attempt to leave the +country was defeated and their leaders imprisoned. During their second +attempt, after a large number of their men had reached the ship with +many of their household goods, and while their wives and children were +waiting to embark, those on the beach were surprised and arrested, and +their goods confiscated. Public opinion forbade sending helpless women +and children to prison for no other offense than agreeing with and +wishing to join their husbands and fathers. Consequently the +magistrates let their prisoners go, but made no provision for +them. Helpless and destitute, they were taken in and cared for by the +people of the countryside, and sheltered until their men returned. The +latter had suffered shipwreck, because the Dutch captain had attempted +to sail away when he saw the approach of the English officers. When +the church had once more raised sufficient funds for the emigration, +the magistrates gave them a contemptuous permission to depart, "glad +to be rid of them at any price." So, in 1608, they also joined the +English exiles in Amsterdam. The rank injustice and cruelty of their +treatment, together with their patience and forbearance under their +sufferings, drew people's attention to the character and worth of the +pious "pilgrims" and Separatists whom James was constantly driving +forth from England. + +Meanwhile, both in England and on the continent, the Separatists held +fast to the principles of their leaders, of which the cardinal ones +were a church wherein membership was not by birthright, but by +"conversion;" over which magistrates or government should have no +control; in which each congregation constituted an independent unit, +coequal with all others; and with which the state should have nothing +more to do than to see that members respected the decrees of the +church and were obedient to its discipline. + +On the continent, the Separatists elaborated these fundamentals and +developed detailed and systematic expression of them. Such were the +"True Description out of the Word of God of the Visible Church" of the +London-Amsterdam church, put forth in 1589, and in which Barrowe +himself outlined his system; the "True Confession," issued by the same +church about ten years later; "The Points of Difference," some +fourteen in number, in which the London-Amsterdam church set forth +wherein it differed from the English church; and the "Seven Articles," +signed by John Robinson and William Brewster. This last document the +exiled Scrooby church sent from Leyden to the English Council of State +in 1617, with the hope of convincing King James that if allowed to go +to America under the Virginia patent, and to worship there in their +own fashion, they would be desirable colonists and law-abiding +subjects. The "True Confession"[n] sets forth the nature, powers, +order, and officers of the church. It limits the sacraments to the +members, and baptism to their children. It insists upon the wisdom of +churches seeking advice from one another, and of their use of +certificates of membership so as to guard against the admission of +strangers coming from other churches, and possibly of unworthy +character. In the definition of eldership, the "True Confession" +passes out of the haze in which Barrowe's "True Description" left the +conflicting powers of the eldership, and of the church. It plainly +asserts that the elders have the power of guidance and also of +control, should members attempt to censure them or to interfere in +matters beyond their knowledge. This platform also insists that +magistrates should uphold the church which it defines, because it is +the one true church, and that they should oppose all others as +anti-Christian. [15] In the "Points of Difference," stress is again +laid upon the covenant-nature of the church, upon its voluntary +support, upon the right of election of officers, and upon the +abolishment of "Popish Canons, Courts, Classes, Customs or any human +inventions," including the Popish liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer, +and "all Monuments of Idolatry in garments or in other things, and all +Temples, Chapels, etc." Many of the Puritans desired these same +changes. Many favored a polity giving the local churches some degree +of choice in the election of their officers. If the "Points of +Difference" aimed to lay bare the errors of Episcopacy and of +Presbyterianism as well as to demonstrate the superior merits of the +new aspirant for the status of a national church, the "Seven Articles" +[16] aimed to minimize differences in church usage by omitting mention +of them when possible and by emphasizing agreement. The evident +advance along the line of a more authoritative eldership had developed +out of the experience of the first two English churches in +Amsterdam. John Robinson and his followers had held more closely to +Robert Browne's standard of Congregationalism, for Robinson maintained +that the government of the church should be vested in its membership +rather than in its eldership alone. In order to maintain this +principle in greater purity, Robinson withdrew his fold from their +first resting-place in Amsterdam to Leyden. Richard Clyfton, who had +been pastor of the church in Scrooby, remained in Amsterdam, partly +because he felt too old to migrate again, and partly because he leaned +to Francis Johnson's more aristocratic theories of church +government. These divergent views caused trouble in the Amsterdam +churches, and Robinson wished to be far enough away to be out of the +vortex of doctrinal eddies. For eleven years his people lived a +peaceful and exemplary church life in Leyden, and it was chiefly their +longing to rear their children in an English home and under English +influences that made them anxious to emigrate to America. As the years +passed, Robinson sympathized more with the Barrowistic standards of +other churches and came also to regard more leniently the English +Established Church as one having true religion under corrupt forms and +ceremonies, and accordingly one with which he could hold a limited +fellowship. This was a step in the approachment of Separatist and +Puritan, and Robinson was a most influential writer. Of necessity, his +work was largely controversial, but he wrote from the standpoint of +defense, and rarely departed from a broad and kindly spirit. In the +"Seven Articles" Robinson admits the royal supremacy in so far as to +countenance a passive obedience. His teaching had the greatest +influence in shaping the religious life of the first and second +generation of New Englanders. + +The Separatists who remained in England devoted themselves to the +discussion of particular topics rather than to platforms of faith and +discipline. Many of the writers were men who, like the pastors of two +of the exiled churches, were at first ministers in good standing in +the English church; but, later, had allowed their Puritan tendencies +to outrun the bounds of that party and to become convictions that the +Bible commanded their separation from the Establishment as witnesses +to the corruptions it countenanced. Poring over the Bible story, they +had become enamored with the simplicity of the Gospel age. + +From the days of Elizabeth, the English nation became more and more a +people of one book, and that book the Bible. As, deeply dyed with +Calvinism, they read over and over its sacred pages, they became a +serious, sombre, purposeful--and almost fanatic people. The faults and +extravagances of the Puritan party and of the later Commonwealth do +not at this time concern us. It is with their purposefulness, their +determination to make the church a home of vigorous and visible +righteousness, and to preserve their ecclesiastical and civil +liberties from the encroachment of Stuart pretensions, that we have to +do. More and more, as has been said, the Puritan was coming to the +conviction that the best way to reform the church would be to +substitute some restrictive policy for her all-embracing membership, +or, at least, to supplement it by such measures of local church +discipline as should practically exclude the unregenerate and the +immoral. Again, the Church of England could be arraigned as a +politico-ecclesiastical institution, and in the pages of the Bible, +King James's theory of the divine right of kings and bishops found no +support. It was obnoxious alike to Separatist and Puritan, and James's +Puritan subjects had the sympathy of more than three fourths of the +squires and burgesses in the king's first Parliament of 1604, while +the Separatists counted some twenty thousand converts in his +realm. The Puritan opposition was a formidable one to provoke. Yet +"the wisest fool in Christendom" jeered at its clergy and scolded its +representatives in Parliament for daring to warn him, in their reply +to his boasted divine right of kings, that + + Your majesty would be misinformed if any man should deliver that + the Kings of England have any absolute power in themselves either + to alter religion, or to make any laws concerning the same, + otherwise than as in temporal causes, by consent of Parliament. + +It was the extravagant claims for himself and his bishops, coupled +with his lawless overriding of justice and his profligate use of the +national wealth, that undermined the king's throne and prepared the +downfall of the House of Stuart. Notwithstanding the remonstrance of +Parliament, James's insistence upon his divine right, by very force of +reiteration, whether his own or that of the clergy who favored +royalty, won a growing recognition from a conservative people. For +his king as the political head of the nation, the Puritan had all the +Englishman's half-idolatrous reverence, until James's own acts +outraged justice and substituted contempt. + +The self-restraint for which every Separatist, every Puritan, strove, +was characteristic of the great reform party. They asked only for +ecclesiastical betterment, for the reform of the ecclesiastical +courts, for provision for a godly ministry, and for the suppression of +"Popish usages." These requests of the "Millenary Petition" were, +after the Guy Fawkes plot, urged with all the intensity of a people +who, as they looked abroad upon the feeble and warring Protestantism +of Europe, and at home upon the attempt to revive Romanism, believed +themselves the sole hope and savior of the Protestant +cause. Persecution had created a small measure of tolerance throughout +all nonconformist bodies. Fear of the revival of Catholicism, the +renewed attempt to enforce the Three Articles, the dismissal from +their parishes of three hundred Puritan ministers, and the hand and +glove policy of the king and his bishops, welded together the variants +in the Puritan party. The desire for personal righteousness, for +morality in church and state, which had seized upon the masses in the +nation, stood aghast at the profligacy of the king and his courtiers. +Reason seemed to cry aloud for reform, preferably for a reform that +should be free from every trace of the old hypocrisies, but which +should be strong within the old episcopal system which had endured for +centuries and which still kept its hold upon the vast majority of the +people. And to this idea of reform the great Puritan party clung, +until the exactions of the Stuarts, their suppression of both +religious and civil rights, forced upon it a civil war and the +formation of the Commonwealth. As a preliminary training of the men of +the Puritan armies and of the Commonwealth, and for their great +contest, all the years of Bible study, of controversial writing, of +individual suffering, were needed. These brought forth the necessary +moral earnestness, the mental acumen, the enduring strength. These +qualities, though most noticeable in the leaders, were well-nigh +universal traits. Every common soldier felt himself the equal of his +officer as a soldier of God, a defender of the faith, and a necessary +builder of Christ's new kingdom upon earth. To this growing sense of +democracy, to this sense of personal responsibility and +self-sacrifice, the teaching, the writings, and the sufferings of the +oppressed Separatists, as well as those of the persecuted Puritans, +had contributed. + +When, in 1620, James I permitted the Pilgrims of Leyden to emigrate, +they planted in Plymouth of New England the first American +Congregational church and erected there the first American +commonwealth. The influence of this Separatist church upon New England +religious life belongs to another chapter. Here it is only necessary +to repeat that its members differed not at all in creed, only in +polity, from the English established church out of which they had +originally come. With the English Puritan they were one in faith, +while they differed little from him in theories of church government, +though much in practice. In America, the Plymouth colonists at once +set up the same church polity as in Leyden, one from which, as has +been shown, many of the English Puritans would have borrowed the +features of a converted or covenant membership and of local +self-government, or at least some measure of it. Eight years were to +elapse before the great Puritan exodus began. In those eight years +both parties, through the discipline of time, were to be brought still +nearer to a common standard of church life. When the vanguard of the +Puritans reached the Massachusetts shore, the Plymouth church stood +ready to extend the right hand of fellowship. How it did so, and how +it impressed itself upon the church life in the three colonies of +Massachusetts, New Haven, and Connecticut, is a part of the story of +the earliest period of colonial Congregationalism. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] "Our pious Ancestors transported themselves with regard unto +Church Order and Discipline, not with respect to the Fundamentals in +Doctrine."--Richard Mather, _Attestation to the Ratio +Disciplina_, p. 10. + +"The issue on which the Pilgrims and Puritans alike left sweet fields +and comfortable homes and settled ways of the land of their birth for +this raw wilderness, was primarily an issue of politics rather than of +the substance of religious life."--G. L. Walker, _Some Aspects of +Religious Life in New England_, p. 19. + +[b] "After the 17th century 'Independent' was chiefly used in England, +while 'Congregational' was decidedly preferred in New England, where +the 'consociation' of the churches formed a more important feature of +the system." "Congregational" first appeared in manuscript in 1639, in +print in 1642. "Congregationalist" appeared in 1692, and +"Congregationalism," not until 1716.--J. Murray, _A New English +Dict. on Hist. Principles._ + +[c] Separatism is commonly said to date from the year 1554. About +1564, the other branch of the reform party was nicknamed +"Puritan."--G. L. Walker, _History of the First Church in +Hartford_, p. 6. + +[d] Another noted preacher who left an indelible impression upon +several early New England ministers was William Perkins, who was in +discourse "strenuous, searching, and ultra-Calvinistic." He was a +Cambridge man, filling the positions of Professor of Divinity, Master +of Trinity, and Chancellor of the University.--G. L. Walker, _Some +Aspects of the Religious Life in New England_, p. 14. + +[e] Cartwright in 1574, the year of its publication, translated +Travers's _Ecclesiasticae Disciplinae et Anglicanae Ecclesiae ab +illa Aberrationis, plena e verbo Dei & dilucida Explicatio_, and +made it the basis of a practical attempt to introduce the Presbyterian +system into England. More than five hundred of the clergy seconded his +attempt, subscribing to the principles that (1) there can be only one +right form of church government, but one church order and one form of +church, namely, that described in the Scriptures; (2) that every local +church should have a presbytery of elders to direct its affairs; and +(3) that every church should obey the combined opinion of all the +churches in fellowship with it. In this declaration lay a blow at the +Queen's supremacy.--H. M. Dexter, _Congregationalism as seen in +Lit_. p. 55. + +[f] "Browne's polity was essentially, though unintentionally, +democratic, and that gives it a closer resemblance in some features to +the purely democratic Congregationalism of the present century, than +to the more aristocratic, one might almost say semi-Presbyterianized, +Congregationalism of Barrowe and the founders of New England. His +picture of the covenant relation of men in the church, under the +immediate sovereignty of God, he extended to the state; and it led him +as directly, and probably as unintentionally, to democracy in the one +field as in the other. His theory implied that all governors should +rule by the will of the governed, and made the basis of the state on +its human side essentially a compact."--W. Walker, _Creeds and +Platforms_, pp. 15, 16. See also H. M. Dexter, _Congregationalism +as seen in Lit_., pp. 96-107; 235-39; 351; R. Browne, _Book which +Sheweth, Def_., 51. + +[g] Barrowe wrote, "Though there be communion in the Church, yet is +there no equality." This is in strong contrast to Browne's, "Every one +of the church is made King and Priest and Prophet under Christ to +uphold and further the kingdom of God." Barrowe continues, "The Church +of Christ is to obey and submit unto her leaders.... The Church +knoweth how to give reverence unto her leaders." In his _True +Description_ there is a hazy attempt to define how far the +membership of the church may judge its elders. This authority of the +elders was defined more clearly and elaborated by Barrowe's followers +in their _True Confession_, published in Amsterdam in +1596-98.--H. Barrowe, _A True Description; Discovery of False +Churches_, p. 188; _A Plain Refutation of Mr. Gifford_, p. 129 +(ed. of 1605). + +[h] "Traces of this (Barrowe's) innovation on apostolic +Congregationalism have been aptly characterized as a Presbyterian +heart within a Congregational body, and are seen long after the +denomination grew to be a power in New England."--A. E. Dunning, +_Congregationalists in America_, p. 61. + +[i] Barrowe says, "over sixty." + +[j] The first English Presbytery was organized in 1572. Among its +organizers, there was the seeming determination to treat the Episcopal +system as a mere legal appendage.--F. J. Powicke, _Henry +Barrowe_, p. 139. + +[k] At the height of its prosperity this church contained about three +hundred communicants, with representatives from twenty-nine English +counties. Among them was one John Bolton, who had been a member of +Mr. Fitz's church in 1571. At the beginning of James the First's +reign, 1603, Separatist converts numbered 20,000 souls in England. + +[l] "The wish for a reform in the Liturgy, the dislike of +superstitious usages, of the use of the surplice, the sign of the +cross in baptism, the gift of the ring in marriage, the posture of +kneeling at the Lord's Supper, was shared by a large number of the +clergy and laity alike. At the opening of Elizabeth's reign almost all +the higher churchmen but Parker were opposed to them, and a motion for +their abolition in Convocation was lost but by a single +vote."--J. R. Green, _Short History of the English People_, +p. 459. + +[m] John Davenport, in his _Answer to the Letter of Many Ministers +in Old England_, p. 3. + +[n] Its full title is "A True Confession of the Faith and Humble +Acknowledgement of the Allegeance which wee his Majestes Subjects +falsely called Brownists, doo hould towards God and yeild his Majestie +and all others that are over us in the Lord." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE TRANSPLANTING OF CONGREGATIONALISM + + + Those who cross the sea change not their affection but their + skies.--Horace. + +The rule of absolutism forced the transplanting of a democratic +church. The arrogance of the House of Stuart compelled English +Puritans to seek refuge in America. The exercise of the divine right +of kings and of the divine power of bishops provoked the commonwealths +of New England and the development there of the Congregational church, +as later it brought the Commonwealth of Cromwell, with its tolerance +of Independent and Presbyterian. + +When the Pilgrims left England, the Puritans had entered upon their +long contest with James over their ecclesiastical and also their +constitutional rights. At his accession, the king had seemed inclined +to tolerate the Catholics. Yet only a short time elapsed before many +Romanists were found upon the proscribed lists. The Guy Fawkes plot +followed. Its scope, its narrow margin of failure, coupled with the +king's previous leniency towards Catholics and his bitter persecution +of nonconformists, created a frenzy of fear among +Protestants. Immediately the Puritans saw in every objectionable +ceremonial of the English church some hidden purpose, some Jesuitical +contrivance for overthrowing Protestantism. And as the ritualistic +clergy made their pulpits resound with the doctrines of the divine +right of kings, the divine right of bishops, and of passive obedience, +and as they thundered at the preachers who opposed or denied these +principles, the high-church party came to be associated more and more +with the unconstitutional policy of the king. And this was so, +notwithstanding the praiseworthy efforts of Archbishop Abbott to +modify the practical working of these royal notions. This archbishop +of Canterbury was a man of great learning and of gentle spirit. His +name stands second among the translators of King James's version, +while as head of the Ecclesiastical Commission his power was great, +his influence far reaching. So earnestly did he strive to moderate the +king's severity toward nonconformists, to bring about a compromise +between the two great church parties, and so simple was the ritual in +his palace at Lambeth, that many people believed the kindly prelate +was more than half a Puritan at heart. He even refused to license the +publication of a sermon that most unduly exalted the king's +prerogative, and he forbade the reading of James's proclamation +permitting games and sports on Sunday. This proclamation was the +famous "Book of Sports," and many Puritan clergymen paid dearly for +refusing to read it to their congregations. Its issue exasperated and +discouraged the reform party, and, from this time, the Puritans began +to lose hope that any moral or religious betterment would be permitted +among the people. + +In the constitutional imbroglio, James resented the attempt of +Parliament to curb his extravagance by its method of granting him +money on condition that he would make ecclesiastical reforms and grant +the redress of other grievances. When the king grew angry and +attempted to rule without a Parliament, the Puritan party broadened +its purpose and became the champion also of civil liberty. Among his +offenses, James refused to restore to their pulpits three hundred +Puritan ministers whom, in 1605, he silenced for not accepting the +Three Articles, notwithstanding the fact that Parliament itself had +refused to make them binding upon the clergy. The king also refused to +define the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, and to respect +the limitation of the powers of the High Court of Commission when they +were determined by the judges. And further, James positively refused +to admit that with Parliament alone rested the power to levy imposts +and duties. After wrangling with his first Parliament for seven years +over these and similar questions, the king ruled for the next three +without that representative body. Finding it necessary, in 1614, to +convene his lords, squires, and burgesses, the king was disappointed +to find that the new Parliament was no more pliable to his will than +its predecessor had been, and he shortly dissolved it. The great +leaders of the opposition, such as Coke, Eliot, Pym, Selden and +Hampden, were not all Puritans, but these men, and others of their +kind, joined with the reform party in demanding that the rights of the +people should be respected and the evils of government +redressed. James's whole reign was marked by quarrels with a stubborn +Parliament and by periods of absolute rule that were characterized by +forced loans and other unlawful extortions. + +Upon the death of James, in 1625, the nation turned hopefully to the +young prince, who thus far had pleased them in many ways. In contrast +to the ungainly, rickety, garrulous James, Charles was kingly in +appearance, bearing, and demeanor. He was reserved in speech and +manner. So far, the stubbornness which he had inherited from his +father was mistaken for a strong will, and his attitude towards Spain, +after the failure of the Catholic marriage which had been arranged for +him, was regarded as indicating his strong Protestantism. It took but +a short time, however, to reveal his stubbornness, his vanity, pique, +extravagance, and insincerity. Within four years, he had dissolved +Parliament three times, had sent Sir John Eliot to the Tower for +boldly defending the rights of the people, had dismissed the Chief +Justice from office for refusing to recognize as legal taxes laid +without consent of Parliament, had thrown John Hampden into prison for +refusing to pay a forced loan, and, finally, had signed the "Petition +of Rights" [17] in 1628, only to violate it almost as soon as the +contemporary bill for subsidies had been passed. Charles, finding he +could not coerce Parliament, dissolved it, and entered upon his twelve +years of absolute rule, marked by imprisonments, by arbitrary fines, +forced loans, sales of monopolies, and illegal taxes, which raised the +annual revenue from £500,000 to £800,000. [18] + +It was during the first years of Charles's misrule--to be specific, +in 1627--that "some friends being together in Lincolnshire fell into +discourse about New England and the planting of the Gospel there." +Among them were, probably, Thomas Dudley (who mentions the discussion +in a letter to the Countess of Lincoln), Atherton Hough, Thomas +Leverett, and possibly also John Cotton and Roger Williams, for all +these men were wont to assemble at Tattersall Castle, the family seat +of Lord Lincoln. The latter was, in religious matters, a staunch +Puritan, and in political, a fearless opponent of forced loans and +illegal measures. Thomas Dudley was his steward and confidential +adviser, and the others were his personal friends and, in politics, +his loyal followers. These men, afterwards prominent in New England, +had watched with interest the fortunes of the Plymouth Colony, and now +concluded that since England lay helpless in the grasp of Charles the +time had come to prepare somewhere in the American wilderness a refuge +and home for oppressed Englishmen and persecuted Puritans. This +little group of men began at once to correspond with others in London +and also in the west of England who were like-minded with +themselves. Men of the west, in and about Dorchester, had for some +four years or more been interested in the New England fisheries +between the Kennebec and Cape Ann. On that promontory they had landed +some fourteen men, hoping to start a permanent settlement. The plan +had failed, the partnership had been dissolved, and a few of the +settlers had removed to Salem, Massachusetts. The Rev. John White, +the Puritan rector of Salem, England, saw a great opportunity. He at +once interested some wealthy merchants to make Salem, in +Massachusetts, the first post in a colonization scheme of great +magnitude, and as leader of an advance party they secured John +Endicott. From the council for New England the company secured a +patent on March 19, 1628, for the lands between the Merrimac and the +Charles rivers. On June 20, 1628, thirteen days after Charles had +signed the "Petition of Rights" that he was so soon to violate, the +advance guard of the colonists set sail for Salem, in the New World, +arriving there early in the following September. + +In America, friendly relations were soon established between the +settlers of Salem and Plymouth. On the voyage over, sickness, due to +the unwholesome salt in which some of their provisions had been +packed, broke out among the Salem colonists, and continuing in the +settlement, forced Endicott to send to Plymouth for Dr. Samuel +Fuller, deacon in the church there. He was skilled both in medicine +and in church-lore, for he had also been one of the two deacons in the +church during its Leyden days. He worked among the disabled at Salem, +and, later, among the sick colonists at Boston, paving the way for a +better understanding and closer friendship with the Plymouth +settlers. There had been a tendency to look upon these earlier +colonists as extremists. Their enemies in derision called them +"Brownists." They did in truth cling most firmly to Browne's doctrine +that the civil magistrate had no control over the church of Christ. In +their opinion, the function of the civil power in any union of church +and state was limited to upholding the spiritual power by approving +the church's discipline, since that had for its object the moral +welfare of the people. As Endicott and Fuller talked together of all +that in their hearts they both desired for the church of the future, +they realized that they agreed on many points. The Plymouth church +had been virtually under the sole rule of its elder, William Brewster, +during the greater part of its life in America, for its aged pastor +had died before he could rejoin his flock. Such government had tended +to modify the early insistence upon the principle that the power of +the church was "above that of its officers." This doctrine was +associated in men's minds more with Robert Browne, who had originated +it, than with Henry Barrowe, who had modified it, and it was towards +Barrowism that the larger body of Puritans were drawn. + +The Salem people, in their isolation three thousand miles from the +home-land, felt the necessity of some form of church organization. As +they had fled from the offensive ceremonial of the English Church, +they determined to be free from cross and prayer-book, and from +anything suggestive of offense. In the great matter of membership and +constitution, their new church was to be brought still nearer to the +requirements and simplicity of Gospel standards. More and more +Puritans were coming to prefer the church of "covenant membership" to +the birthright membership of the English Establishment. Many were +urging a limited independence in the organization, management, and +discipline of members of local churches. Some among the Puritans had +adopted the Presbyterian polity, while many preferred that form of +ordination. Such ordination had been accepted as valid for English +clergymen during the earlier part of Elizabeth's reign. It was still +so recognized by all the English clergy for the ministers of the +Reformed churches on the Continent, and with such, English clergymen +of all opinions still continued to hold very friendly intercourse. It +was not until Laud's ascendency that claims for the divine right of +Episcopacy, to the exclusion of other branches of the Christian faith, +were strenuously urged. Thus it happened that after many conferences, +Endicott could write to Governor Bradford in May of 1629, that:-- + + I acknowledge myself much bound to you for your kind love and care + in sending Mr. Samuel Fuller among us, and rejoice much that I am + by him satisfied touching your judgment of the outward form of + God's worship. It is, as far as I can gather, no other than is + warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have ever + professed and maintained ever since the Lord in mercy revealed + Himself unto me: being far from the common report that hath been + spread of you touching that particular. + +Endicott further expresses the wish that they may all "as Christian +brethren be united by a heavenly and unfeigned love;" that as servants +of one Master and of one household they should not be strangers, but +be "marked with one and the same mark, and sealed with one and the +same seal, and have, for the main, one and the same heart guided by +one and the same Spirit of truth," and that they should bend their +hearts and forces to the furthering of the work for which they had +come into the wilderness. Thus, Salem had decided upon the type of +church her people wanted, while she still waited for the ministers who +were coming with the larger number of her colonists, and whom she +believed competent to guide her religious life. + +Only a few weeks after the sending of Endicott's letter to Governor +Bradford, five vessels arrived, bringing several hundred well-equipped +colonists. They had been sent out by the Governor and Company of +Massachusetts Bay. This corporation had bought out the Salem Company, +and was backed by the most influential Puritans of wealth and social +prominence, by men who had lost all hope of either religious or civil +freedom when Laud had been raised to the bishopric of London and when +Charles persisted in his despotic government. By the elevation of Laud +to the bishopric of London, Charles offended the most puritanically +inclined diocese in England, and the whole Puritan party. In his new +office, Laud quickly succeeded in severing communication between the +Reformed churches on the Continent and those in England. He strictly +prohibited the common people from using the annotated pocket-Bibles +sent out by the Genevan press. He forbade the entrance into office of +nonconformists as lecturers or chaplains. He put an end to feofments, +so that puritanically inclined men of wealth could no longer control +the livings. He excluded suspended ministers from teaching, and also +from the practice of medicine, and even forbade their entering +business life. He required absolute conformity to his own high-church +standards. He insisted upon doing away with all Calvinistic +innovations tending to simplicity of ritual, and upon reviving many +ecclesiastical ceremonies which had fallen into disuse. Hence, English +Puritans saw in America the only hope of the future, and began that +exodus which, during the next ten years, or more, annually sent two +thousand emigrants to the Massachusetts shore to find homes throughout +New England. Of these, the Salem colonists were the first large body +of Puritans to emigrate. Among them were three ministers, Endicott's +former pastor Samuel Skelton, Francis Higginson, and Francis Bright. + +When Higginson and Skelton learned of the friendship with Plymouth, +and that Endicott had adopted the system of church organization +established in the older settlement, they accepted it as being in +accord with the principles of the Reformed churches on the Continent, +whose pattern they had themselves resolved to follow in organizing the +church at Salem. Not so Francis Bright. He could not agree with the +others, and so withdrew to Charlestown in order not to embarrass the +young church. Higginson and Skelton were each, in turn questioned as +to their conception of a minister's calling. Replying that it was +twofold: a call from within to a conviction that a man was chosen of +God to be His minister, and thereby endowed with proper gifts, and a +call from without by the free choice of a "covenanted church" to be +its pastor, they were accepted as satisfactory candidates for the two +highest offices in the Salem church. Later, upon an appointed day of +prayer and fasting, July 20, 1629, the people by written ballot chose +Francis Skelton to be their pastor and Thomas Higginson their +teacher. When they had accepted their election, "first Mr. Higginson, +with three or four of the gravest members of the church, laid their +hands upon Mr. Skelton, using prayer therewith. This being done, there +was imposition of hands upon Mr. Higginson also." Upon a still later +day of prayer and humiliation, August 6, elders and deacons were +chosen and ordained. Upon this day, the two ministers and many among +the people gave their assent to the Confession and Covenant which the +pastor and teacher had revised. At the second of these two important +meetings, Governor Bradford and delegates from the Plymouth church +were present. "Coming by sea they were hindered by cross-winds that +they could not be there at the beginning of the day; but they came +into the assembly afterward, and gave them the right hand of +fellowship, wishing all prosperity and all blessedness to such good +beginnings." [19] The Salem covenant in its original form was a single +sentence: "We covenant with the Lord and with one another; and doe +bynd ourselves in the presence of God to walk together in all his +wayes, according as he is pleased to reveale him' self unto us in his +Blessed word of truth." [20] + +The formation of the church of Salem by covenant practice[a] marked +the beginning of the Congregational polity among the Puritan body; +their local ordination of their minister, the break with English +Episcopacy, though, for a considerable while longer, the colonists +still spoke of themselves as members of the Church of England, for +both the colonial and the home authorities were equally anxious to +avoid the stigma of Separatism. + +The next large body of colonists to leave England was Governor +Winthrop's company, and, upon their arrival, the Boston church quickly +followed the example of Salem. Next, the Dorchester church, afterwards +the church of Windsor, Connecticut, emigrated as a body from Plymouth, +England, where, before embarking, its members seem to have taken some +form of membership pledge,--an unusual proceeding, but operating to +put this church in line with those already organized in Plymouth and +Massachusetts. The Watertown church, whence emigrants were to settle +Wethersfield, Connecticut, also organized with a covenant similar to +that of Salem and Boston. These four oldest congregations set the type +for the thirty-five New England churches that were founded previous to +1640, as well as for the later ones that followed the standard thus +early set up by Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. There was +some variation in the form of covenant,[b] and to it a brief +confession of faith, or creed, was early added. There was some +variation also in the interpretation of the laying on of hands in +ordination as to whether it was to be considered, in cases where the +candidate had previously been ordained in England, as ordination or as +confirmation of that previously received.[c] In regard to officers, +the churches at first provided themselves with pastor, ruling elders +(one or two, but generally only one), and deacons. There were +exceptions among them, as at Plymouth, where there was no pastor for +ten years, and in which there had never been a teacher, for John +Robinson had filled both offices. As the first generation of colonists +passed away, partly because of lack of fit candidates, partly because +of the kinship of the two offices of pastor and teacher, and partly +because of the heavy expense in supporting both, the office of teacher +was dropped. The ruling eldership also was gradually discontinued; but +at first the churches generally had, with the exception of widows, the +full complement of officers as appointed by Browne and Barrowe. The +usual order of worship was (1) Prayer. (2) Psalm. (3) Scripture +reading, followed by the pastor's preaching to explain and apply +it. (4) Prophesying or exhortation, the elders calling for speakers, +whether members or guests from other churches. (5) Questions from old +or young, women excepted. (6) Occasional administration of the Lord's +Supper or of Baptism, rites known as the administration of "the Seals +of the Covenant." (7) Psalm. (8) Collection. (9) Dismissal with +blessing. Such were the New England churches, the churches of a +transplanted creed and race. They were Calvinistic in dogma, +democratic in organization, and of extreme simplicity in their order +of worship. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] This fundamental principle of Congregationalism belonged to the +Separatists and was one of their distinctive tenets. It was never +adopted by the English Puritans as a body, nor was ordination by a +local church. The Dorchester church had some form of pledge at the +time of its organization. So also, possibly, because influenced by +Dutch example, did Rev. Hugh Peter's church in Rotterdam. But these +were exceptions.--W. Walker, _Hist, of Cong._, p. 192. + +[b] The evolution of the Salem covenant and creed is given in detail +in W. Walker's _Creeds and Platforms_, pp. 99-122. + +The Windsor Creed of 1647, though not covering the range of Christian +doctrine, contained in simple phrase the essentials of Gospel +redemption from sin through repentance and faith in the atoning work +of Christ and a life of love toward God and our neighbor, through the +strength which comes from him.--W. Walker, _Creeds and +Platforms_, p. 154. + +[c] The evolution of the Salem covenant and creed is given in detail +in W. Walker's _Creeds and Platforms_, pp. 99-122. + +The Windsor Creed of 1647, though not covering the range of Christian +doctrine, contained in simple phrase the essentials of Gospel +redemption from sin through repentance and faith in the atoning work +of Christ and a life of love toward God and our neighbor, through the +strength which comes from him.--W. Walker, _Creeds and +Platforms_, p. 154. + + + +CHAPTER III + +CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND + + + For God and the Church! + +With the great Puritan body in England, and with the great mass of the +English nation, whatever their religious opinions, the colonists of +Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven held in common one +foremost theory of civil government. Pausing for a brief consideration +of this fundamental and far-reaching theory, which created so many +difficulties in the infant commonwealths, and which confronts us again +and again as we follow their later history, we find that the Pilgrim +Separatist of Plymouth, the strict Puritan of Massachusetts, the voter +in the theocratic commonwealth of New Haven, and the holder of the +liberal franchise in Connecticut, all clung to the proposition that +the State's first duty was the maintenance and support of religion. +Thereby they meant enforced taxation for the support of its +predominant type, conformity to its mode of worship, and in the last +analysis supervision or control of the Church by the State or by the +General Court of each colony. As a corollary to this proposition, the +duty of the churches was to define the creed, to set forth the church +polity, and to determine the bounds of morality within the state. Two +of the colonies held the corollary to be so important that it almost +changed places with the proposition when Massachusetts and New Haven +became rigid theocracies.[a] + +With respect to taxation in the four colonies the statement should be +modified, inasmuch as the support of religion was at first voluntary +in all four: in Plymouth until 1657, in Massachusetts from 1630 to +1638, in Connecticut before 1640; yet both New Haven and Connecticut +accepted the suggestion made by the Commissioners of the United +Colonies on September 5, 1644, "that each man should be required to +set down what he would voluntarily give for the support of the gospel, +and that any man who refused should be rated according to his +possessions and compelled to pay" the sum so levied. Since in +religious affairs strict conformity was required by the three Puritan +colonies, and since the liberty accorded to the few early dissenters +in Plymouth was not such as to modify her prevailing polity or +worship, these first few years of voluntary assessment do not nullify +the dominant truth of the preceding statement. + +In the intimate relation of Church and State, the people of these four +New England colonies regarded the magistrates as "Nursing Fathers" of +the Church, [2l] who were to take "special note and care of every +Church and provide and assign allotments of land for the maintenance +of each of them." [22] The State, accepting the same view of +caretaker, carried its supervision still farther and devised a system +for the maintenance of the ministry in accordance with sundry laws +made to insure the people's support, respect, and obedience. The +churches reciprocated. First of all, they provided their members with +the approved and accepted essentials of religious life, and they +further exercised a rigorous supervision over the moral welfare of the +whole community. Secondly, they aided the State through the influence +of their ministers, who, on all important occasions, were expected to +meet with the magistrates to consult and advise upon affairs whether +spiritual or temporal. But the framers of governments were not +satisfied with these measures that aimed to present a strongly +established church, capable of extending a fine moral, ethical, and +religious influence over the colonists, and also to enforce upon the +wayward, the careless, or the indifferent among them its support and +their obedience. If these measures provided for the ordinary welfare +of the community and for the usual relations b between the ministers +and their people, there were still possibilities of factional strife +to guard against, and such warfare in that age might or might not +confine itself within the limits of theological controversy or within +the lines of church organization. Consequently, the better to preserve +the churches from schism or corrupting innovations and the +commonwealth from discord, the supreme control of the churches was +lodged in the General Court of each colony. It could, whenever +necessary to secure harmony, whether ecclesiastical or civil, +legislate with reference to all or any of the churches within its +jurisdiction. Examples of such legislation occur frequently in the +religious history of the colonies, especially of Massachusetts and +Connecticut. Such interdependence of the spiritual and temporal power +practically amounted to a union of Church and State. Indeed, in +Massachusetts and New Haven, to be a voter, a man must first be a +member of a church of approved standing.[b] In more liberal Plymouth +and Connecticut, the franchise, at first, was made to depend only upon +conduct, though it was early found necessary to add a property +qualification in order to cut off undesirable voters.[23] In the +Connecticut colony, it was expressly enacted that church censure +should not debar from civil privilege. When advocating this amount of +separation between church and civil power, Thomas Hooker was not moved +by any such religious principle as influenced the Separatists of +Plymouth. On the contrary, it was his political foresight which made +him urge upon the colonists a more representative government[c] than +would be obtainable from a franchise based upon church-membership +where, as in the colonial churches, admission to such membership was +conditioned upon exacting tests. The great Connecticut leader was far +in advance of the statesmen of his time, for they held that the +religion of a prince or government must be the religion of the people; +that every subject must be by birthright a member of the national +church, to leave which was both heretical and disloyal and should be +punished by political and civil disabilities. This union of Church and +State was the theory of the age,--a principle of statecraft throughout +all of Europe as well as in England. Naturally it emigrated to New +England to be a foundation of civil government and a fortress for that +type of nonconformity which the colonists chose to transplant and make +predominant. The type, as we have seen, was Congregationalism, and the +Congregational church became the established church in each of the +four colonies. + +This theory of Church and State was the cause at bottom of all the +early theological dissensions which disturbed the peace and threatened +the colony of Massachusetts. Moreover, their settlement offers the +most striking contrast between the fundamental theory of +Congregationalism and the theory of a union between Church and +State. With the power of supervision over the Church lodged in the +General Court, whatever the theory of Congregationalism as to the +independence of the individual churches, in practice the civil +authority disciplined them and their members, and early invaded +ecclesiastical territory. In Salem, Endicott took it upon himself to +expel Ralph Smith for holding extreme Separatist principles, and +shipped the Browns back to England for persisting in the use of the +Book of Common Prayer. He considered both parties equally dangerous to +the welfare of the community, because, according to the new standard +of church-life, both were censurable. Endicott held that to tolerate +any measure of diversity in religious practices was to cultivate the +ferment of civil disorder. Considering the bitterness, narrowness, +intensity, and also the irritating conviction that every one else was +heretical and anti-Christian, with which men of that age clung to +their religious differences, Endicott had some reason for holding this +opinion. The Boston authorities believed in no less drastic measures +to maintain the civil peace and consequent good name of the +colony. John Davenport of New Haven voiced the Massachusetts sentiment +as well as his own in: "Civil government is for the common welfare of +all, as well in the Church as without; which will then be most +certainly effected, when Public Trust and Power of these matters is +committed to such men as are most approved according to God; and these +are Church-members."[24] Consequently, the Massachusetts law of 1631 +[25] forbade any but church members to become freemen of the colony, +and to these only was intrusted any share in its government. A similar +law was later formulated for the New Haven colony. John Cotton echoed +the further sentiment of a New England community when, writing of the +relations between the churches and the magistrates, he defined the +church as "subject to the Magistrate in the matters concerning the +civil peace, of which there are four sorts:" (1) with reference to +men's goods, lives, liberty, and lands; (2) with establishment of +religion in doctrine, worship, and government according to the Word of +God, as also the reformation of corruption in any of these; (3) with +certain public spiritual administrations which may help forward the +public good, as fasts and synods; (4) and finally the church must be +subject to the magistrates in patient suffering of unjust persecution, +since for her to take up the sword in her own defense would only +increase the disturbance of the public peace. [26] As a result of such +public sentiment, churches were not to be organized without the +approval of the magistrates, nor were any "persons being members of +any church ... gathered without the approbation of the magistrates and +the greater part of said churches" (churches of the colony) to be +admitted to the freedom of the commonwealth. [27] This law, or its +equivalent, with reference to church organization was found upon the +statute books of all four colonies. + +In a pioneer community and a primitive commonwealth, developing slowly +in accord with the new democratic principles underlying both its +church and secular life, the "maintenance of the peace and welfare of +the churches,"[28] which was intrusted to the care of the General +Court, was frequently equivalent to maintaining the civil peace and +prosperity of the colony. Endicott's deportation of the Browns and the +report of the exclusiveness and exacting tests of membership in the +colonial churches had early led the members of the Massachusetts Bay +Company, resident in England, to fear that the emigrants had departed +from their original intent and purpose. And the colonists began to +feel that they were in danger of falling under the displeasure of +their king and of their Puritan friends at home. Consequently, there +entered into the settling of all later religious differences in the +colony the determination to avoid appeals to the home country, and +also to avoid any report of disturbance or dissatisfaction that might +be prejudicial to her independence, general policy, or commercial +prosperity. The recognition of such danger made many persons +satisfied to submit to government by an exclusive class, comprising in +Massachusetts one tenth of the people and in the New Haven colony one +ninth. These alone had any voice in making the laws. In submitting to +their dictation, the large majority of the people had to submit to a +"government that left no incident, circumstance, or experience of the +life of an individual, personal, domestic, social, or civil, still +less anything that concerned religion, free from the direct or +indirect interposition of public authority." [29] Such inquisitorial +supervision was due to the close alliance of Church and State within +the narrow limits of a theocracy. In more liberal Plymouth and +Connecticut, the "watch and ward" over one's fellows, which the early +colonial church insisted upon, was extended only over church members, +and even over them was less rigorous, less intrusive. Something of +the development of the great authority of the State over the churches +and of its attitude and theirs towards synods may be gleaned from the +earliest pages of Massachusetts ecclesiastical history. The +starting-point of precedent for the elders of the church to be +regarded as advisors only and the General Court as authoritative seems +to have been in a matter of taxation, when, in February, 1632, the +General Court assessed the church in Watertown. The elders advised +resistance; the Court compelled payment. In the following July, the +Boston church inquired of the churches of Plymouth, Salem, Dorchester, +and Watertown, whether a ruling elder could at the same time hold +office as a civil magistrate. A correspondence ensued and the answer +returned was that he could not. Thereupon, Mr. Nowell resigned his +eldership in the Boston church. [30] Winthrop mentions eight[d] +important occasions between 1632 and 1635 when the elders, which term +included pastors, teachers, and ruling elders, were summoned by the +General Court of Massachusetts to give advice upon temporal +affairs. In March of 1635-36 the Court "entreated them (the elders) +together with the brethren of every church within the jurisdiction, to +consult and advise of one uniforme order of discipline in the churches +agreable to Scriptures, and then to consider how far the magistrates +are bound to interpose for the preservation of that uniformity and +peace of the churches." [31] The desire of the Court grew in part out +of the influx of new colonists, who did not like the strict church +discipline, and in part out of the tangle of Church and State during +the Roger Williams controversy. The Court had disciplined Williams as +one, who, having no rights in the corporation, had no ground for +complaint at the hostile reception of his teachings. These the +authorities regarded as harmful to their government and dangerous to +religion. His too warm adherents in the Salem church were, however, +rightful members of the community, and they had been punished for +upholding one whom the General Court, advised by the elders of the +churches, had seen fit to censure. Punished thus, ostensibly, for +contempt of the magistrates by the refusal to them of the land they +claimed as theirs on Marblehead Neck, and feeling that the +independence of their church life and their rightful choice in the +selection of their pastor had really been infringed, the Salem church +sent letters to the elders of all the other churches of the Bay, +asking that the magistrates and deputies be admonished for their +decision as a "heinous sin." The Court came out victorious, by +refusing at its next general session to seat the Salem deputies "until +they should give satisfaction by letter" for holding dangerous +opinions and for writing "letters of defamation," and by proceeding to +banish Roger Williams. Before the session of the Court, the elders of +the Massachusetts churches, jointly and individually, labored with the +Salem people and brought the majority to a conviction of their error +in supporting Roger Williams. [e] + +The platform of church discipline which the Court advised in 1635-36 +was not forthcoming, and the matter was allowed to rest.[f] In 1637, +with the consent of the General Court, a synod of elders and lay +delegates from all the New England churches was called to harmonize +the discordant factions created by the heated Antinomian +controversy. During the synod, the magistrates were present all the +time as hearers, and even as speakers, but not as members. The +dangerous schism was ended more by the Court's banishment of +Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson, together with their more prominent +followers, than by the work of the synod. However, Governor Winthrop +was so delighted with the conferences of the synod that, in his +enthusiasm, he suggested that it would be fit "to have the like +meeting once a year, or at least the next year, to settle what yet +remained to be agreed, or if but to nourish love."[32] But his +suggestion was voted down, for the Synod of 1637 was considered by +some to be "a perilous deflection from the theory of +Congregationalism."[33] Even the fortnightly meeting of ministers who +resided near each other, and which it had become a custom to call for +friendly conference, was looked at askance by those[g] who feared in +it the germ of some authoritative body that should come to exercise +control over the individual churches. When this custom was endorsed +and permitted in the "Body of Liberties," in 1641, the assurance that +these meetings "were only by way of Brotherly conference and +consultation" was felt to be necessary to appease the +opposition. When, two and four years later, Anabaptist converts and a +flood of Presbyterian literature called for measures of repression, +and the Court summoned councils to consult upon a course of action, it +was most careful in each case to reassert the doctrine of the complete +independence of the individual church. Synods, from the purely +Congregational standpoint, were to be called only upon the initiative +of the churches, and were authoritative bodies, composed of both +ministerial and lay delegates from such churches, and their duty was +to confer and advise upon matters of general interest or upon special +problems. In cases where their decisions were unheeded, they could +enforce their displeasure at the contumacious church only by cutting +it off from fellowship. Consequently, though there was some opposition +to the Court's calling of synods and a resultant general restlessness, +there was none when the Court confined its supervision and commands to +individually schismatic churches or to unruly members. The time had +not yet come for the recognition of what this double system of church +government--government by its members, supervision by the Court +--foreboded. The colonists did not see that within it was the embryo +of an authoritative body exercising some of the powers of the +Presbyterian General Assembly. The supervising body might be composed +of laymen acting in their capacity as members of the General Court, +but the powers they exercised were none the less akin to the very ones +that Congregationalism had declared to be heretical and +anti-Christian. Moreover, the tendency was toward an increase of this +authoritative power every time it was exercised and each time that the +colonists submitted to its dictation. + +Of the two colonies founded after Massachusetts, Connecticut and New +Haven, the latter preserved the complete independence of her original +church until the admission of the shore towns[h] to her jurisdiction, +when she instituted that friendly oversight of the churches which had +begun to prevail elsewhere. Thereafter her General Court kept a +rigorous oversight over the purity of her churches and the conduct of +their members. The General Court of Connecticut early compelled a +recognition of its authority[i] over the religious life of the people +and its right of special legislation.[j] For example, in 1643, the +Court demanded of the Wethersfield church a list of the grievances +which disturbed it. In the next year, when Matthew Allyn petitioned +for an order to the Hartford church, commanding the reconsideration of +its sentence of excommunication against him, the Court "adjudged his +plea an accusation upon the church" which he was bound to prove. +These incidents from early colonial history in some measure illustrate +the practical working of the theory of Church and State. The +conviction that the State should support one form of religion, and +only one, was ever present to the colonial mind. If confirmation of +its worth were needed, one had only to glance at the turmoil of the +Rhode Island colony experimenting with religious liberty and a +complete separation of Church and State. Like all pioneers and +reformers, she had gathered elements hard to control, and would-be +citizens neither peaceable nor reasonable in their interpretation of +the new range of freedom. Watching Rhode Island, the Congregational +men of New England hugged more tightly the conviction that their +method was best, and that any variation from it would work havoc. It +was this theory and this conviction, ever present in their minds, that +underlay all ecclesiastical laws, all special legislation with +reference to churches, to their members, or to public fasts and +thanksgivings. This deep-rooted conviction created hatred toward and +fear of all schismatical doctrines, enmity toward all dissenting +sects, and opposition to any tolerance of them. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] "The one prime, all essential, and sufficient qualiiy of a +theocracy ... adopted as the form of an earthly government, was that +the civil power should be guided in its exercise by religion and +religious ordinances."--G. E. Ellis, _Puritan Age in Massachusetts,_ +p. 188. + +[b] "Noe man shal be admitted to the freedome of this body politicke, +but such as are members of some of the churches within the lymitts of +the same."--Mass. Col. Rec. i, 87, under date of May 28, 1631. + +"Church members onely shall be free burgesses and they onely shall +chuse magistrates and officers among themselves to haue the power of +transacting in all publique and ciuill affayres of this +plantatio."--New Haven Col. Rec. i, 15; also ii, 115, 116. + +The governments of Massachusetts and New Haven "never absolutely +merged church and state." The franchise depended on church-membership, +but the voter, exercising his right in directing the affairs of the +colony, was speaking, "not as the church but as the civil Court of +Legislation and adjudication."--W. Walker, _History of the +Congregational Churches_, p. 123. + +Yet it was due to this merging and this dependence that on October 25, +1639, there were only sixteen free burgesses or voters out of one +hundred and forty-four planters in the New Haven Colony.--See +N. H. Col. Rec. i, 20. + +"Theoretically Church and State (in Connecticut) were separated: +practically they were so interwoven that separation would have meant +the severance of soul and body."--C. M. Andrews, _Three River Towns +of Conn_. p. 22. + +[c] To John Cotton's "democracy, I do not conceive that ever God did +ordain, as a fit government for church or commonwealth," and to +Gov. Winthrop's objections to committing matters to the judgment of +the body of the people because "safety lies in the councils of the +best part which is always the least, and of the best part, the wiser +is always the lesser," Hooker replied that "in all matters which +concern the common good, a general council, chosen by all, to transact +the business which concerns all, I conceive under favor, most suitable +to rule and most safe for the relief of the whole."--Hutchinson, +_Hist. of Mass._ i, App. iii. + +[d] (1) To adjust a difference between Governor Winthrop and Deputy +Dudley in 1632; (2) about building a fort at Nantasket, February, +1632; (3) in regard to the settlement of the Rev. John Cotton, +September, 1633; (4) in consultation concerning Roger Williams's +denial of the patent, January, 1634; (5) concerning rights of trade at +Kennebec, July, 1634; (6) in regard to the fort on Castle Island, +August, 1634; (7) concerning the rumor in 1635 of the coming of a +Governor-General; and (8) in the case of Mr. Nowell.--_Winthrop_, +i, pp. 89, 99, 112, 122, 136-137, 159-181. + +[e] Roger Williams was the real author of the letters which the Salem +church was required to disclaim. + +[f] Upon a further suggestion from the General Court, John Cotton +prepared a catechism entitled, _Milk for Babes_. + +[g] Governor Winthrop replied to Dr. Skelton's objections that "no +church or person could have authority over another church."--See +H. M. Dexter, _Ecclesiastical Councils of New England_, p. 31; +_Winthrop_, i. p. 139. + +[h] Guilford, Branford, Milford, Stamford, on the mainland, and +Southold, on Long Island. + +[i] The General Court was head of the churches. "It was more than +Pope, or Pope and College of Cardinals, for it exercised all +authority, civil and ecclesiastical. In matters of discipline, faith, +and practice there was no appeal from its decisions. Except the right +to be protected in their orthodoxy the churches had no privileges +which the Court did not confer, or could not take away."--Bronson's +_Early Gov't. in Conn._ p. 347, in +_N. H. Hist. Soc. Papers_, vol. iii. + +[j] On August 18, 1658, the court refused, upon complaint of the +Wethersfield church, to remove Mr. Russell. In March, 1661, after duly +considering the matter, the court allowed Mr. Stow to sever his +connection with the church of Middletown. It concerned itself with +the strife in the Windsor church over an assistant pastor from 1667 to +1680. It allowed the settlement of Woodbury in 1672 because of +dissatisfaction with the Stratford church. It permitted Stratford to +divide in 1669. These are but a few instances both of the authority +of the General Court over individual churches and of that discord +which, finding its strongest expression in the troubles of the +Hartford church, not only rent the churches of Connecticut from 1650 +to 1670, but "insinuated itself into all the affairs of the society, +towns, and the whole community." Another illustration of the court's +oversight of the purity of religion was its investigation in 1670 into +the "soundness of the minister at Rye." For these and hosts of similar +examples see index _Conn. Col. Rec._ vols. i, ii, iii, and iv. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM AND THE HALF-WAY COVENANT + + + It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason + for the faith that is within him.--Sydney Smith. + +In each of the New England colonies under consideration, the settlers +organized their church system and established its relation to the +State, expecting that the strong arm of the temporal power would +insure stability and harmony in both religious and civil life. As we +know, they were speedily doomed to disappointment. As we have seen, +they failed to estimate the influences of the new land, where freedom +from the restraint of an older civilization bred new ideas and +estimates of the liberty that should be accorded men. Within the first +decade Massachusetts had great difficulty in impressing religious +uniformity upon her rapidly increasing and heterogeneous +population. She found coercion difficult, costly, dangerous to her +peace, and to her reputation when the oppressed found favorable ears +in England to listen to their woes. Ecclesiastical differences of less +magnitude, contemporary in time and foreshadowing discontent and +opposition to the established order of Church and State, were settled +in more quiet ways. John Davenport, after witnessing the Antinomian +controversy, declined the pressing hospitality of Massachusetts, and +led his New Haven company far enough afield to avoid theological +entanglements or disputed points of church polity. Unimpeded, they +would make their intended experiment in statecraft and build their +strictly scriptural republic. Still earlier Thomas Hooker, Samuel +Stone, and John Warham led the Connecticut colonists into the +wilderness because they foresaw contention, strife, and evil days +before them if they were to be forced to conform to the strict policy +of Massachusetts.[a] They preferred, unhindered, to plant and water +the young vine of a more democratic commonwealth. And even as +Massachusetts met with large troubles of her own, so smaller ones +beset these other colonies in their endeavor to preserve uniformity of +religious faith and practice. Until 1656, outside of Massachusetts, +sectarianism barely lifted its head. Religious contumacy was due to +varying opinions as to what should be the rule of the churches and the +privileges of their members. As the churches held theoretically that +each was a complete, independent, and self-governing unit, their +practice and teaching concerning their powers and duties began to show +considerable variation. Such variation was unsatisfactory, and so +decidedly so that the leaders of opinion in the four colonies early +began to feel the need of some common platform, some authoritative +standard of church government, such as was agreed upon later in the +Cambridge Platform of 1648 and in the Half-Way Covenant, a still later +exposition or modification of certain points in the Platform. + +The need for the Platform arose, also, from two other causes: one +purely colonial, and the other Anglo-colonial. The first was, since +everybody had to attend public worship, the presence in the +congregations of outsiders as distinct from church members. These +outsiders demanded broader terms of admission to holy privileges and +comforts. The second cause, Anglo-colonial in nature, arose from the +inter-communion of colonial and English Puritan churches and from the +strength of the politico-ecclesiastical parties in England. Whatever +the outcome there, the consequences to colonial life of the rapidly +approaching climax in England, when, as we now know, King was to give +way to Commonwealth and Presbyterianism find itself subordinate to +Independency, would be tremendous. + +In the first twenty years of colonial life, great changes had come +over New England. Many men of honest and Christian character--"sober +persons who professed themselves desirous of renewing their baptismal +covenant, and submit unto church discipline, but who were unable to +come up to that experimental account of their own regeneration which +would sufficiently embolden their access to the other sacrament" +(communion) [34]--felt that the early church regulations, possible +only in small communities where each man knew his fellow, had been +outgrown, and that their retention favored the growth of +hypocrisy. The exacting oversight of the churches in their "watch and +ward" over their members was unwelcome, and would not be submitted to +by many strangers who were flocking into the colonies. The +"experimental account" of religion demanded, as of old, a public +declaration or confession of the manner in which conviction of +sinfulness had come to each one; of the desire to put evil aside and +to live in accordance with God's commands as expressed in Scripture +and through the church to which the repentant one promised +obedience. This public confession was a fundamental of +Congregationalism. Other religious bodies have copied it; but at the +birth of Congregationalism, and for centuries afterwards, the bulk of +European churches, like the Protestant Episcopal Church to-day, +regarded "Christian piety more as a habit of life, formed under the +training of childhood, and less as a marked spiritual change in +experience." [35] + +It followed that while many of the newcomers in the colonies were +indifferent to religion, by far the larger number were not, and +thought that, as they had been members of the English Established +Church, they ought to be admitted into full membership in the churches +of England's colonies. They felt, moreover, that the religious +training of their children was being neglected because the New England +churches ignored the child whose parents would not, or could not, +submit to their terms of membership. Still more strongly did these +people feel neglected and dissatisfied when, as the years went by, +more and more of them were emigrants who had been acceptable members +of the Puritan churches in England. They continued to be refused +religious privileges because New England Congregationalism doubted the +scriptural validity of letters of dismissal from churches where the +discipline and church order varied from its own. Within the membership +of the New England churches themselves, there was great uncertainty +concerning several church privileges, as, for instance, how far infant +baptism carried with it participation in church sacraments, and +whether adults, baptized in infancy, who had failed to unite with the +church by signing the Covenant, could have their children baptized +into the church. Considerations of church-membership and baptism, for +which the Cambridge Synod of 1648 was summoned, were destined, because +of political events in England, to be thrust aside and to wait another +eight years for their solution in that conference which framed the +Half-Way Covenant as supplementary to the Cambridge Platform of faith +and discipline. + +What has been termed the Anglo-colonial cause for summoning the +Cambridge Synod finds explanation in the frequent questions and +demands which English Independency put to the New England churches +concerning church usage and discipline, and in the intense interest +with which New England waited the outcome of the constitutional +struggle in England between King and Parliament. + +When the great controversy broke out in England between Presbyterians +and Independents, the fortunes of Massachusetts (who felt every wave +of the struggle) and of New England were in the balance. Presbyterians +in England proclaimed the doctrine of church unity, and of coercion if +necessary, to procure it; the Independents, the doctrine of +toleration. Puritans, inclining to Presbyterianism, were disturbed +over reports from the colonies, and letters of inquiry were sent and +answers returned explaining that, while the internal polity of the New +England churches was not far removed from Presbyterianism, they +differed widely from the Presbyterian standard as to a national church +and as to the power of synods over churches, and that they also held +to a much larger liberty in the right of each church to appoint its +officers and control its own internal affairs. At the opening of the +Long Parliament (1640-1644), many emigrants had returned to England +from the colonies, and, under the leadership of the influential Hugh +Peters, had given such an impetus to English thought that the +Independent party rose to political importance and made popular the +"New England Way."[b] The success of the Independents brought relief +to Massachusetts, yet it was tinctured with apprehension lest +"toleration" should be imposed upon her. The signing of the "League +and Covenant" with England in 1643 by Scotland, the oath of the +Commons to support it, and the pledge "to bring the churches of God in +the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in +religion, confession of faith, form of church government and +catechizing" (including punishment of malignants and opponents of +reformation in Church and State), carried menace to the colonies and +to Massachusetts in particular. The supremacy of Scotch or English +Nonconformity meant a severity toward any variation from its +Presbyterianism as great as Laud had exercised.[c] + +In 1643 Parliament convened one hundred and fifty members[d] in the +Westminster Assembly to plan the reform of the Church of +England. Their business was to formulate a Confession which should +dictate to all Englishmen what they should believe and how express it, +and should also define a Church, which, preserving the inherent +English idea of its relation to the State, should bear a close +likeness to the Reformed churches of the Continent and yet approach as +nearly as possible both to the then Church of Scotland and to the +English Church of the time of Elizabeth. The work of this assembly, +known as the Westminster Confession, demonstrated to the New England +colonists the weakness of their church system and the need among them +of religious unity.[e] + +Many among the colonists doubted the advisability of a church +platform, considering it permissible as a declaration of faith, but of +doubtful value if its articles were to be authoritative as a binding +rule of faith and practice without "adding, altering, or omitting." +Men of this mind waited for controversial writings,[f] to clear up +misconception and misrepresentation in England, but they waited in +vain. Moreover, the Puritan Board of Commissioners for Plantations of +1643 threatened as close an oversight and as rigid control of colonial +affairs from a Presbyterian Parliament as had been feared from the +King. Furthermore, a Presbyterian cabal in Plymouth and Massachusetts, +1644-1646, gathered to it the discontent of large numbers of +unfranchised residents within the latter colony, and under threat of +an appeal to Parliament boldly asked for the ballot and for church +privileges. In view of these developments, nearly all the colonial +churches, though with some hesitation, united in the Synod of +Cambridge, which was originally called for the year 1646. + +In the calling of the synod Massachusetts took the lead. Several years +before, in 1643, the four colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, +Connecticut, and New Haven had united in the New England Confederacy, +or "Confederacy of the United Colonies," for mutual advantage in +resisting the encroachments of the Dutch, French, and Indians, and for +"preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the gospel." In +the confederacy, Massachusetts and Connecticut soon became the +leaders. Considering how much more strongly the former felt the +pulsations of English political life, and how active were the +Massachusetts divines as expositors of the "New England way of the +churches," the Bay Colony naturally took the initiative in calling the +Cambridge Synod. But mindful of the opposition to her previous +autocratic summons, her General Court framed its call as a "desire" +that ministerial, together with lay delegates, from all the churches +of New England should meet at Cambridge. There, representing the +churches, and in accordance with the earliest teachings of +Congregationalism, they were to meet in synod "for sisterly advice and +counsel." They were to formulate the practice of the churches in +regard to baptism and adult privileges, and to do so "for the +confirming of the weak among ourselves and the stopping of the mouths +of our adversaries abroad." During the two years of unavoidable delay +before the synod met in final session, these topics, which were +expected to be foremost in the conference, were constantly in the +public mind. Through this wide discussion, the long delay brought much +good. It brought also misfortune in the death of Thomas Hooker in +1647, and by it loss of one of the great lights and most liberal minds +in the proposed conference. Nearly all the colonial churches[g] were +represented in the synod. When, during its session, news was received +that Cromwell was supreme in England, its members turned from the +discussion of baptism and church-membership to a consideration of what +should be the constitution of the churches. The supremacy of Cromwell +and of the Independents who filled his armies cleared the political +background. All danger of enforced Presbyterianism was over. The +strength of the Presbyterian malcontents, who had sought to bring +Massachusetts and New England into disrepute in England, was +broken. Since the colonists were free to order their religious life as +they pleased, the Cambridge Synod turned aside from its purposed task +to formulate a larger platform of faith and polity. + +When the Cambridge Synod adjourned, the orthodoxy of the New England +churches could not be impugned. In all matters of faith "for the +substance thereof" they accepted the Westminster Confession of Faith, +but from its measures of government and discipline they differed.[h] +This Cambridge Platform was more important as recognizing the +independence of the churches and the authority of custom among them +than as formulating a creed. It governed the New England churches for +sixty years, or until Massachusetts and Connecticut Congregationalism +came to the parting of the way, whence one was to develop its +associated system of church government, and the other its consociated +system as set forth in the Saybrook Platform, formulated at Saybrook, +Connecticut, in 1708. Meanwhile, the Cambridge Platform[i] gave all +the New England churches a standard by which to regulate their +practice and to resist change.[j] + +A study of the Platform yields the following brief summary of its +cardinal points:-- + +(a) The Congregational church is not "National, Provincial or +Classical,"[k] but is a church of a covenanted brotherhood, wherein +each member makes public acknowledgment of spiritual regeneration and +declares his purpose to submit himself to the ordinances of God and of +his church.[l] A slight concession was made to the liberal church +party and to the popular demand for broader terms of membership in the +provision for those of "the weakest measure of faith," and in the +substitution of a written account of their Christian experience by +those who were ill or timid. This written "experimental account" was +to be read to the church by one of the elders. In the words of the +Platform, "Such charity and tenderness is to be used, as the weakest +Christian if sincere, may not be excluded or discouraged. Severity of +examination is to be avoided."[m] + +(b) The officers of the church are elders and deacons, the former +including, as of old, pastors, teachers, and ruling elders. That the +authority within the church had passed from the unrestrained democracy +of the early Plymouth Separatists to a silent democracy before the +command of a speaking aristocracy[n] is witnessed to by the Platform's +declaration that "power of office" is proper to the elders, while +"power of privilege"[o] belongs to the brethren. In other words, the +brethren or membership have a "second" and "indirect power," according +to which they are privileged to elect their elders. Thereafter those +officers possess the "direct power," or authority, to govern the +church as they see fit.[p] In the matter of admission, dismission, +censure, excommunication, or re-admission of members, the brotherhood +of the church may express their opinion by vote.[q] In cases of +censure and excommunication, the Platform specifies that the offender +could be made to suffer only through deprivation of his church rights +and not through any loss of his civil ones.[r] In the discussion of +this point, the more liberal policy of Connecticut and Plymouth +prevailed. + +(c) In regard to pastors and teachers, the Platform affirms that they +are such only by the right of election and remain such only so long as +they preside over the church by which they were elected.[s] + +Their ordination after election, as well as that of the ruling elders +and deacons, is to be by the laying on of hands of the elders of the +church electing them. In default of elders, this ordination is to be +by the hands of brethren whom because of their exemplary lives the +church shall choose to perform the rite.[t] + +A new provision was also made, one leaning toward Presbyterianism, +whereby elders of other churches could perform this ceremony, "when +there were no elders and the church so desired." + +(d) Church maintenance, amounting to a church tax, was insisted upon +not only from church-members but from all, since "all that are taught +in the word, are to contribute unto him that teacheth." If necessary, +because corrupt men creep into the congregations and church +contributions cannot be collected, the magistrate is to see to it that +the church does not suffer.[u] + +(e) The Platform defined the intercommunion of the churches[v] upon +such broad lines as to admit of sympathetic fellowship even when +slight differences existed in local customs. In so important a matter +as when an offending elder was to be removed, consultation with other +churches was commanded before action should be taken against him. The +intercommunion of churches was defined as of various kinds: as for +mutual welfare; for sisterly advice and consultation, in cases of +public offense, where the offending church was unconscious of fault; +for recommendation of members going from one church to another; for +need, relief, or succor of unfortunate churches; and "by way of +propagation," when over-populous churches were to be divided. + +(f) Concerning synods,[w] the Platform asserts that they are +"necessary to the well-being of churches for the establishment of +truth and peace therein;" that they are to consist of elders, or +ministerial delegates, and also of lay delegates, or "messengers;" +that their function is to determine controversies over questions of +faith, to debate matters of general interest, to guide and to express +judgment upon churches, "rent by discord or lying under open scandal." +Synods could be called by the churches, and also by the magistrates +through an order to the churches to send their elders and messengers, +but they were not to be permanent bodies. On the contrary, unlike the +synods of the Presbyterian system, they were to be disbanded when the +work of the special session for which they were summoned was +finished. Moreover, they were not "to exercise church censure in the +way of discipline nor any other act of authority or jurisdiction;" yet +their judgments were to be received, "so far as consonant to the word +of God," since they were judged to be an ordinance of God appointed in +his Word. + +(g) The Platform's section "Of the Civil Magistrate in matters +Ecclesiastical"[x] maintains that magistrates cannot compel subjects +to become church-members; that they ought not to meddle with the +proper work of officers of the churches, but that they ought to see to +it that godliness is upheld, and the decrees of the church obeyed. To +accomplish these ends, they should exert all the civil authority +intrusted to them, and their foremost duty was to put down blasphemy, +idolatry, and heresy. In any question as to what constituted the last, +the magistrates assisted by the elders were to decide and to determine +the measure of the crime. They were to punish the heretic, not as one +who errs in an intellectual judgment, but as a moral leper and for +whose evil influence the community was responsible to God. The civil +magistrates were also to punish all profaners of the Sabbath, all +contemners of the ministry, all disturbers of public worship, and to +proceed "against schismatic or obstinately corrupt churches." + +These seven points summarize the important work of the Cambridge Synod +and the Platform wherein it embodied the church usage and fixed the +ecclesiastical customs of New England. Concerning its own work, the +Synod remarked in conclusion that it "hopes that this will be a proof +to the churches beyond the seas that the New England churches are free +from heresies and from the character of schism," and that "in the +doctrinal part of religion they have agreed entirely with the Reformed +churches of England." [36] + +Let us in a few sentences review the whole story thus far of colonial +Congregationalism. With the exception of the churches of Plymouth and +Watertown, the colonists had come to America without any definite +religious organization. True, they had in their minds the example of +the Reformed churches on the Continent, and much of theory, and many +convictions as to what ought to be the rule of churches. These +theories and these convictions soon crystallized out. And the +transatlantic crystallization was found to yield results, some of +which were very similar to the modifications which time had wrought in +England upon the rough and embryonic forms of Congregationalism as set +forth by Robert Browne and Henry Barrowe. The characteristics of +Congregationalism during its first quarter of a century upon New +England soil were: the clearly defined independence or self-government +of the local churches; the fellowship of the churches; the development +of large and authoritative powers in the eldership; a more exact +definition of the functions of synods, a definite limitation of their +authority; and, finally, a recognition of the authority of the civil +magistrates in religious affairs generally, and of their control in +special cases arising within individual churches. In the growing power +of the eldership, and in the provision of the Platform which permits +ordination by the hands of elders of other churches, when a church had +no elders and its members so desired, there is a trend toward the +polity of the Presbyterian system. In the Platform's definition of the +power of the magistrates over the religious life of the community, +there is evident the colonists' conviction that, notwithstanding the +vaunted independence of the churches, there ought to be some strong +external authority to uphold them and their discipline; some power to +fall back upon, greater than the censure of a single church or the +combined strength and influence derived from advisory councils and +unauthoritative synods. In Connecticut, this control by the civil +power was to increase side by side with the tendency to rely upon +advisory councils. From this twofold development during a period of +sixty years, there arose the rigid autonomy of the later Saybrook +system of church-government, wherein the civil authority surrendered +to ecclesiastical courts its supreme control of the churches. + +Turning from the text of the Cambridge Platform to its application, we +find among the earliest churches "rent by discord," schismatically +corrupt, and to be disciplined according to its provisions, that of +Hartford, Connecticut. From the earliest years of the Connecticut +colony there had been within it a large party, constantly increasing, +who, because they were unhappy and aggrieved at having themselves and +their children shut out of the churches, had advocated admitting all +of moral life to the communion table. The influence of Thomas Hooker +kept the discontent within bounds until his death in 1647, the year +before the Cambridge Synod met. Thereafter, the conservative and +liberal factions in many of the churches came quickly into open +conflict. The Hartford church in particular became rent by dissension +so great that neither the counsel of neighboring churches nor the +commands of the General Court, legislating in the manner prescribed by +the Cambridge instrument, could heal the schism. The trouble in the +Hartford church arose because of a difference between Mr. Stone, the +minister, and Elder Goodwin, who led the minority in their preference +for a candidate to assist their pastor. Before the discovery of +documents relating to the controversy, it was the custom of earlier +historians to refer the dispute to political motives. But this church +feud, and the discussion which it created throughout Connecticut, was +purely religious, and had to do with matters of church privileges and +eventually with rights of baptism.[y] The conflict originated through +Mr. Stone's conception of his ministerial authority, which belonged +rather to the period of his English training and which was concisely +set forth by his oft-quoted definition of the rule of the elders as "a +speaking aristocracy in the face of a silent democracy."[z] Mr. Stone +and Elder Goodwin, the two chief officers in the Hartford church, each +commanded an influential following. Personal and political +affiliations added to the bitterness of party bias in the dispute +which raged over the following three questions: (a) What were the +rights of the minority in the election of a minister whom they were +obliged to support? (b) What was the proper mode of ecclesiastical +redress if these rights were ignored? (c) What were those baptismal +rights and privileges which the Cambridge Platform had not definitely +settled? The discussion of the first two questions precipitated into +the foreground the still unanswered third. The turmoil in the Hartford +church continued for years and was provocative of disturbances +throughout the colony. Accordingly, in May, 1656, a petition was +presented to the General Court by persons unknown, asking for broader +baptismal privileges. Moved by the appeal, the Court appointed a +committee, consisting of the governor, lieutenant-governor and two +deputies, to consult with the elders of the churches and to draw up a +series of questions embodying the grievances which were complained of +throughout the colony as well as in the Hartford church. The Court +further commanded that a copy of these questions be sent to the +General Courts of the other three colonies, that they might consider +them and advise Connecticut as to some method of putting an end to +ecclesiastical disputes. As Connecticut was not the only colony having +trouble of this sort, Massachusetts promptly ordered thirteen of her +elders to meet at Boston during the following summer, and expressed a +desire for the cooperation of the churches of the confederated +colonies. Plymouth did not respond. New Haven rejected the proposed +conference. She feared that it would result in too great changes in +church discipline and, consequently, in her civil order,--changes +which she believed would endanger the peace and purity of her +churches;[aa] yet she sent an exposition, written by John Davenport, +of the questions to be discussed. The Connecticut General Court, glad +of Massachusetts' appreciative sympathy, appointed delegates, advising +them to first take counsel together concerning the questions to be +considered at Boston, and ordered them upon their return to report to +the Court. + +The two questions which since the summoning of the Cambridge Synod had +been under discussion throughout all New England were the right of +non-covenanting parishioners in the choice of a minister, and the +rights of children of baptized parents, that had not been admitted to +full membership. These were the main topics of discussion in the +Synod, or, more properly, Ministerial Convention, of 1657, which +assembled in Boston, and which decreed the Half-Way Covenant. The +Assembly decided in regard to baptism that persons, who had been +baptized in their infancy, but who, upon arriving at maturity, had not +publicly professed their conversion and united in full membership with +the church, were not fit to receive the Lord's Supper:-- + + Yet in case they understood the Grounds of Religion and are not + scandalous, and solemnly own the Covenant in their own + persons,[ab] wherein they give themselves and their own children + unto the Lord, and desire baptism for them, we (with due reverence + to any Godly Learned that may dissent) see not sufficient cause to + deny Baptism unto their children. [37] + +Church care and oversight were to be extended to such children. But in +order to go to communion, or to vote in church affairs, the old +personal, public profession that for so many years had been +indispensable to "signing the covenant" was retained [38] and must +still be given. + +This Half-Way Covenant, as it came to be called, enlarged the terms of +baptism and of admission to church privileges as they had been set +forth in the Cambridge Platform. The new measure held within itself a +contradiction to the foundation principle of Congregationalism. A dual +membership was introduced by this attempt to harmonize the Old +Testament promise, that God's covenant was with Abraham and his seed +forever, with the Congregational type of church which the New +Testament was believed to set forth. The former theory must imply some +measure of true faith in the children of baptized parents, whether or +no they had fulfilled their duty by making public profession and by +uniting with the church. This duty was so much a matter of course with +the first colonists, and so deeply ingrained was their loyalty to the +faith and practice which one generation inherited from another, that +it never occurred to them that future descendants of theirs might view +differently these obligations of church membership. But a difficulty +arose later when the adult obligation implied by baptism in infancy +ceased to be met, and when the question had to be settled of how far +the parents' measure of faith carried grace with it. Did the +inheritance of faith, of which baptism was the sign and seal, stop +with the children, or with the grandchildren, or where? To push the +theory of inherited rights would result eventually in destroying the +covenant church, bringing in its stead a national church of mixed +membership; to press the original requirements of the covenant upon an +unwilling people would lessen the membership of the churches, expose +them to hostile attack, and to possible overthrow. The colonists +compromised upon this dual membership of the Half-Way Covenant. As its +full significance did not become apparent for years, the work of the +Synod of 1657 was generally acceptable to the ministry, but it met +with opposition among the older laity. It was welcomed in Connecticut, +where Henry Smith of Wethersfield as early as 1647, Samuel Stone of +Hartford, after 1650, and John Warham of Windsor, had been earnest +advocates of its enlarged terms. As early as in his draft of the +Cambridge Platform, Ralph Partridge of Duxbury in Plymouth colony had +incorporated similar changes, and even then they had been seconded by +Richard Mather.[ac] They had been omitted from the final draft of that +Platform because of the opposition of a small but influential group +led by the Rev. Charles Chauncey. As early as 1650, it had become +evident that public opinion was favorable to such a change, and that +some church would soon begin to put in practice a theory which was +held by so many leading divines. Though the Half-Way Covenant was +strenuously opposed by the New Haven colony as a whole, Peter Prudden, +its second ablest minister, had, as early as 1651, avowed his earnest +support of such a measure. + +The Half-Way Covenant was presented to the Connecticut General Court, +August, 1657. Orders were at once given that copies of it should be +distributed to all the churches with a request for a statement of any +exceptions that any of them might have to it. None are known to have +been returned. This was not due to any great unanimity of sentiment +among the churches, for in Connecticut, as elsewhere, many of the +older church-members were not so liberally inclined as their +ministers, and were loth to follow their lead in this new +departure. But when controversy broke out again in the Hartford +church, in 1666, because of the baptism of some children, it was found +that in the interval of eleven years those who favored the Half-Way +covenant had increased in numbers in the church,[ad] and were rapidly +gaining throughout the colony, especially in its northern half. By the +absorption of the New Haven Colony, its southern boundary in 1664 had +become the shore of Long Island Sound. + +Though public opinion favored the Half-Way Covenant, the practice of +the churches was controlled by their exclusive membership, and, unless +a majority thereof approved the new way, there was nothing to compel +the church to broaden its baptismal privileges.[ae] This difference +between public opinion and church practice, between the congregations +and the coterie of church members, was provocative of clashing +interests and of factional strife. For several years these factional +differences were held in check and made subordinate to the urgent +political situation which the restoration of the Stuarts had +precipitated, and which demanded harmonious action among the +colonists. A royal charter had to be obtained, and when obtained, it +gave Connecticut dominion over the New Haven colony. The lower colony +had to be reconciled to its loss of independence, in so much as the +governing party, with its influential following of conservatives, +objected to the consolidation. The liberals, a much larger party +numerically, preferred to come under the authority of Connecticut and +to enjoy her less restrictive church policy and her broader political +life. Matters were finally adjusted, and delegates from the old New +Haven colony first took their seats as members of the General Court of +Connecticut at the spring session of 1665. Thereafter, in Connecticut +history, especially its religious history, the strain of liberalism +most often follows the old lines of the Connecticut colony, while that +of conservatism is more often met with as reflecting the opinions of +those within the former boundaries of that of New Haven. + +It was in the year following the union of the two colonies that the +quarrel in the Hartford church broke out afresh. The fall preceding +the consolidation of the colonies, an appeal was made to the +Connecticut General Court which helped to swell the dissatisfaction in +the Hartford church and to bring it to the bursting point. In +October, 1664, William Pitkin, by birth a member of the English +Established Church[af] and a man much esteemed in the colony, as +shown, politically, by his office of attorney,[39] and socially by his +marriage with Elder Goodwin's daughter, petitioned the General Court +in behalf of himself and six associates that it-- + + would take into serious consideration our present state in this + respect that wee are thus as sheep scattered haveing no shepheard, + and compare it with what wee conceive you can not but know both + God and our King would have it different from what it now is. And + take some speedy and effectual course of redress herein, And put + us in full and free capacity of injoying those forementioned + Advantages which to us as members of Christ's visible Church doe + of right belong. By establishing some wholesome Law in this + Corporation by vertue whereof wee may both clame and receive of + such officers as are, or shall be by Law set over us in the Church + or churches where wee have our abode or residence those + forementioned privileges and advantages. + + Further wee humbly request that for the future no Law in this + corporation may be of any force to make us pay or contribute to + the maintenance of any Minister or officer in the Church that will + neglect or refuse to baptize our Children, and to take charge of + us as of such members of the Church as are under his or their + charge and care-- + + _Signed_-- + Admitted freeman + Oct. 9th, 1662, Hartford, Wm. Pitkin. + + Admitted freeman + May 21, 1657, Windsor, Michael Humphrey. + + Admitted freeman + May 18, 1654, Hartford, John Stedman. + Windsor, James Eno. + + Admitted freeman + May 20, 1658, -- Robart Reeve. + Windsor, John Morse. + + Admitted freeman + May 20, 1658, Windsor, Jonas Westover. [40] + +Eno and Humphrey had been complained of because their insistence upon +what they considered their rights had caused disturbance in the +Windsor church. Now, with the other petitioners, they based their +appeal in part upon the King's Letter to the Bay Colony of June 26th, +1662, wherein Charles commanded that "all persons of good and honest +lives and conversation be admitted to the sacrament of the Lord's +supper, according to the said book of common prayer, and their +children to baptism." + +This petition of Pitkin and his associates was the first notable +expression of dissatisfaction with the Congregationalism of +Connecticut. Several Episcopal writers have quoted it as the first +appeal of Churchmen in Connecticut. In itself, it forbids such +construction. The petitioners had come from England and from the +church of the Commonwealth. They were asking either for toleration in +the spirit of the Half-Way Covenant or for some special legislation in +their behalf. Further, they were demanding religious care and baptism +for their children from a clergy who, from the point of view of any +strict Episcopalian, had no right to officiate; and, again, it was +nearly ten years before the first Church-of-England men found their +way to Stratford.[41] + +The Court made reply to Pitkin's petition by sending to all the +churches a request that they consider-- + + whither it be not their duty to entertaine all such persons, who + are of honest and godly conuersation, hauing a competency of + knowledge in the principles of religion, and shall desire to joyne + with them in church fellowship, by an explicitt couenant, and that + they haue their children baptized, and that all the children of + the church be accepted and acco'td reall members of the church and + that the church exercise a due Christian care and watch ouer them; + and that when they are grown up, being examined by the officer in + the presence of the church, it appeares in the judgment of + charity, they are duly qualified to participate in the great + ordinance of the Lord's Supper, by their being able to examine and + discerne the Lord's body, such persons be admitted to full + comunion. + + The Court desires y't the seuerall officers of y'e respectiue + churches, would be pleased to consider whither it be the duty of + the Court to order churches to practice according to the premises, + if they doe not practice without such an order.[42] + +The issue was now fairly before the churches of the colony. The +delegates of the people had expressed the opinion of the majority. The +Court had invited the expression of any dissent that might exist, yet, +despite the invitation, it had issued almost an order to the churches +to practice the Half-Way Covenant, and with large interpretation, +applying it, not only to the baptism of children who had been born of +parents baptized in the colonial church, but also to those whose +parents had been baptized in the English communion, at least during +the Commonwealth.[ag] Pitkin at once proceeded in behalf of himself +and several of his companions to apply for "communion with the church +of Hartford in all the ordinances of Christ." [43] This the church +refused, and wrought its factions up to white heat over the baptism of +some child or children of non-communicants. The storm broke. Other +churches felt its effects. Windsor church was rent by faction, +Stratford was in turmoil over the Half-Way Covenant, and other +churches were divided. + +Some means had to be found to put an end to the increasing +disorder. Accordingly the Court in October, 1666, commanded the +presence of all the preaching elders and ministers within the colony +at a synod to find "some way or means to bring those ecclesiastical +matters that are in difference in the severall Plantations to an +issue." The Court felt obliged to change the name of the appointed +meeting from "synod" to "assembly" to avoid the jealousy of the +churches. They were afraid that the civil power would overstep its +authority, and by calling a synod, composed of elders only, establish +a precedent for the exclusion of lay delegates from such bodies. +Before this "assembly" could meet, it was shorn of influence through +the politics of the conservative Hartford faction, who succeeded in +passing a bill at the session of the Commissioners of the United +Colonies, which read:-- + + That in matters of common concern of faith or order necessitating + a Synod, it should be a Synod composed of messengers from all the + colonies. [44] + +Accordingly, Connecticut's next step was to invite Massachusetts to +join in a synod to debate seventeen questions of which several had +been submitted to the Synod of 1657, and had remained +unanswered. Among them were the questions of the right to vote in the +choice of minister; of minority rights; and where to appeal in cases +of censure believed to be unmerited.[ah] + +Massachusetts courteously replied that the questions would be +considered if submitted in writing; but she was at heart so +indifferent that negotiations for a colonial synod lapsed, and +Connecticut was left to adjust the differences in her +churches. Consequently, in May, 1668, the Court,-- + + for promoting and establishing peace in the churches and + plantations because of various apprehensions in matters of + discipline respecting membership and baptism,-- + +appointed a committee of influential men in the colony to search out +the rules for discipline and see how far persons of "various +apprehensions" could walk together in church fellowship. This +committee reported at the October session, and the Court, after +accepting their decision, formally declared the Congregational church +established and its older customs approved, asserting that-- + + Whereas the Congregationall churches in these partes for the + generall of their profession and practice have hitherto been + approued, we can doe no less than still approue and countenance + the same to be without disturbance until a better light in an + orderly way doth appeare; but yet foreasmuch as sundry persons of + worth for prudence and piety amongst us are otherwise perswaded + (whose welfare and peaceable satisfaction we desire to + accommodate) This Court doth declare that all such persons being + also approued to lawe as orthodox and sound in the fundamentals of + Christian religion may haue allowance of their perswasion and + profession in church wayes or assemblies without disturbance. + +The liberal church party had won the privileges for which they had +contended, but the conservatives were not beaten, for it was upon +their conception of church government that the Court set its seal of +approval. The Court had been tolerant, and the churches must be also. +Upon such terms, the old order was to continue "until a better light +should appear." The tolerance toward changing conditions, thus +expressed, was further emphasized by the Court's command to the +churches to accept into full membership certain worthy people who +could not bring themselves to agree fully with all the old order had +demanded. The second part of the enactment just quoted was, strictly +speaking, Connecticut's first toleration act; yet it must be realized +that now, as later, the degree of toleration admitted no release from +the support of an unacceptable ministry or from fines for neglect of +its ministrations. Tolerance was here extended not to dissenters, but +only to varying shades of opinions within a common faith and fold. + +In the spirit of such legislation, the Court advised the Hartford +church to "walk apart." The advice was accepted, the church divided, +and the members who went out reorganized as the Second Church of +Hartford. Other discordant churches quickly followed this example. The +Second Church of Hartford immediately put forth a declaration, +asserting that its Congregationalism was that of the old original New +England type. The force of public opinion was so great, however, that +despite its declaration, the Second Church began at once to accept the +Half-Way Covenant. "The only result of their profession was to give a +momentary name to the struggle as between Congregationalist and +Presbyterian." [45] It was no effective opposition to the onward +development in Connecticut of the new order. When the churches found +that neither the old nor the new way was to be insisted upon, the +violence of faction ceased. The dual membership was accepted. For a +while, its line of cleavage away from the old system, with its local +church "as a covenanted brotherhood of souls renewed by the experience +of God's grace," was not realized, any more than that the new system +was merging the older type of church "into the parish where all +persons of good moral character, living within the parochial bounds, +were to have, as in England and Scotland, the privilege of baptism for +their households and of access to the Lord's table."[46] Another move +in this direction was taken when the splitting off of churches, and +the forming of more than one within the original parish bounds, +necessitated a further departure from the principles of +Congregationalism, and when the sequestration of lands for the benefit +of clergy became a feature of the new order.[47] In this formation of +new churches, the oldest parish was always the First Society.[ai] +Those formed later did not destroy it or affect its antecedent +agreements.[48] Only sixty-six years had passed (1603-1669) since the +publication of the "Points of Difference" between the Separatists, the +London-Amsterdam exiles, and the Church of England, wherein insistence +had been laid upon the principles of a covenanted church, of its +voluntary support, and of the unrighteousness of churches possessing +either lands or revenue. The pendulum had swung from the broad +democracy and large liberty of Brownism through Barrowism, past the +Cambridge Platform (almost the centre of its arc), and on through the +Half-Way Covenant to the beginning of a parish system. It had still +farther to swing before it reached the end of the arc, marked by the +Saybrook Platform, and before it began its slower return movement, to +rest at last in the Congregationalism of the past seventy years. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] Among the causes assigned for the removal of the Connecticut +colonists were the discontent at Watertown over the high-handed +silencing by the Boston authorities of Pastor Phillips and Teacher +Brown for daring to assert that the "churches of Rome were true +churches;" the early attempt of the authorities to impose a general +tax; the continued opposition to Ludlow; their desire to oppose the +Dutch seizure of the fertile valley of the Connecticut; their want of +space in the Bay Colony; and the "strong bent of their spirits to +remove thither," i.e. to Connecticut. + +[b] The _New England Way_ discarded the liturgy; refused to +accept the sacrament or join in prayer after such an "anti-Christian +form;" limited communion to church members approved by New England +standards, or coming with credentials from churches similarly +approved; limited the ministerial office, outside the pastor's own +church, to prayer and conference, denying all authority; and assumed +as the right of each church the power of elections, admissions, +dismissals, censures, and excommunications. The result, in that day of +intense championship of religious polity and custom, was to create +disturbance and discord among the English Independent churches. The +correspondence between the divines of New England and old England was +in part to avoid the "breaking up of churches." + +[c] J. R. Green, _Short Hist. of the English People_, +534-538. The great popular signing of the Covenant in Scotland was in +1638. + +[d] The original intention, in 1642, in regard to the composition of +the Westminster Assembly was to have noted divines from abroad. It was +proposed to invite Rev. John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and John Davenport +from New England. Rev. Thomas Hooker thought the subject was not one +of sufficient ecclesiastical importance for so long and difficult a +journey, while the Rev. John Davenport could not be spared because of +the absence of other church officers from New Haven.--H. M. Dexter, +_Congr. as seen_, etc., p. 653. + +Congregationalists or Independents in the sittings of the Assembly +pleaded for liberty of conscience to all sects, "provided that they +did not trouble the public peace." (Later, Congregationalists +differentiated themselves from the Independents by adding to the +principle of the independence of the local church the principle of the +local sisterhood of the churches.) In the Assembly, averaging sixty or +eighty members, Congregationalism was represented by but five +influential divines and a few of lesser importance. There were also +among the members some thirty laymen. The Assembly held eleven hundred +and sixty-three sittings, continuing for a period of five years and +six months. During these years the Civil War was fought; the King +executed; the Commonwealth established with its modified state-church, +Presbyterian in character. Intolerance was held in check by the power +of Cromwell and of the army, for the Independents had made early and +successful efforts to win the soldiery to their standard.--Philip +Schaff, _Creeds of Christendom_, 727-820. + +[e] W. Walker, _Creeds and Platforms_, p. 136, note 2. + + +[f] The _New England Way_ defended its changes from English +custom under three heads: (1) That things, inexpedient but not utterly +unlawful in England, became under changed conditions sinful in New +England. (2) Things tolerated in England, because unremovable, were +shameful in the new land where they were removable. (3) Many things, +upon mature deliberation and tried by Scripture, were found to be +sinful. But: "We profess unfeignedly we separate from the +corruptions, which we conceive to be left in your Churches, and from +such Ordinances administered therein as we feare are not of God but of +men; and for yourselves, we are so farre from separating as visible +Christians as that you are under God in our hearts (if the Lord would +suffer it) to live and die together; and we look at sundrie of you as +men of that eminent growth in Christianitie, that if there be any +visible Christians under heaven, amongst you are the men, which for +these many years have been written in your forehead ('Holiness to the +Lord'): and this is not to the disparagement of ourselves or our +practice, for we believe that the Church moves on from age to age, its +defects giving way to increasing purity from reformation to +reformation."--J. Davenport, _The Epistle Returned, or the Answer to +the Letter of Many Ministers_. + +A number of treatises upon church government and usage were printed in +the memorable year 1643, several of which had previously circulated in +manuscript. In 1637 was received the _Letter of Many Ministers in +Old England, requesting the Judgment of their Reverend Brethren in New +England and concerning Nine Positions_. It was answered by John +Davenport in 1639. _A Reply and Answer_ was also a part of this +correspondence, which was first published in 1643, as was also Richard +Mather's _Church Government and Church Covenant Discussed_, the +latter being a reply to _Two and Thirty Questions_ sent from +England. By these, together with J. Cotton's _Keyes_ and other +writings, and by Thomas Hooker's great work _Survey of the Summe of +Church Discipline_ (approved by the Synod of 1643), every aspect of +church polity and usage was covered. + +[g] Hingham church preferred the Presbyterian way. Concord was absent, +lacking a fit representative. Boston and Salem at first refused to +attend, questioning the General Court's right to summon a synod and +fearing lest such a summons should involve the obedience of all the +represented churches to the decisions of the conference. The +modification of the summons to the "desire" of the court, and the +entreaty of their leaders, finally overcame the opposition in these +churches. In fact, delegates to the Court, representing at least +thirty or forty churches, had hesitated to accept the original summons +of the Court when reported as a bill for calling the synod. Although +the Court "made no question of their lawful power by the word of God +to assemble the churches, or their messengers upon occasion of +counsell, or anything which may concern the practice of the churches," +it decided to modify the phrasing of the order.--H. M. Dexter, +_Congr. as seen_, p. 436. _Magnalia_, ii, +209. _Mass. Col. Rec._ ii, 154-156, also iii, 70-73. + +[h] "This Synod having perused with much gladness of heart the +confession of faith published by the late reverend assembly in +England, do judge it to be very holy, orthodox and judicious, in all +matters of faith, and do hereby freely and fully consent thereto for +the substance thereof. Only in those things which have respect to +church-government and discipline, we refer ourselves to the Platform +of Church-discipline, agreed upon by this present assembly."--Preface +to the Cambridge Platform, quoted in W. Walker, _Creeds and +Platforms_, p. 195. + +[i] In many parts the wording of the Platform is almost identical with +passages from the foremost ecclesiastical treatises of the period, +and, naturally, since John Cotton, Richard Mather, and Ralph Partridge +were each requested to draft a "Scriptural Model of Church +Government." The Platform conformed most closely to that of Richard +Mather. The draft by Ralph Partridge of Plymouth still +exists. Obviously, the Separatist clergyman did not emphasize so +strongly the rule of the eldership which New England church life in +general had developed. Otherwise his plan did not differ essentially +from that of Mather. + +[j] "Even now, after a lapse of more than two hundred years the +Platform (notwithstanding its errors here and there in the application +of proof texts, and its one great error in regard to the power of the +civil magistrate in matters of religion) is the most authentic +exposition of the Congregational church as given in the +scriptures."--Leonard Bacon, in _Contributions to the Ecclesiastical +History of Connecticut_, ed. of 1865, p. 15. + +[k] Cambridge Platform, chap. ii. + +[l] _Ibid._ chap. ii. + +[m] Cambridge Platform, chap. iii. + +[n] The definition of the rule of the elders, given by the Rev. Samuel +Stone of Hartford, was "A speaking aristocracy in the face of a silent +democracy." + +[o] Cambridge Platform, chaps, iv-x. + +[p] "We do believe that Christ hath ordained that there should be a +Presbytery or Eldership and that in every Church, whose work is to +teach and rule the Church by the Word and laws of Christ and unto whom +so teaching and ruling, all the people ought to be obedient and submit +themselves. And therefore a Government merely Popular or +Democratieal... is far from the practice of these Churches and we +believe far from the mind of Christ." However, the brethren should not +be wholly excluded from its government or its liberty to choose its +officers, admit members and censure offenders.--R. Mather, _Church +Government and Church Covenant Discussed,_ pp. 47-50. + +"The Gospel alloweth no Church authority or rule (properly so called) +to the Brethren but reserveth that wholly to the Elders; and yet +preventeth tyrannee, and oligarchy, and exorbitancy of the Elders by +the large and firm establishment of the liberties of the +Brethren."--J. Cotton, _The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,_ +p. 12. + +"In regard to Christ, the head, the government of the Church, is +sovereign and Monarchicall: In regard to the rule of the Presbytery, +it is stewardly and Aristocraticall: In regard to the people's power +in elections and censures, it is Democraticall."--_The Keys,_ +p. 36; see also _Church-Government and Church Covenant,_ +pp. 51-58. + +[q] Cambridge Platform, chap, x. + +[r] _Ibid._ chap. xiv. + +[s] Cambridge Platform, chap. ix. + +[t] _Ibid_. chap. ix. + +[u] _Ibid_. chap. xi. + +[v] _Ibid_. chap. xv. + +[w] Cambridge Platform, chap. xvi. + +[x] Cambridge Platform, chap. xvii. + +According to Hooker's _Survey_ the magistrates had the right to +summon synods because they have the right to command the faculties of +their subjects to deliberate concerning the good of the +State.--_Survey_, pt. iv, p. 54 _et seq_. + +[y] "However the controversy of the Connecticut River churches was +embittered by political interests, it was essentially nothing else +than the fermentation of that leaven of Presbyterianism which came +over with the later Puritan emigration, and which the Cambridge +Platform, with all its explicitness in asserting the rules given by +the Scriptures, had not effectually purged."--L. Bacon, in +_Contrib. to Eccl. Hist. of Conn_., p. 17. + +See also H. M. Dexter, _Congr. as seen in Lit_., pp. 468-69. + +Of the twenty-one contemporaneous documents, by various authors, none +mention baptism as in any way an issue in debate. "Dr. Trumbull +probably touches the real root of the affair when he speaks of the +controversy as one concerning the 'rights of the brotherhood,' and the +conviction, entertained by Mr. Goodwin, that these rights had been +disregarded." The question of baptism ran parallel with the question +under debate, incidentally mixed itself with and outlived it to be the +cause of a later quarrel that should split the church.--G. L. Walker, +_First Church in Hartford_, p. 154. + +[z] Mr. Stone admitted: "(1) I acknowledge yt it is a liberty of ye +church to declare their apprehensions by vote about ye fitness of a +p'son for office upon his tryall. + +(2) "I look at it as a received truth yt an officer may in some cases +lawfully hinder ye church from putting forth at this or yt time an act +of her liberty. + +(3) "I acknowledge ye I hindered ye church fro declaring their +apprehensions by vote (upon ye day in question) concerning +Mr. Wigglesworth's fitness for office in ye church of +Hartford."--_Conn. Historical Society Papers_, ii. 51-125. + +[aa] In the New Haven letter, she wrote, "We hear the petitioners, or +others closing with them, are very confident they shall obtain great +alterations both in civil government and church discipline, and that +some of them have procured and hired one as their agent, to maintain +in writing (as it is conceived) that parishes in England, consenting +to and continuing their meetings to worship God, are true churches, +and such persons coming over thither, (without holding forth any work +of faith) have all right to church privileges."--_New Haven +Col. Records_, iii, 186. + +[ab] That is, they assent to the main truths of the Gospel and promise +obedience to the church they desire to join. + +[ac] Among Massachusetts clergymen, Thomas Allen of Charlestown, 1642, +Thomas Shepherd, Cambridge, 1649, John Norton, Ipswich, 1653, held +that the baptismal privileges should be widened, and John Cotton +himself was slowly drifting toward this opinion. + +The Windsor church was the first in Connecticut to practice the +Half-Way Covenant, January 31, 1657-58, to March 19, 1664-65, when the +pastor, having doubts as to its validity, discontinued the practice +until 1668, when it was again resumed.--Stiles, _Ancient +Windsor_, p. 172. + +[ad] Stone held his party on the ground that over a matter of internal +discipline a synod had no control, and that he could exercise +Congregational discipline upon any seceders. The immediate result was +the removal of the discontented to Boston or to Hadley; where, +however, they could not be admitted to another church until Stone had +released them from his. This he refused to do. Thus, he showed the +power of a minister, when backed by a majority, to inflict virtual +excommunication. This could be done even though his authority was open +to question.--J. A. Doyle, _Puritan Colonies_, ii, p. 77. + +[ae] Meanwhile the Massachusetts Synod (purely local) of 1662 stood +seven to one in favor of the Half-Way Covenant practice, and had +reaffirmed the fellowship of the churches according to the synodical +terms of the Cambridge Platform, as against a more authoritative +system of consociation, proposed by Thomas Shepherd of Cambridge. + +[af] It must be remembered that the "Church of England meant the +aggregate of English Christians, whether in the upshot of the +movements which were going on (1630-1660), their polity should turn +out to be Episcopal or Presbyterian, or something different from +either."--Palfrey, _Comprehensive Hist. of New England_, i, +p. 111. J. R. Green, _Short Hist. of the Eng. People_, p. 544. + +In England, Pitkin had been a member of the church of the +Commonwealth, and in all probability was not an Episcopalian or +Church-of-England man in the usual sense. + +[ag] Such an order could only produce further disturbance. Stratford +and Norwalk protested. As a rule the order was most unwelcome in the +recently acquired New Haven colony. Mr. Pierson of Branford, with +some of the conservative church people of Guilford and New Haven, went +to New Jersey to escape its consequences. + +[ah] Among the questions, still unanswered, which had been submitted +in 1657 were: (9) "Whether it doth belong to the body of a town, +collectively taken, jointly, to call him to be their minister whom the +church shall choose to be their officer." (13) "Whether the church, +her invitation and election of an officer, or preaching elder, +necessitates the whole congregation to sit down satisfied, as bound to +accept him as their minister though invited and settled without the +town's consent." (ll) "Unto whom shall such persons repair who are +grieved by any church process or censure, or whether they must +acquiesce in the churches under which they belong."--Trumbull, +_Hist. of Conn. i_, 302-3. + +[ai] In New England Congregationalism, the church and the +ecclesiastical society were separate and distinct bodies. The church +kept the records of births, deaths, marriage, baptism, and membership, +and, outside these, confined itself to spiritual matters; the society +dealt with all temporal affairs such as the care and control of all +church property, the payment of ministers' salaries, and also their +calling, settlement, and dismissal. + + + +CHAPTER V + +A PERIOD OF TRANSITION + + + Alas for piety, alas for the ancient faith! + +Though Massachusetts had been indifferent and had left Connecticut to +work out, unaided, her religious problem, the two colonies were by no +means unfriendly, and in each there was a large conservative party +mutually sympathetic in their church interests. The drift of the +liberal party in each colony was apart. The homogeneity of the +Connecticut people put off for a long while the embroilments, civil +and religious, to which Massachusetts was frequently exposed through +her attempts to restrain, restrict, and force into an inflexible mould +her population, which was steadily becoming more numerous and +cosmopolite. The English government received frequent complaints about +the Bay Colony, and, as a result, Connecticut, by contrast of her +"dutiful conduct" with that of "unruly Massachusetts," gained greater +freedom to pursue her own domestic policy with its affairs of Church +and State. Many of its details were unknown, or ignored, by the +English government. The period when the four colonies had been united +upon all measures of common welfare, whether temporal or spiritual, +had passed. There were now three colonies. One of these, much weaker +than the others, was destined within comparatively few years to be +absorbed by Massachusetts as New Haven had been by +Connecticut. Meanwhile, Massachusetts and Connecticut were developing +along characteristic lines and had each its individual problems to +pursue. While in ecclesiastical affairs the conservative factions in +the two colonies had much in common and continued to have for a long +time, the Reforming Synod of 1679-80, held in Boston, was the last in +which all the New England churches had any vital interest, because a +period of transition was setting in. This period of transition was +marked by an expansion of settlements with its accompanying spirit of +land-grabbing, and by a lowering of tone in the community, as material +interests superseded the spiritual ones of the earlier generations, +and as the Indian and colonial wars spread abroad a spirit of +license. In the religious life of the colonists, this transition made +itself felt not alone in the character of its devotees, but in the +ecclesiastical system itself, as it changed from the polity and +practice embodied in the Cambridge Platform to that of a later day, +and to the almost Presbyterian government expressed in the Saybrook +Platform of 1708. The transition in Massachusetts, in both secular +and religious development, varied greatly from that in +Connecticut. Hence, from the time of the Keforming Synod, the history +of Connecticut is almost entirely the story of its own career, +touching only at points the historical development of the other New +England colonies. On the religious side, it is the story of the +evolution of Connecticut's peculiar Congregationalism. The Reforming +Synod of 1679-80 had been called by the Massachusetts General Court +because, in the words of that old historian, Thomas Prince:-- + + A little after 1660, there began to appear Decay, And this + increased to 1670, when it grew very visible and threatening, and + was generally complained of and bewailed bitterly by the pious + among them (the colonists): and yet more to 1680, when but few of + the first Generation remained. [49] + +The reasons of this falling away from the standards of the first +generation were many. In the first place, the colonists had become +mere colonials. Upon the Stuart restoration, the strongest ties which +bound them to the pulsing life of the mother country, the religious +ones, were severed. The colonists ceased to be the vanguard of a great +religious movement, the possible haven of a new political +state. Though they received many refugees from Stuart conformity, the +religious ties which bound them to the English nonconformists were +weakened, and still more so when both the once powerful wings of the +Puritan party, Presbyterian and Independent, were alike in danger of +extinction. Shortly after the Revolution of 1688, when, under the +larger tolerance of William and Mary, the Presbyterians and +Independents strove to increase their strength by a union based upon +the "Heads of Agreement," English and colonial nonconformity moved for +a brief time nearer, and then still farther apart. The "Heads of +Agreement"[a] was a compromise so framed as to admit of acceptance by +the Presbyterian who recognized that he must, once for all, give up +his hope of a national church, and by the Independent anxiously +seeking some bond of authority to hold together his weak and scattered +churches. After this compromise, the religious life of the colonies +ceased to be of vital importance to any large section of the English +people. After the Restoration the colonial agents became preeminently +interested in secular affairs, in political privileges, and commercial +advantages. The reaction was felt in the colonies by generations who +lacked the heroic impulses of their fathers, their constant incentive, +and their high standards. Moreover, the education of the second and +third generation could not be like that of the first. The percentage +of university men was less. New Harvard could not supply the place of +old Cambridge. If life was easier, it was more material. + +Against such conditions as these, the Reforming Synod made little +headway.[b] It set forth in thirteen questions the offenses of the day +and in the answer to each suggested remedies. To these questions and +answers the synod added a confession of faith. This last was a +reaffirmation of the Westminster Confession of Faith as amended and +approved by Parliament, or that found in the Savoy Declaration.[c] In +respect to church government, the Reforming Synod confirmed the +"substance of the Platform of Discipline agreed upon by the messengers +of these Churches at Cambridge, Anno Domini, 1648," [50] desiring the +churches to "continue steadfast in the _Order of the Gospel_ +according to what is therein declared from the Word of God." Cotton +Mather in the "Magnalia," [5l] writing twenty years later, gives four +points of departure from the Cambridge polity by the Reforming +Synod. First, occasional officiations of ministers outside their own +churches were authorized; secondly, there was a movement to revive the +authority and office of ruling elder and other officers; thirdly, +"plebeian ordination," or lay ordination, ordination by the hands of +the brethren of the church in the absence of superior officers, was no +longer allowed;[d] and fourthly, there was a variation from the +"personal and public confession" in favor of a private examination by +the pastor of candidates for church-membership, though the earlier +custom was still regarded as "lawful, expedient and useful." With +reference to the office of ruling elder, it had been done away with in +many churches, partly because of lack of suitable men to fill the +office, partly because of the mistakes of incompetents, and partly +because of a growing doubt as to the Scriptural sanction for such an +office. In many churches the office of teacher had also been +abolished, the pastor inheriting all the authority formerly lodged in +the eldership, and as he retained his power of veto, it came about +that the churches were largely in the power of one man. + +Plymouth and Connecticut colonies strongly approved the work of this +local Massachusetts synod. As a result of the interest excited by its +suggestions to increase church discipline, for laws to encourage +morality and Christian instruction, and for renewed zeal on the part +of individuals in godly living, a goodly number of converts were +immediately added to the churches throughout all the colonies. Of +these, the larger number were admitted on the Half-Way Covenant. But +times had changed, and the churches could not keep pace. The attempts +to enforce religion were fruitless,[e] and only go to show that +political interests, that wars,[f] with their accompanying excitement +and license, and that engrossing civil affairs had torn men's minds +from the old interests in religious controversies and in religious +customs. + +The Church itself had deteriorated as the towns in their civil +capacity had undertaken the support of the minister and to collect his +rates. Even earlier began, also, the gradual change by which the +election of the minister passed from the small group of church +communicants, or full membership, to the larger body of the Society, +and finally to the town. This change was partly brought about through +the increasing acceptance of the Half-Way Covenant with its attendant +results. In some localities, "owning the Covenant" and presenting +one's children for baptism came to be considered not as a necessary +fulfilling of inherited duties (because of inherited baptismal +privileges) and the consequent recognition of moral obligations, but +as meritorious acts, having of themselves power to benefit the +participants. Further, the rite of baptism, confined at first to +children one at least of whose parents had been baptized, was later +permitted to any for whom a satisfactory person--any one not +flagrantly immoral--could be found to promise that the child should +have religious training. Still another factor in the lowering of +religious life was Stoddardeanism, or the teaching of the Rev. Solomon +Stoddard of Northampton, Massachusetts, a most powerful preacher and +for many years the most influential minister throughout the +Connecticut valley. As early as 1679, he began to teach that baptized +persons, who had owned the covenant, should be admitted to the Lord's +Supper, so that the rite itself might exercise in them a regenerating +grace. In its origin, this teaching was probably intended as a protest +against a morbid, introspective, and weakening self-examination on the +part of many who doubted their fitness to go to communion. But as a +result of the interworking of this teaching and of the practice of the +Half-Way Covenant, church membership came in time to include almost +any one not openly vicious, and willing to give intellectual, or +nominal, assent to church doctrines and also to a few church +regulations. With the change, the large body of townsmen became the +electors of the minister. Cotton Mather in the "Ratio Disciplinæ" [52] +illustrates these changing conditions when he tells us that the +communicants felt that the right to elect the minister was invested in +them as the real church of Christ, and that, in order to avoid strife +or the defeat of their candidate by the majority of the town, they +would customarily propose a choice between two nominees. + +Carelessness of the churches in admitting members had had its +counterpart in the carelessness of the towns in admitting +inhabitants. Very early, as early as 1658, the Connecticut General +Court had been obliged to call them to order. The March session of +1658-59 had limited the franchise to all inhabitants of twenty-one +years of age or over who were householders (that is, married men), and +who had thirty pounds estate, or who had borne office. This was +shortly changed to "thirty pounds of proper _personal_ estate," +or who had borne office. The ratable estate in the colony averaged +sixty pounds per inhabitant at this time. Up to March, 1658-59, the +towns had admitted inhabitants by a majority vote. These admitted +inhabitants, armed with a certificate of good character from their +town, presented themselves before the General Court as candidates for +the freeman's franchise, and were admitted or not as the Court saw +fit. Disfranchisement was the penalty for any scandalous behavior on +the part of the successful candidate. One reason for the new and +restrictive legislation was that from 1657 to 1660, from some cause +unknown, large numbers of undesirable colonists flocked into the +Connecticut towns, and thus it happened that, as the Church broadened +her idea of membership, the State had need to limit its conception of +democracy. Consequently, it narrowed the franchise by adding to the +original requirements a large property qualification, and continued to +demand the certificates of good character. Moreover, the candidates +were further required to present their credentials in October, and +they were not to be passed upon until the next session of the Court in +the following April. This two-fold change in the religious and +political life of the colony gave greater flexibility and greater +security, for "with church and state practically intertwined, the +theory of the one had been too narrow and of the other too broad." +[53] After the change in the franchise, records of the towns show that +there was less disorder in admitting inhabitants and more care taken +as to their personal character. + +As the townsmen became the electors of the minister, and when the new +latitude in membership had been accepted by the churches, there soon +appeared a growing slackness of discipline and also an increase of +authority in the hands of the ministers and their subordinate +deaconry. This excess of authority in the hands of one man tended to +one-man rule and to frequent friction between the minister and his +people. As a result councils might be called against councils in the +attempt to settle questions or disputes between pastors and +people. Consequently, among conservatives, there came to be the +feeling that there ought to be some authoritative body to supervise +the churches,--one to which both pastor and people could appeal +disputed points. + +In Massachusetts, the Connecticut colonists saw a strenuous attempt to +establish such an authority. Between 1690 and 1705, the Massachusetts +clergy had revived the early custom of fortnightly meetings of +neighboring ministers. The new associations were purely voluntary +ones for mutual assistance, for debate upon matters of common +interest, or for consultation over special difficulties, whether +pertaining to churches or to their individual members, which might be +brought before them. These associations grew in favor, and later +became a permanent feature of New England Congregationalism. Because +they were received with so much, favor at the time of their revival, +the conservative Massachusetts clergy attempted in the "Proposals of +1705" to increase the ministerial and synodical power within the +churches, and to bring about a reformation in manners and morals by +giving to these associations very large and authoritative powers. The +Proposals provided that all ministers should be joined in Associations +for mutual help and advice; for licensing candidates for the ministry; +for providing for pastorless churches; for a general oversight of +religion, and for the examination of charges brought against their own +members. Standing Councils, composed of delegates from the +Associations and also of a proper number of delegates (apparently +laymen) to represent the membership of the churches, were to be +established. These were to control all church matters throughout the +colony that were "proper for the consideration of an ecclesiastical +council," and obedience to their judgments was to be enforced under +penalty of forfeiture of church-fellowship. The Proposals were +approved by the majority of the Massachusetts clergy; but the liberal +party within the churches would not accede to their demands, and the +General Court would not sanction the Proposals in the face of such +opposition. Consequently, the essential feature of the Proposals, the +Standing Councils, was never adopted. But the attempt to establish +them invigorated the Associations, and the licensing of candidates was +arranged for. + +Many people in Connecticut approved the tenor of the Proposals and +desired a similar system. Moreover, there never was a time when the +General Court was so ready to delegate to an ecclesiastical body the +control of the churches. The trustees of the young college, Yale, the +most representative gathering of clergymen in the colony, were anxious +to have the Court establish some system of ecclesiastical government +stronger than that existing among the churches, and to have it send +out some approved confession of faith and discipline. Consequently, +when, in 1708, Guerdon Saltonstall,[g] the popular ex-minister of New +London, was raised to the governor's chair, the time seemed ripe for a +move to satisfy the widespread demand. In response to it, the May +session of the General Court-- + + from their own observation and the complaints of many others, + being made sensible of the defects of the discipline of the + churches of this government, arising from want of a more explicit + asserting of the rules given for that in the holy scriptures [saw + fit] to order and require the ministers of the several churches in + the several counties of this government to meet together at their + respective countie towns, _with such messengers as the churches + to which they belong_ shall see cause to send with them on the + last day of June next, there to consider and agree upon those + methods and rules for the management of ecclesiastical discipline + which shall be judged agreable and conformable to the word of God, + and shall at the same meeting appoint two or more of their number + to meet together at Saybrook... where they shall compare the + results of the ministers of the several counties, and out of which + and from them to draw a form of ecclesiastical discipline, which + by two or more persons delegated by them shall be offered this + Court ... and be confirmed by them. [54] + +The bill was passed by the Upper House of the legislature and sent to +a conference from the Lower, May 22, 1708. It became a law May 22. In +the interim the words in italics were inserted in order to eliminate +any possible loss of liberty to the churches and to protect them from +a system of government, planned by ministers only, and enforced by the +General Court. [55] + +No records of the preliminary meeting have come down to us, but the +Preface of the Saybrook Platform reports such a meeting and that their +delegates met at Saybrook, September 9, 1708. At this second +convention, twelve ministers, of whom eight were trustees of Yale, and +four messengers were present. Their work, known as the Saybrook +Platform, declares in its Preface that-- + + we agree that the confession of faith owned & consented unto by + the Elders and messengers of the Chhs assembled at Boston in New + England, May 12, 1680 being the Second Session of that Synod be + Recommended to the Honbl. the Gen. Assembly of this Colony at the + next Session for their Publick testimony thereto as the faith of + the Chhs of this Colony. + + We agree also that the Heads of Agreement assented to by the + vnited Ministers formerly Called Presbyterian & Congregationall be + observed by the Chhs throout this Colony. + +The work of the synod, including also a series of authoritative +"Articles," was laid before the October session of the Court and +received its approval, the Court declaring its "great approbation of +such a happy agreement" and ordaining "that all churches within this +government that are or shall be thus united in doctrine, worship and +discipline, be and for the future shall be owned and acknowledged +established by law." [58] + +The period of transition was over. Connecticut had passed from the +individual consecration and democratic organization of the Cambridge +Platform to the comprehensive membership of a parish system and to the +authoritative councils, or ecclesiastical courts, provided for by the +Saybrook Articles. A consideration of them as the main points of the +Platform is next in order. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] The "Heads of Agreement" was destined to have more influence in +America than in England. + +[b] The order of the Massachusetts Court was "for the revisall of the +discipline agreed upon by the churches, 1647, and what else may +appeare necessary for the preventing schism, haeresies, prophaneness, +and the establishment of the churches in one faith and order of the +gospell." There was no questioning of the Court's right to +_summon_ this synod, as there had been in 1646-48. + +[c] The Savoy Declaration of October, 1658, was put forth by the +English leaders of the Independent, or Congregational, churches as a +confession of faith, and in its thirty articles contained a +declaration of church order. The formulated principles of church order +were suggested by the Cambridge Platform but were neither so clear nor +so fully stated as in the New England document. The Westminster +Confession, the Savoy Declaration, and the later Heads of Agreement, +were destined to have more influence in New England than in England, +where the effect was transient. The Reforming Synod preferred the +Savoy Declaration to the Westminster Confession because the terms of +the former were more strictly Congregational, and also because they +wished to hold a confession in common with their trans-Atlantic +brethren. The Massachusetts synod changed here and there a word in +order to emphasize the church-membership of children as a right +derived through the Half-Way Covenant, and also to state explicitly +the right of the civil authority to interfere in questions of +doctrine. + +[d] In 1660 the lay ordination of the Rev. Thomas Buckingham of +Saybrook, Conn., was strongly opposed by a council of churches, but it +was reluctantly yielded to the insistent church.--J. B. Felt, +_Eccl. History_, ii, 207. + +[e] "Whereas this Court [the General Court of Connecticut] in the +calamitous times of '75 and '76 were moved to make some laws for the +suppression of some provoaking evils which were feared to be growing +up amongst us: viz.--prophanation of the Sabbath; neglect of +catechizing children and servants and famaly prayer; young persons +shaking off the government of parents or masters; boarders and inmates +neglecting the worship of God in famalyes where they reside; tipling & +drinkeing; uncleanness; oppression in workmen and traders; which laws +have little prevailed. It is therefore ordered by this Court that the +selectmen constables and grand-jury men in their several plantations +shall have a special care in their respective places to promote the +due and full attendance of these aforementioned orders of this Court." + +[f] King Philip's War, 1675-76; the usurpation of Andros; King +William's War, 1689-97, with its expedition against Quebec; Queen +Anne's War, 1702-13. + +[g] Governor Saltonstall "was more inclined to synods and formularies +than any other minister of that day in the New England colonies." His +influence over the clergy was almost absolute. "The Saybrook Platform +was stamped with his seal and was for the most part an embodiment of +his views."--Hollister, _Hist. of Conn._ vol. ii, p. 585. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM + + + A Government within a Government. + +The Saybrook Platform subdivides into a Confession of Faith, the Heads +of Agreement, and the Fifteen Articles. + +The Confession of Faith is merely a recommendation of the Savoy +Confession as reaffirmed by the Synod of Boston or the Reforming Synod +of 1680. + +The Heads of Agreement are but a repetition of the articles that, +under the same title, were passed in London, in 1691, by fourteen +delegates from the Presbyterian and English Congregational +churches. Both parties to the Agreement had hoped thereby to establish +more firmly their churches and to give them the strength and dignity +of a strongly united body. The Heads of Agreement were drafted by +three men, Increase Mather, the Massachusetts colonial agent to +England, Matthew Mead, a Congregationalist, and John Hone, a +Presbyterian, who in his earlier years and by training was a +Congregationalist. Naturally, between the influence of the framers +and the necessity for including the two religious bodies, this +platform inclined towards Congregationalism, but equal necessity led +it away from the freedom of the Cambridge Platform, after which it was +patterned. + +In the Heads of Agreement, the composition of the church is defined +according to Congregational standards, as is also the election of its +officers. The definition of the powers of the church is not strictly +Congregational, because initiative action and governing powers are +intrusted to the eldership, while, to the brethren, there is given +only the privilege of assenting to such measures as the elders may +place before them. The membership in the church, as defined, is +semi-Congregational; i. e., in order to become members, persons must +be "grounded in the Fundamental Doctrines of religion" and lead moral +lives, but they are eligible to communion only after the declaration +of their desire "to walk together according to Gospel Rule." +Concerning this declaration the statement is made that "different +degrees of _Expliciteness_ shall in no way hinder such Churches +from owning each other as _Instituted Churches_." Furthermore, +no one should be pressed to declare the time and manner of his +conversion as proof of his fitness to be received as a communicant. +Such an account would, however, be welcome. With reference to +parochial bounds, introduced into the primitive Congregationalism of +New England, but always existing in the English Presbyterian system, +the Heads of Agreement declare them to be "not of Divine Right" but-- + + for common Edification that church members should live near one + another, nor ought they to forsake their church for another + without its consent and recommendation. + +In respect to the ministry, the Heads of Agreement affirm that it +should be learned and competent and approved; that ordinarily, pastors +should be considered as ministers only while they continue in office +over the church that elected them to its ministry; that ordinarily, in +their choosing and calling, advice should be sought from neighboring +churches, and that they should be ordained with the aid of neighboring +pastors. In the matter of installation into a new office of an elder, +previously ordained, churches are to exercise the right of individual +judgment and of preference as to reordination. This same right of +preference is to be exercised in deciding whether or not a church +should support a ruling elder. The Heads of Agreement assert that in +the intercommunion of churches there is to be no subordination among +them, and that there ought to be frequent friendly consultations +between their "_Officers_." There are to be "Occasional Meetings +of Ministers" of several churches to consult and advise upon "weighty +and difficult cases," and to whose judgments, "particular Churches, +their respective _Elders_ and _Members_, ought to have a +reverential regard, and not dissent therefrom, without _apparent_ +grounds from the word of God." The Heads of Agreement command churches +to yield obedience and support to the civil authority and to be ready +at all times to give the magistrates an account of their affairs. + +The Heads of Agreement were the most liberal part of the Saybrook +Platform, and were not considered sufficiently +authoritative. Accordingly,-- + + for the Better Regulation of the Administration of Chh Discipline + in Relation to all Cases Ecclesiastical both in Particular Chhs + and In Councils to the full Determining and Executing of the Rules + in all such cases,[57]-- + +were added certain resolutions, known as the "Fifteen Articles." They +are in reality the Platform, for all that goes before them is but a +reaffirmation of principles already accepted, and the new thing in the +document, the advance in ecclesiasticism, is the increased authority +permitted and, later, enforced by these Fifteen Articles. + +The Articles affirm that power and discipline in connection with all +cases of scandal that may arise within a church, ought, the brethren +consenting, to be lodged with the elder or elders; and that in all +difficult cases, the pastor should take advice of the elders of the +neighboring churches before proceeding to censure or pass judgment. In +order to facilitate both discipline and mutual oversight, the Articles +provide that elders and pastors are to be joined in Associations, +meeting at least twice a year, to consult together upon questions of +ministerial duty and upon matters of mutual benefit to their +churches. From these Associations, delegates were to be chosen +annually to meet in one General Association, holding its session in +the spring, at the time of the general elections. The Associations +were to look after pastorless churches and to recommend candidates for +the ministry. Up to this time a man's bachelor of arts degree had been +considered sufficient guarantee that he would make a capable +minister. Henceforth, there could no longer be complaint that "there +was no uniform method of introducing candidates to the ministry nor +sufficient opportunity for churches to confer together in order to +their seeing and acting harmoniously." [58] In order that there should +be no more confusion arising from calling councils against councils +with their often conflicting judgments, the Articles formed +Consociations, or unions of churches within certain limits, usually +those of a county. These Consociations were to assist upon all great +or important ecclesiastical occasions. They were to preside over all +ordinations or installations; they were to decide upon the dismissal +of members, and upon all difficulties arising within any church within +their district. If necessary, Consociations could be joined in +council. Their decisions were to have the force of a judgment or +sentence _only_ when they were "approved by the major part of the +elders present and by such a number of the messengers"--one or two +from each church--as should constitute a majority vote. A church could +call upon its Consociation for advice before sentencing an offender, +but the offender could not appeal to the Consociation without the +consent of his church. By these last provisions, authority and power +tended still more to concentrate in the hands of the elders. The +Fifteen Articles, though they did not make the judgments of the +Consociations decisive, urged upon individual churches a reverent +regard for them. + +The attitude of the churches towards these Fifteen Articles varied, +and it was already known in the Synod that such would be the case. +Some churches would find them more palatable than others. Many were +already converts to the Rev. Solomon Stoddard's insistent teaching +that "a National Synod is the highest ecclesiastical authority upon +earth," [59] that every man must stand to the judgment of a National +Synod. Even five years before the convening of the Synod at Saybrook, +there had issued from a meeting of the Yale trustees,[a] "altogether +the most representative ecclesiastical gathering in the colony," a +circular letter which urged the Connecticut ministers to agree on some +unifying confession of creed, and that such be recommended by the +General Court to the consideration of the people. The immediate answer +to the letter, if any, is unknown. Trumbull says that-- + + the proposal was universally acceptable, and the churches and the + ministers of the several counties met in a consociated council and + gave their assent to the Westminster and Savoy Confessions of + Faith. [60] + +It seems that they also "drew up certain rules of ecclesiastical +discipline as preparatory to a General Synod which they still had in +contemplation,"[61] but took no further step to obtain the approval of +the Court. This first definite move toward the Saybrook system bore +fruit when the Fifteen Articles were added to the Platform. Their +authoritative tone was to satisfy those within the churches who +preferred Presbyterian classes and synods, while their interpretation +could be modified to please the adherents of a purer Congregationalism +by reading them in the light of the Heads of Agreement which preceded +them. Of their possible purport two great authorities upon +Congregationalism speak as follows. Dr. Bacon writes:-- + + The "Articles" by whomsoever penned, were obviously a compromise + between the Presbyterian interest and the Congregational; and like + most compromises, they were (I do not say by design) of doubtful + interpretation. Interpreted by a Presbyterian, they might seem to + subject the Churches completely to the authoritative government of + classes or presbyteries under the name of consociations. + Interpreted by a Congregationalist, they might seem to provide for + nothing more than a stated Council, in which neighboring Churches, + voluntarily confederate, could consult together, and the proper + function of which should be not to speak imperatively, but, when + regularly called, to "hold forth light" in cases of difficulty or + perplexity.[62] + +Dr. Dexter sums them up in the following words:-- + + Taken by themselves, the fifteen articles were stringent enough to + satisfy the most ardent High Churchmen among the + Congregationalists of that day; taken, however, in connection with + the London document previously adopted, and by the spirit of + which--apparently--they were always to be construed, their + stringency became matter of differing judgment, so that what on + the whole was their intent has never been settled to this + day. [63] + +In accordance with the system of government outlined in the Platform, +the churches of the colony were at once formed into five Associations +and five Consociations, one each in New Haven, New London, and +Fairfield counties, and two in Hartford. In later years, new bodies +were organized, as the other four Connecticut counties were set off +from these original ones. The churches of the New Haven county +Consociation, long cleaving to the purest Congregationalism, refused +to adopt the Platform until they had recorded their liberal +construction of it. Fairfield went to the other extreme, and put on +record their acceptance of the Consociations as church +courts. Hartford and New London accepted the Platform as a whole, as +it came from the synod, leaving to time the decision as to its loose +or strict construction. + +A legislative act was necessary to make the Platform the legal +constitution of the Congregational Establishment. Such an act +immediately followed the presentation of the report by the committee, +whom the Saybrook convention, in accordance with the Court's previous +command, sent to the Assembly. Having examined the Platform, the +Legislature declared its strong approval of such a happy agreement, +and in October, 1708, enacted that-- + + all the Churches within this government that are, and shall be + thus united in doctrine, worship and discipline, be, and for the + future shall be, owned and acknowledged, established by law: + + Provided always that nothing herein shall be intended or construed + to hinder or prevent any society or church that is or shall be + allowed by the laws of this government, who soberly differ or + dissent from the united churches hereby established, from + exercising worship and discipline in their own way, and according + to their conscience. [64] + +The purport of this proviso was to safeguard churches which had been +approved according to the standards formerly set up by the Court, and +also to prevent the Act of Establishment from seeming to contradict a +"Toleration Act for sober dissenters" from the colony church that had +been passed at the preceding May session. Out of this proviso grew a +misunderstanding in the Norwich church, which happens also to furnish +a typical illustration of the difficulties sometimes encountered in +trying to collect a minister's salary. + +When Mr. Woodward, pastor of the Norwich church, read the act +establishing the Saybrook Platform, he omitted the proviso. The +Norwich deputies, who had been present at the passage of the act, +immediately informed the people of the provision which the Court had +made for the continuance of those churches of which it had previously +approved and which might be reluctant to adopt the stricter terms of +the new system, at least until their value had been demonstrated. For +this behavior, the deputies were censured by the pastor and by the +majority of the church, who sided with him. Thereupon, the minority +withdrew and for three months worshiped apart. Then the breach was +healed, though seeds of discord remained. By 1714, six years later, +they had germinated and had attained such development that it was very +difficult to collect the minister's salary. In Norwich, as elsewhere, +there had formerly been a custom of collecting the ministerial rates +together with those of the county. This custom had arisen because of +difficulty in collecting the former, and in 1708 [65] this practice +was legalized, provided that in each case the minister made formal +application to have his rates thus collected. In the year 1714 and the +following year the General Court was obliged to issue a special order +commanding the town of Norwich to fulfill its agreement with their +minister and to pay his salary in full. The second year, the Court +added the injunction that the money should be collected by the +constables. But at the session following the order, the Norwich +deputies informed the Court that, owing to differences existing among +their townsmen, they had not seen fit to urge its commands upon their +people. Upon learning that Mr. Woodward's family were actually +suffering, the Court appointed a date, and ordered the Norwich +constables to produce at the time set a receipt, signed by Mr. +Woodward, and showing that his salary had been paid in full. If the +receipt was not forthcoming at the appointed time, the secretary of +the colony was empowered to issue, upon application, a warrant to +distrain all or any unpaid portion of the minister's salary from the +constables, and, also, any additional costs. This legislation seems to +have had due effect, though feeling ran so high that, in the following +year, it was decided to divide the church. When the two parishes were +formed, Mr. Woodward retired, and the life of the divided church was +continued under new ministers. + +From the adoption of the Saybrook Platform, the Connecticut churches +were for many years preeminently Presbyterian in character. The terms +Congregational and Presbyterian were often used interchangeably. As +late as 1799, the Hartford North Association, speaking of the +Connecticut churches, declared them "to contain the essentials of the +Church of Scotland or Presbyterian Church in America." The General +Association in 1805 affirmed that "The Saybrook Platform is the +constitution of the Presbyterian Church in Connecticut."[b] Whether +called by the one name or the other, Presbyterianized +Congregationalism was the firmly established state religion, for under +the Saybrook system the local independence of the churches was largely +sacrificed. The system further exalted the eldership and the pastoral +power. It replaced the sympathetic help and advisory assistance of +neighboring churches by organized associations and by the authority of +councils. + +In the new system the ecclesiastical machinery which, at first, +brought peace and order, soon developed into a barren autonomy and +gave rise to rigid formalism in religion, with its consequent baneful +results upon the spiritual and moral character of the people. The +Established Church had attained the height of its security and power, +with exclusive privileges conferred by the legislature. That body had +turned over to the "government within a government" the whole control +of the church and of the religious life of the colony, and had endowed +it with ecclesiastical councils which rapidly developed into +ecclesiastical courts. + +"There was no formal coercive power; but the public provision for the +minister's support, and the withdrawal of it from recalcitrant members +formed a coercive power of no mean efficiency." [66] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] The charter for the college, together with an annual grant of +three hundred dollars, was granted in 1701. None but ministers were to +be trustees. + +[b] The Hartford North Association in 1799 gave "information to all +whom it may concern that the Constitution of the Churches in the State +of Connecticut, founded on the common usage and confession of faith, +Heads of Agreement, Articles of discipline adopted at the earliest +period of the settlement of the State, is not Congregational, but +contains the essentials of the Church of Scotland, or Presbyterian +Church in America, particularly, as it gives a decisive power to +Ecclesiastical Councils and a Consociation consisting of Ministers and +Messengers, or lay representatives, from the churches, is possessed of +substantially the same authority as a Presbytery." The fifteen +ministers at this meeting of the Hartford North Association declared +that there were in the state not more than ten or twelve +Congregational churches, and that the majority were not, and never had +been, constituted according to the Cambridge Platform, though they +might, "loosely and vaguely, though improperly," be "termed +Congregational Churches."--See MS. Records. Also G. L. Walker, +_First Church in Hartford_, p. 358. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM AND THE TOLERATION ACT + + + They keep the word of promise to our ear and break it to our + hope.--_Macbeth,_ Act V, Sc. viii. + +The Connecticut General Court incorporated in the act establishing the +Saybrook Platform the proviso-- + + that nothing herein shall be intended or construed to hinder or + prevent any Society or Church that is or shall he allowed by the + laws of this government, who soberly differ or dissent from the + United Churches hereby established from exercising worship and + discipline in their own way, according to their conscience. + +Here then was the measure of such religious toleration as could be +expected. It appears a liberal measure. It was liberal in that day and +generation, when men's minds were so firmly possessed by the belief +that civil order was closely dependent upon religious uniformity. The +exact purport of the proviso, however, can best be gauged by +considering it in connection with a legislative act that immediately +preceded it, and by studying the conditions which prompted or enforced +this earlier legislation, known as the Toleration Act of 1708.[a] + +As conditions were at its passage, the proviso applied only to certain +Congregational churches that, preferring the polity of the Cambridge +Platform, were determined to adhere to it. In earlier years, these +churches, with their exacting test of regenerative experience, had +constituted the majority. In later years, the Half-Way Covenant +practice and Stoddardeanism had shifted the relative position of +church parties. Now, the proviso represented that liberal-minded +party within the church who would extend tolerance to the minority who +still clung to the outgrown convictions and principles of an earlier +age. This tolerance was extended from a two-fold motive: for the +reason just assigned, and because the government hoped, by permitting +a liberal interpretation of the Saybrook Articles, to win over these +tolerated Congregational churches. It trusted that the anticipated +benefits, proceeding from the new order of church government, would +further convince them of the superior advantages derivable from the +Presbyterian or more authoritative rendering of the Saybrook +instrument, and that through such a policy, the ready acceptance of +the Saybrook Platform by all the churches in the colony would be +secured. Furthermore, it would not do for the colony to make an +important law, following the great English precedent of 1689 which had +granted toleration to dissenters, and then, within six months, frame a +constitution for its Established Church, so rigid that no room could +be found in the colony for any fundamental differences in faith or +practice. Consequently, the proviso was made to include both tolerated +Congregationalists and any dissenters who might in the future be +permitted to organize their own churches, or, in the words of the +Court, "any Society or Church that is or shall be allowed by the laws +of this government." Thus the proviso was practically forced into the +October legislation of the General Court by the passing of the +Toleration Act at its spring session, notwithstanding the fact that +its inclusion was in accord with the sentiment of the liberal party. + +Toleration Act and proviso notwithstanding, no rival church was +desired at this time in Connecticut. No rival creed was +recognized. True, there were a few handfuls of dissenters scattered +through the colony, but Congregationalism, with a strong tincture of +Presbyterianism, was almost the unanimous choice of the people. It was +largely outside pressure that had forced the passage of the Toleration +Act, even if it accounts for itself as a loyal following of the +English precedent of 1689. Although it had always been understood that +the colonies should make no laws repugnant to the organic or to the +common law of England, Connecticut was determined to protect as much +as possible her own approved church, to keep it free from the +contamination not only of infidels and heretics, but also from +Church-of-England dissenters and from all others. Accordingly she +placed side by side upon her statute book a Toleration Act with a +proviso in favor of her Established Church, and a Church platform with +a proviso for "sober dissenters" therefrom. + +The circumstances which led up to and enforced the passage of the +Toleration Act were many and varied. The motives were complex. +Considerations religious, political, social, and economic entered into +the problem which met the Connecticut legislators when they found +their colony falling into disfavor with the King. This problem, +resolved into its simplest terms, consisted in securing continued +exemption from external interference. If Connecticut could retain the +King's approval, she could prevent the intrigues of her enemies at the +English court and could control the situation in the colony, whatever +its aspects, secular or religious. And with reference to the latter, +she would still be able to exalt her Establishment and to keep +dissenters, however they might increase in kinds or numbers, in a +properly subordinated position. + +In order to obtain a grasp of the situation within the colony at the +time when its government concluded that the passing of the Toleration +Act would be politic, it is necessary to examine the status of the +dissenters there. Of these there were four classes, the Quakers or +Society of Friends, the Episcopalians, the Baptists, and the +Rogerines. Of these, the Quakers and the Episcopalians were the first +to make the Connecticut government forcibly realize that, if she +interfered with what they believed to be their rights, there would +probably have to be a settlement with the home government. But as the +efforts of these sects to interest the English government in their +behalf run parallel with and mix themselves up with other complaints +against Connecticut, it will make the history of the times clearer if +the early story of the Baptists and Rogerines is first told. + +The Baptists early appeared in New England, but it was not until 1665 +that Massachusetts permitted their organization into churches, and not +until 1700, only eight years before the Saybrook Platform, that Cotton +Mather wrote of them, "We are willing to acknowledge for our brethren +as many of them as are willing to be acknowledged." In her dislike of +them, Massachusetts had the full sympathy of Connecticut. And it was +with great dissatisfaction that the authorities of the latter colony +saw these dissenters, early in the eighteenth century, crossing the +Rhode Island boundary to settle within her territory. Accordingly, in +1704, the General Court of Connecticut refused them permission to +incorporate in church estate. When in the following year, in spite of +the legislature's refusal, they organized a church at Groton under +Valentine Wightman,[b] the Assembly proceeded to inflict the full +penalties of the law. While the Baptists had cheerfully paid all +secular taxes, they had made themselves liable to fines and +imprisonments by their refusal, on the ground of conscience, to pay +the ecclesiastical ones, and, as they continued to refuse, fines and +imprisonment and even flogging became their portion. Governor +Saltonstall, mild in his personal attitude toward the three other +groups of dissenters, thoroughly disapproved of the Baptists, seeming +to fear their growing influence in New England and their increasing +importance in the mother country. He believed in a policy of +restriction and oppression toward the mere handful of them that had +settled within his jurisdiction. + +Apart from the main body of the Baptists, there were in Connecticut a +number of Seventh-day Baptists and Rogerine Baptists or Rogerine +Quakers. There were a very few of them,--not more than a dozen in +1680.[c] Setting aside the earliest persecution of the Quakers, these +Rogerines were the first dissenters to fall under the displeasure of +the Connecticut authorities. They were the first to be systematically +fined, whipped, and imprisoned for conducting themselves contrary to +the laws for the support and honor of the Connecticut +Establishment. For this reason, though they were weak in numbers and +often an exasperating set of fanatics, they deserve a hearing. Their +persecution began about 1677, while these people were chiefly resident +in New London and the Seventh-day men were mostly members of the +Rogers family. Later, the Rogerines spread to Norwich and Lebanon and +their immediate vicinity. + +This sect of Rogerines arose from the intercourse through trade of two +brothers, John and James Rogers of New London, with the Sabbatarians +or Seventh-day Baptists of Rhode Island. These brothers were baptized +in 1674 and 1675, and their parents in the following year. All were +received as members of the Seventh-day church at Newport. This did not +trouble the Connecticut authorities, who appear not to have interfered +with the converts until they committed a flagrant offense and put +public dishonor upon the colony church; as in 1677, when elders of the +Rhode Island church arrived in New London to baptize the wife of +Joseph Rogers, another brother of the first two converts. The elders +selected for their baptismal ceremony a quiet spot about two miles +from the town. This did not suit John Rogers, who insisted that the +town was the only proper place, and led the little procession into +it. Mr. Hiscox, one of the elders, was seized while preaching and +carried before the magistrates, but was soon released. Deprived of +their leader, the Sabbatarians withdrew to another place, and John +Rogers, arrogating to himself the office of elder, performed the +baptismal service. From this time forth he began to draw disciples to +himself. When he pushed his personal opinions too far, the Newport +church attempted to discipline both him and his following, but, this +attempt failing, the Rogerines became henceforth a distinct sect. + +The Rogerines, though strictly orthodox in the fundamental articles of +the Christian faith, were opposed by the Connecticut magistrates as +teachers of doctrines tending to undermine religion, as a persistently +rebellious sect, and as notorious breakers of the peace. In faith and +practice, these Rogerines bore some resemblance to the Baptists and +also to the Quakers. Hence, they were often called Rogerine-Baptists +or Rogerine-Quakers. Like the earlier Baptists and the Quakers, they +believed it wrong to take an oath. They differed from the +Congregationalists chiefly in their form of administering baptism and +the Lord's supper and in their opposition to any paid ministry. Rogers +also claimed that there were certain tests of personal regeneration +which the Congregationalists denied. John Bolles, one of the later +leaders of the sect, declared the Congregational Sunday to be "a great +Idol in this Country, and all the Religion built on the Holiness of +the pretended Sabbath is Hypocrisy and further that it is contrary to +Scripture, for Christians to exercise Authority over one another in +matters of Religion." [67] Rogers, with less dignity and more +pugnaciousness, called the authorities "the scarlet beast" and the +Establishment a "harlot," hurling scriptural texts with rankling, +exasperating abusiveness in his determination to prove her customs +evil and anti-Christian. Not content with such railing, the Rogerines +determined to show no respect to their adversaries' opinions and +worship. Thus, while maintaining that there should be no _public_ +worship, Rogers, after his separation from the Seventh-day Baptists, +perversely chose Sunday as the day most convenient for the Rogerines +to hold their meetings. They not only exhorted and testified in the +streets, but forced their way into the churches, pestering the +ministers to argue disputed points. They offended in another way, +for, according to the colony law, they profaned the Sabbath by +working, claiming that, as all days were holy, all were alike good for +work. Fines and imprisonment began in 1677. They were continued in the +hope, held by the authorities, that they could suppress the Rogerines +by exactions which should melt away their estates. Sometimes these +penalties were unjust, as when John Rogers could rightly claim that he +was sentenced without benefit of jury, and, at another, that the +authorities had seized his son's cattle to settle the father's fines. +John Bolles pleaded against the injustice of forcing men "to pay Money +for his (the minister's) preaching when they did not hear him and +professed it was against their Consciences." [68] But such a plea was +many, many years in advance of his time. The Rogerines, important, in +their own estimate, as called of God, and angered by opposition, +seized upon every scriptural passage that bade them exhort and +testify, feeling it their duty to do so both in season and out. Had +they been willing to give up this practice in public, they would +probably have been left in comparative peace, for Governor Saltonstall +wrote to Rogers offering him protection for his followers if they +would consent to give up "testifying" and would hold their services +quietly and privately. Rogers refused upon the ground that he had a +right to use the colony churches for his preaching, since he and his +people were obliged to contribute to their maintenance. This was +logical, but not acceptable to the Connecticut magistrates, who +continued to cool the enthusiasm of the Rogerines by occasional heavy +penalties, and to look upon them as a set of fanatics, doomed to +self-extinction. + +The attitude of the Connecticut authorities at this time toward the +Quakers, or Society of Friends, was quite different from that assumed +toward the Baptists and Rogerines. A retrospect of their history in +the colony shows them to have been the earliest dissenters, and also +the ones to whom concessions, though only temporary, were first +made. Previous to the Restoration, the Quakers were the only +dissenters with whom Connecticut had to deal. They appeared in +Massachusetts in 1655, and in the following year New Haven colony +found no laws could be too severe for the "cursed sect of the +Quakers." The General Court of Connecticut seconded the efforts of +both New Haven and Massachusetts to exclude the obnoxious and +determined sect, but it soon decided that its fears had been greatly +exaggerated, and that mild laws and town legislation were +sufficient. Accordingly, town officers were instructed to prevent +Quakers settling in the colony, to forbid their books and writings, +and to break up their meetings. It was forbidden, however, to lay upon +them a fine of more than ten pounds or, under any circumstances, the +death penalty. + +While New Haven whipped, branded, and transported Quakers,[d] +Connecticut mildly enforced her laws against them, [69] and how mildly +the following incidents will show. In 1658, John Rous and John +Copeland, traveling preachers, reached Hartford. They were allowed to +hold a discussion in the presence of the governor and magistrates upon +"God is a Spirit." At its close, they were courteously informed that +the laws of the colony forbade their remaining in it, and were +requested to continue without further delay their journey into Rhode +Island. This request was heeded, but while on their way, to quote +Rous, "The Lord gave us no small dominion." It would seem as if the +wise Quaker had taken the benefit of the law which forbade his +remaining "more than fifteen days in a town," and, also, of the +friendly curiosity of the people along his route. Rous further +testified in behalf of Connecticut that "Among all the colonies found +we not like moderation as this; most of the magistrates being more +noble than those of the others." [70] A short time after Rous's visit, +two Quakers, who persisted in holding services, were arrested and +banished.[e] Still later, two women who attempted to conduct services +in Hartford met with similar treatment, of whom their historian +records: "Except that some extra apparel which they took with them was +sold by the jaoler to pay his fee, no act of persecution befell them +at Hartford." [71] As late as 1676, when the Congregationalists and +the constables of New London, with great violence, broke up a Friends' +meeting, held by William Edmundson, he tells us that "the sober people +were offended at them," [72] and that on the following Sunday, at "New +Hartford" (Hartford), after the regular morning service, he was +allowed to speak unhindered. The same afternoon, when he attempted to +speak in another meeting-house, the officers, urged on by the +minister, "haled me," he writes, "out of the worship-house, and hurt +my arm so that it bled." When he asked them if they thought that was +the right treatment of a man faint from fasting all day, they, with +excuses for the conduct of the minister and the magistrates, hurried +him to an inn. There the people were allowed to listen to his +discourse, and, the next morning, he was bidden to go freely on his +way. + +Most of the Connecticut Quakers were in the border towns. Few, if any, +organized societies were formed in Connecticut until about the time of +the Revolution. Their scattered converts were ministered to by +traveling preachers, and, where possible, members would cross the +boundaries to attend the Quarterly or Monthly Meetings in neighboring +Rhode Island, or possibly Massachusetts, or on Long Island. These +dissenters had quickly perceived the strength of union, and as early +as 1661 the Rhode Island Yearly Meeting had been established, with its +system of subordinate Quarterly and Monthly Meetings. Soon after, +Yearly Meetings at Philadelphia brought reports from the southern and +middle colonies. Those at Flushing, Long Island, collected news of +converts from New York as far east as the Connecticut River, while the +Yearly Meeting at Newport, Rhode Island, heard from all members east +of that river. The custom of exchanging yearly letters, giving the +gist of these three annual meetings, was soon instituted. After the +establishment of the London Yearly Meeting, the frequent exchange of +letters with the colonial Quakers, begun in 1662, was reinforced by +the exchange of English and American preachers. By similar means, the +whole Society the world over was bound closely together. Their common +interests were guarded, and every infraction of their liberties +known. If in any of the colonies, as in Connecticut, they were +oppressed for their refusal to pay ecclesiastical taxes and to bear +arms, the facts were known in England. Secular taxes they cheerfully +met, but others were against their conscience. They were excellent +citizens, and they were everywhere friendly with the Indians. Because +of this friendship, and because the Connecticut colony desired the +good offices of the Rhode Island authorities during the dangerous King +Philip's War, the General Court had decided to show favor to the few +Quakers who were then within the colony. Accordingly, in 1675, a bill +was passed temporarily releasing the Quakers from fines for absence +from public worship, provided "that they did not gather into +assemblies within the colony or make any disturbance." How long this +law was operative is uncertain, but probably until about 1702. It, is +omitted in the revision of the laws of that year, and Gough, in his +"History of the People called Quakers," says that the persecuting +spirit died away, but was renewed by Connecticut in 1702.[f] We know +some of the causes that probably led to its revival, such as the +extravagances of the Rogerines, the increase of the Baptists, and the +general feeling that the Congregational churches were inherently weak +among themselves before this threatening increase of external +foes. Moreover, in this same year, there began a very definite +propaganda in behalf of an American episcopate. The attempt to revive +persecution against the Quakers was unfortunate. They believed in +liberty of conscience as a natural, inalienable right, and its +practical exercise they meant to have. Their leaders were constant in +their loyal addresses and dignified petitions to the throne. The great +English Toleration Act had befriended them, and the Act of 1693 had, +by substituting affirmation for oath, allowed them to take full +advantage of the toleration measure. Such religious liberty as they +enjoyed in England, they meant to possess in England's colonies; and +when Connecticut, in 1702, again put on the thumb-screws of +persecution, these dissenters at once sent a protest across the seas. +Their great leader, William Penn, was again in favor at court and with +the Queen, who, in Privy Council, October 11, 1705, favorably heard +their petition and promptly annulled the Connecticut law of 1657 +against "Heretics, Infidels and Quakers," declaring it void and +repealed. "The repealing of this Act put a final period to the +persecuting of Quakers in New England." [73] To be more exact, it put +an end to persecution, but not to occasional fines or to legalized +taxes which the Quakers still considered unjust. But as Connecticut +had many serious problems on her hands at this time, she thought it +prudent to follow the lead of the Crown, and repealed the law of 1657, +in so far as it applied to the Quakers. + +The year that the Quakers scored this victory, the Episcopalians +lodged with the home government a serious complaint of the intolerance +that Connecticut showed towards members of the Church of England. They +complained that-- + + they have made a law that no Christians who are not of their + community, shall meet to worship God, or have a minister without + lycence from their Assembly; which law even extends to the Church + of England, as well as other professions tolerated in + England. [74] + +This was not the first time that such a complaint had been carried to +England. As early as 1665 [g] it had been made, within a year after +Connecticut had satisfied the Commissioners of Charles II, sending +them home convinced that the Church of England services would be +allowed in the colony as soon as there were settlers who desired +them."[h] As there were no Episcopalians in the colony then, nor for +nearly thirty years afterwards, and as Connecticut was in high favor +with the Stuarts, little heed was paid to the complaint at the time, +nor until long years afterwards, when it was coupled with graver +offenses. + +Back of the personal affront to the sovereign in the persecution or +oppression of members of the Church of England, there were graver +causes of offense such as the Crown regarded as mistakes, or even +misdemeanors. For many years Connecticut had been virtually an +independent and sovereign state within her own borders. Her charter +was a most liberal one. She had sought approval for it from the +sovereigns, William and Mary, and, while she had been unable to obtain +for it the crown's expressed approval, she had secured from the best +legal talent a judgment declaring it still valid. She continued to be +practically exempt from external interference with her domestic policy +for a number of years after the Revolution of 1688, yet from that time +on there was always at the English court a party, at first largely +influenced by Sir Edmund Andros and his following, who were either +jealous of Connecticut's charter or envious of her prosperity. They +were always scheming and ready to prejudice the king against his +colony, or to antagonize the Board of Trade. + +Within her own borders, Connecticut was peaceful, prosperous, and +contented. For the most part, she was free from the harassing danger +of Indian war. She readily contributed her share for the common +defense of the colonies, and sent her loyal quotas to fight for +England's territorial claims. For many years, Connecticut was shrewd +enough to steer clear of the disastrous inflation of paper currency +which overtook her sister colonies. Many strangers were attracted by +her prosperity, so that, notwithstanding frequent emigrations of her +people, she trebled her population about once in twenty years all +through the first century of her existence.[i] With this increasing +population came, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, +members of the Church of England, who settled in Stratford and in the +towns adjacent to New York.[j] They quickly found that their previous +impressions were erroneous, and that Connecticut would not tolerate +their religious services. Consequently, a report of the religious +condition in Connecticut was made in England, in 1702, at about the +time the Quakers complained of renewed persecution and at a time when +the enemies of the colony were extremely active in charging her with +misconduct. + +A report of Connecticut's ecclesiastical constitution and of her +oppression of dissenters was made to the Bishop of London by John +Talbot, who, with George Keith, had traveled through Connecticut on +his way from New York to Boston. These men were missionary priests of +the Church of England. In New London, Governor Saltonstall, then the +minister of that town, knowing that there were a few Church-of-England +men in the place, had met the travelers, "civilly entertained them at +his house," and "invited them to preach in his church." [75] The +Governor might not, the magistrates certainly did not, feel so kindly +disposed toward Talbot a year or so later, when it was found that, +upon his return to New York, he had written home to his superiors in +England, earnestly advocating an American episcopate. True, he urged +that the American bishop should have ecclesiastical powers only, and +that those ecclesiastico-civil in character, such as the probating of +wills, granting of marriage licenses, and the presentation of livings, +should remain in the hands of the colonial governors. But the +Connecticut authorities were not forgetful of Laud's purpose in 1638 +to appoint a bishop over New England, and its frustration by the +political unrest at home. They recalled that the revival of such a +project had floated as a rumor about those royal commissioners of 1664 +to whom they had given such satisfactory, if evasive, +answers. Moreover, an Order in Council of 1685, of which there is +external evidence, though the order itself is not recorded, had vested +ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the colonies in the Bishop of +London. [76] Connecticut knew also that four years later, in 1689 (the +year that Episcopacy erected King's Chapel, Boston, with its royal +endowment of £100 per year), the first commissary had been dispatched +to Virginia to superintend the churches there. The Crown, as yet, had +deemed it unwise to thrust an episcopate upon its dissenting colonies, +and, except for a short time before Queen Anne's death, it was to take +no interest in the plans for the American episcopate until some forty +years later, when the King thought to discern in it some political +advantage. But early in 1700, when complaints were lodged against +Connecticut, there was a strong party within the English Church itself +who were most anxious to see the episcopal bond between the mother +country and her colonies strengthened. For this purpose, they had sent +to America, in 1695, the Reverend Thomas Bray to report upon the +conditions and churchly sentiment within the colonies. His report was +published under the title, "A Memorial representing the State of +Religion in the Continent of North America." It was an appeal for +episcopal oversight, and resulted in the formation in England, in +1701, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign +Parts. To this organization belonged all the English bishops with all +their influential following. The Society regularly maintained +missionary churches and missionary priests throughout the colonies. +Candidates for this priesthood were required to submit to a thorough +examination as to their fitness. Before sailing, they were required to +report to the Bishop of London as their Diocesan and to the Archbishop +of Canterbury as their Metropolitan. They were required to send full +semi-annual reports of their work and to include in them any other +information that promised to be of interest or advantage to the +Society. John Talbot and George Keith were two of these missionaries. + +Talbot's appeal for the American episcopate was seconded in 1705 by +fourteen clergymen from the middle colonies who convened at +Burlington, N. J., to frame a petition to the English archbishop and +bishops. In it they set forth the necessity in America of a bishop to +ordain and to supply other ecclesiastical needs. The petitioners +added that a bishop was also necessary to counteract "the +inconveniences which the church labors under by the influence which +seditious men's counsels have upon the public administration and the +opposition which they make to the good inclinations of well-affected +persons." [77] In this appeal for a bishop stress was laid upon the +cost and dangers of a trip to England for ordination, [78] and also to +the frequent loss of converts from the independent ministry because of +the lack of ordination privileges in America. These references, and +also that to the "counsel of seditious men," could not be agreeable to +large numbers of dissenting colonists. They would not be viewed with +favor in Connecticut, where, by 1705, Episcopalians had become so +numerous that a wealthy New Yorker, Colonel Heathcote by name, and a +man thoroughly acquainted with his New England neighbor, undertook to +look after the Church-of-England men as unfortunate brethren of a +common faith. He appealed to the English Society for the +Propagating[k] of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to extend its missions +into Connecticut. He asked that Rector Muirson be stationed at Rye, +New York. Colonel Heathcote's idea was:-- + + to first plant the church securely in Westchester on the border of + Connecticut; and secondly, from that point to act upon + Connecticut, which was wholly Puritan and withal not a little + bigoted and uncharitable. + +Naturally, whatever of tolerance the Connecticut people might have +shown two traveling preachers would turn to opposition when they saw +the deliberate and well-organized attempt of this proselyting church, +this old enemy of their forefathers, to invade their colony and +undermine their own Establishment. Consequently, when, in company with +Mr. Muirson, Colonel Heathcote began itinerating through southwestern +Connecticut, ministers and magistrates frequently opposed and +threatened them. The people occasionally welcomed them. They did not +object to hear and to criticise the strangers, and were sometimes +willing to have their good neighbors, if they chanced to be +Church-of-England men, enjoy the ministrations of these passing +visitors. In some places, however, the civil officers went so far as +to go about among the people, even from house to house, to dissuade +them from attending Mr. Muirson's services,[l] and, at Fairfield, the +meeting-house was closed lest it should be "defiled by idolatrous +worship and superstitious ceremonies." [79] The Episcopalians +themselves later acknowledged that, until 1709, they suffered little +persecution beyond "that of the tongue." [m] When they were not +permitted to organize churches, and were forced to pay taxes for the +support of Congregationalism, they complained bitterly to their +friends in England, and such oppression was listed among the many +other misdemeanors, which, at this time, were cited against the former +"dutiful colony of Connecticut." + +One of the schemes that Connecticut's enemies sought to carry out, +both for their own advancement, and as a proposed punishment for an +unruly colony, was a consolidation of the New England provinces under +a royal governor. This consolidation was approached when Governor +Fletcher of New York was appointed military chief of Connecticut. His +attempt, in 1693, to enforce his military authority over Connecticut +troops engaged in protecting the northern frontier, resulted in his +failure, and in his angry report to the home authorities of +Connecticut's insubordination and disloyalty. The colony at great +expense sent Major Fitz-John Winthrop to England to answer these +charges. He was successful in proving that Connecticut had not +exceeded her charter rights in her determination to appoint her own +military officers; that, in the wars, she had faithfully contributed +her share to the common defense; and moreover, that it was essential +that she should have the immediate control of her own troops to quell +internal disorder, should it arise, or to repel the sudden approach of +an enemy upon her exposed borders. Major Winthrop also succeeded in +having the colony's military obligations defined as the furnishing to +the common defense of a number of her militia, proportionate to her +population and to be under their own officers, and in war time a +further draft of a hundred and twenty men to be under the direct +control of the governor of New York. Notwithstanding the splendid +success of Winthrop's mission, this same charge of insubordination was +repeated in a long and later list of grievances against the colony. + +The consolidation scheme was revived by the appointment of Governor +Bellomont over New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and +as military head of Rhode Island and Connecticut; but the governor +never tried to enforce his authority in Connecticut. In 1701 and 1706, +bills aiming at this proposed consolidation were introduced into +Parliament. That of 1701 failed of consideration from "shortness of +time and multiplicity of issues." In 1704 an attempt was made to +secure the appointment of a royal governor over Connecticut through an +Order in Council, but that body preferred to leave the matter to +Parliament,--hence the bill of 1706 favoring consolidation which +failed of passage in the Lords. It failed largely because of the +energy and eloquence of Sir Henry Ashurst, the Connecticut agent. + +Sir Henry also succeeded in getting a copy of the various charges +against the colony, which were thought to justify annulling her +charter, and in obtaining a grant of time to submit them to the +Connecticut General Court for a reply. The colony found that it was +charged with encouraging violations of the Navigation Laws; with +holding in contempt the Courts of Admiralty; with failing to furnish +troops and to place them under officers of the Crown; with executing +capital punishment without any authority in her charter; with +encouraging manufactures, contrary to the known wishes of the Crown; +with irregular and unjust court proceedings; with treating +contumaciously the royal commissioners sent to settle the Mohegan land +controversy; with injustice to the Quakers; with forbidding services +of the Church of England; and with disallowing appeals to +England. These were the more important complaints. In behalf of the +colony, Sir Henry appeared before the Privy Council, and in able +argument showed that many of the charges were without foundation; that +some of the colony's acts which were complained of as unlawful were +well within her charter privileges; and that the decisions of her +courts, far from being illegal, had, in nearly every case, when +brought to the attention of the English government, been approved by +it. Further than this, the Connecticut agent obtained a stay in the +proceedings of the Mohegan case,[n] though it was soon reopened and +seriously menaced the colony until the settlement in her favor in +1743. In the famous Liveen or Hallam case, Connecticut opposed an +appeal to the Crown, because such an appeal would give the Privy +Council the right to interpret the charter and pass upon the colony +laws.[o] Though Sir Henry Ashurst had succeeded in having many of the +charges dropped, the danger had been so great to the colony that he +privately advised the government to conciliate the Crown by protesting +its immediate readiness to fulfill all military obligations, and, as a +further proof of loyalty, to repeal at once the old law of 1657 +against heretics which Queen Anne had just annulled (October 11, 1705) +at the request of the Quakers. The General Court, as we have seen, +followed his advice, and repealed the law in so far as it concerned +Quakers. But this was not enough to satisfy other dissenters in the +colony. The Rev. John Talbot had arrived in England in 1706 to plead +in person [80] for an American bishop, and Colonel Heathcote in 1707 +wrote [81] with respect to the Episcopalians in Connecticut that it +would be absolutely necessary to procure an order from the Queen +freeing the Church of England people from the established rates, or +they would always be so poor as to be dependent upon the Society for +Propagating the Gospel. He further asked the repeal of the law +whereby the Connecticut magistrates "refuse liberty of conscience to +those of the established (English) church." Colonel Heathcote adds +that it would not be much more than had been granted to the Quakers, +and that it "would be of the greatest service to the Church than can +at first sight be imagined." + +So great was the importunity of the Connecticut Episcopalians, that, +in 1708, Governor Saltonstall wrote to England to disarm their +complaints against the colony. It looked as if religious discontent +might become a dangerous thing. Royal disfavor certainly would be. It +might be better to condone the lack of religious uniformity among a +few scattered dissenters, differing among themselves, and to endure +it,--obnoxious as it was,--than to suffer the loss of the Connecticut +charter. Moreover, this tendency to the spread of nonconformity might +be controlled by judicious legislation. Furthermore, it would be +politic to have upon the colony lawbook some relief for dissenters +from its Establishment similar to the English statutes relieving +nonconformists there from adherence to the Church of England. Hence +the Toleration Act, and, of necessity, the proviso in the act of the +following session of the General Court whereby it approved the +Saybrook Platform. + +The Toleration Act was of no benefit to Rogerine or Quaker, who by +their principles were forbidden to take the oath of allegiance that it +demanded. It was of little practical advantage to Baptist or +Episcopalian, but it was a move in the right direction. According to +its terms, dissenters, before the county courts, could qualify for +organization into distinct religious bodies by taking the oath of +fidelity to the crown, by denying transubstantiation and by declaring +their sober dissent from Congregationalism. They could have such +liberty, provided that it in no way worked to the detriment of the +church established in the colony,--that is, the law did not exclude +any dissenter "from paying any such (established) minister or town +dues as are or shall hereafter be due from him." + +At best, such toleration would provide a rigorous test of a +dissenter's sincerity. He would have nothing of worldly advantage to +gain and much to lose as a "come-outer" from the Establishment. +Social prestige would remain almost entirely within the state +church. It would be to a man's pecuniary advantage to stay within its +fold. Without it, he would be doubly taxed; by the State for the +support of Congregationalism, by his conscience to maintain the church +it approved. If he lapsed in duty toward his own, he would easily +become a marked man among his few co-religionists. If he failed to +attend regularly the church of his choice, the ancient law of the +colony would hale him before the judge for neglect of public worship, +and fine him for the benefit of a form of religion which he viewed +with aversion as unscriptural, if not also anti-Christian. In a new +and thinly settled country where life was hard and money scarce, this +double taxation was of itself almost prohibitive of dissent. And yet +this Toleration Act, notwithstanding its meagre terms, and which, +considered in the light of the twentieth century, implies one of the +worst forms of tyranny, was a measure of undreamed-of and dangerous +liberality if looked at from the point of view of the sixteenth +century, or even from that of many princes of the eighteenth. The very +summer following the passage of this act saw London crowded with +refugees from the religious tyranny of the Palatinate, whose Elector +was determined to force the people, after over a hundred and thirty +years of Protestantism, back to Rome because he was himself a +Romanist, and IMPERII RELIGIO RELIGIO POPULI. The Connecticut +law-makers had a good deal of faith in this same principle, though +they never had resorted, and did not wish to do so, to extreme +penalties to secure religious uniformity. The solidarity of the people +and the geographical position of the colony had contributed largely to +a uniform church life. Far from the usual ports of entry, the early +dissenters had for the most part passed her by. But at the beginning +of the eighteenth century, watching the signs of the times elsewhere, +and aware of the cosmopolitan element creeping into her population, +the Connecticut authorities were ready to admit that soon it might be +necessary to modify somewhat the old dictum that the religion of the +government must be the religion of all its people. England had seen +fit to make such modification, and her test of roughly twenty years +had shown conclusively that religious toleration and civil disorders +were not synonymous, as had formerly been believed. The Connecticut +colony had no particular desire to follow in England's steps. If it +had, after-history would have associated it in men's minds less with +the Puritanical narrowness of New England and more with such tolerance +as was shown in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island. Tolerance, +Connecticut thought, might work well under a government like that of +England, but her leaders were not convinced that it would be +altogether wise for their own land. They, therefore, had preferred to +postpone as long as they could the possible evil day. Now that +toleration could no longer be delayed, they had admitted it most +guardedly, and at once had proceeded to strengthen their own church +foundations by the establishment of the Saybrook system of +ecclesiastical government. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] "For the ease of such as soberly dissent from the way of worship +and ministrie established by the ancient laws of this government, and +still continuing, that if any such persons shall at the countie court +of the countie they belong to, qualifie themselves according to an act +made in the first year of the late King William and Queen Mary, +granting libertie of worshipping God in a way separate from that which +is by law established, they shall enjoy the same libertie and +privilege in any place in this colonie without let, or hindrance or +molestation whatsoever. Provided always that nothing herein shall be +construed to the prejudice of the rights and privileges of the +churches as by law established or to the _excluding any person from +paying any such minister or town dues as are or shall hereafter be due +from him_." (The italics are mine. M. L. G.) +_Conn. Col. Rec_. v, 50. + +Failure to comply with the law was punished by a heavy fine, and in +default thereof, by heavy bail or by imprisonment until the time for +trial. + +[b] Later in 1707, Mr. Wightman and Mr. John Bulkley, +Congregationalist minister of Colchester, by permission of the +authorities, who were troubled by the rumor that the Baptists and +Seventh-day Baptists were about to begin proselytizing in earnest in +Connecticut, entered into a public debate as to the merits of their +respective religious beliefs. Not much came of it to the +Congregationalists, who had expected to see Mr. Wightman's arguments +annihilated, while the Baptists had a fine opportunity to publish +broadcast their views. Such a discussion was steadily forbidden Browne +and Barrowe in 1590. A century had developed sufficient toleration to +make interesting, as well as permissible, a public discussion of +divergent beliefs. + +[c] The report to the Commission of Trade and Foreign Plantations made +in 1680 gave: + +"26 Answ. Our people in this colony are some strict Congregational +men, others more large Congregational men, and some moderate +Presbyterians, and take the Congregational men of both sorts, they are +the greatest part of the people in the colony. + +"There are 4 or 5 Seven-day men, in our Colony, and about so many +Quakers. + +"17 Answ. (1) Great care is taken for the instruction of ye people in +ye X'tian religion, by ministers catechising of them and preaching to +them twice every Sabbath daye and sometimes on lecture dayes; and so +by masters of famalayes instructing and catechising the children and +servants being so required by law. In our corporation there are +twenty-six towns and twenty-one churches. There is in every town in +the colony a settled minister except in two towns newly begun."--This +was equivalent to one minister to 460 persons, or to about 90 +families.--_Conn. Col. Rec._ iii, 300. Trumbull's _Hist. of +Conn._ i, 397. + +[d] Humphrey Norton in the New Haven colony was whipped severely, +burnt in the hand with the letter "H" for heretic, and banished for +being a Quaker. The next year, for testifying against the treatment of +Norton, William Bond, Mary Dyer, and Mary Whetherstead were +apprehended by the same authorities, and forcibly carried back to +Rhode Island.--H. Rogers, _Mary Dyer_, p. 36. For the Quaker Laws +of both colonies see Note 69. + +[e] The notorious William Ledra of later Massachusetts fame was one of +these. + +[f] This year a law was passed requiring every person to carefully +apply himself on the Lord's day to the duties of religion. See _New +Haven Hist. Soc. Papers_, ii, 399. + +[g] "Articles of Misdemeanor vs. Connecticut, July, 1665. "They deny +to the inhabitants the exercise of the religion of the church of +England; arbitrarily fining those who refuse to come to their +congregational assemblies." + +Law Book of Conn, printed 1670. "It is ordered that when the ministry +of the word is established according to the Gospel, throughout this +Colony, every person shall duly resort and attend thereunto +respectively upon the Lord's day, upon public fast days and days of +thanksgiving as are generally kept by appointment of authority; and +any person ... without necessary cause, withdrawing himself from the +public ministry of the word, he shall forfeit for his absence from +every such meeting five shillings."--_Conn. Col. Rec_. iii, 294. + +[h] They reported that the colony would "not hinder any from enjoying +the sacraments and using the common prayer book, provided that they +hinder not the maintenance of the public minister."--Hutchinson, +_Hist, of Mass._, p. 412. + +Dr. Beardsley suggests that influential citizens may have assured them +that the laws would be modified to accommodate +Episcopalians.--E. E. Beardsley, _Hist. of the Episcopal Church_, +i, p. 116. + +[i] Population in 1656, 800; 1665, 9000; 1670-80, 10,000-14,000; 1689, +17,000-20,000; 1730, approximately, 50,000; 1756, 130,000; 1761, +145,000; 1776, 200,000; 1780, 237,946--F. B. Dexter, Estimates of the +Population of the American Colonies, in _American Antiquarian +Society Proceedings_, 2d series, vol. 5. + +[j] Up to 1680, there was only one Episcopal clergyman in New England, +Father Jordan, of Portsmouth, N. H. There was an Episcopal clergyman +at the fort in New York, and outside of Virginia and Maryland only two +others in North America. There were a few Episcopal families in +Stratford in 1690. + +[k] Or "Propagation,"--as it is most frequently called. + +[l] Mr. Muirson's report after his first visit to Stratford was that +he had had "a very numerous congregation both forenoon and afternoon." +He continues, "I baptized about twenty-four persons the same +day.... "The Independents threatened me and all who were instrumental +in bringing me thither, with prison and hard usage. They are very much +incensed to see the Church (Rome's sister, as they ignorantly call +her) is likely to gain ground among 'em, and use all stratagem they +can invent to defeat my enterprise,"--_Church Doc. Conn._, i, +p. 17. + +Colonel Heathcote wrote, "The Ministers are very uneasy at our coming +amongst them, and abundance of pains were taken to persuade and +terrify the people from hearing Mr. Muirson, but it availed +nothing;"--not even the threat to jail the rector for holding services +contrary to the colony law which the magistrates had read to him at +his lodgings.--_Church Doc. Conn._, i, p. 20. + +[m] "We received no persecution than that of the tongue until +December, 1709."--_Ibid._, i, p. 42. + +[n] The Mohegan Indians had sold certain lands to the colony in 1659, +Major John Mason acting as agent. These lands had been conveyed to +English proprietors. John Mason, the major's grandson, representing +his own and other interests, pretended that both his grandfather and +the Indians had been overreached and wronged by the colony in the +transaction; that the colony had taken more land than agreed upon from +the Indians, and had also seized some that belonged by private +purchase to the Mason heirs. For the sake of peace and the credit of +magnanimity, the government offered to the chief, Owaneco, who +represented the Indians, to pay them again for the land, but Mason and +his party resolved to prevent such a settlement. One of them went to +England with a false report of extortion practiced upon the savages, +and a commission was sent out to investigate. Connecticut was willing +to answer the commissioners if they sought facts for a report, but +when they assumed the right to decide the question judicially, the +colony could only protest against their pretensions. The commissioners +adjudged the land in dispute to the Indians and the Mason party, and +charged the colony nearly £600 and costs. The colony appealed to the +Crown and won the case in 1743; but it was again appealed by Mason, +and in this fashion dragged along until after the Revolution, when the +Indians were content to accept the reservation allotted by the State +to them.--C. W. Bowen, _Boundary Disputes_, pp. 25-27. + +[o] John Liveen of New London in 1689 left property to the "ministry +of the town." Major Fitz-John Winthrop and his brother-in-law Edward +Palmes were executors. Major Winthrop was absent with the army on the +northern frontier, but made no objection to the probating of the will +at a special court in New London in 1689. This probating Major Palmes, +a former friend of Andros, declared void, since Andros had ruled that +all wills should be probated at Boston. Upon special application of +Mrs. Liveen, in 1690, the county court probated a copy of the will, +since Palmes held the original. To this probating the latter also +objected on the ground that, though the court had been again +legalized, the "ministry" referred to must be that recognized by the +English law and not the Congregational ministry of the town,--the only +one then existing. The colonial courts decided against him, and John +and Nicholas Hallam, the widow's sons by a former marriage, virtually +accepted the terms of the will and the court's decision by being +parties to the sale of a portion of the Liveen estate, the ship +"Liveen." The estate could not be wholly settled; so the town +continued to receive a regular dividend until after the widow's death +in 1698. Then the sons attempted to contest the will. The Court of +Assistants confirmed the proceedings of the lower courts. Not +satisfied with this decision, Nicholas Hallam went to England in +1700-1702, and was allowed to plead his case before the Privy +Council. Sir Henry Ashurst held that the charter gave the right of +final decision, but the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations +thought otherwise, and it looked as if Hallam was to win his case, +when he was ordered to return to America and, because of +technicalities, to retake all the testimony. In 1704, because of his +acknowledged signature in the sale of the "Liveen," the suit was +decided in favor of the colony.--F. M. Caulkins, _Hist. of New +London_, pp. 222-228. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FIRST VICTORY FOR DISSENT + + + Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear + thy God; for I am the Lord your God.--Leviticus, xxv, 17. + +The dissenters found the terms of the Toleration Act too narrow; the +conditions under which they could enjoy their own church life too +onerous. Consequently, they almost immediately began to agitate for a +larger measure of liberty, and persisted in their demands for almost +twenty years before obtaining any decided success. + +Foremost among the dissenters pressing for greater liberty, for +exemption from taxes for the benefit of Congregational worship, and +for the same privileges in the support of their own churches as the +members of the Connecticut Establishment enjoyed, were the +Episcopalians. The year following the passage of the Toleration Act +witnessed the first persecution of these people beyond that of tongue +and pen. Fines and imprisonments began in earnest and were continued, +more or less frequently, for many years. Even as late as 1748, the +Episcopalians of Reading were fined for reading the Prayer-book and +for working on public fast-days. Still later, in 1762, there was +occasional oppression, as in the case of the New Milford +Episcopalians. They desired to build a church, but had to wait for the +county court to approve the site chosen. The court was averse to the +building of the church, and accordingly was a long time in complying +with this technicality. Meanwhile, the Episcopalians could not build, +neither would they attend Congregational worship, and the magistrates, +refusing to recognize the services held in private houses, fined them +for absence from public worship. This treatment was abandoned as soon +as it became known that the rector had counseled his people to submit, +as he intended to send a copy of the court's proceedings to England to +be passed upon as to their legality. It was such petty, yet costly, +persecution as this that became frequent after 1709, and from which +the Episcopalians were determined to escape. + +These Church-of-England men were increasing in numbers in the colony, +and, at the passage of the Toleration Act, were quite hopeful that the +Rev. John Talbot's mission to England to secure a bishop for America +would prove successful. Although he was not successful in obtaining +the episcopate, his mission received so much encouragement from those +in high places that, upon Talbot's return, a home for the prospective +bishop was purchased, in 1712, in Burlington, New Jersey. It was known +that Queen Anne was much interested in the proposed bishopric, and +letters were exchanged between the leaders of the movement in England +and the prominent Independent clergymen in the colonies, in order to +sound the state of public opinion. A bill for the American expansion +of the Church of England, as a branch to be severed from the +jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and to be planted in the colonies +under a bishop with full ecclesiastical powers, was prepared and was +ready for presentation in Parliament when the Queen's death, August 1, +1714, caused its withdrawal, and felled the hopes of Churchmen. George +I had too many temporal affairs to occupy his mind to burden himself +with the intricate rights, powers, and privileges of a new episcopate, +sought by a few colonials scattered through the American +wilderness;--too many vexatious secular affairs in the colonies, and +too heavy war-clouds darkening his European horizon. The Society for +the Propagation of the Gospel, in 1715, made one futile attempt to +interest the king, and then gave up any hope of the immediate +appointment of an American bishop. + +In the Connecticut colony, the Episcopalians had so increased that, in +1718, there was in Stratford a church of one hundred baptized persons, +thirty-six communicants, and a congregation that frequently numbered +between two and three hundred people. They were ministered to by +traveling missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel. When these Stratford people appealed to the Society for a +settled minister, they complained that "there is not any government in +America but has our settled Church and minister, but this of +Connecticut." [82] Still all the Society could then do was to send a +missionary priest, and to keep alive in England, among the powerful +Church party there, so keen an interest that it would seize upon the +first opportunity to use its great influence and to compel the English +government to force the Connecticut authorities to comply with the +demands of the colonial Churchmen for the unrestricted enjoyment of +their religion. Such an interest was kept up by the regular, full +reports which the Society required of all its missionaries. And these +reports, be it remembered, were expected to contain news of any kind, +and of everything that happened in the colony of Connecticut, or +elsewhere, that could possibly be turned to advantage in influencing +the home authorities, in pushing the interests of the English +Establishment in America, and in strengthening its membership +there. Although, after the death of Queen Anne, the king's +indifference checked the movement for the American episcopate, its +friends did not abandon it, and a persistent effort for its success +was soon begun. One of its prime movers was the Rev. George Pigott, +missionary to Stratford, Connecticut, in 1722. + +Under Mr. Pigott, the Church of England in Connecticut made a most +encouraging and important gain, when, in 1722, Timothy Cutler, Rector +of Yale College, and six of his associates proclaimed their +dissatisfaction with Congregationalism, or, as they termed it, "the +Presbyterianism" of the Connecticut established church. They asserted +that "some of us doubt the validity, and the rest are more fully +persuaded of the invalidity of the Presbyterian ordination in +opposition to the Episcopal." + +Three of these men remained in "doubt," and continued within the +Congregational church.[a] Four of them, Rector Timothy Cutler, Tutor +Daniel Brown, Rev. James Wetmore of North Haven, and Rev. Samuel +Johnson of West Haven, went to England to receive Episcopal +ordination.[b] The story of their conversion is to Churchmen an +illustration of the scriptural command, "Cast your bread upon the +waters and it will return to you after many days." The Connecticut +authorities had chosen the Rev. Timothy Cutler because of his +eloquence, and had sent him to Stratford to counteract the early +successes of the Church-of-England missionary priests, who were at +work among the people there. Later, in 1719, Cutler, because of his +abilities, was chosen President, or Rector, of Yale, as, in the early +days, the head of the college was called. The seeds of doubt had +entered his mind during his Stratford pastorate. He and his associates +found many books in the college library that, instead of lessening, +increased their doubts. After presiding for three years over the +greatest institution of learning in the colony, which had for its +object the preparation of men for service in civil office and, even +more in those days, for service in religion, Rector Cutler, together +with his associates, announced their change of faith. The colony was +taken by storm, and there spread throughout its length and breadth, +and throughout New England also, a great fear that Episcopacy had made +a _coup d'etat_ and was shortly to become the established church +of her colonies as well as of England herself. Naturally, among the +colonial Churchmen, it excited the largest hope "of a glorious +revolution among the ecclesiastics of the country, because the most +distinguished gentlemen among them are resolutely bent to promote her +(the Church's) welfare and embrace her baptism and discipline, and if +the leaders fall in there is no doubt to be made of the people." [83] + +These hopes were in a degree confirmed by the conversion of one or two +more ministers, and by the Yale men that the classes of 1723, 1724, +1726, 1729, and 1733 gave to Episcopacy. By the impetus of these +conversions, within a generation, "the Episcopal Church under a native +born minister had penetrated every town, had effected lodgment in +every Puritan stronghold, and had drawn into her membership large +numbers of that sober-minded, self-contained, tenacious people who +constitute the membership of New England to-day."[84] After the +conversions of 1722, the movement for the apostolic episcopate in +America became more determined, and never wholly ceased until the +consecration of Samuel Seabury as bishop of Connecticut in 1784. + +A decided change took place in Connecticut's policy upon the death of +Governor Saltonstall in 1724, and under his successor in office, +former Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Talcott. The new governor was a +Hartford man, more liberal in his ecclesiastical opinions and opposed +to severe measures against dissenters. Hardly had Governor Talcott +taken office when Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, wrote him, urging +in behalf of the Episcopalians a remittance of ecclesiastical +taxes. "If I ask anything," wrote the Bishop, "inconsistent with the +laws of the country, I beg pardon; but if not, I hope my request for +favors for the Church of England will not appear unreasonable." The +Bishop accompanied his letter with a paper, a copy of a circular +letter to the different colonial governors, in which, among other +matters relating to his clergy, he professed his readiness to +discipline them if necessary "in order to contribute to the peace and +honor of the government." This proposal was due, in part, to the +scandalous reputation in New England which the southern settled clergy +bore. Because of this reputation, the Society for the Propagation of +the Gospel had from the first made a special point of the morals of +their missionary priests. Indeed, these priests, themselves, had +warned the Society that, if it expected any returns from its missions +in New England, it would have to take great pains to send out a +superior class of men. Governor Talcott replied to Bishop Gibson, +under date of December 1, 1725,[c] "that there is but one Church of +England minister in this colony, [d] and the church with him have the +same protection as the rest of our Churches and are under no +constraint to contribute to the support of any other minister." After +reflecting upon the number and character of the few persons in another +town or two "who claim exemption from rates," Governor Talcott quotes +the colony law for the support of the ministry in every town, and adds +that, upon the death of an incumbent, the townspeople "are quickly +supplied by persons of our own communion, educated in our public +schools of Learning; which through divine blessing afforded us, we +have sufficiency of those who are both learned and exemplary in their +lives." This was a polite way of informing the bishop that Connecticut +preferred to do without his missionaries. It was one thing for the +tolerant governor to grant exemption from Congregational taxes in the +case of an influential church like that of Stratford, and quite +another to extend the same toleration to every scattered handful of +people who might claim to be members of the Church of England, and who +might welcome the coming of her missionary priests. + +The Episcopalians, however, were not content to rest their privileges +upon their numerical power in each little town, or upon the personal +favor of the magistrates. They therefore continued their agitation for +exemption from support of Congregationalism and from fines for +neglecting its public worship. Under the lead of the wardens and +vestry of Fairfield, they obtained favor with the General Court in +1727,[e] when an act was passed, "providing how taxes levied upon +members of the Church of England for the support of the Gospel should +be disposed of," and exempting said members from paying any taxes "for +the building of meeting houses for the present established Churches of +this government." The law further declared that if within the parish +bounds-- + + there be a Society of y'e Church of England, where there is a + person in orders, according to y'e Canons of y'e Church of + England, settled and abiding among them and performing divine + service so near to any person that hath declared himself of y'e + Church of England, that he can conveniently and doth attend y'e + public worship there, then the collectors, having first + indifferently levied y'e tax, as aforesaid, shall deliver y'e + taxes collected of such persons declaring themselves, and + attending as aforesaid, unto y'e minister of y'e Church of + England, living near unto such persons; which minister shall have + power to receive and recover y'e same, in order to his support in + y'e place assigned to him. + + But if such proportion of any taxes be not sufficient in any + Society of y'e Church of England to support y'e incumbent there, + then such Society may levy and collect of them who profess and + attend as aforesaid, greater taxes, at their own discretion, to + y'e support of their ministers. + + And the parishoners of y'e Church of England, attending as + aforesaid, are hereby excused from paying any taxes for y'e + building meeting houses for y'e present Established Churches of + this government.[85] + +After the passing of this law, the magistrates contented themselves +with occasional unfair treatment of the weaker churches. They +sometimes haggled over the interpretation of the terms "near" and +"conveniently" as found in the law. They objected to the appointment +of one missionary to several stations or towns. They also did not +always enforce upon the Presbyterian collectors strict accuracy in +making out their lists, and when the Episcopalians sought redress for +unreturned taxes or unjust fines, they found their lawsuits blocked in +the courts. The magistrates, also, showed almost exclusive preference +for Congregationalists as bondsmen for strangers settling in the +towns, while the courts continued to frequently refuse or to delay the +approval of sites chosen for the erection of Episcopal churches. + +Finally, there was a certain amount of political and social ostracism +directed against Churchmen. A notable attempt to defraud the +Episcopalians of a due share of the school money, derived from the +sale of public lands and from the emission of public bills, was +defeated in 1738 by a spirited protest, setting forth the illegality +of the proceeding, the probable indignation of the King at such +treatment of his good subjects and brethren in the faith, and by +pointing to the fact, as recently shown by a test case in +Massachusetts, that the Connecticut Establishment itself could not +exist without the special consent of the King. [86] The petition was +signed by six hundred and thirty-six male inhabitants of the +colony. They asserted in their protest that they had a share in equity +derived from the charter; that they bore their share of the expenses +of the government; and that the teaching of the Church of England made +just as good citizens as did that of the Presbyterian Church. The +public lands, from the sale of which the school money was derived, +were those along the Housatonic river. The money was appropriated +according to a law enacted in 1732 which distributed it among the +older towns as a reward for good schools. But, in 1738, the +legislature passed a bill by which a majority vote of the town or +parish could divert the money to the support of "the gospel ministry +as by law in the colony established." Naturally this new law operated +against all dissenters, who, equally anxious with the +Congregationalists to have good schools, were an ignored minority +whenever the latter chose to vote the money to the support of their +church. As a result of this spirited protest of the Episcopalians, the +enactment of 1738 was repealed two years later "because of +misunderstanding." Notwithstanding such hardships as the Episcopalians +suffered in Connecticut, their own writers declare that, at this +period of colonial history, the Churchmen in Connecticut had less to +complain of than their co-religionists in New York and in the southern +colonies. + +While the Episcopalians were agitating for a larger liberty than that +granted by the Toleration Act, the other dissenters, Rogerines, +Quakers, and Baptists, were not idle. + +The efforts of the Rogerines were marked more by violence than by +success. They had become less fanatic, and persecution had died away +during the first ten years following the passage of the Toleration +Act. All might have gone smoothly had they not suddenly stirred +Governor Saltonstall to renewed dislike, the magistrates to fresh +alarm, and the people to great contempt and indignation. This they +accomplished by a sort of mortuary tribute to their leader, John +Rogers, who died in 1721. This tribute took the form of renewed zeal, +and was marked by a revival of some of their most obnoxious +practices. The Rogerines determined to break up the observance of the +Puritan Sabbath. Immediately, an "Act for the Better Detecting and +more effectual Punishment of Prophaneness and Immorality" was +passed. It was especially directed against the Rogerines. Its most +striking characteristic was that it changed the policy of the +government from the time-honored Anglo-Saxon theory that every man is +innocent until proved guilty, to the doctrine that a man, accused, +must be guilty until proved innocent. In so oft-recurring a charge as +that of being absent from public worship, it became lawful to exact +fines unless the accused could prove before a magistrate that he had +been present. But this first act did not dampen sufficiently the +renewed zeal of the Rogerines, and for two years there was a +continuance of sharp legislation to reduce their disorderliness. They +were fined five shillings for leaving their houses on Sunday unless to +attend the orthodox worship, and twenty shillings for gathering in +meeting-houses without the consent of the ministers. They were given a +month, or less, in the house of correction, and at their own expense +for board, for each offense of unruly or noisy behavior on Sunday near +any meeting-house; for unlawful travel or behavior on that day; and +for refusal to pay fines assessed for breaking any of the colony's +ecclesiastical laws. These laws [87] were enforced one Sunday in 1725 +against a company of Rogerines who were going quietly on their way +through Norwich to attend services in Lebanon. The outburst of +religious fervor spent itself in two or three years. Governor Talcott +did not believe in strong repressive measures, and it was soon +conceded that the ignoring of their eccentricities, if kept within +reasonable bounds, was the most efficient way to discourage the +Rogerines. Summarizing the influence of this sect, we find that they +contributed nothing definite to the slow development of religious +toleration in Connecticut. If anything, their fanaticism hindered its +growth, and they gained little for themselves and nothing for the +cause. As the years went on and their little sect were permitted to +indulge their peculiar notions, and the props of the State were not +weakened nor the purity of religion vitally assailed, the Rogerines +contributed their mite towards convincing mankind, and the Connecticut +people in particular, that brethren of different creeds and religious +practices might live together in security and harmony without danger +to the civil peace. + +During the seventeen years that Governor Talcott held office, 1724-41, +the life of the colony was marked by its notable expansion through the +settlement of new towns, [f] and by the dexterity with which its +foreign affairs--its relations to England and its boundary disputes +with its neighbors--were conducted. The last dragged on for years, +calling for several expensive commissions and causing much +confusion. The Massachusetts line was determined in 1713; that of +Rhode Island in 1728; and that of New York in 1735. Connecticut, in +all these cases, had to be wary lest the attempts to settle these +disputed claims should weary, antagonize, or anger the King.[88] Many +of the old charges were renewed, and Connecticut was no longer +regarded as a "dutiful" colony, but rather as one altogether too +independent, from whom it might be wise to wrest her charter, +subjecting her to a royal governor. As early as 1715, her colonial +agent had been advised to procure a peaceable surrender of the +charter. To this proposal, Governor Saltonstall had returned a +courteous and dignified refusal. But the danger was always cropping +up. Governor Talcott's English official correspondence is full of +details concerning Connecticut's increasing anxiety concerning the +attitude and the decisions of the home government; over the dangers +consequent to her institutions or to her charter. It was repeatedly +suggested that that charter should be surrendered, modified in favor +of the King's supervision, or annulled. In the Governor's letters, one +follows the intricacies of the boundary disputes, of the complicated +Mohegan case, and sounds the dangers to the colony from the +disposition and decisions of the Crown.[89] + +One case in particular demands a passing consideration because of its +far-reaching effects, and because it paralleled in time the +legislation in the colony which broadened the Toleration Act. This was +the famous case of John Winthrop against his brother-in-law, Thomas +Lechmere, to recover real estate left by the elder Winthrop to his son +and daughter. The suit brought up the whole question of land entail in +Connecticut, and, with it, the possibility of an economic and social +revolution in the colony which would have been the death-blow to its +prosperity. Winthrop, by appealing the case to England, brought +Connecticut into still greater disfavor, and risked the loss of the +charter, together with many special privileges in religion and +politics which the colony enjoyed through a liberal interpretation of +that instrument. In the course of the suit, the constitutional +relations of Crown and colony had to be threshed out. + +John Winthrop's father died in 1717, when, according to Connecticut, +but not English, law of primogeniture, Winthrop received as eldest son +a double portion of his father's real estate, and his sister, Thomas +Lechmere's wife, the rest. Winthrop's brother-in-law was not a man +wholly to be trusted to deal justly with his wife's property; but +this, in itself, was a very small factor in the suit. Winthrop was at +variance with the Connecticut authorities, and was dissatisfied with +his share both of his father's property and of his uncle's, whose heir +he was. No matter how much his own personal interests might endanger +the colony, Winthrop resolved to have all the property due him as +eldest son and heir under English law. He appealed his case to +England, taking it directly from the local probate court, and ignoring +the Court of Assistants, where he might have obtained some +redress. Moreover, to influence the decision in his favor he included +in his list of grievances many of the old offenses charged against +Connecticut. He did this, even while acknowledging that the colonial +Intestate Act, framed in 1699,[90] was but the embodiment of custom +that had existed from the beginning of the colony. While this case +dragged on, it was again intimated to Connecticut that the surrender +of her charter, or at least the substitution of an explanatory +charter, might be an acceptable price for the royal confirmation of +her Intestate Law. Finally, Winthrop went to England, and was given a +private hearing, at which no representative of the colony was present. +As a result of this hearing, an order in Council was issued February +15, 1728, annulling the Connecticut Intestate Act as contrary to the +laws of England and as exceeding charter rights. Moreover, the +colonial authorities were ordered to measure off the lands, claimed by +Winthrop, and to restore them to him. + +Of course, it would take some time to obey the order. Meanwhile, if +this restitution were made, if the decision were submitted to, it +would invalidate so many land titles as to threaten the very existence +of Connecticut's economic structure. The colony sought the best legal +talent obtainable. For seventeen years Connecticut continued this +expensive lawsuit, urging always her willingness to comply in the case +of Winthrop, if only the decision be made a special one and not a +precedent,--if only an order in Council, or an act of Parliament, +would reinstate the Connecticut Intestate Law. Her agents in England +were instructed to demonstrate how well the colonial division of +property had worked, and that under the English division, where all +real estate went to the eldest son, if it were practiced in a new and +heavily wooded country, whose chief wealth was agriculture, the rental +of lands would yield income barely sufficient to pay taxes and repair +fences, and there could be no dowry for the daughters. A still further +result would be, that the younger sons would be driven into +manufacturing or forced to emigrate. In each case the Crown would +suffer, either by the loss of a colonial market for its manufactured +products, or by an impoverished colony, incapable of making +satisfactory returns to the royal treasury. [91] Moreover, in the case +of emigration, when Connecticut, lacking men to plow her fields, could +no longer produce the foodstuffs the surplus of which she sold to the +"trading parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island" to supply the +fisheries, the Crown would feel still another baneful effect from its +attempt to enforce the English law of entail. Again, there was another +aspect from which to view the annulment of the Connecticut Intestate +Law. Its annulment would render worthless many past and present +land-titles. Creditors who had accepted land for debt would +suffer. Titles to lands, held by towns, as well as individuals, would +become subject to litigation; the whole colony would be plunged into +lawsuits, and its economic framework would be rent in pieces. The +Intestate Law was in accordance with custom throughout New +England. When in 1737 a similar statute in Massachusetts was sustained +by the King in Council in the appeal of Phillips _vs._ Savage, +Connecticut, notwithstanding the renewed and repeated suggestions to +give up her charter, took courage to continue the contest. + +During these years the question of the constitutional relation of +colony and Crown was frequently raised, and Connecticut was called +upon to show that her laws were not contrary to the laws of +England. She had to prove that they were not contrary to the common +law of England; nor to the statute law, existing at the founding of +the colony; nor to those acts of Parliament that had been expressly +extended to the colony. This was the most commonly held of the three +interpretations of "not contrary to the laws of England." The most +restricted interpretation was that all colonial laws higher than +by-laws, and "which even within that term touched upon matters already +provided for by English common or statute law, were illegal" or +"contrary." Under this interpretation, "the colonies were as towns +upon the royal demesne." Connecticut herself held to a third +construction, maintaining that, as her own charter nowhere stipulated +that her administration should accord with the civil, common, or +statute law of England, she, at least, among the colonies was free to +frame her own laws according to her own needs and desires. Holding to +this opinion, which had never been corrected by the Crown, Connecticut +maintained that "contrary to the laws of England" was limited in its +intent to contrary to those laws expressly designed by Parliament to +extend to the plantations. Moreover, Connecticut insisted that the +colonies were not to be compared to English towns, because, unlike the +towns, they had no representation in Parliament. The Connecticut +Intestate Act was opposed to the English law according to the first +two interpretations, but not according to the third. Further, the +Connecticut authorities felt that if the conditions which had given +rise to the law were fully realized in England, the apparent +insubordination of the colony would disappear in the light of the real +equity of the colonial statute. In Governor Talcott's letter, dated +November 3, 1729, under "The Case of Connecticut Stated," there is a +summary of the reasons why the colony hesitated to appeal directly to +Parliament for a confirmation of the Intestate Act. She was afraid of +exciting still greater disfavor by seeming to ask privileges in +addition to those already conferred upon her in her very liberal +charter. She was afraid of courting inquiry in regard to her +ecclesiastical laws, her laws relating to the collegiate school, and +also sundry civil laws. The colony feared that the result of such an +investigation would be that she would thereafter be rated, not as a +government or province, but as a corporation with a charter permitting +only the enactment of by-laws. Moreover, she dreaded to be ranked with +"rebellious Massachusetts," and thus further expose herself to a +probable loss of her charter. + +After contesting the decision against her for many years, at last in +1746 she virtually won her case through a decision given in England in +the suit of Clarke _vs._ Tousey,[92]--a suit which had been +appealed from the colony, and which presented much the same claim as +Winthrop's. The decision in favor of Clarke was equivalent to a +recognition of Connecticut's Intestacy Law. It has been pointed out +that, important as the Winthrop controversy was from the economic +standpoint, it was equally important as fore-shadowing the legislation +of the English government some thirty years later, and as defining the +relation of colony and Crown. Moreover, in 1765, as in 1730, "economic +causes and conditions," writes Professor Andrews in his discussion of +the Connecticut Intestacy Law, "drove the colonists into opposition to +England quite as much as did theories of political independence, or of +so-called self-evident rights of man." + +It was during the continuance of this troublesome Winthrop suit, while +boundary lines were still unsettled, while as yet the Mohegan titles +remained in dispute, while the most grievous charge of encouraging +home manufactures, and many other complaints were brought against +Connecticut,--it was in the midst of her perplexities and conflicting +interests that the dissenters within her borders sought greater +religious liberty. They sought it, not only through their own local +efforts, but through the strength of their friends in England, who +brought all their influence to bear upon the home government. With +such help Episcopalians had won exemption in 1727, and within two +years Quakers and Baptists were accorded similar freedom. + +Connecticut Quakers, though few in numbers, were very determined to +have their rights. From 1706, the Newport Yearly Meeting had +encouraged the collecting and recording of all cases of "sufferance." +In 1714, at the close of Queen Anne's War (1702-13), the Newport +Yearly Meeting reported to that of London that "there is much +suffering on account of the Indians at the Eastward, yet not one (of +ours) had fallen during the last year, Travelling preachers having +frequently visited those parts without the least harm.... Friends in +several places have suffered deeply on account of not paying +presbyterian priests, and for the Refusing to bear Armes, an Account +of which we Doe herewith Send." In 1715, the English law had granted +them the perpetual privilege of substituting affirmation for oath. The +Quakers were determined to have the same freedom in the colonies as in +England. Accordingly, they watched with interest the test case between +the Quaker constables of Duxbury and Tiverton,--both, then, under the +jurisdiction of Massachusetts,--and the authorities of that +colony. Fines and persecutions were so much alike in Connecticut and +Massachusetts that a dissenter's victory in one colony would go far +towards obtaining exemption in the other. The Quaker constables had +refused to collect the church rate, and for this refusal were thrown +into prison. Thereupon a petition, with many citations from the colony +law books, was sent to England, begging that the prisoners be released +and excused from their fines, and that such unjust laws be annulled. +The Privy Council ordered the prisoners released and their fine +remitted. This decision was rendered in 1724, and, with the success of +the Episcopalians three years later, still further encouraged both +Quakers and Baptists to seek relief from ecclesiastical taxes and +fines. Two years later, in May, 1729, the Quakers appealed to the +Connecticut Court for such exemption, and were released from +contributing to the support of the established ministry and from +paying any tax levied for building its meeting-houses, provided they +could show a certificate from some society of their own (either within +the colony or without it, if so near its borders that they could +regularly attend its services) vouching for their support of its +worship and their presence at its regular meetings. [93] + +Turning to the Baptists, the oppressive measures employed to make them +violate their conscience ceased on the inauguration of Governor +Talcott in 1724. Thereafter, those among them who conformed to the +requirements of the Toleration Act received some measure of freedom. +To the neighborly interest of the Association of Baptist Churches of +North Kingston, Rhode Island, and to the influence of leading Baptists +in that colony, including among them its governor (who subjoined a +personal note to the Association's appeal to the Connecticut General +Court), was due the favor of the Court extended in October, 1729, [94] +to the Baptists, whereby they were granted exemption upon the same +terms as those offered the Quakers. + +Thus in barely twenty years from the passage of the Toleration Act, +Episcopalian, Quaker, and Baptist had driven the thin edge of a +destroying wedge into the foundations of the Connecticut +Establishment. Each dissenting body was pitifully small in absolute +strength, and they had no inclination toward united action. Quakers +and Baptists were required to show certificates, a requirement soon to +be considered in itself humiliating. The new laws were negative, in +that they empowered the assessor to _omit_ to tax those entitled +to exemption, but they provided no penalty to be enforced against +assessors who failed to make such omission. Indeed, in individual +cases, the laws might seem to be scarcely more than an admission of +the right to exemption. However, it was an admission that a century's +progress had brought the knowledge that brethren of different +religious opinions could dwell together in peace. It was an exemption +by which the government admitted, as well as claimed, the right of +choice in religious worship. It was a far cry to the acknowledgment +that a man was free to think his own thoughts and follow his own +convictions, provided they did not interfere with the rights of other +men. The new laws were a concession by a strongly intrenched church to +the natural rights of weaker ones, whose title to permanency it +greatly doubted. They were a concession by a government whose best +members felt it to be the State's moral and religious obligation to +support one form of religion and to protect it at the cost, if +necessary, of all other forms,--a concession, by such a government, to +a very small minority of its subjects, holding the same appreciation +of their religious duty as that which had nerved the founders of the +colony. It was a concession by the community to a very few among their +number, who were divergent in church polity and practice, but who were +united in a Protestant creed and in the conviction, held then by every +respectable citizen, that every man should be made to attend and +support some accepted and organized form of Christian worship. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] The Rev. John Hart of East Guilford, Samuel Whittlesey of +Wallingford, and Jared Ellis of Killingworth. These men were always +friendly to the Churchmen. + +[b] The Rev. Daniel Brown died in England. In the next forty years, +one tenth of those who crossed the sea for ordination perished from +dangers incident to the trip. + +[c] This year the home influence of the Church of England had been +brought to bear with sufficient pressure to forbid the calling of a +general synod of the New England churches which had been desired, and +towards which Massachusetts had taken the initial step. See +A. L. Cross, _Anglican Episcopate_, pp. 67-70. + +[d] Stratford. + +[e] This same year, George I granted to Bishop Gibson a patent +confirming the jurisdiction which, as Bishop of London, he claimed +over the Church of England in the colonies. George II renewed the +patent in 1728-29. + +[f] Between 1700 and 1741 more than thirty new towns were organized, +making twice as many as in 1700. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"THE GREAT AWAKENING." + + + Wake, awake, for night is flying: + The watchmen on the heights are crying, + Awake, Jerusalem, arise!--Advent Hymn. + +The opposition of Episcopalian, Quaker, and Baptist to the Connecticut +Establishment, if measured by ultimate results, was important and +far-reaching. But it was dwarfed almost to insignificance, so feeble +was it, so confined its area, when compared to that opposition which, +thirty-five years after the Saybrook Synod and a dozen years after the +exemption of the dissenters, sprang up within the bosom of the +Congregational church itself, as a protest against civil enactments +concerning religion. This protest was a direct result of the moral and +spiritual renascence that occurred in New England and that became +known as the "Great Awakening." History in all times and countries +shows a periodicity of religious activity and depression. It would +sometimes seem as if these periodic outbreaks of religious aspirations +were but the last device of self-seeking,--were but attempts to find +consolation for life's hardships and to secure happiness +hereafter. Fortunately such selfish motives are transmuted in the +search for larger ethical and spiritual conceptions. An enlarged +insight into the possibilities of living tends to slough off +selfishness and to make more habitual the occasional, and often +involuntary, response to Christlike deeds and ideals. But so ingrained +is our earthly nature that, in communities as in nations, periods +alternate with periods, and the pendulum swings from laxity to +morality, from apathy to piety, gradually shortening its arc. So in +Connecticut, numbers of her towns from time to time had been roused to +greater interest in religion before the spiritual cyclone of the great +revival, or "Great Awakening," swept through the land in 1740 and the +two following years. The earlier and local revivals were generally +due to some special calamity, as sickness, failure of harvest, +ill-fortune in war, or some unusual occurrence in nature, such as an +earthquake or comet, with the familiar interpretation that Jehovah was +angry with the sins of his people. Sometimes, however, the zeal of a +devoted minister would kindle counter sparks among his people. Such a +minister was the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, who mentions five notable +revivals, or "harvests,"[a] as he calls them, during his sixty years +of ministry in the Northampton church. A few other New England towns +had similar revivals, but they were brief and rare. + +Notwithstanding these occasional local "stirrings of the heart," at +the beginning of the second quarter of the eighteenth century a cold, +formal piety was frequently the covering of indifferent living and of +a smug, complacent Christianity, wherein the letter killed and the +spirit did not give life. This was true all over New England, and +elsewhere. Nor was this deadness confined to the colonies alone, for +the Wesleys were soon to stir the sluggish current of English +religious life. In New England, the older clergymen, like the Mathers +of Massachusetts, conservative men, whose memories or traditions were +of the golden age of Puritanism, had long bemoaned the loss of +religious interest, the inability of reforming synods to create +permanent improvement, and the helplessness of ecclesiastical councils +or of civil enactments to rouse the people from the real "decay of +piety in the land," and from their indifference to the immorality that +was increasing among them. This indifference grew in Connecticut after +the Saybrook Platform had laid a firm hold upon the churches. Its +discipline created a tendency, on the one hand, to hard and narrow +ecclesiasticism, and, on the other, to careless living on the part of +those who were satisfied with a mere formal acceptance of the +principles of religion and with the bare acknowledgment of the right +of the churches to their members' obedience.[b] + +It is a great mistake [writes Jonathan Edwards] if any one imagines +that all these external performances (owning the covenant, accepting +the sacraments, observing the Sabbath and attending the ministry), are +of the nature of a _profession_ of anything that belongs to +_saving grace_, as they are commonly used and +understood.... People are taught that they may use them all, and not +so much as make any pretence to the least degree of _sanctifying +grace_; and this is the established custom. So they are used and so +they are understood.... It is not unusual ... for persons, at the same +time they come into the church and pretend to own the covenant, freely +to declare to their neighbors, that they have no imagination that they +have any true faith in Christ or love to Him.[95] + +The General Court, relieved from the oversight of the churches, had +bent itself to preserving the colony's charter rights from its enemies +abroad, and to the material interests involved in a conservative, +wise, and energetic home development. The people's thoughts were with +the Court more than with the clergy, who had fallen from a healthy +enthusiasm in their profession into a sort of spiritual deadness and +dull acceptance of circumstances. [96] As a sort of corollary to +Stoddard's teaching that the Lord's Supper was itself a means toward +attaining salvation, it followed that clergymen, though they felt no +special call to their ministry, were nevertheless believed to be +worthy of their office. The older theology of New England had tended +to morbid introspection. Stoddard, in avoiding that danger, had thrown +the doors of the Church too widely open, and the result was a gradual +undermining of its spiritual power. The continued acceptance of the +Half-Way Covenant, "laxative rather than astringent in its nature," +helped to produce a low estimate of religion. The tenderness that the +Cambridge Platform had encouraged towards "the weakest measure of +faith" had broadened into such laxity that, in many cases, ministers +were willing to receive accounts of conversions which had been written +to order for the applicants for church membership. The Church, +moreover, had come directly under the control of politics, a condition +never conducive to its purity. The law of 1717, "for the better +ordering and regulating parishes or societies," had made the minister +the choice of the majority of the townsmen who were voters. This +reversed the early condition of the town, merged by membership into +the church, to a church merged into the town. [97] There was still +another factor, often the last and least willingly recognized in times +of religious excitement, namely, the commercial depression throughout +the country, resulting from years of a fluctuating currency. This +depression contributed largely to the revival movement, and helped to +spread the enthusiasm of the Great Awakening. Connecticut's currency +had been freer from inflation than that of other New England +colonies. But her paper money experiments in the years from 1714 to +1749 grew more and more demoralizing. Up to 1740, Connecticut had +issued £156,000 in paper currency. At the time of the Great Awakening +she had still outstanding £39,000 for which the colony was +responsible. Of this, all but £6000 had been covered by special +taxation. There still remained, however, about £33,000 which had been +lent to the various counties. Taxation was heavy, wages low and +prices high, and there was not a man in the colony who did not feel +the effect of the rapidly depreciating currency.[98] This general +depression fell upon a generation of New Englanders whose minds no +longer dwelt preëminently upon religious matters, but who were, on the +contrary, preëminently commercial in their interests. + +Such were the general conditions throughout New England and such the +low state of religion in Connecticut, when, in the Northampton church, +Solomon Stoddard's grandson, the great Jonathan Edwards, in December, +1734, preached the sermons which created the initial wave of a great +religious movement. This religious revival spread slowly through +generally lax New England, and through the no less lax Jerseys, and +through the backwoods settlements of Pennsylvania, until it finally +swept the southern colonies. At the time, 1738, the Rev. George +Whitefield was preaching in Carolina, and acceptably so to his +superior, Alexander Garden, the Episcopal commissary to that +colony. Touched by the enthusiasm of the onflowing religious movement, +Whitefield's zeal and consequent radicalism, as he swayed toward the +Congregational teaching and practices, soon put him in disfavor with +his fellow Churchmen. Such disfavor only raised the priest still +higher in the opinion of the dissenters, and they flocked to hear his +eloquent sermons. Whitefield soon decided to return to England. There +he encountered the great revival movement which was being conducted, +principally by the Wesleys, and he at once threw himself into the +work. Meanwhile, he had conceived a plan for a home for orphans in +Georgia, and, a little later, he determined upon a visit to New +England in its behalf. Upon his arrival in Boston in 1740, the +Rev. George Whitefield was welcomed with open arms. Great honor was +paid him. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he was sped with money and +good-will throughout New England as he journeyed, preaching the +gospel, and seeking alms for the southern orphanage. His advent +coincided in time with the reviving interest in religion, especially +in Connecticut. Interest over the revival of 1735 had centred on that +colony the eyes of the whole non-liturgical English-speaking +world. Whitefield's preaching was to this awakening religious +enthusiasm as match to tinder. + +The religious passion, kindled in 1735 by Edwards, and hardly less by +his devoted and spiritually-minded wife, had in Connecticut swept over +Windsor, East Windsor, Coventry, Lebanon, Durham, Stratford, Ripton, +New Haven, Guilford, Mansfield, Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, Preston, +Groton, and Woodbury. [99] The period of this first "harvest" was +short. The revival had swept onward, and indifference seemed once more +to settle down upon the land. But the news of the revival in +Connecticut had reached England through letters of Dr. Benjamin +Coleman of Boston. His account of it had created so much interest that +Jonathan Edwards was persuaded to write for English readers his +"Narrative of the Surprising Work of God." Editions of this book +appeared in 1737-38 in both England and America, and all Anglo-Saxon +non-prelatical circles pored over the account of the recent revival in +Connecticut. Religious enthusiasm revived, and was roused to a high +pitch by Whitefield's itinerant preaching, as well as by that of +Jonathan Edwards, and by the visit to New England of the Rev. Gilbert +Tennant, one of two brothers who had created widespread interest by +their revival work in New Jersey. A religious furor, almost mania, +spread through New England, and the "Great Awakening" came in earnest. + +The Rev. George Whitefield reached Newport, Rhode Island, in +September, 1740. Crowds flocked to hear him during his brief visit +there. In October, he proceeded to Boston, where he preached to +enthusiastic audiences, including all the high dignitaries of Church +and State. During his ten days' sojourn in the city, no praise was too +fulsome, no honor too great. Whitefield next went to Northampton, +drawn by his desire to visit Edwards. After a week of conference with +the great divine, Whitefield passed on through Connecticut, preaching +as he went, and devoted the rest of the year to itinerating through +the other colonies. Already his popularity had been too much for him, +and he frequently took it upon himself to upbraid, in no measured +terms, the settled ministry for lack of earnestness in their calling +and lack of Christian character. This visit of Whitefield was followed +by one from the Rev. Gilbert Tennant, who arrived in Boston in +December, and spent his time, until the following March, preaching in +Massachusetts and Connecticut. Tennant was also outspoken in his +denunciations, and both men, while sometimes justified in their +criticisms, were frequently hasty and censorious in their judgments of +those who differed from them. + +Ministers throughout New England were quick to support or to oppose +the revival movement, and a goodly number of them, as itinerants, took +up the evangelical work. Dr. Colman and Dr. Sewall of Boston, Jonathan +Edwards and Dr. Bellamy of Connecticut, were among the most +influential divines to support the Great Awakening,--to call the +revival by the name by which it was to go down in +history. Unfortunately, among the aroused people, there were many who +pressed their zeal beyond the reverent bounds set by these +leaders. The religious enthusiasm rushed into wild ecstasies during +the preaching of the almost fanatic Rev. James Davenport of Southold, +and of those itinerant preachers who, ignorant and carried away by +emotions beyond their control, attempted to follow his example. + +During this religious fever there were times when all business was +suspended. Whole communities gave themselves up to conversion and to +passing through the three or more distinct stages of religious +experience which Jonathan Edwards, as well as the more ignorant +itinerants, accepted as signs of the Lord's compassion. Briefly +stated, these stages were, first, a heart-rending misery over one's +sinfulness; a state of complete submissiveness, expressing itself in +those days of intense belief both in heaven and in a most realistic +hell, as complete willingness "to be saved or damned,"[c] whichever +the Lord in his great wisdom saw would fit best into His eternal +scheme. Finally, there was the blessed state of ecstatic happiness, +when it was borne in upon one that he or she was, indeed, one of the +few of "God's elect." [100] The revival meetings were marked by +shouting, sobbing, sometimes by fainting, or by bodily contortions. +All these, in the fever of excitement, were believed by many persons +to be special marks of supernatural power, and, if they followed the +words of some ignorant and rash exhorter, they were even more likely +to be considered tokens of divine favor,--illustrations of God's +choice of the simple and lowly to confound the wisdom of the +world. The strong emotional character of the religious meetings of our +southern negroes, as well as their frequent sentimental rather than +practical or moral expression of religion, has been credited in large +measure to the hold over them which this great religious revival of +the eighteenth century gained, when its enthusiasm rolled over the +southern colonies. Be that as it may, any adequate appreciation of the +frequent daily occurrences in New England during the Great Awakening +would be best realized by one of this twentieth century were it +possible to form a composite picture, having the unbridled +emotionalism of our negro camp-meetings superimposed upon the solid +respectability and grave reasonableness of the men of that earlier +day. As the lines of one and the other constituent of this composite +picture blend, the momentary feeling of impatience and disgust +vanishes in a wave of compassion as the irresistible earnestness and +the pitiless logic of those days press, for recognition, and we +realize the awful sufferings of many an ignorant or sensitive soul. It +was not until the religious revival had passed its height that the +people began to realize the folly and dangers of the hysteria that had +accompanied it. It was not until long afterward that many of its +characteristics, which had been interpreted as supernatural signs, +were known and understood, and correctly diagnosticated as outward +evidence of physical and nervous exhaustion. + +Such, outwardly, were the marked features of the Great Awakening. Yet +its incentives to noble living were great and lasting. Its immediate +results were a revolt against conventional religion, a division into +ecclesiastical parties, and a great schism within the Establishment, +which, before the breach was healed, had improved the quality of +religion in every meeting-house and chapel in the land and broadened +the conception of religious liberty throughout the colony. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] At Northampton in 1680, 1684, 1697, 1713, and 1719. + +[b] As early even as 1711, the Hartford North Association suggested +some reformation in the Half-Way Covenant practice because it noted +that persons, lax in life, were being admitted under its terms of +church membership. + +[c] This "to be saved or damned" was, later, a marked characteristic +of Hokinsianism, or the teaching of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, +1723-1813. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GREAT SCHISM + + + If a house be divided against itself.--Mark iii, 25. + +From such a revival as that of the Great Awakening, parties must of +necessity arise. Upon undisciplined fanaticism, the Established church +must frown. But when it undertook to discipline large numbers of +church members or whole churches, recognizedly within its embracing +fold and within their lawful privileges, a great schism resulted, and +the schismatics were sufficiently tenacious of their rights to come +out victorious in their long contest for toleration. + +The proviso of the Saybrook Platform had arranged for the continued +existence of churches, Congregational rather than Presbyterian in +their interpretation of that platform; yet, as late as 1730, when but +few remained, the question had arisen whether members of such +churches, "since they were allowed and under the protection of the +laws," ought to qualify according to the Toleration Act. The Court +decided in the negative, [101] arguing that, although they differed +from the majority of the churches in preferring the Cambridge Platform +of church discipline, they had been permitted under the colony law of +May 13, 1669, establishing the Congregational church, and had been +protected by the proviso of 1708. The Court in its decision of 1730 +seems also to have included a very few churches that had revolted from +the religious formalism creeping in under the Saybrook system, and +that had returned to the earlier type of Congregationalism. After the +Great Awakening, churches "thus allowed and under the protection of +our laws" were found to increase so rapidly that the movement away +from the Saybrook Platform threatened to undermine the ecclesiastical +system, and to endanger the Establishment. Seeing this, the Court, or +General Assembly,[a] began to enforce the old colony law that with it +alone belonged the power to approve the incorporating of churches. And +shortly after it began to harass these separating churches, and to +enact laws to prevent the farther spread of reinvigorated +Congregationalism unless of the Presbyterian type. Soon after 1741, +the churches that drew away from the Saybrook system of government +became known as Separate churches, and their members as +Separatists. When these people found that the Assembly would no longer +approve their organizing as churches, they attempted, as sober +dissenters from the worship established in the colony, to take the +benefit of the Toleration Act. The Assembly next "resolved that those +commonly called Presbyterians or Congregationalists should not take +the benefit of that Act." [102] + +Here was a difficulty indeed. There was no place for the Separatist, +yet there was need of him, and he felt sure there was. Furthermore, +there were others who felt the need to the community of his strong +religious earnestness, though they might deplore his +extravagances. His strong points were his assertion of the need of +regeneration, his reassertion of the old doctrines of justification by +faith and of a personal sense of conversion, including, as a duty +inseparable from church membership, the living of a highly moral +life. The weakness of the Separatist lay in his assertion, first, that +every man had an equal right to exercise any gifts of preaching or +prayer of which he believed himself possessed; secondly, of the value +of visions and trances as proofs of spirituality; and finally, of +every one's freedom to withdraw from the ministry of any pastor who +did not come up to his standard of ability or helpfulness. It followed +that the Separatists insisted upon the right to set up their own +churches and to appoint their own ministers, although the latter might +have only the doubtful qualification of feeling possessed with the +gift of preaching. The Separatists organized between thirty and forty +churches. Some of them endured but a short time, suffering +disintegration through poverty. Others fell to pieces because of the +unrestrained liberty of their members in their exhortations, in their +personal interpretation of the Scriptures, and in their exercise of +the right of private judgment, with the consequent harvest of +confusion, censoriousness, and discord that such practices created. In +years later, many of the Separate churches, tired of the struggle for +recognition and weighed down by their double taxation for the support +of religion, buried themselves under the Baptist name. Indeed they +"agreed upon all points of doctrine, worship, and discipline, save the +mode and subject of baptism." A few Separatist churches, a dozen or +more, continued the struggle for existence until victory and +toleration rewarded them. After the teachings of Jonathan Edwards had +purified the churches and had driven out the Half-Way Covenant, +against which the Separatists uttered their loudest protests, many of +these reformers returned to the Established church. + +In the practice of--their principles, the Separatists, both as +churches and as individuals, were often headstrong, officious, +intermeddling, and censorious. They frequently stirred up ill-feeling +and often just indignation. The rash and heedless among them accused +the conservative and regular clergy of Arminianism, when the latter, +influenced by the Great Awakening, revived the doctrines of original +sin, regeneration, and justification by faith, but were careful to add +to these Calvinistic dogmas admonitions to such practical Christianity +as was taught by Arminian preachers. The Separatists feared lest the +doctrine of works would cause men to stray too far from the doctrine +of justification by faith alone, and they were often very intemperate +in their denunciation of such "false teachers." It was a day of freer +speech than now, and at least two of the great leaders in the revival +had set a very bad example of calling names. Mr. Whitefield considered +Mr. Tennant a "mighty charitable man," yet here are a few of the +latter's descriptive epithets, collected from one of his sermons and +published by the Synod of Philadelphia. Dr. Chauncey of Boston quotes +them in an adverse criticism of the revival movement. Mr. Tennant +speaks of the ministers thus:--hirelings, caterpillars, letter-learned +Pharisees, Hypocrites, Varlets, Seed of the Serpent, foolish Builders +whom the Devil drives into the ministry, dead dogs that cannot bark, +blind men, dead men, men possessed of the devil, rebels and enemies of +God. [103] + +Naturally, party lines were soon drawn in New England. There were the +Old Calvinists or Old Lights on the one side, and the Separatists and +New Lights on the other. The New Lights were those within the churches +who were moved by the revival and who desired to return to a more +vital Christianity. In many respects they sympathized with the +Separatists, although disapproving their extravagances. In many +churches, hounded by the opposition of the conservatives, the New +Lights drew off and formed churches of their own. Thus while the +Separatists may be compared to the early English Separatists, the New +Lights would correspond more to the Puritan party that desired reform +within the Establishment. In the eighteenth century movement, in +Connecticut, the Old Lights held the political as well as the +ecclesiastical control until, in the process of time, the New Lights +gained an influential vote in the Assembly. Always, there was a good, +sound stratum of Calvinism in both the Old and the New Light parties, +and also among the Separatists, and the latter were generally included +in the New Light party, especially if spoken of from the point of view +of political affiliations. The idiosyncrasies of the Separatists +softened down and fell away in time. The Calvinism of Old and New +Lights became a rallying ground whereon each, in after years, gathered +about the standard of a reinvigorated church life; and then the terms +Old Light and New, with their suggestions of party meaning, whether +religious, or political, passed away. The term Separatist was retained +for a while longer, merely to distinguish the churches that preferred +to be known as strict Congregationalist rather than as +Presbyterianized Congregationalist, or, for short, Presbyterian. + +From the time of the Great Awakening, there were nearly forty years of +party contest over religious privileges, many of which had been +previously accorded but which were speedily denied to the Separatists +by a party dominant in the churches and paramount in the legislature; +by a party which was determined to bring the whole machinery of Church +and State to crush the rising opposition to its control. Accordingly, +it was nearly forty years before the Separatists received the same +measure of toleration as that accorded to Episcopalian, Quaker, and +Baptist. It was ten years before the New Lights in the Assembly +could, as a preliminary step to such toleration, force the omission +from the revised statutes of all persecuting laws passed by the Old +Light party. + +The keynote to the long struggle was sounded at a meeting of the +General Consociation at Guilford, November 24, 1741. This was the +first and only General Consociation ever called. It was convened at +the expense of the colony, to consider her religious condition and the +dangers threatening her from the excitement of the Great Awakening, +from unrestrained converts, from rash exhorters, and from itinerant +preachers, who took possession of the ministers' pulpits with little +deference to their proper occupants. The General Consociation +decided-- + + that for a minister to enter another minister's parish, and preach + or administer the seals of the Covenant, without the consent of, + or in opposition to the set tied minister of the parish, is + disorderly, notwithstanding if a considerable number of the people + in the parish are desirous to hear another minister preach, + provided the same be orthodox, and sound in the faith and not + notoriously faulty in censuring other persons, or guilty of any + scandal, we think it ordinar rily advisable for the minister of + the parish to gratify them by giving his consent upon their + suitable application to him for it, unless neighboring ministers + advise him to the contrary. [104] + +This was not necessarily an intolerant attitude, but it was hostile +rather than friendly to the revival. It left neighboring ministers, +that is, the Associations, if one among their number seemed to be too +free in lending his pulpit to itinerant preachers, to curb his +friendliness. Intolerance might come through this limitation, for the +local Association might be prejudiced. If its advice were disregarded +and disorders arose, the Consociation of the county could step in to +settle difficulties and to condemn progressive men as well as +fanatics. In its phrasing, this ecclesiastical legislation left room +for the ministrations of reputable itinerants, for among many, some of +whom were ignorant and self-called to their vocation, there were +others whose abilities were widely recognized. Foremost among such men +in Connecticut were Jonathan Edwards himself, Dr. Joseph Bellamy of +Bethlem, trainer of many students in theology, Rev. Eleazer Whelock of +Lebanon, Benjamin Pomroy of Hebron, and Jonathan Parsons of +Lyme. Among itinerants coming from other colonies, the most noted, +after Whitefield and Tennant, was Dr. Samuel Finley of New Jersey, +later president of Princeton. Naturally men like these, who felt +strongly the need of a revival and believed in supporting the "Great +Awakening," despite its excitement and errors, did not countenance the +rash proceedings of many of the ignorant preachers, who ran about the +colony seeking audiences for themselves. + +The measures of the General Consociation were mild in comparison with +the laws passed by the legislature in the following May. Governor +Talcott, tolerant toward all religious dissenters, had recently died, +and the conservative Jonathan Law of Milford was in the chair of the +chief magistrate. Governor Law had grown up among the traditions of +that narrow ecclesiasticism which had always marked the territory of +the old New Haven Colony. Moreover, the measures of the Consociation +had been futile. One of the chief offenders against them was the +Rev. James Davenport of Southold, Long Island, who not only went +preaching through the colony, stirring up by his fanaticism, his +visions, and his ecstasies, the common people, and finding fault with +the regular clergy as "unconverted men," but who pushed his religious +enthusiasm to great extremes by everywhere urging upon excitable young +men the duty to become preachers like himself. He had introduced a +kind of intoning at public meetings. This tended to create nervous +irritability and hysterical outbursts of religious emotionalism, and +these, Davenport taught his disciples, were the signs of God's +approval of them and their devotion to Him. The government, watching +these tumultuous meetings, concluded that it was time to show its +ancient authority and to save the people from "divisions and +contentions," the ecclesiastical constitution from destruction, and +the ministry from "unqualified persons entering therein." Accordingly, +in May, 1742, the Assembly passed a series of laws, [105] so severe +that even ordained ministers were forbidden to preach outside their +own parishes without an express invitation and under the penalty of +forfeiting all benefits and all support derived from any laws for the +encouragement of religion ever made in the colony. The new enactments +also forbade any Association to license a candidate to preach outside +its own bounds or to settle any disputes beyond its own +territory.[106] These laws also permitted any parish minister to lodge +with the society clerk a certificate charging that a man had entered +his parish and had preached there without first obtaining +permission. Furthermore, there was no provision for confirming the +truth or proving the falsity of such a statement. In connection with +the certificate clause, it was also enacted that no assistant, or +justice of the peace, should sign a warrant for collecting a +minister's rates until he was sure that nowhere in the colony was +there such a certificate lodged against the minister making +application for this mode of collecting his ministerial dues. [107] +Finally, the laws provided that a bond of £100 should be demanded of a +stranger, or visiting minister, who had preached without invitation, +and that he should be treated as a vagrant, and sent by warrant "from +constable to constable, out of the bounds of this Colony."[108] + + These laws restrained both _ordained Ministers_ and + _licensed candidates_ from preaching in _other_ Men's + Parishes without _their_ and the _Church's_ consent and + wholly prohibited the _Exhortations of Illiterate Laymen_. + + These laws were a high-handed infringement of the rights of + conscience, and in a few years fell and buried with them the party + that had enacted them. These were the laws which he (Davenport) + exhorted his hearers to set at defiance; and seldom, it must be + acknowledged, has a more plausible occasion been found in New + England to preach disregard for the law. + +The laws were framed to repress itinerants and exhorters through loss +of their civil rights. By them, a man's good name was dishonored and +he was deprived of all his temporal emoluments. By many, in their own +day, the laws were regarded as contrary to scriptural commands, and to +the opinion and practice of all reformers and of all Puritans. These +laws, with others that followed, were not warranted by the +ecclesiastical constitution of the colony, and could find no parallel +either in England or in her other colonies. Trumbull calls them-- + + a concerted plan of the Old Lights or Arminians both among the + clergy and civilians, to suppress as far as possible, all zealous + Calvinistic preachers, to confine them entirely to their own + pulpits; and at the same time to put all the public odium and + reproach upon them as wicked, disorderly men, unfit to enjoy the + common rights of citizens. [109] + +Yet for these laws the Association of New Haven sent a vote of thanks +to the Assembly when it convened in their city in the following fall. + +Jonathan Edwards opposed both the spirit of the General Consociation +and also the legislation of the Assembly. He expressed his attitude +toward the Great Awakening both at the time and later. In 1742 he +wrote:-- + + If ministers preached never so good a doctrine, and are never so + laborious in their work, yet if at such a day as this they show + their people that they are not well affected to this work [of + revival], they will be very likely to do their people a great deal + more hurt than good. + +Six years later Edwards wrote a preface to his "An Humble Inquiry into +the Qualifications for Full Communion in the Visible Church of God," a +treatise severely condemning the Half-Way Covenant, and urging the +revival of the early personal account of conversion. In this preface +he excuses his hesitation in publishing the work, on the ground that +he feared the Separatists would seize upon his arguments to encourage +them and strengthen them in many of their reprehensible +practices. These, Edwards reminds his reader, he had severely +condemned in his earlier publications, notably in his "Treatise on +Religious Affections," 1746, and in his "Observations and Reflections +on Mr. Brainerd's Life." In his preface Edwards repeats his +disapproval of the Separatist "notion of a _pure church_ by means +of a _spirit of discerning_; their _censorious outcries_ +against the standing ministers and churches in general, their _lay +ordinations_, their _lay-preaching_ and _public +exhortings_ and administering sacraments; and their +self-complacent, presumptuous spirit." Edwards believed that +enthusiasts, though unlettered, might exhort in private, and even in +public religious gatherings might be encouraged to relate in a proper, +earnest, and modest manner their religious experiences, and might also +entreat others to become converted. He maintained that much of the +criticism of an inert ministry was well founded, that much of the +enthusiastic work of laymen and of the itinerants deserved to be +recognized by the regular clergy, and that they ought to bestir +themselves in furthering such enthusiasm among their own +people. Edwards urged also his belief in the value of good works, not +as meriting the reward of future salvation, but as manifesting a heart +stirred by a proper appreciation of God's attributes. Jonathan Edwards +held firmly to the foundation principles of the conservative school, +while he sympathized with and supported the best elements in the +revival movement. + +This attitude of Edwards eventually cost him his pastorate, for he +judged it best to resign from the Northampton church, in 1750, because +of the unpopularity arising from his repeated attacks upon the +Half-Way Covenant and the Stoddardean view of the Lord's +supper. Nevertheless, it was the influence of Jonathan Edwards and of +his following which gradually brought about a union of the religious +parties, after the Separatists had given up their eccentricities and +the leaven of Edwards' teachings had brought a new and invigorated +life into the Connecticut churches. This preacher, teacher, and +evangelist was remarkable for his powerful logic, his deep and tender +feeling, his sincere and vivid faith. These characteristics urged on +his resistless imagination, when picturing to his people their +imminent danger and the awful punishment in store for those who +continued at enmity with God. Of his work as a theologian, we shall +have occasion to speak elsewhere. + +Some illustrations of church life in the troublous years following the +Great Awakening will best set forth the confusion arising, the +difficulties between Old and New Lights, and the hardships of the +Separatists. Among the colony churches, the trials of three may be +taken as typical,--the New Haven church[110], the Canterbury +church,[111] and the church of Enfield.[112] Nor can the story of the +first two be told without including in it an account of later acts of +the Assembly and of the attitude of the College during the years of +the great schism. + +The pastor of the New Haven church was Mr. Noyes, whom many of his +parishioners thought too noncommittal, erroneous, or pointless in +discussing the themes which the itinerant preachers loved to dwell +upon. Moreover, Mr. Noyes had refused to allow the Rev. George +Whitefield to preach from his pulpit while on his memorable pilgrimage +through New England. Mr. Noyes had also forbidden the hot-headed +James Davenport to occupy it. As a result of their minister's actions, +the New Haven church was divided in their estimate of their +pastor. There were the friendly Old Lights and the hostile New. +Neither party wished to carry their trouble before the Consociation of +New Haven county, for that had come at last to be a tribunal "whose +decision was at that time considered _judicial_ and +_final_." Moreover, at the meeting of the General Consociation at +Guilford in November, 1741, it was known that Mr. Noyes had been a +most active worker in favor of suppressing the New Light +movement. Consequently the New Lights, though at the time in the +minority, sought to find a way out from under the jurisdiction of the +Saybrook Platform and its councils by declaring that the church had +never _formally_ been made a Consociated church. This was +literally true, but the weight of precedent and their own observances +were against them. Like other churches in the county, which had come +slowly to the acceptance of the Saybrook councils as ecclesiastical +courts, it had finally accepted them in their most authoritative +character. Such being the case, the New Lights hesitated to appeal +against their minister before a court presumably favorable to +him. After the New Lights had declared the church not under the +Saybrook system, Mr. Noyes determined to take the vote of his people +as to whether they considered themselves a Consociated church. But as +he was a little fearful of the result of the vote, he secured the +victory for his own faction by excluding the New Lights from +voting. Thereupon, the New Lights took the benefit of the Toleration +Act as "sober dissenters," and became a Separate church. The +committee, appointed for the organization of the new church, declared +that "they were reestablished as the original church." The benefit of +the Toleration Act accorded to these New Light dissenters in New +Haven, to some in Milford,[b] and to several other reinvigorated +churches in the southern part of the colony, roused the opposition of +the Old Lights in the Assembly, and, as they counted a majority, they +repealed the act in the following year, 1743. Three or four weeks +after the New Haven New Lights had formed what was afterwards known as +the North Church, the General Assembly met for its fall session in +that city, and, as has been said, the New Haven Association +immediately sent a vote of thanks for the stringent laws passed at the +May meeting. The Court, moved by this indication of the popular +feeling, by the importance of the church schism and its influence +throughout the colony, by the conservative attitude of Yale College, +and also by having among its delegates large numbers of Old Lights, +proceeded to enact yet more stringent measures than those of the +preceding session. The result was that the North Church could hire no +preacher until they could find one acceptable to the First Church and +Society, because the pastor elected by the First Church was the only +lawfully appointed minister, since he owed his election to the +majority votes of the First Society. Furthermore, the Court, in 1743, +refused a special application of the North Church for permission to +settle their chosen minister, and it was some five or six years before +it ceased this particular kind of persecution and permitted the church +to have a regular pastor. + +The story of this New Haven church extends beyond the time-limit of +this chapter, but it is better completed here. The stringency of the +laws only increased the bitterness of faction. In 1745, feeling ran so +high that a father refused to attend his son's funeral merely because +they belonged to opposing factions, and an attempt to build a house of +worship for this Separate church resulted in serious disturbances and +in the charge of incendiarism. The New Lights preferred imprisonment +to the payment of taxes assessed for the benefit of the First +Church. At last, in 1751, the October session of the General Assembly +thought it best "for the good of the colony and for the peace and +harmony of this and other churches" infected by its example, to advise +that the differences within it be healed by a council to be composed +of both Old and New Lights.[113] The suggestion bore no fruit, and a +year later the New Lights themselves again asked for a council, even +offering to apologize to the First Church for their informality in +separating from it, and for their part in the heated controversy that +followed; but Mr. Noyes induced his party to refuse to accede to the +proposed conference. As the North Church had grown strong enough by +this time to support a regular pastor, Mr. Bird accepted its call; yet +for six years longer, because the Assembly refused to divide the +society, the New Lights were held to be members of the First Society +and taxable for its support. But in 1757, the New Lights gained the +majority both in church and society, a majority of _one_. At +once, the New Lights were released from taxes to the First Church. Now +the dominant party, they attempted to pay back old scores, and +accordingly demanded a division of both church and society +property. The claim to the first was unfair, and they eventually +abandoned it. The church quarrel finally ceased in 1759, after a +duration of eighteen years, and in 1760 Mr. Bird was formally +installed with fitting honors. + +In the early days of the Great Awakening, the Canterbury church became +divided into Old Lights and New, and a separation took place. Before +the separation, a committee, who were appointed to look up the church +records, gave it as their opinion that the church was not and never +had been pledged to the Saybrook Platform. Nevertheless, the very men +who gave this decision became the leaders of the minority, who +determined to support the government in carrying out its oppressive +laws of 1742. These laws had been passed while the committee were +searching the church records. The majority of the church, incensed at +having their liberty curtailed, proceeded to defy the law by listening +to lay exhorters and to itinerants just as they had been in the habit +of doing ever since the church had felt the quickening influences of +the Great Awakening. This majority declared that it was "regular for +this church to admit persons into this church that are in full +communion with other churches and come regularly to this." This +decision the minority characterized as unlawful according to the +recent acts of the Assembly. The majority proceeded to argue the +right of the majority in the church as above the right of the majority +in the society, or parish, to elect the minister and to guide the +church. In an attempt to satisfy both parties, candidates were tried, +but they could not command a sufficient number of votes from either +side to be located permanently. A meeting in 1743 of the Consociation +of Windham (to whose jurisdiction the Canterbury church belonged), +together with a council of New Lights, brought temporary peace. A +candidate was agreed upon; but in a few months the New Lights became +dissatisfied with him because of his approval of the Saybrook system +of church government, his acceptance of the Half-Way Covenant, and +other opinions. Controversy revived. The majority of the church +withdrew, and for a while met in a private house for services, which +were conducted by Solomon Paine or by some other layman. As a result, +the Windham Association passed a vote of censure against the +seceders. Paine wrote a sharp retort, for which he was arrested, +although ostensibly on the charge of unlawfully conducting public +worship. He refused to give bonds and was committed to Windham jail +in September, 1744. Such crowds flocked to the prison yard to hear him +preach, and excitement ran so high, that the officer who had conducted +his trial appeared before the Assembly to protest that such legal +proceedings did but tend to increase the disorders they were intended +to cure. Accordingly, Paine was released in October. + +The interest of the whole colony was now centred on the defiant and +determined Canterbury Separate church, and the November meeting of the +Windham Association had the schism under consideration, when Yale +expelled two Canterbury students whose parents were members of that +church. + +In October, 1742, in order to protect the college and the ministry and +to deal a blow at the "Shepherd's Tent," a kind of school or academy +which the New Lights had set up in New London for qualifying young men +as exhorters, teachers, and ministers, the General Assembly had +decided that no persons should presume to set up any college, seminary +of learning, or any public school whatever, without special leave of +the legislature.[115] The Court had also enacted that no one should +take the benefit of the laws respecting the settlement and support of +ministers unless he were a graduate of Yale or Harvard, or some other +approved Protestant university. It had also given explicit directions +for the supervision of the schools throughout the colony and of their +masters' orthodoxy,[116] and had advised Yale to take especial care +that her students should not be contaminated by the New Lights. The +Congregationalists had reported the "Shepherd's Tent" as a noisy, +tumultuous resort, because it was occasionally used for meetings, and +had added that it was openly taught in that school that there would +soon be a change in the government, and that disobedience to the civil +laws was not wrong. The Assembly, fearing that it might "train up +youth in ill practices and principles," sought to put an end to it. As +to the advice to the college, Yale was only too eager to follow it, +and the same year expelled the saintly David Brainerd[117] for +criticising the prayers of the college preachers as lacking in +fervor. His offense was against a college law of the preceding year +which forbade students to call their officers "hypocritical, carnal or +unconverted men." The college, as the New Light movement increased, +came to the further conclusion that-- + + since the principal design of erecting this college was to train + up a succession of learned and orthodox ministers by whose example + people might be directed in the ways of religion and good order + ... it would be a contradiction to the civil government to support + a college to educate students to trample upon their own laws, to + break up the churches which they establish and protect, especially + since the General Assembly in May 1742, thought proper to give the + governors of the college some special advice and direction upon + that account, which was to the effect that proper care should be + taken to prevent the scholars from imbibing those or like errors; + and those who would not be orderly and submissive, should not be + allowed the privileges of the college. + +Solomon Paine made answer to this law. With fine irony, he assured the +people that in effect it forbade all students attending Yale College +to go to any religious meeting even with their parents, should they be +Separatists or New Lights, because-- + + no scholar upon the Lord's day or other day, under pretence of + religion, shall go to any public or private meeting, not + established or allowed by public authority or approved by the + President, under penalty of a fine, confession, admonition or + otherwise, according to the state and demerit of the offence, for + fear that such preaching would end in "Quakerism," open + infidelity, and the destruction of all Christian religion, and + make endless divisions in the Christian church till nothing hut + the name of it would be left in the world. + +The two Cleveland brothers, John and Ebenezer, had spent the fall +vacation of 1744 [c] with their parents at their home in Canterbury, +and by request of their elders had frequented the Separatist church +there. On their return to Yale, the boys were admonished. They +professed themselves ready to apologize, but not in such words as the +authorities thought sufficiently submissive, for the latter considered +that the boys had broken the laws "of God, of the Colony and of the +College."[119] The boys very ably argued that, under the +circumstances, there had been nothing else for them to do but to go to +church with their parents when requested to do so, and held to their +position. Yale expelled them, and there followed a sensation +throughout the colony.[120] + +The leaders of the New Light party in the church of Canterbury were +the nearest relatives and friends of the Cleveland boys, who came to +be regarded as martyrs to their religion. Their treatment opened the +question as to whether the steadily increasing numbers of New Lights +were to lose for their children the benefit of the college, that they +helped to support. Must they, in order to send their sons to college, +deprive them for four years of a "Gospel ministry" and lay them open +to consequent grave perils? Why should New Lights be required to make +such a sacrifice, or why, in vacation, should their children be +required to submit to the ecclesiastical laws of the college? If +Episcopalians were permitted to have their sons, students at Yale, +worship with them during the vacations, why should not the same +liberty be granted to equally good citizens who differed even less in +theological opinions? + +Because of this college incident the difficulties in the Canterbury +church attracted still more attention, but the end of the schism was +at hand. In the month that witnessed the expulsion of the Clevelands, +the minority of the original First Church voted that they were "The +Church of Canterbury," and that those who had gone forth from among +them in the January of the preceding year, 1743, as Congregationalists +after the Cambridge Platform, had abrogated that of +Saybrook. Consequently, to the minority lawfully belonged the election +of the minister, the meeting house, and the taxes for ministerial +support. Having thus fortified their position, they by a later vote +declared:-- + + That those in the society who are differently minded from us, and + can't conscientiously join in ye settlement of Mr. James + Coggeshall as our minister may have free liberty to enjoy their + own opinion, and we are willing they should be released and + discharged from paying anything to ye support of Mr. Coggeshall, + or living under his ministry any longer than until they have + parish privileges granted them and are settled in church by + themselves according to ye order of ye Gospel, or are lawfully + released. [121] + +At the repeal of the Toleration Act in 1743, a new method had been +prescribed for sober dissenters who wished to separate from the state +church, and who were not of the recognized sects. The method of +relief, thereafter, was for the dissenters, no matter how widely +scattered in the colony, to appeal in person to the General Assembly +and ask for special exemption. Moreover, they were promised only that +their requests would be listened to, and the Assembly was growing +steadily more and more averse to granting such petitions. As a result +of this policy, the Separatist church of Canterbury did not have a +very good prospect of immediate ability to accept the good-will of the +First Church, which went even farther than the resolution cited +above. The First Church offered to assist the Separatists in obtaining +recognition from the Assembly. This offer the Separatists refused, +preferring to submit to double taxation, and thus to become a standing +protest to the injustice of the laws. + +After the expulsion of the Clevelands, Yale made one more pronounced +effort to discipline its students and to repress the growth of the +liberal spirit. She attempted to suppress a reprint of Locke's essay +upon "Toleration" which the senior class had secretly printed at their +expense. An attempt to overawe the students and to make them confess +on pain of expulsion was met by the spirited resistance of one of the +class, who threatened to appeal to the King in Council if his diploma +were denied him. His diploma was granted; and some years after, when +the sentiment in the colony had further changed, the college gave the +Cleveland brothers their degree. + +The church in Enfield[122] had an experience somewhat similar to that +of Canterbury, to which it seems to have looked for spiritual advice +and example. The Enfield Separate church was probably organized +between 1745 and 1751, though its first known documents are a series +of letters to the Separate church in Canterbury covering the period +1751-53. These letters sought advice in adjusting difficulties that +were creating great discord in the church, which had already separated +from the original church of Enfield. In 1762, the Enfield Separatists, +once more in harmony, renewed their covenant, and called Mr. Nathaniel +Collins to be their pastor. They struggled for existence until 1769, +when they appealed to the General Assembly for exemption from the +rates still levied upon them for the benefit of the First +Society. They asked for recognition, separation, and incorporation as +the Second Society and Church of Enfield. They were refused; but in +May of the following year,--a year to be marked by special legislation +in behalf of dissenters,--the Enfield Separatists again memorialized +the Assembly, and in response were permitted to organize their own +church. [123] This permission, however, was limited to the +memorialists, eighty in number; to their children, if within six +months after reaching their majority they filed certificates of +membership in this Separate church; and to strangers, who should enter +the new society within one year of their settling in the town. The +history of the Enfield Separatists gives glimpses of the frequent +double discord between the New Lights and the Old and among the New +Lights themselves. The period of the Enfield persecution extended over +years when, elsewhere in the colony, Separatists had obtained +recognition of their claims to toleration, if only through special +acts and not by general legislation. + +If churches suffered from the severe ecclesiastical laws of 1742-43, +individuals did also. Under the law which considered traveling +ministers as vagrants, and which the Assembly had made still more +stringent by the additional penalty "to pay down the cost of +transportation," so learned a man as the Rev. Samuel Finley, +afterwards president of Princeton, was imprisoned and driven from the +colony because he insisted upon preaching in Connecticut. Indeed, it +was his persistence in returning to the colony that caused the +magistrates to increase the severity of the law.[124] When the +ministers John Owen of Groton and Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebron, as well +as the itinerant James Davenport of Southold, criticised the laws, all +of them were at once arraigned for the offense before the Assembly. +There was so much excitement over the arrest of Pomeroy and Davenport +that it threatened a riot. All three men were discharged, but +Davenport was ordered out of the colony for his itinerant preaching +and for teaching resistance to the civil laws. Pomeroy, his friend, +had declared that the laws forbade any faithful minister, or any one +faithful in civil authority, to hold office. Events bore out his +statement, for ministers were hounded, and the New Light justices of +the peace, and other magistrates, were deprived of office. Pomeroy, +himself, was discharged only to be complained of for irregular +preaching at Colchester and in punishment to be,deprived of his salary +for seven years.[125] The Rev. Nathan Stone of Stonington was +disciplined for his New Light sympathies. Philemon Bobbins of Branford +was deposed for preaching to the Baptists at Wallingford. This last +procedure was the work of the Consociation of New Haven county, which +thereby began a six years' contest, 1741-47, with the Branford +church. In 1745 this church attempted to throw off the yoke of the +Consociation by renouncing the Saybrook Platform. + +During these years of persecution, the opposition to the Old Light +policy was gradually gaining effective power, although the college had +expelled Brainerd, and Mr. Cook, one of the Yale corporation, had +found it expedient to resign because of his too prominent part in the +formation of the North Church of New Haven. The Old Lights in the +legislature of 1743 passed the repeal of the Toleration Act because +the New Lights had no commanding vote; but they were increasing +throughout the colony. Fairfield East Consociation had licensed +Brainerd the year that Yale expelled him. Twelve ministers of New +London and Windham county had met to approve the revival, +notwithstanding the repeal of the Toleration Act and the known +antagonism of the Windham Association to the Separatists. Windham +Consociation and that of Fairfield East favored the revival. Large +numbers of converts were made in these districts, and many also in +Hartford county. In the New Haven district the spirit of antagonism +and of persecution was strongest. + +It was in accordance with the laws of 1742-43 that Mack, Shaw, and +Pyrlæus, Moravian missionaries, on a visit in 1744 to their mission +stations among the Indians in Connecticut, were seized as Papists and +hustled from sheriff to sheriff for three days until "the Governor of +Connecticut honorably dismissed them," though their accusers insisted +upon their being bound over under a penalty of £100 to keep the law. +"Being not fully acquainted with all the special laws of the country, +they perceived a trap laid for them and thought it prudent to retire +to Shekomeko" (Pine Plains, Dutchess County, N. Y.). Missionaries sent +out from Nazareth and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, had established this +sub-centre for work in New York and Connecticut, and in the latter +colony, in 1740-43, had made Indian converts at Sharon, Salisbury +Indian Pond, near Newtown, and at Pachgatgoch, two miles southwest of +Kent. Here was their principal station in Connecticut. They had made, +in all, some twenty converts among the Indians, and had reclaimed +several of their chief men from drunkenness and idleness. Moravian +principles forbade these missionaries to take an oath. Consequently, +the greed of traders, the rivalry of creeds, together with the belief +that there was something wrong about men who would not swear +allegiance to King George,--notwithstanding their willingness to +affirm it, and notwithstanding their denial of the Pretender,--gave +rise to the conviction that they must be Papists[d] in league with the +French and their Indian allies. Accordingly both magistrates and +ministers arrested the missionaries, and hurried them before the court +at Poughkeepsie or at New Milford. Though the governors of both states +recognized the value of the mission work, popular feeling ran so high +that New York, in September, 1744, passed a law requiring them to take +the oaths prescribed or to leave the country, and also commanding that +"vagrant Teachers, Moravians, and disguised Papists should not preach +or teach in public or private" without first obtaining a license. In +Connecticut, as has been said, the laws of 1742-1743 were enforced +against them; later, when during the Old French War groundless rumors +of their intrigues with hostile Indians were circulated against them, +a vain hunt was made for three thousand stands of arms that were said +to be secreted in their missions. The severe persecution in New York +had driven these missionaries into Pennsylvania and into Connecticut, +but these rumors of intrigue broke up their work and caused the +abandonment of their stations in the latter colony. Some of these, +such as Kent, Sharon, and Salisbury, were revived in 1749-1762, at the +request of the English settlers as well as of the Indian +converts.[126] + +Returning to the main story of the progress of dissent, we find that +in 1746 the General Court of Connecticut felt obliged to safeguard the +Establishment by the passage of a law entitled, "Concerning who shall +vote in Society Meetings."[127] Its preamble states that persons +exempted from taxes for the support of the established ministry, +because of their dissenting from the way of worship and ministry of +the Presbyterian, Congregational, or Consociated churches, "ought not +to vote in society meetings with respect to the support or to the +building and maintaining of meeting houses," yet some persons, +exempted as aforesaid, "have adventured to vote and act therein," as +there was no express law to the contrary. The new law forbade such +voting, and limited the ecclesiastical ballot to members of the +Establishment who "were persons of full age and in full communion with +the church," and to other unexempted persons who held a freehold rated +at fifty shillings per year, or personal property to the value of +forty pounds. This law was just, in that it excluded all dissenters +who had received exemption from Presbyterian rates. It included all +others having the property qualification, whether they wanted to vote +or not. That it was felt to be a necessity is a witness to the +increasing recognition of the strength of the dissenting element. + +In 1747, the Consociation of Windham sent forth a violent pamphlet +describing the Separatists as a people in revolt against God and in +rebellion against the Church and government. But the tide of public +opinion was turning, and popular sentiment did not support the writers +of this pamphlet. Moreover, the secular affairs of the colony were +calling minds away from religious contentions as the stress of the Old +French War was more and more felt. In 1748, venturing upon the +improvement in public sentiment, Solomon Paine sent to the legislature +a memorial signed by three hundred and thirty persons and asking for a +repeal of such laws as debarred people from enjoying the liberty +"granted by God and tolerated by the King."[128] It was known to these +memorialists that a revision of the laws, first undertaken in 1742, +was nearing completion, and their desire was that all obnoxious or +unfair acts should be repealed. The petition met with a sharp rebuff, +and, as a punishment, three members were expelled from the Assembly +for being Separatists. But by such measures the Old Lights were +overreaching themselves. A mark of the turning of public opinion was +given this same year, when, upon the request of his old church in +Hebron, the church vouching for his work and character, the Assembly +restored to his ministerial rights and privileges the Rev. James +Pomeroy. The unjust laws of 1742-43 and of the following years were +never formally repealed, but were quietly dropped out of the revision +of the laws issued in 1750. + +Thenceforth the people began to tolerate variety in religious opinions +with better grace, and the dominant authoritative rule of the Saybrook +Platform began to wane, though for twenty years more it strove to +assert its power. In 1755, the Middletown Association advised +licensing candidates for the ministry for a term of years. The idea +was to prevent errors arising from the personal interpretation of the +Scriptures and indifference to dogmatic truths of religion from +creeping into the churches. About the same time, the Consociation of +New Haven invited their former member, Mr. Bobbins of Branford, to sit +with them again at the installation of Mr. Street of East +Haven. Conciliatory acts and measures such as these originated with +both the Old and New Lights, and did much to lessen the division +between them. Discussion turned more and more from personal opinions, +character, and abilities, to considerations of doctrinal points. The +churches found more and more in common, while worldly interests left +the masses with only a half-hearted concern in church discussions. + +To summarize the effect of the Great Awakening as evidenced by the +great schism and its results thus far considered: The strength of the +revival movement, as such, was soon spent. The number of its converts +throughout New England was estimated by Dr. Dexter to be as high as +forty or fifty thousand, while later writers put it as low as ten or +twelve thousand, out of the entire population of three hundred +thousand souls. The years 1740-42 were the years of the Great +Awakening, and after them there were comparatively few conversions +during any given time. Even in Jonathan Edwards's own church in +Northampton there were no converts between 1744 and 1748. The +influence of the Great Awakening was not, however, transient, nor was +it confined to the Congregational churches, whether of the Cambridge +or the Saybrook type. Baptist churches felt the impetus, receiving +many directly into their membership, and also indirectly, from those +Separatist churches which found themselves too weak to +endure. Episcopalians added to their numbers from among religiously +inclined persons who sought a calm and stable church home unaffected +by church and political strife. The Great Awakening created the +Separatist movement and the New Light party, revitalized the +Established churches, invigorated others, and through the persecution +and counter-persecution that the great schism produced, taught the +Connecticut people more and more of religious tolerance, and so +brought them nearer to the dawn of religious liberty. Such liberty +could only come after the downfall of the Saybrook, Platform, and +after a complete severance of Church and State. The last could not +come for three quarters of a century. Meanwhile the leaven of the +great revival would be working. On its intellectual side, the Great +Awakening led to the discussion of doctrinal points, an advance from +questions of church polity. These themes of pulpit and of religious +press led, finally, to a live interest in practical Christianity and +to a more genial religion than that which had characterized the +Puritan age. The Half-Way Covenant had been killed. Education had +received a new impulse, Christian missions were reinvigorated, and the +monthly concert of prayer for the conversion of the world was +instituted. [129] True, French and Indian wars, the Spanish +entanglement with its West Indian expedition, and the consuming +political interests of the years 1745-83, shortened the period of +energetic spiritual life, and ushered in another half century of +religious indifference. But during that half century the followers of +Edwards and Bellamy were to develop a less severe and more winning +system of theology, and the fellowship of the churches was to suggest +the colonial committees of safety as a preliminary to the birth of a +nation, founded upon the inherent equality of all men before the +law. This conception of political and civil liberty was to develop +side by side with a clearer notion of the value of religious freedom. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] This term came with the royal charter of 1662, but only gradually +displaced the familiar "General Court." + +[b] The Milford church, like that of New Haven, suffered for many +years from unjust exactions and taxation. + +[c] Commencement then came in September. + +[d] And this notwithstanding their willingness to include in their +affirmation a denial of Mariolatry, purgatory, and other vital Romish +tenets. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ABROGATION OF THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM + + + That house cannot stand.--Mark iii, 25. + + The times change and we change with them.--Proverb. + +The omission of all persecuting acts from the revision of the laws in +1750 was evidence that the worst features of the great schism were +passing, that public opinion as a whole had grown averse to any great +severity toward the Separatists as dissenters. But the continuance in +the revised statutes of the Saybrook Platform as the legalized +constitution of the "Presbyterian, Congregational or Consociated +Church," and the almost total absence of any provision for exempting +Congregational Separatists from the taxes levied in its behalf, +operated, notwithstanding the many acts of conciliation between these +two types of churches, to revive at times the milder forms of +persecution. And such injustice would continue until the Separatists +as a body were legally exempted from ecclesiastical rates, and until +the Saybrook Platform was either formally annulled or, in its turn, +quietly dropped from the statute book. But henceforth, the measure of +intolerance would be determined more by local sentiment and less by +the text of the law, more by the proportion of Old Lights to New in a +given community. And the measure of toleration must eventually take +the form of legalized rights rather than of special privileges, and +this through a growing appreciation of the value of the Separatists as +citizens. The abrogation of the Saybrook Platform might follow upon a +reaffiliation of all Presbyterians and all Congregationalists in a new +spirit of mutual tolerance and helpfulness. Whatever the events or +influences that should bring about this reaffiliation, the new bonds +of church life would necessarily lack the stringency of the palmy days +of Saybrook autocratic rule. Consequently when such a time arrived, +the Platform, at least in its letter, could be dropped from the +law-book. The old colonial laws for the support of religion would +still suffice to protect and exalt the Establishment, and to preserve +it as the spiritual arm of the State. It so happened that toleration +was granted to the Separatists at the beginning of the Revolutionary +struggle, and that the abrogation of the Saybrook Platform followed +close upon its victorious end. Many influences, both religious and +secular, had their part in bringing about these progressive steps +toward religious freedom, toward full and free liberty of conscience. + +The revision of the laws completed in 1750 had been under +consideration since 1742. At the beginning of the great schism, the +important task had been placed in the hands of a committee consisting +of Roger Wolcott, Thomas Fitch, Jonathan Trumbull, and John Bulkley, +Judge of the Superior Court. The first three names are at once +recognized as Connecticut's chief magistrates in 1750-54, 1754-66, +1769-1783, respectively. During the eight years that the revision was +in the hands of this committee, the church quarrel had passed its +crisis; the Old Lights had slowly yielded their political, as well as +their ecclesiastical power; and their controlling influence was +rapidly passing from them. The Old French War, with its pressing +affairs, had so affected the life of the colony as to lessen religious +fervor, weaken ecclesiastical animosities, and, at the same time, to +develop a broader conception of citizenship. + +English influence, moreover, had modified the ecclesiastical laws in +the revision of 1750. The Connecticut authorities, when imbued with +the persecuting spirit, did not always stop to distinguish between the +legally exempt Baptist dissenters and the unexempted Separatists. This +was due in part to the fact that many of the latter, like the church +of which Isaac Backus was the leader, went over to the Baptist +denomination. The two sects held similar opinions upon all subjects, +except that of baptism. It was much easier to obtain exemption from +ecclesiastical taxes by showing Baptist certificates than to run the +risk of being denied exemption when appeal was made to the Assembly, +either individually or as a church body, the form of petition demanded +of these Separatists. The persecuted Baptists at once turned to +England for assistance, and to the Committee of English Dissenters, of +which Dr. Avery was chairman. + +This committee had been appointed to look after the interests of all +dissenters, both in England and in her colonies, for the English +dissenting bodies were growing in numbers and in political +importance. To this committee the Connecticut Baptists reported such +cases of persecution as that of the Saybrook Separatist church, which +in 1744 suffered through the arrest of fourteen of its members for +"holding a meeting contrary to law on God's holy Sabbath day." These +fourteen people were arraigned, fined, and driven on foot through deep +mud twenty-five miles to New London, where they were thrust into +prison for refusing to pay their fines, and left there without fire, +food, or beds. There they were kept for several weeks, dependent for +the necessaries of life upon the good will of neighboring +Baptists.[130] The Separatists could report the trials of the Separate +church of Canterbury, of that of Enfield, of the First Separate church +of Milford, hindered in the exercise of its legal rights for over +twenty years, and they could also recount the persecution of churches +and of individuals in Wethersfield, Windsor, Middletown, Norwich, and +elsewhere. Upon receiving such reports, Dr. Avery had written, "I am +very sorry to hear of the persecuting spirit which prevails in +Connecticut.... If any gentleman that suffers by these coercive laws +will apply to me, I will use my influence that justice be done them." +The letter was read in the Assembly, and is said to have influenced +the committee of revision, causing them to omit the persecuting laws +of 1742-44, in order that they might no longer be quoted against the +colony. Governor Law replied to Dr. Avery that the disorders and +excesses of the dissenters had compelled the very legislation of which +they complained. To which Dr. Avery returned answer that, while +disorders were to be regretted, civil penalties were not their proper +remedy. This was a sentiment that was gaining adherents in the colony +as well as in England. Among other instances of persecution among the +Baptists was that of Samuel, brother of Isaac Backus, who in 1752, +with his mother and two members of the Baptist society, was imprisoned +for thirteen days on account of refusal to pay the ecclesiastical +taxes.[131] Another was that of Deacon Nathaniel Drake, Jr.,[132] of +Windsor, who, in 1761, refused to pay the assessment for the Second +Society's new meeting-house. For six years the magistrates wrestled +with the Deacon, striving to collect the assessment. But the Deacon +was obstinate, and rather than pay a tax of which his conscience +disapproved, he preferred to be branded in the hand. Outside of +Baptist or Separatist, there were other afflicted churches, such as +that of Wallingford,[133] where the New Lights could complain that, in +1758, the Consociation of New Haven county had refused to install the +candidate of the majority, Mr. Dana; and had attempted to discipline +the twelve ministers who had united in ordaining him; and that as a +result the twelve were forced to meet in an Association by themselves +for fourteen years, or until 1772. + +The Separatists attempted to obtain exemption through petitions to the +Assembly, trusting that, as each new election sent more and more New +Lights to that body, each prayer for relief would be more favorably +received. One of the most important of these petitions was that of +1753, when more than twenty Separatist churches, representing about a +thousand members, united in an appeal wherein they complained of the +distraining of their goods to meet assessments and taxes for the +benefit of the Established churches; of imprisonments, with consequent +deprivation of comforts for their families; and of the danger to the +civil peace threatened by these evils. The Assembly refused +redress. Whereupon the petition was at once reconstructed,[a] and, +with authentic records and testimonies, to which Governor Fitch set +the seal of Connecticut, was sent, in 1756, [134] to London. The +Committee in behalf of Dissenters were to see that it was presented to +the King in Council. The petition charged violation of the colony's +charter, excessive favoritism, and legislation in favor of one +Christian sect to the exclusion of all others and to the oppression, +even, of some. The English Committee thought that these charges might +anger the King and endanger the Connecticut charter. Accordingly, they +again wrote to the Connecticut authorities, remonstrating with them +because of their treatment of dissenters. At the same time, they sent +a letter advising the petitioners to show their loyalty to the best +interests of the colony by withdrawing their complaint. These +dissenters were further advised to begin at once a suit in the +Connecticut courts for their rights, and with the intent of carrying +their case to England, should the colony fail to do them +justice. Legal proceedings were immediately begun, but were allowed to +lapse, partly because of the press of secular interests, for the +colonial wars, the West India expedition, and other affairs of great +moment claimed attention, and partly because there were indications +that the government would regard the Separatists more favorably. + +In the colony itself a change was taking place through which the +college was to go over to the side of the New Lights. In 1755, +President Clap had established the College Church in order to remove +the students from the party strife that was still distracting the +churches. In order to avoid a conflict over the matter, he refused to +ask the consent of the Assembly, claiming the right of an incorporated +college and the precedent of the English universities, since, in 1745, +the Assembly had formally incorporated "The President and Fellows of +Yale College," vesting in them all the usual powers appertaining to +colleges. In the same year, also, the initial step toward establishing +a chair of divinity had been taken, and it became the first toward the +founding of the separate College Church. President Clap always +maintained that "the great design of founding Yale was to educate +ministers in our way,"[135] and the chair of divinity had been +established in answer to the suggestion of the Court that the college +take measures to protect its students from the New Light +movement. President Clap was hurried on in his policy of establishing +the College Church both by his desire to separate the students from +the New Light controversy in Mr. Noyes's church, where they were wont +to attend, and by an appeal to him, in 1753, of Rector Punderson, the +priest recently placed in charge of the Church-of-England mission in +New Haven. The rector had two sons in college, and he asked that they +and such other collegians as were Episcopalians might be permitted to +attend the Church-of-England services. President Clap refused to give +the desired permission, except for communion and some special +services, and he at once proceeded to organize a church within the +college. The trustees and faculty upheld him, but the Old Lights, then +about two-thirds of the deputies to the Assembly, opposed his course +of action, and succeeded in taking away the annual grant that, at the +incorporation of the college, had been given to Yale. After this, they +regarded President Clap as a "political New Light," but as the latter +party increased in the Assembly, and became friendly to Yale, the +college gradually reinstated itself in the favor of the legislature. + +If in his petitions the Separatist demanded only exemption, only that +much toleration, in his controversial writings he ably argued the +right of all men to full liberty of conscience. Unfortunately, the +ignorance and follies of many of the Separatists, when battling in +advance of their age for religious liberty, militated against the +logic of their position. Harmony among themselves would have commended +and strengthened their cause, and given it a forceful dignity. They +blundered, as did their English predecessors of a much earlier date, +by laying too much stress upon the individual, upon his +interpretations of Scripture, and upon his right of criticism. Much of +their work in behalf of religious liberty took the form of +pamphleteering. Again, it was their misfortune that the Establishment +could boast of writers of more ability and of greater training. Yet +the Separatists had some bold thinkers, some able advocates, and, as +time wore on, and their numbers were increased and disciplined, the +strength and quality of their petitions and published writings +improved greatly. Sometimes these dissenters were helped by the +theories of their opponents, which, when pushed to logical conclusions +and practical application, often became strong reasons for granting +the very liberty the Separatists sought. Sometimes an indignant member +of the Establishment, smarting under its interference, was roused to +forceful expression of the broader notions of personal and church +liberty that were slowly spreading through the community. A few +extracts from typical pamphlets of the time will give an idea of the +atmosphere surrounding the disputants. + +In 1749, a tract was issued from the New London press by one +E. H. M. A. entitled, "The present way of the Country in maintaining +the Gospel ministry by a Public Rate or Tax is Lawful, Equitable, and +agreable to the Gospel; As the same is argued and proved in way of +Dialogue between John Queristicus and Thomas Casuisticus, near +Neighbors in the County." In answer to this, and for the purpose of +vindicating the religious practices and opinions of the Separatists, +Ebenezer Frothingham, a Separatist minister, took the field in 1750 as +the champion of religious liberty. His book of four hundred and fifty +pages had for its title "The Articles of Faith and Practice with the +Covenant that is confessed by the Separate Churches of Christ in this +land. Also a discourse." So influential and so characteristic was this +work, that rather long extracts from it are permissible, and, with a +few arguments from other writers, will serve to reflect the thought +and feeling of the day, and will best give the point of view of both +dissenter and member of the Establishment, of liberal and +conservative; for the pamphlet of the period was apt to be religious +or political, or more likely both. + +Frothingham, speaking of the injustice done the Separatists, writes:-- + + That religion that hath not authority and power enough within + itself to influence its professors to support the same, without + Bargains, Taxes or Rates, and the Civil Power, and Prisons, &c. is + a false Religion. ... Now, if the Religion generally professed + and practiced in this land, be the Religion of Jesus Christ, why + do they strain away the Goods of the Professors of it, and waste + their substance to support it? which has frequently been done. And + which is worse, why do they take their Neighbors (that don't + worship with them, but have solemnly covenanted to worship God in + another place) by the throat, and cast them into Prison? or else + for a Rate of Twenty Shillings, Three or Six Pounds, send away + Ten, Twenty, or Thirty Pounds worth of Goods, and set them up at + Vendue; where they will generally assemble the poor, miserable + Drunkard, and the awful foul-mouthed Swearer, and the bold, + covetous, Blasphemous Scoffer at things Sacred and Divine, and the + Scum of Society for the most part will be together, to count and + make their Games about the Goods upon Sale, and at the owners of + them too, and at the Holy Religion that the Owners thereof + profess; and at such Vendues there are rarely any solid, thinking + men to be found there; or if there are any such present, they do + not care to act in that oppressive way of supporting the + Gospel. Such men find something is the matter. God's Vice-regent + in their Breasts, tells them it is not equal to make such Havock + of men's Estates, to support a Worship they have nothing to do + with; yes, the Consciences of these persons will trouble them so + that they had rather pay twice their part of the Rates, and so let + the oppressed Party go free. + +Upon the difficulty of securing collectors, Frothingham remarks: "If +it be such a good Cause, and no good men in the Society, to undertake +that good Work, surely then such a Society is awfully declined, if +that is the case." Frothingham quotes the Suttler of the "Dialogue" as +saying, "We have good reason to believe, that if this Hedge of human +Laws, and Enclosure of Order round the Church, were wholly broken +down, and taken away, there would not be, ('t is probable) one regular +visible Church left subsisting in this land, fifty years hence, or, at +most, not many. "To this, Frothingham replied that if by the "visible +church, here spoken of," is meant "Anti-Christ's Church, we should be +apt to believe it," for "it needs Civil Power, Rates and Prisons to +support it. But if the Gospel Church, set up at first without the aid +of civil power could continue and spread, why can't it subsist without +the Civil Power now as well as then?" "To this day," this author adds, +"the true Church of Christ is in bondage, by usurping Laws that +unrighteously intrude upon her ecclesiastical Rights and civil +Enjoyments; .... And Wo! Wo! to New England! for the God-provoking +Evil, which is too much indulged by the great and mighty in the +Land. The cry of oppression is gone up into the ears of the Lord God +of Sabbaoth." + +Frothingham thrusts at the payment or support of the ministry by +taxation in his assertion that "there is no instance of Paul's +entering into any civil Contract or Bargain, to get his wages or Hire, +in all his Epistles; but we have frequent accounts of his receiving +free contributions."[136] (Here, he but repeats a part of the Baptist +protest in the Wightman-Bulkley debate of 1707.) Frothingham states +that "the scope and burden of it [his book] were to shew ... both +from scripture and reason that the standing ministers and Churches in +this Colony [Connecticut] are not practising in the rule of God's +word." + +The book at once commanded the attention desired by its author. It +drew upon Frothingham the concentrated odium of the Rev. Moses +Bartlett, pastor of the Portland church, in a fifty-four-paged +pamphlet entitled "False and Seducing Teachers." Among such Bartlett +includes and roundly denounces Frothingham and the two Paines, Solomon +and his brother Elisha. Elisha Paine had removed to Long +Island. Returning to Canterbury for some of his household goods, he +was seized by the sheriff for rates overdue, and thrown into Windham +jail.[137] After waiting some weeks for his release, he sent the +following bold and spicy letter to the Canterbury assessors:-- + + To you gentlemen, practioners of the law from your prisoner in + Windham gaol, because his conscience will not let him pay a + minister that is set up by the laws of Connecticut, contrary to + his conscience and consent. + + The Roman Emperor was called Pontifex Maximus, because he presided + over civil and ecclesiastical affairs; which, is the first beast + that persecuted the Christians that separated from the Established + religion, which they call the holy religion of their forefathers; + and by their law, fined, whipped, imprisoned and killed such as + refused obedience thereto. We all own that the Pope or Papal + throne is the second beast, because he is the head of the + ecclesiastical, and also meddles in civil affairs.... He also + compels all under him to submit to his worship, decrees and laws, + by whips, fines, prisons, fire and fagots. Now what your prisoner + requests of you is a clear distinction between the Ecclesiastical + Constitution of Connecticut, by which I am now held in prison, and + the aforesaid two thrones or beasts in the foundation, + constitution and support thereof. For if by Scripture and reason + you can show they do not all stand on the throne mentioned in + Psalm xciv: 20, [b] but that the latter is founded on the Rock + Christ Jesus, I will confess my fault and soon clear myself of the + prison. But if this Constitution hath its rise from _that + throne_ ... better is it to die for Christ, than to live + against him. + + From an old friend to this civil constitution, and long your + prisoner. + + ELISHA PAINE. + + WINDHAM JAIL, Dec. 11, 1752. + +In 1744, in addition to his memorials and letters, Solomon Paine had +published "A Short View of the Constitution of the Church of Christ, +and the Difference between it and the Church Established in +Connecticut." Frothingham, when alluding to Moses Bartlett's +denunciation of himself and Paine, refers to this book in his remark, +"Elder Paine and myself have labored to prove, and I think it evident, +that the religious Constitution of this Colony is not founded upon the +Scriptures of truth, but upon men's inventions." + +In the year 1755, the same in which he established the college church, +President Clap issued his "History and Vindication of the doctrines +received and established in the Churches of New England," [c] to which +Thomas Darling's "Some Remarks on President Clap's History" was a +scathing rejoinder. Darling asserted that for the President to uphold +the Saybrook System of Consociated Churches was to set up the +standards of men, a thing the forefathers never did;[138] that the +picture of the Separatists' "New Scheme," which the President drew, +was a scandalous _spiritual_ libel;[139] and then, falling into +the personal attacks permitted in those days, Darling adds that +President Clap was an overzealous sycophant of the General Assembly, a +servant of politics rather than of religion, and that it would be +better for him to trust to the real virtues of the Consociated Church +to uphold it than to strive for legal props and legislative favors for +his "ministry-factory,"[140] the college. To raise the cry of heresy, +Darling declared, was the President's political powder, and "The +Church, the Church is in danger!" his rallying cry. He concluded his +arraignment with:-- + + But would a man be tried, judged and excommunicated by such a + standard as this? No! Not so long as they had one atom of + _common_ sense left. These things will never go down in a + free State, where people are bred in, and breathe the free air, + and are formed upon principles of liberty; they might answer in a + popish country, or in _Turkey_, where the common people are + sank and degraded almost to the state of brutes.... But in a free + state they will be eternally ridiculed and abhorred.... 'T is too + late in the Day for these things, these gentlemen should have + lived twelve or thirteen hundred years ago. + +Among the champions of religious liberty was the Seventh-day Baptist, +John Bolles. He wrote "To worship God in Spirit and in Truth, is to +worship him in true Liberty of Conscience," and also "Concerning the +Christian Sabbath, which that Sabbath commanded to Israel, after they +came out of Egypt, was a Sign of. Also Some Remarks upon a Book +written by Ebenezer Frothingham." These works were published in 1757, +and, five years later, called out in defense of the Establishment +Eobert Ross's "Plain Address to the Quakers, Moravians, Separates, +Separatist-Baptists, Rogerines, and other Enthusiasts on immediate +impulses, and Revelation, &c," wherein the author considers all those +whom he addresses as on a level with Frothingham, whom he names and +scores for "trampling on all Churches and their Determinasions, but +your own, with the greatest disdain."[141] + +In the same year, 1762, the Separatist Israel Holly published a +defense of his opinions, quoting freely from Dr. Watts and from his +own earlier work, "A Seasonable Plea for Liberty of Conscience, and +the Eight of private Judgment in matters of Religion, without any +control from Human Authority." This "A Word in Zion's Behalf" [d] +boldly ranges itself with Frothingham and Bolles, arguing against, and +emphatically opposing, the state control of religion. Holly also +engaged in a printed controversy, publishing in connection with it +"The Power of the Congregational Church to ordain its officers and +govern itself." + +In 1767, while the Separatists still outnumbered the Baptists in +Connecticut, Ebenezer Frothingham put forth another powerful and +closely argued tract, "A Key to unlock the Door, that leads in, to +take a fair view of the Religious Constitution Established by Law in +the Colony of Connecticut," [e] etc. In his preface he states:-- + + The main Thing I have in View thro' the whole of this Book is free + Liberty of Conscience... the Right of thinking and choosing and + acting for one's self in matters of Religion, which respects God + and Conscience ... for my Readers may see Liberty of Conscience, + was the main and leading Point in View in planting this Land and + Colony. + +Frothingham defines the Religious Constitution as "certain Laws in the +Colony Law Book, called ecclesiastical, with the Confession of Faith, +agreed upon by the Elders and Messengers of the Churches, met at +Saybrook, especially the Articles of Administration of Church +Discipline." This Constitution Plan "gives the General Assembly (which +is, and always should so remain, a civil body to transact in civil and +moral things) power to constitute or make a spiritual or +ecclesiastical body."[142] + +Such power, Frothingham maintains, is contrary to reason. Citing from +the Colony Law Book the statute, "Concerning who shall vote in town or +Society meeting" Frothingham comments thus:-- + + This supposes no person to have a right to form themselves into a + religious society without their [the Assembly's] leave. No,--not + King George the Third himself would have liberty to worship God + according to his conscience. [Yet] any Atheist, Deist, Arian, + Socinian, a Prophane Drunkard, a Sorcerer, a Thief, if they have + such a freehold (as the law demands), can vote to keep out a + minister. [Such a] plan challenges the sole right of making + religious societies and the government of conscience. Yea, I think + it assumes the prerogative that belongs to the Son of God + alone.[143] + + The fines for the neglect of the established worship and for + assembling for worship approved by conscience [leave] no gap for + one breath of gospel liberty. For if we exercise our gifts and + graces in the lawful assemblies, we are had up, and carried to + prison, for making disturbance on the Sabbath. I myself have been + confined in Hartford prison near five months, for nothing but + exhorting and warning the people, after the public worship was + done and the assembly dismissed. And while I was there confined, + three more persons were sent to prison; one for exhorting, and two + for worshipping God in a private house in a separate meeting. And + quick after I was released, by the laws being answered by natural + relations unbeknown to me, then two brethren more was committed + for exhorting and preaching, and several afterward, for attending + the same duties and I myself was twice more sent to prison for the + ministers rates.[144] + + I have no Man or Men's persons as such, in View in my Writings, + But would as much as is proper, separate Ministers, Civil Rulers, + and Churches, from the Constitution, and consider this Religious + Constitution as it is compiled or written, as though it was not + established in this Colony; but presented here from some remote + part of Christendom, for Examination, to see if it was according + to the Word of God, and the sacred Right of Conscience.[145] + +In scathing terms, Frothingham attacks the "Anti-Christian" character +of the Establishment and its fear that, by granting liberty of +conscience, an open door for church separation would result, and +thereby its speedy downfall, because of the multiplication of churches +and the loss of taxes enforced for its support. Experience had taught +the authorities that, even when all the people favored one form of +religion, compulsory support had to be resorted to as a spur to +individual contributious. Moreover, the best governments of which they +knew had recourse to a similar system in order to maintain purity of +religion and the moral welfare of the state. The authorities could not +see, as did the champion of religious liberty, the opportunities of +oppression that such a system afforded; nor could they feel with him +the harshness of its taxation, nor the injustice of distraining +dissenters' goods,--or, as he phrased it, "their lack of faith in God +and in God's people to uphold religion." They certainly would not +acknowledge Frothingham's charge that they seriously feared the loss +of political power through the granting of soul liberty, and as a +consequence the probable disintegration of the Establishment. + +Frothingham argues that to suffer the existence of different sects +would really strengthen the authority of the colony; since,-- + + when persons know that the Most High is alone the absolute Lord of + Conscience; that no mortal breathing has any right to hinder them + from thinking and acting for themselves, in religious + affairs... the law of nature, reason and grace will lay subjects + under strong obligations to their rulers, when equal justice is + ministered to them of different principles, in the practice of + religion. [l46] + +Frothingham confutes the declaration that there was liberty of +conscience in the colony, "for the separates have gone to the General +Assembly with their prayers, from year to year, asking nothing but +their just rights, full and free liberty of conscience, and have been, +and still are, denied their request." + +Furthermore, the colony law supported criminals in prison and gave the +poor man's oath to debtors, but nothing to the man who was in prison +for conscience's sake. Such a one was dependent upon the charity of +his friends for the very necessities of life. Such laws and the +ecclesiastical constitution which they support become-- + + a forfeiture of the charter grant because they exercise that + oppression and persecution contrary to its first intent, and are + the direct cause of contention and disunion, which is repugnant to + the principal design of constituting the colony; viz. that it "May + be so religiously, peaceably and civilly governed as may win and + invite the natives to the Christian faith." [l47] + +This "Key to unlock the Door" was probably the strongest work put +forth from the dissenter's standpoint, and within three years it was +followed by a legislative act granting a measure of toleration. But +there were other important books of similar character. Two among these +were Robert Bragge's "Church Discipline,"[f] reprinted in 1768, and +Joseph Brown's (Baptist) "Letter to the Infant Baptizers of North +Parish in New London." Brown closes his book with a mild and +reasonable appeal to every one to try to put himself in the place of +the oppressed dissenter.[g] In Brown's argument, as in that of the +majority of the dissenters, the plea is for toleration in the choice +of the form of religion to be supported, and not for liberty to +support or neglect religion itself. Those who believed in the +voluntary support of religion were not seeking exemption as +individuals, but as organized societies or churches, whose highest +privilege it was to support Christ's teachings. Considered from this +point of view, they were only seeking those privileges which had been +granted the Episcopalians, the Quakers, and Baptists in +1727-29. Looked at from the point of view of the government, however, +these Separatists varied so slightly from the legalized polity and +worship, and yet withal so dangerously, that they did not deserve to +be classed as "sober dissenters." To recognize them as such would be +to set the seal of approval upon all who chose to question the +authority, or the righteousness, of the Saybrook system. With the fear +of such an undermining of authority, and realizing the increasing +tendency of churches throughout the colony to renounce the Saybrook +Platform, the very conservative people felt that to grant toleration +to the Separatists might prove disastrous both to Church and civil +order. + +While the Baptists and the Separatists were waging the battle for +toleration and for religious liberty with the great weapon of their +time,--the pamphlet,--the Consociated Churches were also making +valiant use of it, not only in defense of the Establishment, but in +controversial warfare among themselves, for in the New England of the +second half of the eighteenth century, two schools of religious +thought were slowly developing. They gained converts more rapidly as +the means of communication, of publication, and of exchange of opinion +increased. The improvement of roads, the introduction of carriages and +coaches, the establishment of printing-presses, and the founding of +newspapers, were important agents in developing and moulding public +opinion. Of these, the printing-press was foremost, for with its +pamphlet and its newspaper it gained a hearing not only in the cities, +but in the isolated farmhouses of New England, carrying on its weekly +visit the gist of the secular and religious news. + +The newspaper made its first appearance in Connecticut in 1755, when +the "Connecticut Gazette" [h] issued from the recently established New +Haven press. The newspaper arrived later in the distant colony of +Connecticut than in those on the seaboard that were in closer touch +with European thought by reason of their more direct and frequent +sailing vessels. Among American newspapers, the year 1704 saw the +birth of the "Boston News Letter"; the year 1719, of the "Boston +Gazette" and of the "American Weekly Mercury" of Philadelphia. Boston +added a third paper, the "New England Courant," in 1721, while New +York issued its first sheet in 1725. Benjamin Franklin founded the +"Pennsylvania Gazette" in 1729, and, in 1741, began the publication of +the "General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for, all the British +Plantations in America." In 1743, Boston sent out the "American +Magazine and Historical Chronicle," containing, along with European +news, not only lists of new books and excerpts therefrom, but full +reprints of the best essays from the English magazines. New York, in +1752, issued the "Independent Reflector," a magazine of similar +character. Thus, through papers and magazines, as well as through a +limited importation of books, and through personal correspondence, the +life of Europe, and preeminently of England, was brought home to the +colonists. + +In the religious non-prelatical world of England, the Presbyterian +churches were undergoing a transformation, and were, by 1750, +prevailingly Arian. The English Congregationalists resisted Arianism, +but they, also, felt its influence, as well as that of Arminianism, +and they began to attach less importance to creeds, and to develop a +broader tolerance of many shades of religious belief. New England +sympathized more with the Congregational movement, but, as interest in +both was awakened, English thought came to have great influence in the +religious development of New England during the next half-century. +Broadly speaking of these progressive changes, Connecticut, and +Connecticut-trained men in western Massachusetts, developed the +so-called New Divinity, while Massachusetts clergy, especially those +of her eastern section, favored that liberal theology which, after the +Revolutionary period, gave rise to the Unitarian conflict. + +The older religious controversies had concerned themselves with church +polity, or, popularly speaking, with what men thought concerning their +relation to God through his church, in distinction from doctrine, or +what men felt should be their attitude towards God and their +fellow-men. Pushing aside polity and doctrine, the twentieth century +emphasizes action, or man's reflection of the life of Christ. Doctrine +came to the front with Jonathan Edwards. In his opposition to the +Arminian teaching of the value of a sincere obedience to God's laws +and "the efficacy of means of grace," Jonathan Edwards asserted the +Calvinistic idea of the sovereignty of God, and maintained that +justification was by faith alone; but his idea of justification held +within it the duty of personal responsibility in loving and obeying +God. Edwards, though defining love as general benevolence, a delight +in God's holiness, and the essence of all true virtue, did introduce, +as factors in personal religion, the will and the emotions. These +characteristics of true, personal religion, as his mind, influenced by +the Great Awakening, conceived and elaborated them, he set forth in +his "Religious Affections," published in 1746. In his "Qualifications +for Full Communion," 1749, he again dwelt upon the same theme; but his +main purpose was to uproot the Half-Way Covenant practice and the +Stoddardean view of the Lord's supper. He attempted to do this by +exposing the inefficiency of "means," and at English Arminianism in +particular Edwards leveled his "Freedom of the Will," [i] published in +1754. His friend and disciple, Joseph Bellamy, put forth in 1750 "True +Religion Delineated," wherein he advances from Edwards's limited +atonement theory to that of a general one. [j] In 1758, Bellamy, in +brilliant dialogue, replied to "A Winter's Evening Conversation Upon +the Doctrine of Original Sin in which the Notion of our having sinned +in Adam and being on that Account only liable to eternal Damnation, is +proved to be unscriptural," a book by Rev. Samuel Webster of +Salisbury, Massachusetts, and of which a reprint had appeared from the +New Haven Press in 1757, the year of its publication. Bellamy took +sides with the Rev. Peter Clark of Danvers, Massachusetts, who replied +in "A Summer Morning's Conversation." Both men summoned as their +authority a work of Edwards, "Original Sin Defended," which was about +to appear from the press, and to which Edwards's followers were +looking forward as the last work of their master, he having died while +its pages were still in press. Edwards had destined the book to be a +refutation of English Arianism of the Taylor school, of which Webster +was a follower. This same year, 1758, Bellamy discoursed upon "The +Wisdom of God in the Permission of Sin," and gave a series of sermons +on "The Divinity of Jesus Christ," a defense of the Trinity, which +Jonathan Mayhew of Boston had attacked. Bellamy may have felt that +this defense was due from a Connecticut man because the colony, +strenuously orthodox, had in the revision of the laws in 1750 added +the requirement of a belief in the Trinity, and caused the denial +thereof to be ranked as felony. Denial of the Trinity, or of the +divine inspiration of the Scriptures, was punishable, for the first +offense, by ineligibility to office, whether ecclesiastical, civil, or +military, and, upon a second conviction, by disability to sue, to act +as guardian or as administrator. [148] Though there was never a +conviction under the statute, the presence of such a law in the colony +code indicates the religious temper of her people at a time when +radical changes were creeping into man's conception of religion. + +Joseph Bellamy's influence, great as it was as writer and preacher, +was even greater as a teacher. His home in Bethlehem from 1738 to +1790 was virtually a divinity school, and it is estimated that at +least sixty students, trained in his system of theology and in his +antagonism to the Half-Way Covenant, [k] spread through New England +an influence counter to that of the Mayhews, Briant, [l] Webster, and +other disciples of the Liberal Theology. Upon Bellamy, as a leader, +fell Edwards's mantle. + +While Bellamy was the great exponent of Jonathan Edwards's teachings +in Connecticut, another friend and famous pupil of the great divine's, +Samuel Hopkins, taught at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1743-69, +and in Newport, Ehode Island, 1770-1803, urging an extension of his +master's principles--especially of that of "benevolence." Hopkins, +however, attributed a certain value to "means of grace," while +teaching that sin and virtue consist in exercise of the will, or in +definite acts. [m] Consequently, he included in his theology a denial +of man's responsibility for Adam's sin, which Edwards had +maintained. Hopkins advocated also a willing and disinterested +submission to'God's will, the Hopkinsian "to be saved or damned," +since God, in his wisdom, will do that which is best for his +universe. These characteristic doctrines, both of Bellamy and Hopkins, +were modified by the younger generation of students, notably by +Stephen West, John Smalley, Jonathan Edwards, Jr., and--greatest of +all--Nathaniel Emmons, who, together with the first Timothy Dwight, +were to introduce two sub-schools of the New Divinity. [n] Emmons, +following Hopkins, developed extreme views of sin, even in little +children; held the theories of reprobation and election; and was most +intensely Calvinistic. Dwight developed a more conciliatory and benign +system of theology, but his influence, as founder of a school of +religious thought, belongs to the post-Revolutionary era. Emmons held +one long pastorate at Franklin, Massachusetts, 1773-1827, [o] where, +as a trainer of youth for the ministry, his influence was greatest, +and his powers at their best. Nearly a hundred ministers passed to +their pulpits from his tutelage. + +Such were the teachings that fashioned a generation of preachers, of +ministers, wielding a tremendous influence over the men and measures +of pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary days. The clergy were then the +close friends of their parishioners; their counselors in all matters, +spiritual or worldly; and frequently their arbitrators in disputed +rights, for the legal class was still small, and its services +costly. The pastor knew intimately every soul in his parish. He was +the State's moral guardian. He was the intellectual leader and more, +for, in the scarcity of books and newspapers, not alone in his Sunday +sermon but in those on fast days and thanksgivings, and on all public +and semi-public occasions, he talked to his people upon current +events. The story is told of a clergyman who in his Sunday prayer +recounted the life of his parish during the preceding week, making +personal mention of its actors; who then passed, still praying, from +local history to the welfare of the nation, including a tribute to +Washington and a description of a battle; and who did not end his +hour-long prayer until he had anathematized the enemy, and circled the +globe for recent examples of divine wrath and benevolence. Such a +clergyman is by no means a myth. Each pastor made his own +contribution, inconspicuous or notable as it might be, to the +broadening of thought, and contributed his part to the development +among his people of ideas of personal liberty, even as the colonial +wars were developing confidence in the ability to defend that liberty +should it be endangered. A voluntary theocracy may uphold a faith +which teaches that only a very limited number are of the "elect," but, +under the ordinary conditions of life, such a belief is discouraging, +deadening, and as men threw off this idea of spiritual bondage, they +advanced to a larger conception of personal responsibility, dignity, +and freedom. Such enlargement of ideas necessitated a mutual tolerance +of diverse opinions. It also tended to create revolt against +infractions of civil liberty or violations of political justice. The +colonists were not so badly taxed--as colonial policy went--when they +made their stand for "no taxation without representation," when they +exhausted their resources in a long war because of acts of Parliament +that, had they submitted to them, would have offered a precedent for +still more repressive measures and for the overthrow of the +Englishman's right to determine, through the representatives of the +people, how the people's money should be spent. + +If the town-meeting, the sermon, the religious or political pamphlet, +and the newspaper did each its part in developing a people, there was +also another factor that, starting as part of a discussion of +ecclesiastical polity, brought before all men important questions of +civil, political, and personal liberty, and of constitutional rights. +However unnecessary the severe anguish of Jonathan Mayhew's spirit, +due to his exaggerated fear of the American episcopate, he did but +express "the sincere thought of a multitude of his most rational +contemporaries." [l49] A review of events will show some reason for +the antagonism and horror that filled New England when the project of +the episcopate was revived. After the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the +Crown took no interest in the project of an American episcopate until +Thomas Sherlock became Bishop of London in 1748. The Connecticut +clergy of the Church of England, together with others of New England +and the Middle colonies, had, however, never ceased their efforts to +secure an American bishop; and now, in Bishop Sherlock, their +Metropolitan in London, they had one who firmly believed in the +necessity of colonial bishops, who deliberately refused to exercise +the traditional powers of his office, or to obtain a legal renewal of +them (in so far as they applied to the colonies), because he had +determined that by such a policy he would force the English government +to appoint one--or preferably several--American bishops. He defined +his scheme for the episcopate as one in which the Bishop was: (1) to +have no coercive power over the laity, only regulative over the +clergy; (2) to have no share in the temporal government; (3) to be of +no expense to the colonists; (4) and to have no authority, except to +ordain the clergy, in any of the colonies where the government was in +the hands of dissenters from the Church of England. This plan was +essentially the same as that advocated later by Bishops Secker and +Butler, and by succeeding bishops to the time of the +Revolution. Bishop Sherlock obtained the King's permission to submit +his plan to the English ministers of state. So great was the dread +inspired in America by the rumors of a revival of active measures for +a colonial episcopate, that a deputation, sent to England in 1749, +appointed a committee of two to wait upon those nearest to the King +and to advise them that the appointment would be "highly Prejudicial +to the Interests of Several of the Colonies." [150] This committee +redoubled its energies in 1750, and it was due to its watchfulness as +well as to the clearer foresight of the King's ministers that Bishop +Sherlock's plan was frustrated. The chief advisers of the government +objected to it on the ground that it would be repugnant to the +dissenting colonies, to the dissenters of all sorts in England, and +would also rouse in the home-land party-differences that had slumbered +since the overthrow of the Pretender in 1745. + +Despite the English opposition to Bishop Sherlock's scheme, its +discussion in England and the journey of the bishop's agent through +the several American colonies to sound their sentiment had created so +much apprehension that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel +enjoined its missionaries, in 1753, "that they take special care to +give no offence to the civil government by intermeddling with affairt, +not relating to their calling or function." Even Bishop Seeker of +Oxford, a strong adherent of Bishop Sherlock, saw fit, in 1754, to +suppress Dr. Johnson of Stratford, Connecticut, bidding his enthusiasm +wait until a more propitious season, and advising him, and the rest of +his clergy, to conciliate the dissenters. Bishop Sherlock, himself, in +1752, withdrew sufficiently from his first position to assume the +ecclesiastical oversight of the colonies, although he would not take +out a commission to renew that which had expired by the death of +Bishop Gibson. Meanwhile, Sherlock's demonstration that the Bishop of +London had little authority in law, or in fact, over the American +colonies created two parties. One [p] held that the colonies were a +part of the English nation and consequently were subject to the civil +and religious laws existing in the home country, and that the +authority of the Church of England extending to the colonies had been +reinforced by the Gibson patent of 1727-28. The other party +maintained that the colonists were not members of the Church of +England, nor subject to its rules. They quoted the Lord Chief Justice, +who declared to Governor Dummer, in 1725, that "there was no regular +establishment of any national or provincial church in these +plantations" (of New England), and that Bishop Gilman, in his letter +of May 24, 1735, to Dr. Colman had written, "My opinion has always +been that the religious state of New England is founded on an equal +liberty to all Protestants, none of which can claim the name of a +national establishment, or of any kind of superiority over the rest." +This party further maintained that no acts of Parliament, passed after +the founding of the colonies, were binding upon them, unless such acts +were specially extended to the colonies. Here again was the old +contention that had appeared in the earlier controversy over the +Connecticut Intestacy Act. + +An American controversy, parallel in time with the attempt to +establish the episcopate, roused the always latent New England +hostility to the Episcopal church as one contrary to gospel +teaching. This controversy of 1747-51 [q] broke out over the validity +of Presbyterian ordination versus Episcopal. The battle surged about +the contingent questions of (1) whether the Church of England extended +to the colonies; (2) whether it was prudent for the long established +New England churches to go over to the English communion; and (3) +whether it would be lawful. In debating the last two, incidental +matters of expense, of unwise ecclesiastical dependence, and of the +consequent decay of practical godliness in the land, were discussed by +the Rev. Noah Hobart of Stratford, Conn., who represented the +Consociated churches, while Episcopacy was defended by Rev. James +Wetmore of Rye, N. Y., Dr. Johnson of Stratford, Conn., Rev. John +Beach of Reading, Conn., and by the Rev. Henry Caner of Boston. + +This discussion at once suggested to a few far-sighted men that the +bishops recently proposed, and which at the end of the Seven Years' +War, in 1763, were again earnestly advocated by Bishop Seeker (who had +become Archbishop of Canterbury) should not acquire any powers in +addition to those suggested by Bishop Sherlock. The growing fear of +such increased authority flamed out again in the Mayhew controversy of +1763-65, when all the inherited Puritan dislike to the Church of +England as a religious body, and all the terror of such a hierarchy, +as a part of the English state, hurled itself into argument, and threw +to the front the discussion of the American episcopate as a measure of +English policy,--an attempt to transplant the Church as an arm of the +State; an attempt to "episcopize," to proselyte the colonies, and +eventually to overturn the New England ecclesiastical and civil +governments.[r] "It was known," wrote John Adams fifty years later, +"that neither the king nor ministry nor archbishop could appoint +bishops in America without Act of Parliament, and if Parliament could +tax us, it could establish the Church of England with all its creeds, +articles, ceremonies, and prohibit all other churches as conventicles +and schism-shops." [s] Therefore, when England declared her right to +tax the colonies, and followed it by Sugar Act and Stamp Act, the +political situation threw a lurid light about the Chandler-Chauncy +controversy [t] of 1767-71 as it rehearsed the _pros_ and +_cons_ of the proposed episcopate. The New England colonies were +greatly excited, and others shared the unrest, for, even where the +Church of England was strongest, the laity as a body preferred the +greater freedom accorded them under commissaries as sub-officers of +the Bishop of London. The indifference of the American laity as a +whole to the project of the episcopate; the impotence of the English +bishop to attain it, thwarted as he was by the threefold opposition of +the ministry, the colonial agents, and the great body of English +dissenters, did not lessen the prevailing suspicion and fear among the +colonists, especially among those of New England. They felt no +confidence in the profession [u] that authority purely ecclesiastical +would alone be accorded to the bishop, or that American churchmen +themselves would long be satisfied with a bishopric so shorn of +power. And already, on November 1, 1766, the Episcopalians of New +York, New Jersey, and Connecticut had met together in their first +annual convention at Elizabethtown. [v] The avowed object of their +conference was the defense of the liberties of the Church of England, +and "to diffuse union and harmony, and to keep up a correspondence +throughout the united body and with their friends abroad." [151] + +It was a time of drawing together, whether of the colonies as +political bodies, or of their people as groups of individuals +affiliating with similar groups beyond the local boundaries. Upon +November 5, 1766, also at Elizabethtown, the Consociated Churches of +Connecticut had united with the Presbyterian Synod of New York and +Philadelphia in their first annual convention, which was composed of +Presbyterian delegates to the Synod and of representatives from the +Associations in Connecticut. While the general object was the +promotion of Christian friendship between the two religious bodies, +the spread of the gospel, and the preservation of the liberties of +their respective churches, the conventions of 1769-75 determined to +prosecute measures for preserving these same liberties, threatened "by +the attempt made by the friends of Episcopacy in the Colonies and +Great Britain, for the establishment of Diocesan Bishops in America." +[152] Accordingly this representative body at once entered into +correspondence with the Committee of Dissenters in England. In +recalling these movements towards combination, one remembers that, +among the dissenters, the Quakers had long held to their system of +Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual Meetings, to their correspondence with +the London Annual Meeting, and to the frequent interchange of +traveling preachers. In the years 1767-69, the scattered Baptists of +New England had united in the Warren (Rhode Island) Association. It +was a council for advice only, yet its approval lent multiple weight +to the influence of any Baptist preacher. It urged the collection of +all authentic reports of oppression or persecution, and a firm, united +resistance on the part of the weaker churches. [w] The founding of +Brown University, Rhode Island, as a Baptist College in 1764, gave the +sect prestige by marking their approval of education and of a "learned +ministry." + +To return to the subject of the episcopate, the Chandler controversy +had been precipitated by Dr. Johnson of Connecticut, who, at the +Elizabeth convention, urged that the opposition to the American +bishops was largely caused by ignorance concerning their proposed +powers and office, and that if some one would put the scheme more +fully before the people, they might be won over. The task was assigned +to Thomas Bradbury Chandler, who published his "An Appeal to the +Public," 1767. Dr. Charles Chauncy of Boston replied to Chandler, +giving the New England view of bishops in "The Appeal Answered." +Chandler, as has been said, retorted with his "The Appeal Defended," +and the newspapers took up the controversy. The discussion turned +immediately and almost entirely from the ecclesiastical aspect, with +its dangers to New England church-life, to the political and +constitutional phases of this proposed extension of the Church of +England. The New York and Philadelphia press agitated the subject in +1768-69, while all New England echoed Mayhew's earlier denunciations +of the evils to be anticipated. In the pulpit, by the study fire, and +at the tavern-bar, leaders, scholars, people discussed the possible +loss of civil and personal liberty. Let the bishops once be seated; +and would they not introduce ecclesiastical courts, demand uniformity, +and impose a general tax for their church which might be perverted to +any use that the whim of the King and of his subservient bishops might +propose? There is no question that this subject of the episcopate, +with its political and constitutional phases, and with the +considerations of personal and civil liberty involved, did much to +familiarize the people with those principles upon which they made +their final break with England, and helped to prepare their minds for +the separation from the mother country. + +In considering the various elements that contributed to the +development of the national spirit, to the destruction of that +provincialism so marked in the colonies before 1750, and to the +creation in each of breadth of thought and clearness of vision, trade +and commerce had their part. Because of them, came increasing +knowledge of the widely different habits of life in the thirteen +colonies. It came also from the association of the people of the +different sections when as soldiers of their King they were summoned +to the various wars. Still another impetus was given to the national +idea by the fashion of long, elaborate correspondence. Especially was +this true after the Albany convention of 1754, called to discuss +Franklin's Plan of Union, had introduced men of like minds, abilities, +and purpose, and also the needs of their respective sections, and had +interested them in the common welfare of all. Moreover, Franklin was +the highest representative of still another movement that roused the +slumbering intelligence of men by opening their minds to impressions +from the vast and unexplored world of natural science. He founded, in +1743, the University of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical +Society. The recognition, in 1753, [x] of his work by European +scholars was an honor in which every American took pride as marking +the entrance of the colonies into the world of scientific +investigation. Such honorable recognition produced a widespread +interest in the stuiy of the physical world and its forces. Following +this awakening and broadening of the intellectual life, there came, at +the very dawn of the Revolution, the first out-cropping of genuine +American literature in the satires and poems of Philip Freneau of New +York, a graduate of Princeton, and in those of John Trumbull and Joel +Barlow [y] of Yale. New Haven became a centre of literary life, and +the cultivation of literature took its place beside that of the +classics, broadening the preeminently ministerial groove of the Yale +curriculum. + +In considering some of the individual acts leading up to Connecticut's +part in the Revolution, we find that the colony had disapproved +Franklin's Plan of Union of 1754. She thought it lacking in efficiency +and in dispatch in emergencies, and possibly dangerous to the +liberties of the colonies. She also believed it liable to plunge the +colonies into heavy expense, when many of them were already +floundering in debt. Yet Connecticut had, with Massachusetts, +willingly borne the brunt of expense and loss necessary to protect the +colonies in the wars arising from French and English claims. She, +accordingly, greatly rejoiced at the Peace of Ryswick, 1763, for it +gave security to her borders by the cession of Canada to England, +brought safety to commerce and the fisheries, and promised a new era +of prosperity. The attempt of England to recoup herself for the +expenses of the war by a rigid enforcement of the Navigation Laws--an +enforcement that paralyzed commerce, and turned the open evasion of +honorable merchantmen into the treasonable acts of smugglers--grieved +Connecticut; the Sugar Act provoked her, and the proposed Stamp Act +drove her to remonstrance. Her magistrates issued the dignified and +spirited address, "Reasons why the British Colonies in America should +not be charged with Internal Taxes by Authority of Parliament." [z] It +was firmly believed in the colony that when the severity of the +English acts should be demonstrated, they would at once be removed and +some substitute, such as the proposed tax on slaves or on the fur +trade, would be adopted. Jared Ingersoll, the future stamp-officer, +carried the address to England. There it received praise as an able +and temperate state-paper. Ingersoll is credited with having succeeded +in slightly modifying the Stamp Act and in postponing somewhat the +date for its going into effect. Having done what he could to modify +the measure, and not appreciating the growth of opposition to it +during his absence, he accepted the office of Stamp-Distributer, and +returned to America, where he was straightway undeceived as to the +desirability of his office, but made his way from Boston to +Connecticut, hoping for better things. On reaching New Haven, he was +remonstrated with for accepting his office and urged to give it +up. But learning that Governor Fitch, after mature deliberation, had +resolved to take the oath to support the Stamp Act, and had done so, +though seven of his eleven Councilors, summoned for the ceremony, had +refused to witness the oath, Ingersoll decided to push on to +Hartford. Starting alone and on horseback, he rode unmolested through +the woods; but as he journeyed through the villages, group after group +of stern-looking men, bearing in their hands sticks peeled bare of +bark so as to resemble the staves carried by constables, silently +joined him, and, later, soldiers and a troop of horse. Thus he was +escorted into Wethersfield, where, virtually a prisoner, he was made +to resign his commission. The cavalcade, ever increasing, proceeded +with him to Hartford, [aa] where he publicly proclaimed his +resignation and signed a paper to that effect. Everywhere the towns +burned him in effigy. Everywhere the spirit of indignation and of +opposition spread. The "Norwich Packet" discussed the favored East +Indian monopolies and the Declaratory and Revenue Acts of +Parliament. The "Connecticut Courant" (founded in Hartford in 1764), +the "Connecticut Gazette," the "Connecticut Journal and New Haven +Post-Boy," [ab] and the "New London Gazette" encouraged the spirit of +resistance. A Norwich minister[153] preached from the text "Touch not +mine anointed," referring to the people as the "anointed" and arguing +that kings, through Acts of Parliament which take away, infringe, or +violate civil rights, touch the "anointed" people in a way forbidden +by God. This Norwich minister was not alone among the clergy, for the +sermons of the three sects, Baptist, Separatist, and Congregational, +"connected with one indissoluble bond the principles of civil +Government and the principles of Christianity." The laity of the +Episcopal church were, as a body, patriots, and so, also, were many of +their clergy; but party spirit, roused by the discussion of the +episcopate and of their relation to the King, as head of their church +as well as head of the State, tended to Toryism. From their pulpits +was more frequently heard the doctrine of passive obedience. But in +all the opposition to the Stamp Act, in all the preparations for +resistance, in the carrying out of non-importation agreements, in the +movement that created small factories and home industries to supply +the lack of English imports, and later during the struggle for +independence, the Connecticut colonists, whether Congregationalists, +patriotic Episcopalians, Baptists, or Separatists, worked as one. + +Toward the Separatists, oppressed dissenters yet loyal patriots, there +began to be the feeling that some legislative favor should be +shown. Accordingly the Assembly, having them in mind, in 1770 passed +the law that-- + + no person in this Colony, professing the Christian protestant + religion, who soberly and conscientiously dissent from the worship + and ministry established or approved by the laws of this Colony + and attend public worship by themselves, shall incur any of the + penalties ... for not attending the worship and ministry so + established on the Lord's day or on account of their meeting + together by themselves on said day for the public worship of God + in a way agreeable to their consciences. + +And in October of the same year, it was further decreed that-- + + all ministers of the gospel that now are or hereafter shall be + settled in this Colony, during their continuance in the ministry, + shall have all their estates lying in the same society as well as + in the same town wherein they dwell exempted out of the lists of + polls and rateable estates. [154] + +But for the Separatists to obtain exemption from ecclesiastical taxes +for the benefit of the Establishment required seven more years of +argument and appeal. During the time, they and the Baptists continued +to increase in favor. The Separatist, Isaac Holly, preached and +printed a sermon upholding the Boston tea-party. The Baptists were so +patriotic as to later win from Washington his "I recollect with +satisfaction that the religious society of which you are members have +been throughout America uniformly and almost unanimously the firm +friends of civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our +glorious revolution." [155] In 1774, good-will was shown to the +Suffield Baptists by a favorable answer to their memorial to be +relieved from illegal fines. In behalf of these Baptists, Governor +Trumbull frequently exerted his influence. He also wrote to those of +New Roxbury, who were in distress as to whether they had complied with +the law, assuring them that the act of 1770 had done away with the +older requirement of a special application to the General Assembly for +permission to unite in church estate. [156] Notwithstanding such +favor, there was still so much injustice that the Baptists of Stamford +wrote, during the rapid increase of the sect through the local +revivals of 1771-74, that the emigration from Connecticut of Baptists +was because "the maxims of the land do not well suit the genius of our +Order, and beside, the country is so fully settled, as population +increases, the surplusage must go abroad for settlements." + +Among the Baptists, the most vigorous champion for mutual toleration +and for liberty of conscience was Isaac Backus, "the father of +American Baptists," and their first historian. In _An Appeal to the +Public for Religious Liberty_, Boston, 1773, after calling +attention to the lack of state provision in Massachusetts as well as +in Connecticut for ecclesiastical prisoners,[157] he thus defines the +limits of spiritual and temporal power:-- + + And it appears to us that the true difference and exact limits + between ecclesiastical and civil government is this. That the + church is armed with _light and truth_, to pull down the + strongholds of iniquity and to gain souls to Christ and into his + church to be governed by his rules therein; and again to exclude + such from their communion who will not be so governed; while the + state is armed with _the sword to guard the peace and to punish + those who violate the same_. Where they have been confounded + together no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that + have ensued. + +He proceeds to argue that every one has an equal right to choose his +religion, since each one must answer at God's judgment seat for his +own choice and his life's acts. Consequently, there is no warrant for +the making of religious laws and the laying of ecclesiastical +taxes. With this premise, it followed that the Baptist exemption act +of 1729 was defective and unjust, in that it demanded certificates; +and from this time there began a steadily increasing opposition to the +giving of these papers. Backus objected to the certificates upon +several grounds, chief of which were:-- + + (1) Because the very nature of such a practice implies an + acknowledgement that the civil power has right to set one + religious sect up above another.... It is a tacit allowance that + they have the right to make laws about such things which we + believe in our own conscience they have not. + + (2) The scheme we oppose tends to destroy the purity and life of + religion. + + (3) The custom which they want us to countenance is very hurtful + to civil society.... What a temptation then does it not lay for + men to contract guilt when temporal advantages are annexed to one + persuasion and disadvantages laid upon another? _i.e._, in + plain terms, how does it tend to lying hypocrisy and lying? [159] + +In all his writings this man pleads the cause of religious liberty, +and, whenever possible, he emphasizes the likeness of the struggle of +the dissenters for freedom of conscience to that of the colonists for +civil liberty, and argues the injustice of wresting thousands of +dollars from the Baptists for the support of a religion to them +distasteful, while they exert themselves to the utmost to win +political freedom for all; "with what heart can we support the +struggle?" + +Two remarkable little books of some eighty or ninety pages that were +issued from the Boston press in 1772 require a word of notice because +of their hearty welcome. Two editions were called for within the year, +and more than a thousand copies of the second were bespoken before it +went to press. They had originally been put forth, the first in 1707, +"The Churches Quarrel Espoused: or a Reply In Satyre to certain +Proposals made, etc." (the Massachusetts "Proposals of 1705"), and the +second in 1717, "A Vindication of the Government of the New England +Churches, Drawn from Antiquity; Light of Nature; Holy Scripture; the +Noble Nature; and from the Dignity Divine Providence has put upon it." +In 1772 their author, the Rev. John Wise, a former pastor of the +church in Ipswich, Massachusetts, had been dead for over forty +years. In his day, he had regarded the "Proposals" as treasonable to +the ancient polity of Congregationalism, and had attacked what he +considered their assumptions, absurdities, and inherent tyranny. His +books were forceful in their own day, serving the churches, persuading +those of Massachusetts to hold to the more democratic system of the +Cambridge Platform, and largely affecting the character of the later +polity of the New England churches. The suffering colonist of 1772, +smarting under English misrule, turned to the vigorous, clear, and +convincing pages wherein John Wise set forth the natural rights of +men, the quality of political obligation, the relative merits of +government, whether monarchies, aristocracies, or democracies, and the +well developed concept that civil government should be founded upon a +belief in human equality. In his second attempt to defend the +Cambridge Platform, Wise had advanced to the proposition that +"Democracy is Christ's government in Church and State." [160] + +Such expositions as these, and those in Isaac Backus's "The Exact +Limits between Civil and Ecclesiastical Government," published in +1777, and in his "Government and Liberty described," of 1778, together +with the discussion prevalent at the time, and with the logic of the +Revolutionary events, opened the mind of the people to a clearer +conception of liberty of conscience, though their practical +application of the notion was deferred. For many years longer, persons +had to be content with a toleration that was of itself a contradiction +to religious liberty. Yet in May, 1777, such toleration was broadened +by the "Act for exempting those Persons in this State, commonly styled +Separates from Taxes for the Support of the established Ministry and +building and repairing Meeting Houses," on condition that they should +annually lodge with the clerk of the Established Society, wherein they +lived, a certificate, vouching for their attendance upon and support +of their own form of worship. Said certificate was to be signed by the +minister, elder, or deacon of the church which "they ordinarily did +attend." [161] + +Israel Holly's "An Appeal to the Impartial, or the Censured Memorial +made Public, that it may speak for itself. To which is added a few +Brief Remarks upon a Late Act of the General Assembly of the State of +Connecticut, entitled an 'Act for Exempting those Persons in this +State Commonly styled Separates, from Taxes for the Support of the +Established Ministry &c.'" gave in full an "Appeal" of eleven +Separatist churches to the General Assembly in May, 1770. That body +would not suffer the petition to be read through, stopping the reader +in the midst, while some of its members went so far as to declare that +"all, who had signed it, ought to be sent for to make answer to the +Court for their action." But the majority of the legislature were not +so intolerant, so that during the session the act above mentioned was +passed. Holly, in his book, includes with the "Appeal" a severe +criticism of the new law, and, in quoting the petition, he gives a +full explanation of its text as well as the comments of the Assembly +upon it and their objections to parts of it. When recounting the long +struggle for toleration and in detail the persecutions of the Suffield +Separatists, Holly dwells upon the fact that before the recent +legislation of the Assembly, the spirit of fair dealing had in some +communities influenced the members of the Establishment in their +treatment of the Separatists. Holly also enlarges upon the +inconsistency between demanding freedom in temporal affairs from Great +Britain and refusing it in spiritual ones to fellow-citizens. The +"Censured Memorial" closes [162] with an expressed determination on +the part of the Separatists to appeal to tte Continental Congress if +the state continue to refuse to do them justice. Holly, remarking upon +the act of 1777, expresses great dissatisfaction with it as falling +short of the liberty desired, and, particularly, with its retention of +the certificate clause. + +Such continued agitation of the rights of individuals and of churches +eventually created a broader public opinion, one that, permeating the +Establishment itself, tended to make its ministers resent any great +exercise of authority on the part of those among them who clung to the +strong Presbyterian construction of the Saybrook +Articles. Communications upon the subject of religious liberty were to +be found in many of the newspapers. Two governors of Connecticut wrote +pamphlets that tended to weaken the hold of the Saybrook Platform over +the people. Governor Wolcott in 1761 wrote against it, and in 1765 +Governor Fitch (anonymously) explained away its authoritative +interpretation. The term "Presbyterian" came to be applied more +frequently to the conservative churches of the Establishment, and +"Congregational" to those wherein the New Light ideas prevailed. Some +years later, while the two terms were still used interchangeably, the +term "Congregational" rose in favor, and, after the Revolution, +included even the few Separatist churches. As for the latter, they had +by 1770 concluded that with reference "to our Baptist brethren we are +free to hold occasional communion with such as are regular churches +and ... make the Christian profession and acknowledge us to be +baptized." [163] For some years these two religious parties attempted +to unite in associations, but finding that they disagreed too much on +the question of baptism, they mutually decided to give up the attempt, +and separated with the greatest respect and good will toward each +other. In 1783, the Presbyterians refused to meet the Separatists in +the attempt to devise some plan of union between them, but did advance +to the concession "to admit Separatists to Ordination with the +greatest care." [164] The Presbyterians were beginning to realize that +if the Saybrook Platform was to govern the churches of the +Establishment, its old judicial interpretation must give way. An +example of the revolt to be anticipated, if such interpretation were +insisted upon, followed the attempt by the Consociation of Windham in +1780 to discipline Isaac Foster, a Presbyterian minister, for "sundry +doctrines looked upon as dangerous and contrary to the gospel;" [ac] +and a similar attempt to reprove Mr. Sage of West Simsbury drew forth +such stirring retorts from Isaac Foster and from Dan Foster, minister +of Windsor (who defended Mr. Sage), that church after church promptly +renounced the Saybrook Platform. These churches agreed with Isaac +Foster in his declaration of the absolute independence of each church +and that-- + + no clergyman or number of clergymen or ecclesiastical council of + whatever denomination have right to make religious creeds, canons + or articles of faith and impose them upon any man or church on + earth requiring subscription to them.... A church should be the + sole judge of its pastor's teachings so long as he teaches nothing + _expressly_ contrary to the Bible. ... The Consociation has + no right to pretend that it is a divinely instituted assembly with + the Saybrook Platform for its charter, imposing a tyranny more + intolerable on the people than that from which they are trying to + free themselves. [165] + +The result of all this agitation for liberty of conscience, emphasized +by its counterpart in the political life of the state and nation, was +that in the first edition of the "Laws and Acts of the State of +Connecticut in America," [ad] appearing in 1784, all reference to the +Saybrook Platform was omitted, and all ecclesiastical laws were +grouped under the three heads entitled Eights of Conscience, +Regulations of Societies, and the Observation of the Sabbath. [166] +Under the Sunday laws, together with numerous negative commands, was +the positive one that every one, who, for any trivial reason, absented +himself from public worship on the Lord's day should pay a fine of +three shillings, or fifty cents. The society regulations remained much +the same, with the added privilege that to all religious bodies +recognized by law permission was given to manage their, temporal +affairs as freely as did the churches of the Establishment. Dissenters +were even permitted to join themselves to religious societies in +adjoining states, [ae] provided the place of worship was not too far +distant for the Connecticut members to regularly attend services. To +these terms of toleration was affixed the sole condition of presenting +a certificate of membership signed by an officer of the church of +which the dissenter was a member, and that the certificate should be +lodged with the clerk of the Established society wherein the dissenter +dwelt. While legislation still favored the Establishment, toleration +was extended with more honesty and with better grace. All strangers +coming into the state were allowed, a choice of religious +denominations, but while undecided were to pay taxes to the society +lowest on the list. Choice was also given for twelve months to +resident minors upon their coming of age, and also to widows. In any +question, or doubt, the society to which the father, husband, or head +of the household belonged, or had belonged, determined the church home +of members of the household unless the certificates of all dissenting +members were on file. If persons were undecided when the time of +choice had elapsed, and they hadjiot presented certificates, they were +counted members of the Establishment. Thus the Saybrook Platform, no +longer appearing upon the law-book, was quietly relegated to the +status of a voluntarily accepted ecclesiastical constitution which the +different churches might accept, interpreting it with only such +degrees of strictness as they chose. Consequently, all Congregational +and Presbyterian churches drew together and remained intimately +associated with the government as setting forth the form of religion +it approved. + +As toleration was more freely extended, oppression quickly ceased. The +smaller and weaker sects [af] that appeared in Connecticut after 1770 +received no such persecution as their predecessors. Among them the +Sandemanians [ag] appeared about 1766, and from the first created +considerable interest. The Shakers were permitted to form a settlement +at Enfield in 1780. The Universalists began making converts among the +Separatist churches of Norwich as early as 1772. The year 1784 saw +the organization of the New London Seventh-day Baptist church, the +first of its kind in Connecticut. + +The abrogation of the Saybrook Platform was implied, not expressed, by +dropping it out of the revised laws of 1784. The force of custom, not +the repeal of the act of establishment, annulled it. As in the +revision of 1750, certain outgrown statutes were quietly sloughed off. +After the abrogation of the Saybrook system, the orthodox dissenters +felt most keenly the humiliation of giving the required certificates, +and the favoritism shown by the government towards Presbyterian or +Congregational churches. This favoritism did not confine itself to +ecclesiastical affairs, but showed itself by the government's +preference for members of the Establishment in all civil, judicial, +and military offices. If immediately after the Revolution this +favoritism was not so marked, it quickly developed out of all +proportion to justice among fellow-citizens. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] As a petition "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council." + +[b] "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which +frameth mischief by law?" + +[c] The "History" is brief, and the "Vindication" is largely of +President Clap's own reasons for establishing the college church. See +F. B. Dexter, "President Clap and his Writings," in _New Haven +Hist. Soc. Papers_, vol. v, pp. 256-257. + +[d] "Let no man, orders of man, Civil or Ecclesiastical Rulers, +majority, or any whoever pretend they have a right to enjoyn upon me +what I shall believe and practice in matters of Religion, and I bound +to subject to their Injunctions, unless they can convince me, that in +case there should happen to be a mistake, that they will suffer the +consequences, and not I; that they will bear the wrath of God, and +suffer Damnation, in my room and stead. But if they can't do this, +don't let them pretend to a right to determine for me what religion I +shall have. For if I must stand or fall for myself, then, pray let me +judge, and act and choose (in Matters of Religion) for myself +now. Yea, when I view these things in the Light of the Day of Judgment +approaching, I am ready to cry out Hands off! Hands off! Let none +pretend a right to my subjection in matters of Religion, but my Judge +only; or, if any do require it, God strengthen me to refuse to grant +it." _A Word in Zion's Behalf._ Quoted by E. H. Gillett in +_Hist. Magazine,_ 2d series, vol. iv, p. 16. + +[e] _A Key to unlock the Door, that leads in, to take a fair view of +the Religious Constitution Established by Law in the Colony of +Connecticut; With a Short Observation upon the Explanation of the +Say-Brook-Plan; and Mr. Hobart's Attempt to establish the same +Plan,_ by Ebenezer Frothingham. + +[f] Robert Bragge, _Church Discipline_, London, 1738. The author +takes for his text 1 Peter ii, 45, and under ten heads considers the +Congregational church as the true Scriptural church, its rights, +privileges, etc. Under topic four, "The Charter of this House," he +says: "The charter of this house exempts all its inhabitants from +obeying the whole ceremonial law:... from the doctrines of men in +matters of faith,... from man's commands in the worship of God. Man +can no more prescribe how God shall be worshipped, under the new +testament than he could under the old.... He alone who is in the bosom +of the Father hath declared this. To worship God according to the will +and pleasure of men is, in a sense to attempt to dethrone him: for it +is not only to place man's will on a level with God's, but above +it."--_Church Discipline_, p. 39. + +[g] "Now suffer me to say something respecting the unreasonableness of +compelling the people of our persuasion to hear or support the +minister of another. Can a person who has been redeemed, be so +ungrateful as to hire a minister to preach up a doctrine which in his +heart he believes to be directly contrary to the institutions of his +redeemer? How if one of you should happen to be in the company with a +number of Roman Catholicks, who should tell you that if you would not +hire a minister to preach transubstantiation and the worshipping of +images to your children and to an unlearned people, they would cut off +your head; would you do it? Can you any better submit to hire a +minister to preach up a doctrine which you in your heart believe +contrary to the institution of Christ? I do not doubt but that many of +you, and I do not know but that all of you know what it is to +experience redeeming love; and if so, now can you take a person of +another persuasion, and put him in gaol for a trifling sum, destroy +his estate and ruin his family (as you signify the law will bear you +out) and when he is careful to support the religion which he in his +conscience looks upon to be right, who honestly tells you it is +wronging his conscience to pay your minister, and that he may not do +so though he suffer?... Is it not shame? Are we sharers in redemption, +and do we grudge to support religion? No: let us seek for the truth of +the gospel. If we can't think alike, let us not be cruel one to +another." + +[h] _Connecticut Gazette_ (New Haven) April 1755-Apr. 14, 1764; +suspended; revived July 5, 1765-Feb. 19, 1768. The _New London +Gazette_, founded in 1763, was after 1768 known as the _ +Connecticut Gazette _, except from Dee. 10, 1773, to May 11, 1787, +when it was called _The Connecticut Gazette and Universal +Intelligencer_. + +Maryland published her first newspaper in 1727, Khode Island and Sonth +Carolina in 1732, Virginia in 1736, North Carolina in 1755, New +Hampshire in 1756, while Georgia fell into line in 1763. + +[i] Edwards's _Nature of True Virtue_, written about 1755, was +not published until 1765. + +[j] This book, otherwise essentially Edwardean, was second only to +Edwards's _Religious Affections_ in popularity and in its success +in spreading the influence of this school of theology, and it did +much, in Connecticut, to break down the opposition to the New +Divinity. Edwards himself approved its manuscript, and in his writings +recommended it highly. + +[k] In 1769-70, Bellamy wrote a series of tracts and dialogues +against this practice. They were very effective in causing its +abandonment by those conservative churches that had so long clung to +its use. + +[l] Experience Mayhew in his _Grace Defended_, of 1744. + +Lemuel Briant's _The Absurdity and Blasphemy of Depreciating Moral +Virtue_, 1749. This was replied to in Massachusetts, by Rev. John +Porter of North Bridgewater in _The Absurdity and Blasphemy of +Substituting the Personal Righteousness of Men_, etc.; also by a +sermon of Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, Dr. Charles Chauncy's colleague; and +by Rev. Samuel Niles's _Vindication of Divers Important Gospel +Doctrines_. Jonathan Mayhew, son of Experience, wrote his +_Sermons_ (pronouncedly Arian) in 1755, and in 1761 two sermons, +_Striving to Enter at the Strait Gate_. + +Other ministers were affected by these unorthodox views, notably +Ebenezer Gay, Daniel Shute, and John Rogers. This religious +development was cut short by the early death of the leaders and by the +Revolutionary contest. Briant died in 1754, Jonathan Mayhew in 1766, +and his father in 1758.--See W. Walker, _Hist. of the Congregational +Churches in the United States_, chap. viii. + +[m] Hopkins replied in 1765 to Jonathan Mayhew's sermons of +1761. Mayhew died before he could answer, but Moses Hemenway of Wells, +Maine, and also Jedediah Mills of Huntington, Conn, (a New Light +sympathizer), answered Hopkins's extreme views in 1767 in _An +Inquiry concerning the State of the Unregenerate under the +Gospel_. This involved Hopkins in further argumentation in 1769, +and drew into the discussion William Hart (Old Light) of Saybrook, and +also Moses Mather of Darien, Conn, (also Old Light). This attack upon +Hopkins resulted in 1773 in his greatest work, _An Inquiry into the +Nature of True Holiness_. The whole question at stake between the +Old Calvinists and the followers of the New Divinity was how to class +men, morally upright, who made no pretensions to religious experience. + +[n] West, in his _Essay on Moral Agency_, defended Edwards's +_Freedom of the Will_ against the Rev. James Dana of New Haven in +1772, but his _Scripture Doctrine of Atonement_, published in +1785, was his best-known work. In his doctrinal views, he was greatly +influenced by Hopkins. Both West and Smalley trained students for the +ministry. The latter was the teacher of Nathaniel Emmons. Smalley was +settled in what is now New Britain, Conn., from 1757-1820. + +[o] Emmons died there, in 1840, at the age of ninety-five. Apart from +his influence upon the development of doctrine, he did more than any +other man to bring back the early independence of the churches and to +create the Congregational polity of the present day. + +[p] To fortify their position, this party cited various acts of +Parliament and the Act of Union, 1707, wherein Scotland is distinctly +released from subjection to the Church of England,--an exemption, +they maintained, that had never formally been extended to the +colonies. + +[q] On January 30, 1750, Jonathan Mayhew preached a forceful sermon +upon the danger of being "unmercifully priest-ridden." + +[r] Rev. East Apthorpe, S. P. G. missionary at Cambridge, Mass., had +replied to a newspaper criticism upon the policy of the Society for +Propagating the Gospel in New England, in his _Considerations on the +Institutions and Conduct of the Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel in Foreign Parts_. Jonathan Mayhew published in answer his +_Observations on the Character and Conduct of the Society_, +censuring the Society not only for intruding itself into New England, +but for being the champion of the proposed episcopate, which he +denounced. This was in 1763. For two years the controversy +raged. There were four replies to Mayhew. Two were unimportant, a +third presumably from Rev. Henry Caner, and the fourth, _Answer to +the Observations_, an anonymous English production, really by +Archbishop Seeker. Mayhew wrote a _Defense_, and Apthorpe summed +up the whole controversy in his _Review_.--A. L. Cross, +_Anglican Episcopate_, p. 145 _et seq._; footnote 1, p. 147. + +[s] John Adams's _Works_, x, 288. + +[t] Dr. Charles Chauney attacked the S. P. G. as endeavoring to +increase their power, not to proselytize among the Indians, but to +episcopize the colonists. Dr. Chandler, of Elizabethtown, N. J., +replied in _An Appeal to the Public_. Chauney retorted with +_The Appeal Answered_, and Chandler with _The Appeal +Defended_. The newspapers of 1768-69 took up the controversy. + +[u] In 1767, Dr. Johnson in a letter to Governor Trumbull assured him +that "It is not intended, at present, to send any Bishops into the +American Colonies,... and should it be done at all, you may be assured +that it will be done in such manner as in no degree to prejudice, nor +if possible even give the least offense to any denomination of +Protestants."--E. E. Beardsley, _Hist, of the Epis. Church in +Conn._, i, 265. + +[v] There were nine clergymen from Connecticut, and twenty-five from +New York and vicinity. + +[w] The Association had sent petitions in behalf of the Baptists to +the legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Both were +refused. For its Circular Letter of 1776, see Hovey's _Life of +Backus_, p. 289; also p. 155. + +[x] This year the Royal Society awarded him the Copley medal for his +discovery that lightning was a discharge of electricity. + +In 1761 the medal of the Royal Society was also awarded to the +Rev. Jared Eliot of Killingworth, Conn., for making iron and steel +from black ferruginous sand. + +[y] John Trumbull, b. 1750, d. in Michigan, 1831; Joel Barlow, +b. 1754, d. in Poland, 1812; Gen. David Humphreys, b. 1752, d. in New +Haven, 1818. These Yale men, together with Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, were +the leadjng spirits in the club known as "The Hartford Wits." +Dr. Dwight was a fellow collegian with them. Trumbull and Dwight did +much to interest the students in literature. The latter was also tutor +in rhetoric and professor of belles-lettres and oratory. + +[z] Conn. Col. Rec. xii, Appendix. This was drawn up by the Governor +and three members of the General Assembly, May, 1761. + +[aa] With grim humor, he turned to one of his escort, saying that he +at last realized the description in Revelation of "Death riding a +white horse and hell following behind." + +[ab] The latter half of the title was omitted about 1775. + +[ac] Foster replied: "One man is not to be called a 'heretick,' purely +because he differs from another, as to the articles of faith. For +either we should all be 'hereticks' or there would be no 'heresy' +among us.... Heresy does not consist in opinion or sentiments: it is +not an error of head but of will."--Foster, _A Defense of Religious +Liberty_, p. 47. + +[ad] This revision of the laws was in charge of Roger Sherman and +Richard Law. + +[ae] Quakers and Baptists frequently crossed the state line to attend +services in Rhode Island. + +[af] There was only an occasional Romanist; Unitarians first took +their sectarian name in 1815; Universalists were few in number until +the second quarter of the new century. + +[ag] This sect received its name from Robert Sandeman, the son-in-law +of its founder, the Rev. John Glass of Scotland. Sandeman published +their doctrines about 1757. In 1764, he left Scotland and came to +America, where he began making converts near Boston, in other parts of +New England, and in Nova Scotia. He died at Danbury, Connecticut, +1771. The members of the sect are called Glassites in Scotland, where +the Rev. John Glass labored. He died there in 1773. See W. Walker, in +_American Hist. Assoc. Annual Report_, 1901, vol. i. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION + + + The piping times of peace. + +During the fifteen years following the ratification of the +Constitution of the United States by Connecticut, January 9, 1788, no +conspicuous events mark her history. These years were for the most +part years of quiet growth and of expansion in all directions, and, +because of this steady advancement, she was soon known as "the land of +steady habits" and of general prosperity. + +Even in the dark days of the Revolution, Connecticut's energetic +people had continued to populate her waste places, and had carved out +new towns from old townships,--for the last of the original plats had +been marked off in 1763. In 1779-80, the state laid out five towns; +from 1784 to 1787, twenty-one,--twelve of them in one year, 1786. [a] +Tolland County was divided off in 1786 as Windham had been in 1726, +Litchfield in 1751, and Middlesex in 1765. These, with, the four +original counties of Fairfield, New Haven, Hartford, and New London, +made the present eight counties of the state. The cities of Hartford, +New Haven, New London, Middletown, and Norwich were incorporated in +1784. They were scarcely more than villages of to-day, for New Haven +approximated 3,000 inhabitants, and Hartford, as late as 1810, only +4,000. The Litchfield of the post-Revolutionary days, ranking, as a +trade-centre, fourth in the state, was as familiar with Indians in her +streets as the Milwaukee of the late fifties, and "out west" was no +farther in miles than the Connecticut Reserve of 3,800,000 acres in +Ohio which, in 1786, the state had reserved, when ceding her western +lands to the new nation. Thither emigration was turning, since its +check on the Susquehanna and Delaware by the award, in 1782, to +Pennsylvania of the contested jurisdiction over those lands, and of +the little town of Westmoreland, which the Yankees had built +there. [b] After the decision new settlements were discouraged by the +bitter feuds between the Connecticut and Pennsylvanian claimants to +the land. + +The Revolution had left Connecticut exhausted in men and in means. Her +largest seaboard towns had suffered severely. With her commerce and +coasting trade almost destroyed, she found herself, during the period +preceding the adoption of the national Constitution and the +establishment of the revenue system, a prey to New York's need on the +one hand and to Massachusetts' sense of impoverishment on the other; +and thus, for every article imported through either state, Connecticut +paid an impost tax. It was estimated that she thus provided one third +of the cost of government for each of her neighbors. Consequently she +attempted to reinstate and to enlarge her early though limited +commerce, and was soon sending cargoes, preëminently of the field and +pasture, [c] to exchange for West India commodities, while with her +larger vessels she developed an East Indian trade. As another means to +wealth, the state, in 1791, passed laws for the encouragement of the +small factories [d] that the necessity of the war had created; but it +was not until after the act of 1833, creating the joint-stock +companies, that Connecticut turned from a purely agricultural +community to the great manufacturing state we know to-day. She shared +in the national prosperity, which, as early as 1792, proved the wisdom +of Hamilton's financial policy, and about 1795 her citizens wisely +bent themselves to the improvement of internal communication. This was +the era of the development of the turnpike and of the multiplicity of +stage-lines. Kegular stages plied between the larger cities. Yet up to +1789 there was not a post-office or a mail route in Litchfield county, +and the "Monitor" was started as a weekly paper to circulate the +news. In 1790 Litchfield had a fortnightly carrier to New York and a +weekly one to Hartford, while communication with the second capital +[e] of the state was frequent. From 1800, there was a daily stage to +Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, Poughkeepsie, and Albany. [167] Wagons +and carriages began to multiply and to replace saddle-bags and +pillions, yet as late as 1815 Litchfield town had only "one phaeton, +one coachee, and forty-six two-wheeled pleasure-wagons." [168] + +Towns continued to commend and encourage good public schools. Every +town or parish of seventy families had to keep school eleven months of +the year, and those of less population for at least six +months. Private schools and academies sprang up. [f] Harvard and Yale, +as the best equipped of the New England colleges, competed for its +young men, and drew others from the central and southern sections of +the nation. Neither had either Divinity or Law School. [g] Young men +after completing their college course usually went to some famous +minister for graduate training. Rev. Joseph Bellamy, John Smalley, and +Jonathan Edwards, Junior, were the foremost teachers in Connecticut, +though the first-named had ceased his active work in 1787. [h] The New +Divinity was very slowly spreading. Even as late as 1792, President +Stiles of Yale declared that none of the churches had accepted it. [i] +This versatile minister interested himself in languages, literatures, +natural science, and in all religions, as well as in the phases of New +England theology. He esteemed piety and sound doctrine, whether in +Old or New Divinity men, and welcomed to his communion all of good +conscience who belonged to any Christian Protestant sect. He was +liberal-minded and tolerant beyond the average of his colleagues. His +tolerance, however, was more for the old Calvinistic principles in the +New Divinity, and not for its advanced features, for which he had +little regard. President Stiles held very firmly to the belief that +his ministerial privileges and authority remained with him after he +became president of the college, although he was no longer pastor by +the election of a particular church. + +The first law school in America was established in Litchfield in 1784 +by Judge Tappan Reeve, later chief justice of Connecticut. He +associated with him in 1798 Judge James Gould. "Judge Keeve loved law +as a science and studied it philosophically." He wished "to reduce it +to a system, for he considered it as a practical application of moral +and religious principles to business life." His students were drilled +in the study of the Constitution of the United States and on the +current legislation in Congress. Under Judge Gould, the common law was +expounded methodically and lucidly, as it could be only by one who +knew its principles and their underlying reasons from _a_ to +_z_. [169] In 1789, Ephraim Kirby of Litchfield published the +first law reports ever issued in the United States. [j] Law students +from many states were attracted to the town. The roll of the school, +kept regularly only after 1798, included over one thousand lawyers, +among them one vice-president of the United States, several foreign +ministers, five cabinet ministers, [k] two justices of the United +States Supreme Court, ten governors of states, sixteen United States +senators, fifty members of Congress, forty judges of the higher state +courts, and eight chief justices of the state. [170] + +Among Connecticut towns, the two capitals of the state were also +literary centres, while Norwich, New Haven, and New London were fast +becoming commercial ports. Middletown soon had considerable coasting +trade. Wethersfield had vessels of her own. Even Saybrook and Milford +sent a few vessels to the West and East Indies. Farmington was a big +trading centre, shipping produce abroad and importing in vessels of +her own that sailed from Wethersfield or New Haven. Some few towns +developed a special industry, like Berlin and New Britain, that made +the Connecticut tin-peddler a familiar figure even in the Middle and +Southern states. There were also several towns with large shipyards, +where some of the largest ships were built. But back of all such +centres of activity, the whole state was solidly agricultural. +Connecticut's commerce was an import commerce exchanging natural +products for foreign ones, such as sugar, coffee, and molasses from +the West Indies; tea and luxuries from the East; and obtaining, either +directly or indirectly, from Europe, all the fine manufactured +products, whether stuffs for personal use or tools for labor. + +In measuring the prosperity and intelligence of the Connecticut people +neither the parish library nor the newspaper must be overlooked. "I +am acquainted," wrote Noah Webster in 1790, "with parishes where +almost every householder, has read the works of Addison, Sherlock, +Atterbury, Watts, Young, and other familiar writings: and will +conversely handsomely on the subjects of which they treat." [171] "By +means of the general circulation of the public papers," wrote the same +author, "the people are informed of all political affairs; and their +representatives are often prepared to debate upon propositions made in +the legislature." [172] + +Through the agricultural communities of Connecticut, as well as in the +towns, the weekly newspapers of the state began to circulate freely as +soon as carriers or mail routes were established. Even by 1785 there +was in Connecticut a newspaper circulation of over 8000 weekly copies, +which was equal to that published in the whole territory south of +Philadelphia. [173] These papers lacked locals and leaders, leaving +the former to current gossip, and for the latter substituting, to some +extent, letters and correspondence. The newspapers gave foreign news +three months old, the proceedings of Congress in from ten to twelve +days after their occurrence, and news from the Connecticut elections +three weeks late. Subjects relating to religion and politics were +heard _pro_ and _con_ in articles, or rather letters, signed +with grandiloquent pseudonyms and frequently marked "Papers, please +copy" in order to secure for them a larger public. Fantastic bits of +natural science, or what purported to be such, and stilted admonitions +to virtue, as well as poems, eulogies, and obituaries, were admitted +to the columns of these colonial papers. In 1786, the "Connecticut +Courant" apologized for its meagre reports of legislative proceedings, +especially of those of the Upper House, Council, or Senate, and +promised to give full details. This reporting was a new thing, and it +was fully five years more before the practice became general among the +half dozen papers published in Connecticut. [l] Space was also given +in the papers to the reproduction of selections, even whole chapters, +from current and popular writers. Among such letters was a series on +"the Establishment of the Worship of the Deity essential to National +Happiness." In one of the letters, the author suggests:-- + + To secure the advantages ... allow me to propose _a general and + equitable tax collected from all the rateable members of a state, + for the support of the public teachers of religion, of all + denominations, within the state...._ Let a moderate poll tax be + added to a tax of a specified sum on the pound, and levied on all + the subjects of a state and collected with the public tax, and + paid out to the public teachers of religion of the several + denominations in proportion to the number of polls or families, + belonging to each respectively; or according to their + estimates. [For] + + 1. It would be equitable. + + 2. It would be for the good order of the civil state. + + 3. All ought to contribute to such a religious education of the + people as would conduce to civil order. + + 4. It would promote the peace in towns and societies. + + 5. It would do away with the legal expenses consequent upon + difficulties in collecting rates. + + 6. It would "extinguish the ardor of the founders of new delusions + and their weak and mercenary abettors." + + 7. It would prevent separation except upon the firmest principles; + "the powerful motive of saving a penny or two in the pound, would + cease to operate, because their tax would continue still the same, + go where they will." [174] + +It was also suggested that the Assembly should fix ministers' salaries +at so much per hundred families, and that congregations should be +permitted to add to the annual grant by voluntary contributions. These +are but examples of the reaching out of the public mind for some +equitable method of enforcing the support of public worship,--a +principle to which the majority still adhered. + +The Laws of the State of Connecticut, under which after the Revolution +parishes were organized, contained no reference to the Episcopal +church as such. All societies and congregations were placed on the +same footing precisely, _i.e._, they "had power to provide for +the support of public worship by the rent or sale of pews or slips in +the meeting-house, by the establishment of funds, or in any other way +they might deem expedient." With this amount of freedom Episcopalians +were content, since by the consecration, in 1784, of Samuel Seabury, +Bishop of Connecticut, their ecclesiastical equipment was complete.[m] +Further, many of them had been Tories, and, satisfied with the +clemency shown them at the close of the war by the authorities, they +gladly affiliated with them in all Federal measures of national +importance, and also, for over thirty years, in all local issues. + +From 1783 to 1787 there was throughout the United States a general +disintegration of political parties. [175] Federalists and nascent +Anti-Federalists were alike seeking some basis for a safe national +existence. The Constitution once established, political parties +differentiated themselves as the party in power and the "out-party" +developed their respective interpretations of the Constitution and of +measures permitted under it. The Anti-Federalist party in Connecticut +is sometimes said to have been born in 1783 out of opposition both to +the Commutation Act of the Continental Congress, voting five years' +full pay instead of half-pay for life to the Revolutionary officers, +and to the formation of the Cincinnati. Both of these measures touched +the main spring of party difference. America had caste as well as +Europe. Though of a different type, it existed in every town and +county. There were the people of position, attained by family +standing, professional prominence, superior intelligence (rarely by +wealth alone), and then, as now, by natural leadership. There were the +common people of ordinary abilities and meagre possessions, who looked +up to this first class. Between the two there was an invisible +barrier. The customs of the day emphasized it. Yet the institutions +of the land and its democracy demanded that this barrier, not +impassable to men of parts and character who could push up from the +masses, should never become insurmountable, as it often did under a +monarchy; that it should be steadily leveled by intrusting the +governing power more and more to the whole people, rather than to a +few leaders; and by educating the masses up to their responsibilities. +But many of the leading Federalists preferred to concentrate power in +the hands of the few, hesitating to trust the judgment of the great +body of citizens with the new and novel government. And to the people +at large any measure that bore a remote resemblance to monarchical +institutions or monarchical aspirations--however far remote from +either--was subject to suspicion and antagonism. The Cincinnati might +be the beginning of a nobility, and half-pay or five years' full pay +to the officers ignored the common soldiery who had done most of the +fighting, and who had suffered even more severely in their +fortunes.[n] When the measures of the first Congress pressed hardest +upon the impoverished landed proprietors of the South and upon the +small farmers in other sections, of the country, they welded the +landed aristocracy of the South and the democracy of the North into +the Anti-Federal party. Add to their sense of impoverishment, their +common hatred of England, and these classes would hold their prejudice +longer than the merchants, the lawyers, and the clergy, whose +business, studies, and labors would tend to soften the antagonism +created by the war. New England, however, was largely Federal, and +Connecticut was one of the strongholds of that party, priding herself +upon returning Federal electors as long as there was the shadow of the +Federal name to vote for. Moreover, the "Presbyterian Consociated +Congregational Church" and the Federalists were so closely allied that +the party of the government and the party of the Establishment were +familiarly and collectively known as the "Standing Order." During the +early years of statehood, by far the larger number of the dissenters +were also good Federalists. But they drew away from the party at a +later date, when the Democratic-Republicans began, in their +Connecticut state politics, to call for a broader suffrage and full +religious liberty, while the Federal Standing Order still continued to +claim, as within its patronage, legal favors, political office, and +the honors of judicial, military, and civil life. + +After the Revolution, the rapidly increasing Baptists continued their +warfare waged against certificates and in behalf of religious liberty. +Methodists soon sympathized, for Methodist itinerants, entering +Connecticut in 1789, gained a footing, in spite of much opposition and +real oppression through fines and imprisonments, [o] and quickly made +many converts. Their preachers urged upon penurious and backward +members the importance of voluntary support of the gospel in almost +the same words as those of the Baptist leader: "It is as real +_robbery_ to neglect the _ordinances_ of God, as it is to +force people to support preachers who will not trust his influence for +a temporal living." [176] Baptists, Methodists, and many other +dissenters were far from satisfied with their status, and the +government from time to time was forced to take notice of the +dissatisfaction. Temporary legislation was enacted to allay the +unrest, but, as there was a settled determination to protect the +Establishment and to keep the political leadership among its friends, +the various measures were not successful. For instance, the +legislature in 1785-86 had arranged for the sale of the Western Lands +and for the money expected from their sale to be divided among the +various Christian bodies, and it had also enacted-- + + that there shall be reserved to the public five hundred acres of + land in each township for the support of the gospel ministry and + five hundred acres more for the support of schools in such towns + forever; and two hundred and forty acres of good ground in each + town to be granted in fee simple to the first gospel minister who + shall settle in such town. [177] + +Nothing is here said of the Presbyterians, or of any other sect, yet +that denomination was sure to receive the greater benefit under the +working of the law. They were a wealthy body, and in the next year, +they began, under the General Association of Connecticut, to renew +their earlier efforts for an organized planting of missions. Attempts +to establish missionary posts were begun as early as 1774, but they +had been interrupted by the war, and were not revived until 1780, when +two missionaries were sent to Vermont. After a little, the missionary +spirit languished through lack of support; but interest had been +roused again by the promised lands and money from the sales in the +Western Reserve, and by the contributions that, flowing in from 1788 +to 1791, warranted the dispatch of missionaries into the western field +in 1792, and regularly thereafter. [178] + +Turning to the religious and more strictly theological side of the +development of toleration, there was within the Establishment itself a +gradual modification of opinion concerning membership. It was +witnessed to by the contents of a book entitled "Christian Forbearance +to Weak Consciences a Duty of the Gospel," by John Lewis of Stepney +parish, Wethersfield. It was sent out in 1789 for the purpose of +"Attempting to prove that Persons, absenting themselves from the +Lord's Table, through honest scruples of Conscience, is not such a +breach of Covenant but that they partake other Privileges." One may +recall that twenty years previous, 1769-71, Dr. Bellamy was thundering +not only against the Half-Way Covenant, but also against the +Stoddardean view of the Lord's Supper as a "means" of grace,--as a +sacrament the partaking of which would help unworthy or unconverted +men to conversion and to the leading of moral and holy lives. One +might, for a moment, anticipate that the Wethersfield pastor was +harking back to the old idea. But this was not his point of view. "I +reprobate," he writes,"the idea of a Half-Way Covenant, or sealing of +such a covenant." [179] Lewis contended that all seekers after +holiness were to enter the church through the "very same covenant," +but that to all of them were to be extended the same and all church +privileges, and that they were to accept them "as far as in their +conscience they can see their way clear, hoping for further light." If +they could accept baptism and church oversight, and could not, because +of honest scruples of conscience (lest they were not worthy), approach +the Lord's Table, they were not for that reason to be considered +reprobates. As to such charity opening a way for persons of immoral +lives to creep into the churches or to put off willfully the partaking +of communion, the author's experience of many years had proved the +contrary, though he could not deny that the possibility of hypocrisy +and backsliding might exist under any form of membership. + +As a side light upon the growth of toleration during twenty years +within the churches of the Establishment, two entries in President +Stiles's diary may be quoted. Writing in 1769, to the Rev. Noah Wells +of Stamford, Conn., with reference to the call of the Rev. Samuel +Hopkins to a pastorate in Newport, R. I., where Dr. Stiles was then +preaching, the latter says: "If I find him (Hopkins) of a Disposition +to live in an honorable Friendship, I shall gladly cultivate it. But +he must not expect that I recede from my Sentiments both in Theology +and ecclesiastical Polity more than he from his, in which I presume he +is immovably fixed. We shall certainly differ in some things. I shall +endeavor to my utmost to live with him as a Brother; as I think (it) +dishonorable that in almost every populous place on this Continent, +where there are two or more Presb.[yterian] or Cong.[regational] Chhs. +[churches], they should be at greater variance than Prot. [estants] +and Romanists: witness every city or Town from Georgia to Nova Scotia +(except Portsm'th) [p] where there are more Presb. chhs than one. The +Wound is well nigh healed here, may it not break out again." [180] +Writing some two years after the appearance of Lewis's book, President +Stiles, commenting upon the fact that each dissenting sect was so +absolutely sure that it alone had the only perfect type of faith and +polity, notes the greater tolerance among the Congregational churches, +for the latter were not as a rule close communion churches, as were +those of the dissenting sects. + +Indeed, the intolerance shown towards dissenters was by this time not +so much sectarian, not so much a lack of tolerance toward slightly +varying fundamentals of faith, form of worship, and organization, as +an intolerance based upon the conviction that the body politic must be +protected by a state church. There was, of course, a little of the +exasperating sense of superiority in belonging to the favored +Establishment. The old objection to dissent as heresy--as a sin for +which the community was responsible--had for the most part given way +to opposition to it as introducing a system of voluntary contributions +for the support of religion. And there was a very general and +well-defined fear that such a support would prove inadequate. If so, +deterioration of the state and of its people would follow. For +individual worth and character, many among the dissenters were highly +respected, and the great body of them were esteemed good citizens. +Among the churches, some few of the established ones were beginning to +have their own services occasionally conducted by dissenting +ministers. The First Society of Canterbury entered a vote to this +effect in 1791. As the churches translated more liberally the Articles +of the Saybrook Platform, they approached a polity more in common with +that of Separatist and Baptist. By 1800, the teachings of John Wise of +Ipswich, reinforced by those of Nathaniel Emmons, "the father of +modern Congregationalism," had permeated all New England. Wise, in his +efforts to revive the independence of the single churches, had +exploded the Barrowism which New England usage had introduced into +original Congregationalism, and the rebound had carried the churches +as far beyond the Cambridge Platform towards original Brownism as the +Presbyterian movement had carried their polity away from the Cambridge +instrument. The later Edwardean school had devoted itself to the +discussion of doctrine rather than to polity, and, in the alliance +with Presbyterianism outside of Connecticut, it had affiliated without +attaching much weight to differences in church government. Their +common interest, at first, was to unite against a possible supremacy +of the Church of England, and against the danger to their own churches +and to good government from the increase of dissenters. Later, their +united efforts were directed to forwarding Christian missions in order +that the gospel might not be left out of the civilization on the +frontier. In this later work, they had competitors as soon as the +Baptists and Methodists became strongly organized bodies. Accordingly +Presbyterians and Congregationalists still further sank their +differences of discipline in the Plan of Union of 1801, formed for the +furtherance of the mission work. Thus it was many years before +questions of polity again took front rank in the Congregational +churches. Already their very indifference to it, the long years of the +gradual abandonment of the Saybrook system, together with the +development in civil life of a broader conception of humanity, had +tended to bring back the independence of the individual church, while +custom had preserved the inroojted principle of church-fellowship. It +needed only Nathaniel Emmons to embody practice and opinion in a +system that should break away from the aristocratic Congregationalism, +the semi-Presbyterianized Congregationalism of the eighteenth century, +and give to the nineteenth a democracy in the Church equivalent to +that in the State. Emmons, however, carried his theory to extremes +[q] when opposing ministerial associations; yet with some +modifications modern Congregationalism is essentially that of his +school. Church polity, however, did not become a topic of general +interest for at least half a century more, nor was it formulated anew +until the Albany Convention of 1862 passed "upon the local work and +responsibility of a Congregational Church." + +From the politico-ecclesiastical point of view, the legislative +measures in the history of Connecticut, during the fifteen years after +the colony became a state, that are of chief importance are the +Certificate Laws and Western Land bills. In order to properly +appreciate their significance this summary of the industrial, social, +and religious life of the Connecticut people during the years +following the Revolution was necessary. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] Five towns were laid out in 1785; from 1784 to 1787, twenty-one in +all; from 1787 to 1800, ten; and from 1800 to 1818, +eleven.--Hollister, _Hist, of Connecticut_, pp. 469-70. + +[b] Of the seven hundred members of the Susquehanna Land Company, +formed in 1754, six hundred and thirty-eight were Connecticut men. A +summer settlement was made on the Delaware in 1757 and on the +Susquehanna in 1762. The first permanent settlement was in 1769. At +the close of the Revolution, renewed attempts to colonize resulted in +a reign of lawlessness and bloodshed. + +[c] Horses, cattle, beef, pork, stages, flour, grain. During the +European wars, the United States exported foodstuffs in great +quantities, to feed both French and English armies, amounting to over +100,000 men. + +[d] President Stiles was interested in silk culture and in the +manufacture of silk. His commencement gown in 1789 was of Connecticut +make. Through the efforts of General Humphreys (1784-94) attempts were +made to introduce the Spanish merino sheep and to establish factories +for fine broadcloth. Iron works were set up in different parts of the +state. The earliest cotton factories centred about Pomfret. Clocks, +watches, cut shingle-nails, paper, stone, and earthenware pottery, +were among the manufactures started in Norwalk between 1767 and 1773, +while in Windham, hosiery, silk and tacks were manufactured. + +[e] In 1701 the General Court enacted that the May session of the +Legislature should be held at New Haven, and the October one at +Hartford. This was a concession to the former sovereignty of the New +Haven Colony. The arrangement continued until 1873. The biennial +sessions, introduced by the constitution of 1818, alternated between +the two capitols. + +[f] "Mr. Dwight is enlarging hia School to comprehend the Ladies, +... promising to carry them through a course of belles Lettres, +Geography, Philosophy, and Astronomy. The spirit for Academy making is +vigorous."--_Stiles Diary_, iii, 247. + +Of the academies, the more famous were Lebanon, Plainfield, Greenfield +(under Dr. Dwight), Norwich, Windham, Waterbury (for both sexes), and +Stratfield from 1783 to 1786. There was also a second school in +Norwich from 1783 to 1786. See _Stiles Diary_, iii, 248. + +[g] Harvard Divinity School was established 1815; Yale, 1822. +Previously both universities had each a professor of divinity. + +[h] "For three years and three months before his [Bellamy's] death he +was disabled by a paralytic Shock, we impaired his Intellect as well +as debilitated his Body. Few were equal to him in the Desk & he was +Communicative and instructive in Conversation upon religious +Subjects." The passage closes with the prophecy, "His numerous noisy +Writings have blazed their day, and one Generation more will put them +to sleep."--_Stiles Diary_, March 16, 1790 (on hearing the news +of Bellamy's death). See vol. iii, pp. 384-385. See Trumbull, ii, 159, +for a more favorable opinion. + +[i] Referring to the successor of Dr. Wales in the Yale chair of +divinity, Pres. Stiles wrote, "An Old Divinity man will be acceptable +to all the Old Divy. _Ministers & to all the Churches_: a New +Divt man will be acceptable to all the New Divy. Ministers and to +_None of the Churches_, as none of the Chhs. in New Engl. are New +Divt."--_Stiles Diary_, iii, 506, note (Sept. 8, 1793). See also +under date of Nov. 16, 1786, where churches are said to take New +Divinity pastors "because they can get no others, but persons in the +parish know nothing of the New Theology." + +[j] "Law Reports of the Superior and Supreme Courts, 1785-1788, by +E. Kirby. Just published at this office and ready for subscribers and +gentlemen disposed to purchase, for which most kinds of country +produce will be received."--Advertisement in _Litchfield Monitor_ +of Apr. 13, 1789. + +[k] Calhoun, Woodbury, Mason, Clayton, and Hubbard. Judge Reeve +retired in 1820; Judge Gould in 1833. + +[l] Reporters were admitted to the national House of Representatives +in 1790 and to the Senate in 1802. + +[m] Bishop Seabnry was consecrated by the Scotch non-juring bishops, +Nov. 14, 1786. The latter, about four years later, were restored to +their position as an integral part of the Anglican +hierarchy. Meanwhile, Dr. Samuel Provoost of New York and Dr. William +White of Pennsylvania, on Feb. 4, 1787, were consecrated by the +Archbishops of Canterbury and York, assisted by the Bishops of Wells +and Peterborough, after a special Act of Parliament permitting the +consecration to take place without the usual oaths of allegiance to +the King as head of the church. In 1789, Bishop Seabury became +president of the House of Bishops thus formed in America. The +following year, James Madison of Virginia was consecrated by the +English bishops, thus giving to the United States three bishops after +the English succession, so that the validity of the Scottish rite +should hot be questioned in the consecration of future American +bishops. + +[n] The eighty dollars proposed for privates would not go far toward +mending broken fortunes, or care for broken constitutions and crippled +bodies. + +At the Middletown Convention, Sept. 3, 1783, delegates from Hartford, +Wethersfield, and Glastonbury met to denounce the Commutation Act. At +its adjourned meeting on Sept. 30 fifty towns, a majority in the +state, disapproved the Act in an address to the General Assembly, and +called attention to the Society of the Cincinnati. At the last +meeting, March, 1784, an address to the people of the state was framed +which condemned both the Commutation Act and the Cincinnati.-- +J. H. Trumbull, _Notes on the Constitution_, p. 18. Noah Webster, +_History of the Parties in the United States_, pp. 317-320. + +[o] Methodism was twenty-eight years old, when, in 1766, Robert +Strawbridge introduced it into New York, and Philip Embury preached +his first sermon in a sail-loft. In 1771, Francis Asbury, later Bishop +Asbury, was appointed John Wesley's "Assistant" in America. In 1773, +the first Annual Conference was held. Methodism rapidly spread in the +Middle and Southern states. By the year 1773-74, the year's increase +in members was nine hundred and thirteen; in 1774-75, ten hundred and +seventy-three. The preachers traveled on foot or on horseback, +preaching as they went; living on the smallest allowance; sleeping +where night overtook them; and meeting often with grudging +hospitality, suspicion, and, sometimes, open violence. + +Methodism "began when Episcopacy was at its lowest point, both in +efficiency, and in the good-will of the people." It agreed with +Jonathan Edwards on the nature of personal religion, and separated +from the Church of England in this, the Methodist's central principle +of "conscious conversion" or "emotional experience." Later in New +England, Wesley's missionaries united in Methodist societies many of +the converts to the Edwardean theology. + +At the opening of the Revolution, the whole body of Methodists were +within the Church of England. Of the English missionaries only Asbury, +Dempster, and Wharcott remained in America to carry on, with native +preachers, the work of proselytizing. It was "the only form of +religion that advanced in America during that dark period, and during +the war, it more than quadrupled both its ministry and members." At +the beginning of the war, it had eighty traveling preachers, beside +local preachers and exhorters; a membership of one thousand, and +auditors ten thousand. In 1784, there was a year's increase of +fourteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight members, and of one +hundred and four preachers to rejoice in the consecration of Bishop +Asbury. In the November of that year, Bishops Coke and Asbury, +organizing the "American Episcopal Church," in spite of Wesley's +anathemas probably led out one hundred thousand souls as the nucleus +of the new church. + +For a while the Connecticut authorities refused to recognize "as sober +Dissenters" any converts other than the stationed preachers and their +charges. The persecutions which the Methodists suffered were those of +slander, the refusal to them of halls, churches, or public buildings; +the refusal to permit their ministers, unless located, to perform the +marriage ceremony; and petty fines, with occasional unjust +imprisonment. + +[p] Portsmouth, N. H. + +[q] "A pure democracy which places every member of the church upon a +level and gives him perfect liberty with order." Under such a +definition of a church as this, its pastor becomes only a moderator at +its meetings, and every church is absolutely independent. It would +follow that from its decisions there could be no appeal. Emmons was +fond of declaring that "Association leads to Consociation; +Consociation leads to Presbyterianism; Presbyterianism leads to +Episcopacy; Episcopacy to Roman Catholicism, and Roman Catholicism is +an ultimate fact." + +In spite of his teaching as to democracy, Emmons was as intolerant of +it in the State as he was earnest for it in the Church. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CERTIFICATE LAWS AND WESTERN LAND BILLS + + + And make the bounds of Freedom wider yet.--Alfred Tennyson. + +The legal recognition of conscience, the acknowledgment of fundamental +dogmas held in common, the gradual approachment of the various +religious organizations in polity, their common interest in education +and good government, would seem to furnish grounds for such mutual +esteem that the government would willingly do away with the +objectionable certificates. On the contrary, the old conception of a +state church, and of its value to the body politic, was so strongly +intrenched in the hearts of the majority of the people that they felt +it incumbent upon them to require the certificates as guarantees that +those who were without the Establishment were fulfilling their +religious duties. Particularly was this the case when new sects +continued to increase and radical opinions to spread among the +masses. And as the government saw these apparently destructive ideas +permeating the people, it endeavored, rather unwisely, to hem dissent +in closer bounds, and to favor still more Cougregationalists and +Presbyterian-Congregationalists. + +The aggressively successful proselytizing by the Methodists revived +the old dislike of rash exhorters and itinerant preachers, and the old +contempt for an ignorant and unlearned ministry. The proselytizing +movement had also created a suspicion that it was hypocritical, and +that it was masking a deliberate attempt to undermine the +Establishment. Outside this Methodist propaganda there were also all +sorts of unorthodox ideas that were spreading notions of Universalism, +Arianism, deism, atheism, and freethinking, and making many +converts. These proselytes were frequent among the untutored and +irresponsible members of society who caught at the doctrines of +greater freedom, and sometimes translated them, theoretically at least, +into principles of greater personal license; and where they did not do +this, the authorities felt sure that they would soon, and if +unrestrained by ecclesiastical law, would quickly become lawless, +first in religious affairs and then, as a consequence, in moral +ones. Not only in this radical class, but among the recognized +dissenters and among a minority of other, religious folk, there was a +tendency to question both the authority and the justice of the +government in its restrictive religious laws, its ecclesiastical +taxation, and its Sabbath-day legislation. Particularly was there +opposition to the fine for absence from public worship on Sunday, +unless excused by weighty reasons, and to the assessment upon every +one of a tax for the support of some form of recognized public +worship, even though the tax-payer had no personal interest or liking +for that which he was obliged to support. The feeling that such +injustice ought not to continue was strong among some members of the +Establishment. They found a powerful advocate in Judge Zephaniah Swift +of Windham, the author of the "System of the Laws of the State of +Connecticut." + +Judge Swift was a thorough-going Federalist, but so bitter an opponent +of the union of Church and State that his enemies, and even members of +his own party, taunted him with being a freethinker,--a serious charge +in those days. Nevertheless, Judge Swift held the loyalty of a county +and of one rather tolerant of dissent. "The Phenix or Windham Herald," +founded in 1790, though Federal in politics, became Judge Swift's +organ; and so acceptable were his opinions, taken all in all, to the +community, that from 1787 to 1793 it returned this arch-enemy of the +Establishment as its deputy to the House, and then his congressional +district honored him with a seat in the national council until +1799. He became chief justice in 1806, and died in 1819, having lived +to see the charter constitution set aside and Church and State +divorced. + +The small Anti-Federal party in the state, though making but very few +converts at this time, and though of very little importance +politically, were the pronounced advocates of a wider suffrage, a +larger tolerance, and of radical changes in the method of +government. The last they believed necessary before any great +improvement in the terms of the franchise or in those of religious +toleration could be secured. "An Address to the Baptists, Quakers, +Rogerines, and all other denominations of Christians in Connecticut, +freed by law from supporting what has been called the 'Established +Religion,'" went the rounds of the newspapers urging continued +resistance to the support of any religious system that enforced a +tax. The "Address" closed with the cheerful prediction that, as their +numbers were increasing very rapidly, they might hope yet "to carry +the vote against those who have put on haughty airs and affected to +treat us as their inferiors." + +Such seething opposition among various classes induced the government +to enact some special legislation; but it was unfortunately not of a +conciliatory character. In May, 1791, a law was passed varying the old +requirement that certificates, after being signed by a church officer, +should be lodged with the Society clerk, to the demand that they be +signed by two civil officers, or, where there was only one, by the +justice of the peace of the town in which the dissenter +lived. Considering that the justices were mostly Congregationalists, +the enactment amounted to an intrenchment of the Standing Order at the +expense of the dissenters. With these officers lay full power to pass +upon the validity of the certificates and upon the honesty of intent +on the part of the persons presenting them. The certificates read:-- + + We have examined the claim of ---- who says he is a Dissenter from + the Established Society of ---- and hath joined himself to a + church or Congregation of the name of ----; and that he ordinarily + attends upon the public worship of such Church or Congregation; + and that he contributes his share and proportion toward supporting + the public worship and ministry thereof, do upon examination find + that the above facts are true. + + Dated + + Justice of the Peace. [182] + +A veritable doubt, spite, malice, prejudice, or mistaken zeal, might +determine the granting of the certificate to the dissenter. + +The authorities defended this measure upon the ground that it was the +_civil_ effect of preaching that gives the _civil_ +magistrate jurisdiction. "The law," they said, "has nothing to do +with _conscience_ and _principles_." [183] They further +declared that there were persons who were taking undue advantage of +the certificate exemptions, and that there were good reasons, to doubt +the validity of many of the certificates. + +This Certificate Act roused the dissenters throughout the state. "In +public society meetings and in speaking universal abroad, sensible +that their numbers though scattered were large," they strove to create +a sentiment that should send to the next legislature a "body of +representatives who would remember their petition and see that equal +religious liberty should be established." + +In regard to the certificates, a writer in the "Courant" exclaims:-- + + It is sometimes said that the giving of a certificate once a year + or once in a man's life is but a trifle, and none but the + obstinate will refuse it as none but the covetous desire it. True + it is but a trifle--ten times as much would be but a trifle if it + was right. If it must be done, let them who plead for it do the + little trifle; they have no scruples of conscience about + it.... The certificate law is as much worse than the tax on tea as + religious fetters are worse than civil. [184] + +The Rev. John Leland's "The Rights of Conscience inalienable; +therefore Religious Opinions not cognizable by Law; Or The High flying +Churchman, stript of his legal Robe appears a yaho" was a powerful +arraignment of the government and defense of the right of all to +worship as conscience bade them. Leland had recently come from +Virginia and settled in New London. In the southern state he had been +one of the most influential among the Baptist ministers and a great +power in politics. In Virginia he had seen the separation of Church +and State in 1785, and had witnessed the benefits following that +policy. After the publication of his "Rights of Conscience" the +question before the Connecticut people became one of establishment or +disestablishment, because Leland, not content with showing the falsity +of the position that civil necessities required an established church, +or with a logical demonstration of the inalienable rights of +conscience, proceeded to boldly attack the Charter of Charles II as +being in no rightful sense the constitution of the state of +Connecticut. He maintained that, "Constitution" though it was called, +it was not such, because it had been enforced upon the people by a +mere vote of the legislature [a] and was a "constitution" never +"assented to further than passive obedience and non resistance" by the +people at large; a constitution-- + + contrary to the known sentiments of a far greater part of the + States in the Union; and inconsistent with the clear light of + liberty, which is spreading over the world in meridian splendor, + and dissipating those antique glooms of tyrannical darkness which + were ever opposed to free, equal, religious liberty among men. + +Leland arraigns a union of Church and State that presupposes a need of +legislative support for religion, which the example of other states +has proved unnecessary; and which the experience of communities, +persisting in such union, has shown to be productive of evil, of +ignorance, superstition, persecution, lying and hypocrisy, a weakness +to the civil state, and a conversion of the Bible and of religion to +tools of statecraft and political trickery. + + Government has no more to do with religious opinions of men than + it has with the principles of mathematics.... Truth disdains the + aid of law for its defence, ... it will stand upon its own + merit.... Is it just to balance the Establishment against the + rights guaranteed in the charter, and to enact a law which has no + saving clause to prevent taxation of Jew, Turk, Papist, Deist, + Atheist, for the support of a ministry in which they would not + share and which violated their conscience? [185] + +Many Federalists of Judge Swift's type sympathized with Leland's bold +arraignment of the Establishment, if not with his view of the +unconstitutionality of the charter government. These men repudiated +the new certificate law. + +The authorities felt that they had gone too far, and in October, 1791, +after an existence of only six months, they repealed the certificate +law by one hundred and five yeas to fifty-seven nays. The new law +that was substituted permitted each dissenter to write his own +certificate, release, or "sign-off," as the papers were colloquially +called, and required him to file it with the clerk of the Established +Society wherein he dwelt. [186] This favor was not so great a +privilege as it seemed. It bore hard upon the dissenters in two +ways. It created "Neuters," people who wished to be relieved from the +ecclesiastical taxes, but who were too indifferent to the principles +and welfare of the churches to which they allied themselves to +faithfully support them. For their churches to complain of such +persons to the authorities would only give the latter reasons for +enforcing the laws for the support of the Establishment. Then again, +the new certificate law did not relieve the dissenters who lived too +far from their churches to ordinarily attend them from petty fines and +from court wrangles as to the justice of them, for with the judges lay +the determination of what the words "far" and "near" and "ordinarily +do attend" in the laws meant. [b] The important question of how many +absences from church would prevent a man from claiming that he was a +regular attendant was thus left in the hands of judges, who were for +the most part prejudiced or partial. Many amusing and exasperating +legal quibbles occurred in the courts between judges, who were +determined to sentence for neglect of public worship, and defendants, +who were equally positive of their rights. Many dissenters attempted +later to ridicule the law out of existence by substituting for the +formal-- + + I certify that I differ in sentiment from the worship and ministry + in the ecclesiastical society of ---- in the town of ---- + constituted bylaw within certain local bounds, and have chosen to + join myself to the (Insert here the name of society you have + joined) in the town of ----. + + Dated at ---- this ---- day of ---- A. D. + +declarations, undignified in wording and sometimes written in doggerel +rhyme. While granting the new certificate law, the Assembly were +careful to pass a minor ecclesiastical statute enforcing a fine of +from six to twelve shillings upon all who should neglect to observe +all public fasts and thanksgivings. [187] This law at times proved +unsatisfactory to the Episcopalians, for the Congregational fasts and +feasts were appointed by the authorities, who naturally did not +consider the Churchman's feeling when called upon to celebrate a feast +or thanksgiving during an Episcopalian season of fasting, or to +observe a public fast, to go in sackcloth, upon an anniversary that +should be marked by joy and praise. + +In 1792, the year following the attempt to remodel the certificate +laws, certain legislative measures with reference to Yale College fed +the discontent among the dissenting sects. For some years there had +been an increasing dissatisfaction with the management of the +college. It culminated in 1792 in the reorganization of the governing +board, to which were added eight civilians, including the governor, +lieutenant-governor, and the six senior councilors or state +senators. At the same time, and in consideration of the admission of +laymen to the board, $40,000 was given to the college. [c] This money +was a part of the taxes which had been collected to meet the expenses +of the Revolutionary war, and which were in the state treasury when +the United States government offered to refund the state for such +expense. It was granted to the college on condition that she should +invest it in the new United States bonds, and that half the profits of +the investment should be at the disposal of the state. This +arrangement relieved the crippled finances of the college and +gratified many of its friends. But there were many who regarded the +measure as out-and-out favoritism to a Congregational college, and who +put no faith in the proposed half-sharing of profits. They maintained +that eventually the college would get the whole benefit of the money +that had been collected for other purposes, and from many persons who +could derive no benefit from such a disposal of it. These prophets +were not far wrong, for after Yale had paid into the state treasury a +little more than $13,000 she was relieved from further payments by a +repeal, in 1796, of the conditional clause of the grant. + +This favoritism to Yale was not the only legislation to anger the +dissenters, and especially the Baptists. Another measure, mooted at +the same time as the certificate acts and the special grant to the +college, was accepted as a further mark of the government's +determination to ignore the rights of dissenters. In 1785-86 the +Assembly had granted lands for the support of the Gospel ministry, for +schools, and to the first minister to settle in each township of the +Western Reserve. This act, as has been shown, was considered to unduly +favor the Presbyterians. But little had come of this legislation +beyond the survey of the land and the opening of a land office there +for its sale. Five years later, in 1791, even though no part of the +tract had been sold, the Assembly introduced a new bill appropriating +the anticipated proceeds from the sale of the land to the several +ecclesiastical societies as a fund with which to pay their ministers +so as to enable them to do away with the tax for salaries. But the +excitement roused by the first certificate law--of 1791--was so great +that it was deemed prudent to continue this Western Land bill over to +the next session of the legislature, and there it was lost. The +session of May, 1792, contented itself with only such legislation in +regard to the Western Reserve as that by which it granted the "Fire +Lands," so called, a grant of 500,000 acres as indemnity to the +citizens of New London, Groton, Fairfield, Norwalk, and Danbury, for +the destruction of their property in the burning of their towns by +British troops. + +As the lands of the Western Reserve did not sell well, [d] the +Assembly, in 1793, appointed a committee to dispose of the tract to +the highest bidder if the amount offered should be duly guaranteed +with interest; principal and interest payable to the state within four +or six years, whether paid in lump sum on demand, or by installments. +The sale was widely advertised both within and without the state. It +was now calculated that the amount realized from the sale of the lands +would be a sum yielding an annual interest of $60,000, or an average +of $600 to a town, beside a bonus to Yale of $8000. Therefore, the +Assembly, in October, 1793, voted that-- + + moneys arising from the sale of the territory belonging to the + State, lying west of the state of Pennsylvania, be, and the same + is hereby established a perpetual fund, the interest whereof is + granted, and shall be appropriated to the use and benefit of the + several ecclesiastical societies, churches, congregations of all + _denominations_ in this State, to be by them applied to the + support of their respective ministers or preachers of the Gospel, + and schools of education, under such rules and regulations as + shall be adopted by this or some future session of the General + Assembly. [188] + +An earlier bill had been proposed, discussed, and tabled. This act was +originally a resolution framed by a large committee whose members +represented both the friends and opponents of the proposal for the +immediate sale of the lands. When the vote passed, it was by +eighty-three yeas to seventy nays in the House and by a large and +favorable majority in the Council. + +One fault that the dissenters found with the law was that, under the +rules and regulations adopted by the Assembly, they believed that the +alternative which the law allowed of voting the money to the +ministerial fund, or to the school, would work to their +disadvantage. Where there were few dissenters, the Presbyterian vote +would carry the money over to the minister's use, and where there were +many, the same vote would be sufficient, if thrown, as it probably +would be, to direct the money to the school appropriation. It would +follow that the dissenters might never have the use of the money for +the support of their own worship. + +The Baptists voiced the general opposition among the dissenters,--an +opposition so strong that it appealed to some of the conservatives as +sufficient reason in itself to condemn the law. "A Friend to Society" +wrote to the "Hartford Courant" that-- + + if a religion whose principles are universal love and harmony is + to be supported and promoted by a means which will blow up the + sparks of faction and party strife into a violent flame, it is a + new way of promoting religion. Much better would it be for the + State of Connecticut that their Western Lands should be sunk by an + earthquake and form part of the adjoining lake than that they + should be transplanted hither for a bone of contention. + +Apart from sectarian interests, the law met with hostility. There were +those who thought that the money ought to be applied at once to the +remaining indebtedness of the state, rather than for it to wait for +another installment on the Revolutionary debt that was still due from +the national government. There were more who thought that the money +ought to go for the expenses of government, or for direct advantages, +such as the repair of bridges and highways. But the expenses of +government were light, [e] and, as a rule, the people were willing to +keep the highways in repair. There was still another party who +contended that the money should go for schools, both because they were +needed in larger numbers, and because they ought to be able to pay +larger salaries and not ones so small as to tempt only the farmer lad, +or the ambitious student, to keep a country school for a few months in +winter, or a somewhat similarly equipped woman to teach in summer. And +there was yet another party who were convinced that the money should +go to the support of the ministry, for they believed that morality +could be taught only by religion, and that the people were losing +interest in the latter because of the inferiority of the preachers +whom the small salaries and insecure support kept in the field. [189] + + +While this discussion of certificate laws, of grants to Yale, and of +grants of land and money to the ecclesiastical societies had been +constantly before the public, there had also been present a minor +grievance due to the Assembly's interest in the missionary work that +the General Association had extended to include parts of Vermont, +western New York, Pennsylvania, and the outlying settlements in +Ohio. In the western field the missionaries sent by Connecticut +frequently met those sent out by the Presbyterian General +Assembly. Drawn together by their interests in these missions in 1794, +the practice was begun of having three delegates from the General +Association meet with the Presbyterian General Assembly in their +annual convention, and three delegates from the General Assembly take +their seats in the yearly convocation of the General Association of +Connecticut. So long as the Connecticut churches were strongly +Presbyterian in sentiment, there was no clashing of interests among +the workers in the mission field. Naturally, Connecticut wanted to do +her full share of missionary work; and feeling the need of more money +for the purpose, the General Association, in 1792, appealed to the +legislature for permission to take up an annual collection for three +years. The Association hesitated to take up such a collection in all +the churches, dissenting or Established, without such permission. The +Baptists expressed their indignation at the wording of Governor +Huntington's proclamation, "that there be a contribution taken up in +every congregation for the support of the Presbyterian Missions in the +western territory." More than that, they refused to contribute, on the +ground that if the collection had been "recommended" they would gladly +have helped a Christian cause, but that it was inexpedient to yield to +a demand that all societies should contribute to the support of +missions that were entirely under the control of one religious +body. Furthermore, with reference to the appropriation of money from +the Western Lands, they would join with other dissenters in opposing +it, on the ground that, in order to obtain their share of the money, +they would have to admit their inferiority through the showing of the +compulsory certificates. Moreover, even the scant favor secured +through these was in danger from the continual favoritism of the +legislature, with its treasury open at all times to its Congregational +college, and with its enactments in favor of the Established Churches. + +At the May session of the Assembly, 1794, the Baptists from all over +the state thronged the steps of the capitol at Hartford, angered +almost to the point of precipitating civil war. There John Leland +addressed them, urging the necessity of government; the power of +constitutional reform; arguing for rights of conscience, citing both +European and colonial history to prove their reasonableness and their +value to the body politic; and setting forth Connecticut's departure +from the glorious freedom mapped out by her founders. He declared to +that great and angry crowd:-- + + Government is a necessary evil and so a chosen good. Its business + is to preserve the life, liberty and property of the many units + that form the body politic.... When a constitution of government + is formed, it should be simple and explicit; the powers that are + vested in, and work to be performed by each department should be + defined with the utmost perspicuity; and this constitution should + be attended to as scrupulously by men in office as the Bible + should be by all religionists.... Let the people first be + convinced of the deficiency of the constitution, and remove the + defects thereof, and then, those in office can change the + administration upon constitutional grounds. + + * * * * * + + [The right to worship] God according to the dictates of + conscience, without being prohibited, directed or controlled + therein by human law, either in _time, place or manner_, + cannot be surrendered up to the general government for an + equivalent. [190] + +Had not Governor Haynes said to Roger Williams, "The Most High God +hath provided and cut out this part of the world for a refuge and +receptacle for all sorts of consciences?" How had not Connecticut +fallen? How passed her ancient glory, how ignored her charter's +rights? How firm a grip upon her had that incubus of her own raising, +the pernicious union of Church and State? Break that, as elsewhere it +had been broken, and then as freemen demand a constitution +guaranteeing both civil and religious liberty. + +The result of the widespread hostility was the attempt at the May +session of 1794 to repeal the offensive law. The Lower House did +repeal it, after a lively debate, by a vote of 109 yeas to 58 nays, +but the Council, or Upper House, where the conservatives were +intrenched, refused to pass the bill. However, they were induced to +pass a resolution suspending the sale of the lands. The debate in the +House was published verbatim in the "Hartford Gazette" of May 19, +1794, and was copied by the papers throughout the state. In the +following October a bill was passed by the Council, but continued over +by the House and ordered to be printed in all the papers, that the +people might have opportunity to consider it before it should come up +to be passed upon by their representatives in the May session of +1795. [191] The terms of the bill were that the principal sum of money +received from the sale of the Western Lands should be apportioned +among the several school societies according to the list of polls and +rateable estates, and that the interest arising from the money so +divided should be appropriated to the support of schools that were +kept according to the law, or to the support of the public worship of +God and the Christian ministry, "as the majority of the legal voters +should annually determine." [192] + +The proposed law was subjected to public scrutiny of all sorts. It was +agitated in town meetings, and the discussions for and against it were +noticed in the newspapers, where much space was given to its +consideration. Ministers made it the subject of their +sermons. Dr. Dwight discoursed upon the subject in his Thanksgiving +sermon. [193] When the proposed bill came up before the legislature, +it encountered considerable opposition, but after some modifications +it became a law. As in school societies the dissenters had an equal +vote, and in all town affairs were worth conciliating, there was more +justice in the new law than in the old, where the ecclesiastical +society was made the unit of division. From 1717 to 1793 the towns, +parishes, and occasionally the ecclesiastical societies had charge of +the schools. [194] But in 1794 school districts were authorized and +the change to them begun. Such districts could, upon the vote of two +thirds of all the qualified voters, locate schools, lay taxes to build +and repair them, and appoint a collector to gather such rates. The act +of May, 1795, appropriating the money from the Western Lands to the +schools, provided also that the school districts should be erected +into school societies to whom the money should be distributed, and by +whom the interest thereon should be expended; and that it should go +"to no other Use or Purpose whatsoever; except in the Case and under +the circumstances hereafter mentioned." The circumstances here +referred to were in cases where two thirds of the legal voters in a +school society meeting, legally warned, voted to use the interest +money for the support of the ministry in that Society, and appealed to +the General Assembly for permission to so use the money. Upon such an +expression of the wish of voters, the General Assembly was empowered +to answer in the affirmative. The act also repealed that of 1793. The +legislature appointed another commission for the sale of the +lands. They were sold in the following October for $1,200,000. By this +legislation was laid the foundation of Connecticut's School Fund. The +Connecticut Land Company, which had made the purchase, petitioned the +legislature in 1797 that Connecticut should surrender her jurisdiction +over the lands to the United States. The state complied. In 1798 the +organization of the new school societies was perfected, and the +control of the schools passed entirely into their hands until the +district system of 1856 was adopted. + +The Western Land bills had resulted in the establishment of a public +school fund and in its just distribution, without reference to +sectarianism, among the people. All the agitation attending both the +certificate acts and Western Land bills had demonstrated the intense +opposition of the dissenting minority, and that they were beginning to +look to the increase of their numbers and the power of the ballot as +the only means of changing the vexatious laws under which they were +treated as inferiors. To the Congregationalists, strong both as the +Established Church and as members of the Federal party, which counted +many adherents among all the dissenting sects, the possibility that +any voting strength could be brought against them, adequate to oppose +their party measures, seemed improbable. Such a possibility must be +very remote. Yet within twenty years, they were to see the downfall of +the Federal party, of the Established Church, and of Connecticut's +charter government. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] The vote of the Assembly was: "That the ancient form of civil +government, containing the charter from Charles the Second, King of +England, and adopted by the people of this State, shall be and remain +the Civil Constitution of the State under the sole authority of the +people thereof, independent of any King, or ftince whatever. And that +this Republic is and shall forever be and remain a free, sovereign, +and independent State, by the name of the State of +Connecticut."--Revision of Acts and Laws, Ed. 1784, p. 1. + +[b] "Courts and juries had usually been composed of what was +considered the standing church, and they had frequently practiced such +quibbles and finesse with respect to the forms of certificates and the +nature of dissenting congregations as to defeat the benevolent +intentions of the law."--Swift's _System of Laws_, pp. 146, 147. + +[c] Yale received in all $40,629.80. In 1871, six alumni replaced the +six senior councilors. + +[d] So far the highest bid for the tract of land had been $350,000. + +[e] The annual expenses were estimated to be approximately $90,000. In +_Advice to Connecticut Folks_, 1786, occurs the following +estimate:-- + + =================================================================== + Necessary Unneces'y + ------------------------------------------------------------------- + Governor's salary, £300 £300 + Lieutenant-Governor's, 100 100 + Upper House attendance and travel + 60 days at £10 per day, 600 600 + Lower House attendance and travel + 170 members at 6s. a day, 60 days, 3,060 1,530 £1,530 + Five Judges of the Superior Court at + 24s. a day, suppose 150 days, 900 900 + Forty Judges of Inferior Court at + 9s. a day, suppose 40 days, 720 720 + Six thousand actions in the year, the + legal expenses of each, suppose £3, 18,000 1,000 17,000 + Gratuities to 120 lawyers, suppose + £50 each, 6,000 1,000 5,000 + Two hundred clergymen at £100 each, 20,000 20,000 + Five hundred schools at £20 a year, 10,000 10,000 + Support of poor, 10,000 10,000 + Bridges and other town expenses, 10,000 10,000 + Contingencies and articles not + enumerated, 10,000 10,000 + ------------------------------------------------------------------- + Total, £89,680 £66,150 £23,530 + +As a glimpse at society, it may be added that the _Advice_ itself +is an energetic and statistical condemnation of the prevalent use of +"Rum," estimated at £90,000 or "ninety-nine hundredths unnecessary +expense" in living. "Deny it if you can, good folks. Now say not a +word about taxes, Judges, lawyers, courts and women's extravagances. +Your government, your courts, your lawyers, your clergymen, your +schools and your poor, do not all cost you so much as one paltry +article which does you little or no good but is as destructive of your +lives as fire and brimstone."--Noah Webster's _Collection of +Essays,_ pp. 137-139. + +The evil was beginning to be recognized in all its danger. Here and +there voluntary temperance clubs were beginning to be formed among the +better classes, but it was a time when hardly a contract was closed +without a stipulation of a certain quantity of rum for each workman. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +POLITICAL PARTIES IN CONNECTICUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH +CENTURY + + + As well dam up the waters of the Nile with Bullrushes as to fetter + the steps of Freedom.--L. M. Child. + +Leland's attack upon the constitution of Connecticut during the +excitement over the Western Land bills called for new tactics on the +part of the dissenters. Thus far, in all their antagonism to the union +of Church and State, there had been on their part practically no +attack upon the constitution itself. Yet even as early as 1786 the +Anti-Federalists had proclaimed that the state of Connecticut was +without a constitution; that the charter government fell with the +Declaration of Independence; and that its adoption by the legislature +as a state constitution was an unwarranted excess of authority. The +Anti-Federalists maintained also that many of the charter provisions +were either outgrown or unsuited to the needs of the state. But the +majority of the dissenters, like the Constitutional Reform party of +recent date, preferred redress for their grievances through +legislation rather than through the uprooting of an ancient and +cherished constitution. Accordingly, it was not until the elections of +1804-6 that this question of a new constitution could reasonably be +made a campaign issue. But from 1793 the dissenters began to lean +towards affiliation with the Democratic-Republican [a] party, the +successors to the Anti-Federal; yet it was not until toward the close +of the War of 1812 that the Republican party made large gains in +Connecticut and the dissenters began to feel sure that the dawn of +religious liberty was at hand. But before that time the Republicans +made three distinct though abortive attempts to secure the electoral +power. + +The Anti-Federalists early began to probe for weak spots in the +constitutional government of Connecticut. The Fundamental Orders had +given four deputies to each of the three original towns, and had made +the number of deputies from each new town proportionate to its +population. The Charter had limited the deputies to two from each +town. The Fundamental Orders gave the General Court, composed of +Governor, Magistrates or Assistants, and Deputies, supreme governing +power, including, together with that of legislation, the granting of +levies, the admission of freemen, the disposal of public lands, and +the organization of courts. It had also a general supervision over +individuals, magistrates, and courts, with power to revise decisions +and to mete out punishments. The Charter of 1662 did not materially +alter the laws and customs of the government as previously established +under the Fundamental Orders, or the "first written constitution." The +Charter emphasized the executive, and began the segregation of the +Upper House or Council, since by it the "Particular Court" of the +founders became the Governor's Council, serving upon like occasions, +but requiring the presence of at least six magistrates for the +transaction of business. The Particular Court had consisted of the +Governor or Deputy-Governor, and three Assistants. In emergencies +occurring during adjournment of the General Court, the Particular +Court was to serve in place of the larger body. After 1647 this +special court could consist of two or three magistrates who, in the +absence of the Governor or Deputy-Governor, chose one of their number +to act as moderator. After 1662 the formula of the General Court "Be +it ordered, enacted and decreed" was changed to "Be it enacted by the +Governor and Council and House of Representatives in General Court +assembled." At the regular session of the General Court or General +Assembly, the Councilors first sat as a separate body in 1698. After +the Declaration of Independence this Upper House or Council became the +Senate, and for many years was referred to under any one of the three +names. + +The power of the General Court--this jumble of legislative, executive, +and judicial--worked well so long as the community consisted of a few +hundred or a few thousand souls with little diversity of sentiment or +industrial interest. It was not until the last quarter of the +eighteenth century that the inefficiency of the "first written +constitution" began to be felt. Then there arose the need of a new +constitution to modify the body of laws and customs that had grown up; +to destroy much of the erroneous legislation that in effect perverted +or nullified their original intent; and to furnish a constitutional +basis for the government of a larger and less homogeneous people. Here +and there a few thoughtful men, irrespective of their church or party, +were beginning to apprehend the difficulty of piloting a democratic +state under the old royal charter. The more prominent among them +belonged to the Anti-Federal party, and naturally they sought to +expose the constitutional difficulties which they believed impeded +progress. [b] + +One of the earliest party tilts grew out of the increase of new towns +and the unequal development of some of the older ones. Then as now, +though on a much smaller scale, the unit of town representation +threatened rotten boroughs and a fictitious representation of the will +of the majority as represented by the delegates to the Lower +House. The state in 1786 had not recovered from the exhaustion due to +the Revolutionary War, and the support of the many new deputies, due +to the increase of the towns, was a burden which the October +legislation of that year attempted to lighten. With the object of +cutting down state expenses a bill was introduced into the House to +refer to the freemen some proposition for reducing the number of their +delegates and for equalizing representation. Mr. James Davenport of +Stamford moved to substitute for the bill [c] another in which this +reduction should be made by the legislature without submitting the +proposed change to the freemen. This was objected to on the ground +that a reduction of delegates was a constitutional question, "the +Assembly having no right to alter the representation without authority +given by their constituents." The supporters of the bill contended +with Mr. Davenport that-- + + _we have no Constitution_ but the laws of the State. The + _Charter is not the Constitution_. By the Revolution + _that_ was abrogated. A law of the State gave a subsequent + sanction to that which was before of no force; if that law be + valid, any alteration made by a later act will also be valid; if + not, we have no Constitution, so defined, as to preclude the + Legislature from exercising _any_ power necessary for the + good of the people. + +The bill was carried over to the May session of 1787, when it was +defeated by sixty-two yeas to seventy-five nays, the towns of +Hartford, East Hartford, Berlin, Stamford and Woodbury favoring it. A +confidential letter of February, 1787, from Dr. Gale, the probable +author of "Brief, decent but free Remarks or Observations on Several +Laws passed by the Honorable Legislature of the State of Connecticut +since the year 1775, by a Friend to his Country," suggested that in +addition to the reduction of representatives, laws should be passed +forbidding any citizen to hold, at the same time, more than one place +of public trust, either civil or military, and also requiring an +increase in the number of councilors, or senators, from the total of +twelve to three from each county. [d] Dr. Gale believed that if these +senators should be elected by each county, and not upon a general +ticket, the change would be beneficial. [195] + +In regard to the senators, the Fundamental Orders prescribed that +nominations for the magistrates should be made by the towns through +their deputies to the fall session of the General Court, and that the +election should take place the following spring at the Court of +Elections. As the life of the colony expanded, modifications of this +rule were made; in time, vote by proxy took the place of the freeman's +presence at the Court of Election. After 1689, the Assistants to be +nominated, twenty in number, were balloted for in the fall town +meetings. The sealed lists were sent to the legislature, where they +were opened, and the ticket for the spring election was made out from +the twenty names receiving the largest vote. The Court could no longer +as in earlier times add any new names. Hence, the custom grew up of +listing nominations, not according to popularity, but first according +to seniority in office, and then according to the number of votes +received. These lists were published in the papers throughout the +state. The candidates for election were presented at the April town +meetings, where each name was read in order and voted upon. A much +later enactment provided twelve ballots, and forbade any one to cast +more than twelve, whether for or against a candidate or in blank. If a +man held any one of his slips in reserve for a more satisfactory +candidate, he had none for the teller, and thus the secrecy of the +ballot was almost destroyed. New candidates or those not up for +reelection, whose names appeared at the foot of the list, whatever the +number of votes received, were sometimes kept waiting years for an +election, until those above them had died in office or resigned. [e] +For instance, Jonathan Ingersoll received 4600 votes in nomination in +1792, while the senior councilor, William Williams, had only 2000; yet +Williams's name was preferred, and Ingersoll's had to wait over +another year, when he was again nominated and elected, and held his +seat from 1793 to 1798. An election was a wearisome affair, and many +men would not stay until the voting upon the list was finished, +preferring for various reasons to cast an early ballot. The natural +tendency was to support the experienced and known, even if +indifferently efficient councilor, rather than to vote for an untried +and unfamiliar man whose name would come up later, or even for popular +men who could not be proposed until far into the day. As a result the +party in power felt assured of their continuance in office. Moreover, +proxies for the election were returned in April, but the result was +not announced until the legislature met in May, nor was there any +supervision compelling an honest count. Thus it was easy to keep in +office Federal candidates, and thus the Senate, or Council, came to +reflect public opinion about twenty years behind the popular +sentiment. Furthermore, the clergy of the Establishment would get +together and talk matters over before the elections, and the parish +minister would endeavor to direct his people's vote according to his +opinion of what was best for the commonwealth. This ministerial +influence was not shaken until about 1817. + +There was still another grievance against the Council besides that +just mentioned. It had come to be almost a Privy Council for advice +and consultation. Furthermore it was, until 1807, the Supreme Court of +the state to which lay appeals in all cases, civil or criminal, where +errors of law had been committed in the trial courts. Its twelve +members were mostly, if not all, lawyers, holding a tremendous power +of patronage over the members of the Lower House, many of whom were +also lawyers, eager for preferment; over the courts throughout the +state, from which, since 1792, the old non-professional judges had +been debarred, and also over the militia, whose officers, from the +earliest times, had been appointed by the General Court. Further, the +united action of the two houses was necessary to pass or to repeal a +law, and thus much important legislation centred upon a majority of +seven in the Council. + +Furthermore, at the opening of the nineteenth century, the courts of +law also were thought to need reorganizing. The judges were declared +partisan, as they naturally would be under the conditions of their +appointment. The Republicans could not meet the Federals upon an equal +footing in the state tribunals. They were disparaged in their business +relations, "were treated as a degraded party, and this treatment was +extended to all the individuals of the party however worthy or +respectable; in fact as the Saxons were treated by the Normans and the +Irish by the English government." [196] + +Because of these political conditions, early in statehood, there were +three schools of politicians; namely, those who approved a +constitutional convention, expressly called to frame a new +constitution; those who wished such a convention merely to amend the +existing charter-constitution; and those, until 1800, predominately in +the majority, who were convinced that whether the state had a +constitution or not was a most frivolous and baneful question, mooted +only by "visionary theorists," or by those who were desirous of a +change, no matter how disastrous it might be to good government. The +conservative party held that, since the charter had been drawn +according to the tenor of a draft submitted by Winthrop and outlining +the government according to the Fundamental Orders, framed in 1639 by +the "inhabitants and residents of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield," +the charter was not a grant of privileges but an approval asked and +obtained for a government already existing. Consequently, such +government as had been exercised before and was continued under the +charter was essentially a creation of the people. It therefore needed +only the declarative act of the legislature to annul those clauses of +the charter that bound the colony to the crown and to continue over +into statehood the government of the colonial period. Further, +granting that the separation from Great Britain annulled the +constitution, the subsequent conduct of the people in assenting to, +approving of, and acquiescing in such acts of the legislature, had +established and rendered those acts valid and binding, and had given +them all the force and authority of an express contract. [197] Such +discussion of constitutional questions, confined at first to the few, +spread among the many after Leland's attack upon the charter, and were +debated with great earnestness. Leland's attack gained him, at the +time, comparatively few adherents, but it brought the question of +disestablishment fairly before the people, demonstrating to the +discontented that there was very little hope for larger liberty, for +greater justice, until the power of legislation, granted by the old +charter, should be curtailed, and the bond between Church and State +severed. + +The growth in Connecticut of the Democratic-Republican party, outside +its following among Methodists, Baptists and a few radical thinkers, +was very slow. The Episcopalians were held in much higher esteem by +the Federal members of the Establishment, or "Standing Order," as they +were called, than were the other dissenters. Yet notwithstanding the +wealth and conservatism of the sect, they were looked at askance when +it came to giving them political office, for the old dislike to a +Churchman still lingered in New England. Accordingly, they were +somewhat dissatisfied at the treatment they received as political +allies of the Standing Order, and, in order to quiet their incipient +discontent, the government thought best to occasionally extend some +small favor to them. So in 1799, the legislature granted them a +charter for a fund for their bishop which they were trying to +raise. About the same time, Yale first conferred upon an Episcopal +clergyman the title of doctor of divinity. The transfer of the annual +fast day to coincide with Good Friday was appreciated by the +Churchmen. The change was first made in 1795, and came about through +Governor Huntington's friendship for Bishop Seabury, and because of a +desire to remove from the public mind a misapprehension, arising from +the refusal of the Episcopal church in New London to comply with +President Washington's proclamation for a national Thanksgiving. [f] +From 1797 this change of fast-day became customary. It removed the +long-standing complaint that Presbyterian days of fasting or rejoicing +frequently occurred during Episcopal feasts or fasts. At an earlier +period, the ignoring of such public proclamations was sometimes made +the occasion for imposing fines for the benefit of the Establishment. + +As has been said, the Republican gains were greater among the +Methodists and Baptists. This was partly because not a few among +these dissenters associated Jefferson's party with his efforts towards +disestablishment in Virginia in 1785. Out of Connecticut's population +of two hundred and fifty thousand, the Republicans counted upon +recruits from the Methodist body, numbering, in 1802, one thousand six +hundred and fifty-eight, and from the Baptists, approximating four +thousand six hundred and sixty members. In 1798-1800 the division of +the Federalists over national issues strengthened the Republicans in +Connecticut, as they were the successors to the Anti-Federalists, +those "visionary theorists" of 1786. The new Democratic-Republican +party received further additions to their ranks through the opposition +in Connecticut to the Federal and obnoxious "Stand-up Law" of +1801. This law, which required a man to stand when voting for the +nomination of senators, "was made to catch the secret vote of the +Republicans," [198] and revealed at once the opposition of every +dissenter, debtor, employee, or of any one who had cause to fear +injury to himself if he gave an honest vote. It was passed by a +compact and reunited body of Federalists whose boast was that no +division upon national questions could affect their unity and strength +in the Land of Steady Habits. + +The Republican-Democratic party in the state would have gained +recruits more rapidly had it not been for its attitude as a national +party toward France. To appreciate the situation in Connecticut, one +must consider, first of all, the influence of the French +Revolution. One must realize the intense interest, the mingled +exultation and terror with which conservatives who, though they might +differ in their religious preferences, were yet the rank and file of +the state, watched its varying aspects from its outbreak in 1789 on +through the years of its earliest experiments in statecraft, of its +exaggerated exploitation of "liberty, equality, and fraternity," and +of its casting off of all religious bonds and trammels. As the Federal +party lost its sympathy with the French cause the attitude of the +nation changed. The consolidated factions of the Anti-Federalists, +however, increased their ardor for the French republic, and took from +1792 the name Democratic-Republican. They carried their keen sympathy +even to expressing their French sentiments by their dress and +manners. The change in the national attitude was reflected in +Connecticut by the whole-hearted antipathy of large numbers of her +people to what they considered "radicalism of the most destructive +character." English Arianism and Arminianism, with which the +Edwardeans had waged war, were nothing compared to the influx of +French infidelity and atheism which appeared to be sweeping over the +land. Books formerly guarded by the clergy were on sale +everywhere. They found among the masses many like Aaron Burr, who, +during his period of study with Dr. Bellamy, had preferred the logic +of the printed books upon the shelves to that of the master who placed +them there. Dr. Bellamy proposed to confute the pernicious arguments +of these books, bringing them one by one before his select body of +students, so that they should be able to guide their future +parishioners when the insidious poison of these dangerous authors, +these "followers of Satan," should force its way among them. + +All sects attempted to oppose such an influx of irreligion. All but +the Episcopalians fell back upon revivals as their chief means. In +these revivals the Methodists and Congregationalists were perhaps the +most successful in securing converts. The policy of the Episcopal +church did not favor this phase of religious life. It felt that its +whole attitude was a protest against exaggerated liberty, or license, +and against all atheistical ideas. During the revivals the Baptists, +also, added largely to their numbers. The Methodists, however, brought +to their revival meetings the peculiar strength of fervent proselytes +to a new faith; of one rapidly becoming popular, appealing strongly to +the emotions, and having a touch of martyrdom still clinging to its +profession. Among those Federalists who were also Congregationalists, +the French Revolution was believed to be the "result of a combination +long since formed in Europe by infidels and atheists to root out and +effectually destroy religion and civil government." Holding this +opinion; seeing the Baptists and Methodists increasing in importance, +both in the nation and in the state; watching the continual increase +of the unorthodox and of the freethinker, and perceiving the growing +loss of confidence in the Federal party both in the nation and the +state, the Standing Order felt itself face to face with imminent +peril. It scented danger to itself and to the existence of the +commonwealth. But it sadly lacked a great leader, until the year 1795, +when it found one in the recently elected president of Yale, the +Rev. Timothy Dwight. He was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and was a +man of amazing energy, of varied training, and of great personal +charm. + +In his experience Dr. Dwight counted a college education, a +theological training under Jonathan Edwards, Jr., a tutorship at Yale, +a chaplaincy among the rough soldiers of the war of the Revolution, +home-life on his father's farm at Northampton, where the men in the +field vied with each other "to rake or hoe beside Timothy" in order to +hear him talk. In political life Dr. Dwight had served an +apprenticeship in the General Court of Massachusetts, where he sat as +deputy from Northampton. He had had experience as a preacher in +several small towns, and as pastor at Greenfield Hill, a part of +Fairfield. There he had added to his income by establishing the +Greenfield Academy for both sexes. Upon accepting the presidency of +Yale he became also professor of theology, and in addition he took +under his special care the courses in rhetoric and oratory. These last +two, together with literature, had, he thought, been entirely too much +neglected. [g] His coming was a forecast of the man of the nineteenth +century.[199] Dr. Stiles had been a fine type of the +eighteenth. Dr. Dwight was a man of less acquirements in languages, +but he was a more accurate scholar, of broader intelligence, and with +a mind well stocked and ready. He had a pleasing power of expression, +was tactful, and could readily adapt himself to men and +circumstances. It was he who was to give Yale its initial movement +from college to university. He himself was to become a celebrated +teacher and theologian. He was to be one of the founders of the New +England school, whose principles Dr. Taylor, in 1827, was to make +known under the name of the New Haven Theology. [h] In his own day +Dr. Dwight was equally celebrated as a power both in religion and +politics. "Pope Dwight" his enemies termed him, and they nicknamed +his ministerial following his "bishops," while they dubbed the Council +or Senators "his Twelve Cardinals." + +Outside his college duties, and as a part of his care for its +spiritual welfare, President Dwight's immediate purpose was to combine +all forces that could be used to stem the dangerous currents rushing +against the bulwarks of Church and State. He had early favored the +drawing together of Congregational and Presbyterian bodies. He had +discerned, as early as 1792, a stirring of new life in the religious +world, the breaking down of the apathy of half a century that had been +indicated by revivals in places far scattered, not only throughout New +England but in other states. Towns in Massachusetts, with East Haddam +and Lyme in Connecticut, had been roused as early as the year +named. That element of personal experience which had been so marked a +feature of the Great Awakening reappeared, but without that excessive +emotionalism [i] which characterized the earlier revival. Nor was +there any such pronounced leadership as then. There was the same +conviction of sinfulness, the peace after its acknowledgment, and the +joyous satisfaction in the determination to lead an upright life, +seeking God's grace and will. Recognition of this spiritual awakening +had in some measure entered into the proposed disposal of the money +from the Western Lands, as it had also in the discussion of the joint +missionary work of 1791-1794, and again in 1797-98, [200] when the +General Association of Connecticut was incorporated as the Connecticut +Missionary Society, [j] In all of these movements President Dwight had +taken an active part. Upon entering the presidency of Yale he at once +began a series of sermons, which he delivered Sunday mornings, and +which were so arranged that in each four years the course was +complete. These lectures were his "Theology Explained and Defended," +first published in 1818. President Dwight, with the leading +Presbyterian or Congregational ministers, together with the Methodist +and Baptist clergy, continued to favor the revival movement. This +reached its height in 1807. From beginning to end it lasted nearly a +quarter of a century, and was punctuated by the revival years of 1798, +1800, and 1802, that were especially fruitful of conversions in +Connecticut. That of 1802 attracted large numbers of the college +students. The success of the revivals was marked by increasing +austerities, such as the denunciation of amusements, both public and +private, and the revival of dead-letter laws for the more strict +observance of Sunday. Traveling or driving was prohibited without a +pass signed by a justice of the peace. Travelers were held up over +"holy time." Attempts were made to prevent the young people from +gathering in companies on Sunday evenings after the Sabbath was +legally over. Too much hilarity, though innocent, was condemned. Such +restrictions were extremely distasteful to a large minority in the +state, and seemed to many citizens only repeated proofs of how closely +the government and the Presbyterian-Congregational church were banded +together. Accordingly the Republicans began to think it was time to +test the strength of such a platform as they could put forth while +making a bid for the whole dissenting vote. + +The election of Adams and Jefferson [k] in 1797 was a spur to both +parties, lending hope to the scattered Republicans, and prodding the +recently over-confident Federalists. In March, 1798, the whole nation +was roused almost to forgetfulness of party lines by the anger created +by the publication of the "X Y Z Papers." A few months later the +Federal party, through its Alien and Sedition laws, had lost its +renewed hold upon the nation. Connecticut denounced the Virginia and +Kentucky resolutions of 1798-99, and was to all appearances stanchly +Federal. But her leaders were looking for another presidential +candidate than Adams, while the Republicans, elate with the +anticipated national victory in 1800, were making preparations to +catch any and every dissatisfied voter in the state. The scattered +Republican clubs and committees awoke to new activity. As Jefferson +kept his party well in hand, and let the national dissatisfaction +increase that he might rush to victory at the presidential election of +1800, so the Connecticut Republicans matured their plans. They did not +formally organize their party till 1800, first making sure of their +great leader as the nation's executive, and almost of his +reëlection. Then they began to urge the acceptance of their platform +upon the oppressed Connecticut dissenters, and to taunt the Federal +Episcopalians with an allegiance that as late as 1802 had not been +thought of sufficient worth to warrant the small favor of a college +charter for their academy at Cheshire. The Federalists attempted to +disarm the Episcopal dissatisfaction over the refusal by granting them +a license for a lottery to raise $15,000 for the bishop's fund. + +The leader of the Republicans in Connecticut was Pierpont Edwards, a +recently appointed United States district judge. He was brother of +Jonathan Edwards, Jr., for years the pastor of the North Church at New +Haven, and in 1800 president of Union College. This Republican leader +was the maternal uncle of his opponent in Federal state politics, +President Dwight, and also of the Republican Vice-President, Aaron +Burr. Another nephew of his was Theodore Dwight, the brother of +Yale's president, who led the Federal civilians, and who was editor of +the "Hartford Courant," the organ of the Connecticut Federalists. The +Hartford "American Mercury" voiced the sentiments of the +Republicans. The latter party throughout the state was formally +organized in 1800 at a meeting in New Haven, the home of Mr. Edwards +and of his henchman, Abraham Bishop, son of that city's mayor. + +The close personal relationship of the leaders, [l] the scorn of the +radicals, the abhorrence of the conservatives for the principles, +opinions, and even, in some cases, habits of life of their opponents, +entered into the strife and vituperation of the political campaigns +from 1800 to 1806. Personalities were unsparing, passion rose high, +and speeches were bitter. This was particularly the case in New Haven, +where Abraham Bishop's impudent boldness of attack and denunciation +was exaggerated by his father's position. Samuel Bishop, the father, +was a man of seventy-seven, and old in the service of both Church and +State. He was senior deacon in the North Church, or what was at that +time known as the Church of the United White Haven and Fair Haven +Societies. He was also a justice of the peace, town clerk, and mayor +of the city. The last office was held, according to the charter, +during the pleasure of the legislature. Samuel Bishop was also chief +judge of the court of common pleas for New Haven County, and sole +judge of probate, annual offices which the General Assembly had +re-conferred upon him in 1800 and in 1801. His son was a graduate of +Yale (1778). He was a lawyer of somewhat indifferent practice, and +from 1791 to 1798 clerk of the county court under his father, while +from 1798 he had been clerk of the superior court. Before settling +down to practice at the bar he had lived abroad, and had been caught +in the whirl of French thought and democratic ideas. He had returned +home bearing words of recommendation to Washington's secretary of +state from Jefferson's European friends. A personal meeting with that +party leader had added to Bishop's enthusiasm. For some years he had +lived in Boston, and tried his hand at literature. He had returned to +New Haven in 1791, and had thrown himself into politics. He purposely +exaggerated his opinions. He was careless of his unorthodox +expressions even to the verge of blasphemy. Though himself a believer +in God, he was perhaps what one would probably have termed a little +later a Unitarian. His enemies exaggerated his exaggerations,--and +Unitarianism was a crime according to the Connecticut statutes. [m] + +In his speeches and essays Abraham Bishop struck out boldly, with +earnestness, logic, shrewd wit, and irony, and, as has been said, at +times with dangerous irreverence,--often with down-right impudence +when that would serve his purpose. An illustration of his extreme use +of it was in 1800, about the time of the organization of the +Republican party throughout the state. + +He had been honored with the Phi Beta Kappa oration, annually +delivered on the eve of the Yale Commencement, then in September. A +polished literary effort was expected. He broke tradition, courtesy, +and every implied obligation in the choice of his subject. In August +he sent to the committee his paper for their acceptance or refusal. It +was entitled "The Extent and Power of Political Delusions," and was an +out and out campaign document. The presidential election was due in +November! Further, Bishop made political capital of the anticipated +refusal of his paper, which was not sent him until the eleventh +hour. The readers of the morning paper, wherein the committee offered +an apology for the change of speakers at the Society's meeting to be +held that night, were confronted by the announcement that the refused +address would be given to all who cared to listen to it in the parlors +of the White Haven church that same evening, and by the still further +notice that copies of it were fresh from the printer's hands and were +ready to be distributed to the remotest parts of the state. Needless +to state, the Phi Beta Kappa audience dwindled away to swell the crowd +of fifteen hundred, wherein Bishop gleefully counted "eight clergymen +and many ladies." The address met with great favor, and the +Wallingford Republicans at their celebration of March 11, 1801, in +honor of the election of Jefferson and Burr, asked Mr. Bishop to be +their orator. [n] + +To top Bishop's insult,--as it was regarded by every friend of the +Standing Order,--came in the following spring Jefferson's displacement +of Elizur Goodrich, President Adams's appointee as collector of the +port of New Haven, and the substitution of Samuel Bishop. President +Jefferson considered himself at liberty to make this change; and all +the more so because President Adams had made the appointment as one of +his last official acts, when he must have known it would have been +unacceptable to the incoming Republican administration. The merchants +of New Haven immediately united in a petition to President Jefferson, +in which they declared that Samuel Bishop was too old to perform the +duties of the office, and, moreover, not acquainted with +accounts. Assuming that his son Abraham would assist him, they +denounced the latter as "entirely destitute of public confidence, so +conspicuous for his enmity to commerce and opposition to order, so +odious to his fellow citizens, that we presume his warmest partizans +would not have hazarded a recommendation of him." Notwithstanding +this protest the appointment was continued, the President pointing out +the honors bestowed upon the father and the care with which he, +Jefferson, had investigated the case before acting upon it. Reproving +the authorities for so long excluding the Republicans entirely from +office, Jefferson expressed his regret at finding upon his accession +to the presidency not even a "moderate participation in office in the +hands of the majority." He further stated that when such a situation +was in some measure relieved he would be only too glad to make the +question "Is he capable? Is he honest? Is he faithful to the +Constitution?" the only tests for obtaining and holding office. Samuel +Bishop died in 1803, and the collector ship was then bestowed upon his +son, who held it until his death in 1829. + +In Connecticut the two political parties prepared for conflict. The +Republicans desired a new constitution and disestablishment. The old +constitutional and religious debates were opened and fiercely fought +out in pamphlet, press, sermon, and political oration. Noah Webster +replied to the "Extent and Power of Political Delusion" by "A Rod for +the Fool's Back." John Leland published his famous Hartford speech as +"A Blow at the Root, a fashionable Fast-Day Sermon," and his "High +Flying Churchman," as contributions in behalf of civil and religious +liberty. Abraham Bishop took up the latter topic in his "Wallingford +Address, Proofs of a Conspiracy Against Christianity and the +Government of the United States," published in 1802, as well as in his +"Extent and Power of Political Delusion" of 1800. A fair type of +Mr. Bishop's style and treatment is shown in his "Connecticut +Republicanism," a campaign document, wherein he sets forth his opinion +of the union of Church and State. [o] + +In his campaign document under the title "Connecticut Republicanism" +Bishop declared: + + Christianity has suffered more by the attempts to unite church and + state than by all the deistical writings, yet the men who denounce + them are pronounced atheists and no proof of their atheism is + required but their opposition to Federal measures.... Church and + state cannot be better served than by keeping them distinct and by + placing them where they ought to be, above, instead of beneath the + control of men who care no more for either of them than they can + turn to their personal benefit. The self-styled friends of order + have in all nations been the cause of all the convulsions and + distresses which have agitated the world.... The clergyman + preaches politics, the civilian prates of orthodoxy, and if any + man refuse to join their coalition they endeavor to hunt him down + to the tune "The Church is in danger."... In 1787 this visible + intolerance had abated in New England; there was no written law in + force that none but church-members should be free burgesses: yet + the avowed charge of Christ's church was in our law-books, some + nice points of theology were settled in our statutes and the + common law of church and state was in full force.... The + Trinitarian doctrine is established by laws, and the denial of it + is placed in the rank of felony. Though we have ceased to + transplant from town to town Quakers, New Lights, and Baptists; + yet the dissenters from our prevailing denominations are even at + this moment praying for a repeal of those laws which abridge the + rights of conscience. + + * * * * * + + Break the league of church and state which first subjugates your + consciences, then treating your understanding like galley slaves, + robs you of religion and civil freedom.... Thirty thousand freemen + are against the union of church and state. Thirty thousand more + men, deprived of voting because they are not rich or learned + enough, are ready to join them. [201] + +In his "Wallingford Address," Bishop exclaims "The clerical +_politician_ is a useless preacher; the _political_ +Christian is a dangerous statesman." On the title page of this address +appeared the epigram, "Our statesmen to the Constitution; our Clergy +to the Bible." The unfortunately irreverent parallel which Bishop drew +between the Saviour of the world and the leader of the national +Republican party, or of the democracy or common people, gave to the +epigram an evil significance not intended, and to its author a +reputation not wholly deserved. + +David Daggett, a prominent New Haven Federalist and lawyer, [p] tried +in "Facts are Stubborn Things" to refute the charge that the people +were priest-ridden, the legislature arbitrary and tyrannical, the +clergy bigots. In the course of his argument he gives an account of +the reception of a Baptist petition which, voicing the smouldering +discontent that was kept burning by the certificate law, had been +presented to the legislature. Daggett charged the Republicans with +instituting the custom of holding their party meetings in Hartford and +New Haven at the time of the meeting of the Assembly in those cities, +and of making the political gathering a means of directing what topics +should be brought up for discussion in the House of Representatives, +and what discussed in their party organ the "American Mercury." +Daggett accused the Republicans of purposely choosing subjects of +discussion of an inflammable character, and declared that it was in +Babcock's paper (so called from its editor) that the Baptist petition +originated, which, circulated through the state, received some three +thousand signatures, "many of whom doubtless sought the public good." +[202] The petition was presented for trial in 1802 and a day set for +its hearing, upon which Mr. Pierpont Edwards and Mr. Gideon Granger +were to advocate it. The gentlemen, according to Mr. Daggett's +account, did not appear, and of course no trial was held. Instead, the +Assembly referred it to a committee of eighteen from the two +houses. Mr. Daggett insisted that "it was thoroughly canvassed, and +every gentleman professed himself entirely satisfied that there was no +ground of complaint which the Legislature could remove, except John +T. Peters, Esq., who declared that nothing short of an entire repeal +of the law for the support of religion would accord with his idea." + +The truth of the matter was that the committee were chiefly +Federalists. Mr. Peters was a Republican. In their answer to the +petition, the committee assumed that it "was an equitable principle, +that every member of the society should, in some way, contribute to +the support of religious institutions and so the complaint of those +who declined to support any such institution was invalid." If there +was ground for complaint because of sequestration of property for the +benefit of Presbyterians only, the committee failed to find any such +cause, and if such existed, the proper channel of appeal was through +the courts. All other complaints in the petition were considered to +be answered by the assumption that the legislature had the right, on +the ground of utility, to compel contributions for the support of +religion, schools, and courts, whether or not every individual +taxpayer had need of them. The next year, 1803, the petition gained a +hearing, but that was all. It continued to be presented at every +session of the Assembly, and was first heard by both houses in +1815. It was finally withdrawn at the session that passed the bill for +the new constitution of 1818. + +As one of the preliminary steps in the education of the people in +Republican principles and aims, John Strong of Norwich in 1804 founded +the "True Republican," thus giving a second paper for the +dissemination of Republican opinions. From 1792 the "Phenix or Windham +Herald" had been dealing telling blows at the Establishment and at the +courts of law through a discussion in its columns carried on by Judge +Swift, the inveterate foe of the union of Church and State, and a +lawyer, frank to avow that partiality existed in the administration of +justice. Though both the paper and the judge were strongly Federal in +their politics, they were both materially helping the Republican +advocates of reform. From the Windham press came, also, a +republication of "A Review of the Ecclesiastical Establishments of +Europe," edited by R. Huntington, with special reference to the +bearing of its arguments upon the conditions existing in Connecticut, +where illustration could be found of the absurdities and dangers that +the book had been originally written to expose. In 1803 John Leland, +representing forty-two Baptist clergymen, twenty licensed exhorters, +four thousand communicants, and twenty thousand attendants, sent out +another plea for disestablishment in his "Van Tromp lowering his Peak +with a Broadside, containing a Plea for the Baptists of Connecticut." +In it he urges that thirteen states have already granted religious +liberty, and that many of them have formed newer constitutions since +the Revolution. Such should also be the case in Connecticut. Moreover, +it could readily be accomplished at the small cost of five cents per +man. Such a small sum would pay the expenses of a convention to +formulate a constitution and another to ratify it, while five cents +more per person would furnish every citizen with a copy of the +proposed document, so that each could decide for himself upon the +constitutionality of any measure proposed, and would no longer be +obliged to read pamphlet after pamphlet or column after column in the +newspaper to determine its validity. [203] + +All this was preparatory; and the first purely political note of +warning and call to battle for a new constitution was sounded by +Abraham Bishop at Hartford, May 11, 1804, in his "Oration in Honor of +the Election of President Jefferson and the peaceful acquisition of +Louisiana." He sums up the situation thus:-- + + Connecticut has no Constitution. On the day independence was + declared, the old charter of Charles II became null and void. It + was derived from royal authority, and went down with royal + authority. Then, the people ought to have met in convention and + framed a Constitution. But the General Assembly interposed, + usurped the rights of the people, and enacted that the government + provided for in the charter should he the civil constitution of + the State. Thus all the abuses inflicted on us when subjects of a + crown, were fastened on us anew when we became citizens of a free + republic. We still live under the old jumble of legislative, + executive and judicial powers, called a Charter. We still suffer + from the old restrictions on the right to vote; we are still ruled + by the whims of seven men. Twelve make the council. Seven form a + majority, and in the hands of these seven are all powers, + legislative, executive and judicial. Without their leave no law + can pass; no law can be repealed. On them more than half of the + House of the Assembly is dependent for re-appointments as + justices, judges, or for promotion in the militia. By their breath + are, each year, brought into official life six judges of the + Superior Court, twenty-eight of the probate, forty of county + courts, and five hundred and ten justices of the peace, and, as + often as they please, all the sheriffs. Not only do they make + laws, but they plead before justices of their own appointment, and + as a Court of Errors interpret the laws of their own making. Is + this a Constitution? Is this an instrument of government for + freemen? And who may be freemen? No one who does not have a + freehold estate worth seven dollars a year, or a personal estate + on the tax list of one hundred and thirty-four dollars.... For + these evils there is but one remedy, and this remedy we demand + shall be applied. _We demand a constitution that shall separate + the legislative, executive and judicial power, extend the + freeman's oath to men who labor on highways, who serve in the + militia, who pay small taxes, but possess no estates._ [204] + +Abraham Bishop threw down the gauntlet, and in the following July his +party issued a circular letter. It emanated from the Republican +General Committee, of which Pierpont Edwards was chairman. It stated +"that many very respectable Republicans are of the opinion that it is +high time to speak to the citizens of Connecticut plainly and +explicitly on the subject of forming a constitution; but this ought +not to be done without the approbation of the party." A general +meeting was proposed to be held in New Haven on August 29, 1804. In +response, ninety-seven towns sent Republican delegates to assemble at +the state house in New Haven on that date. Major William Judd of +Farmington was chosen chairman. The meeting was held with closed +doors, and a series of resolutions was passed in favor of adopting a +new constitution. It was declared "the unanimous opinion of this +meeting that the people of this state are at present without a +constitution of civil government," and "that it is expedient to take +measures preparatory to the formation of the Constitution and that a +committee be appointed to draft an Address to the People of this State +on that subject." The address reported by this committee was printed +in New Haven on a small half-sheet with double columns, and ten +thousand copies were ordered distributed through the state. + +The issue was fairly before the people. From the Federal side, just +before the September elections, came David Daggett's "Count the Cost," +in which he ably reviewed the Republican manifesto, impugning the +motives of the leaders of the Republican party, and eloquently urging +every friend of the Standing Order and every freeman to "count the +cost" before voting with the Republicans for the proposed reform. + +The fall election of 1804 was lost to the Republicans, for while they +made many gains here and there throughout the state, [q] the immediate +slight access to the Federal ranks showed that the people generally +were not yet ready for a constitutional change. + +As one result of the defeat at the polls, there arose a wider sympathy +for the defeated party. When the legislature met in October, the +Federal leaders resolved to administer punishment to the defeated +Republicans. So strong was the popular feeling, and so determined the +attitude of the legislature, that it summoned before it all five of +the justices of the peace [r] who had attended the New Haven +convention of August 29, to show why they did not deserve to be +deprived of their commissions. Their oath of office ran "to be true +and faithful to the Governor and Company of this state, and the +Constitution and government thereof." What right, the Federals asked, +had they to attack a constitution they had sworn to uphold? At the +same time, several of the militia, known to be of Republican +sympathies, were also deposed or superseded. Mr. Pierpont Edwards was +allowed to make the defense for the justices. Mr. Daggett appeared for +the state. Reviewing the proceedings of the Republican meeting, +Mr. Daggett traced the history of the government of the colony and +state in order to demonstrate that the charter was peculiarly a +constitution of the people, "_made by the people_ and in a sense +not applicable to any other people." He declared the New Haven +"address" an outrage upon decency, and it to be the duty of the +Assembly to withdraw their commissions from men who questioned the +existence of the constitution under which they held them. The day +after the hearing, a bill to revoke the commissions was passed +unanimously by the governor and council, and by a majority of eleven +in the Lower House, the vote standing 67 yeas to 56 nays. This attempt +to stifle public opinion won a general acknowledgment that the +minority were oppressed. The feeling of sympathy thus roused was +increased by the death of Major Judd, who had been taken ill after his +arrival in New Haven. His partisans asserted that his death was +caused by his efforts to save himself and friends, and his consequent +obligation to appear at the trial when really too ill to be about. The +day after his death, the Republicans published and distributed +broadcast his "Address to the people of the State of Connecticut on +the subject of the removal of himself and four other justices from +office." + +From this time forward the minority thoroughly realized that it was +"not a matter of talking down but of voting down their opponents." +Their leaders also understood it. Bishop entered the lists, not only +against his political antagonist David Daggett, but against such men +as Professor Silliman, Simeon Baldwin, Noah Webster, Theodore Dwight, +and against the clergy, led by President Dwight, Simon Backus, Isaac +Lewis, John Evans, and a host of secondary men who turned their +pulpits into lecture desks and the public fasts and feasts into +electioneering occasions. Their general plea was that religion +preserved the morals of the people, and consequently their civil +prosperity, and hence the need for state support. Occasionally one +would insist that it was a matter of conscience with the Presbyterians +which made them enforce ecclesiastical taxes and fines, and that all +had been given the dissenters that could be; that the Presbyterians +had "yielded every privilege they themselves enjoyed and subjected +them (the dissenters) to no inconvenience, not absolutely +indispensable to the countenance of the practice" (of dissent). David +Daggett maintained that there was a just and wide-spread alarm lest +the Republicans should undermine all religion, and therefore it +behooved all the friends of stable government to support the Standing +Order. + +The Republicans vigorously contested the elections of 1804,1805, and +1806. Their second general convention, that of August, 1806, at +Litchfield, was more outspoken in its criticism, and so much bolder in +its demands that many conservative people hesitated to follow its +programme. The Republican gains were so small that after 1806 there +was a lull in the agitation for constitutional reform for some +years. It was well understood that the religious establishment was the +greatest clog upon the government. It was also thoroughly understood +by many that its destruction meant the destruction of the Federal +party in Connecticut. Consequently the Federal patronage distributed +the several thousand offices within the gift of Church and State with +a "liberality equalled only by the fidelity with which they were paid +for." So firm was the Federal control over the state that even in 1804 +they risked antagonizing the Episcopalians by again refusing to +charter the Cheshire Academy as a college with authority to confer +degrees in art, divinity, and law. In the face of a strong protest, it +was refused again in 1810. The House approved this last petition, but +the Council rejected it. Naturally, the Episcopalians felt still more +aggrieved when in 1812 the charter was once more refused; but still +they did not desert the Federal party. The latter clung to the spoils +of office for their partisans, to the old restrictive franchise, and +to the obnoxious Stand-up Law, nor were they less disdainful of the +dissenters and of the Republican minority. + +Yet many of their best men had come to feel that there was wrong and +injustice done the minority; that there should be a stop put to the +open ignoring of Democratic lawyers, numbering in their ranks many men +of wide learning and of great practical ability; that the spectacle of +a Federal state-attorney prosecuting Republican editors was not +edifying, and that the imprisonment of such offenders and their trial +before a hostile judiciary opened that branch of the state government +to damaging and dangerous suspicion. [205] + +In July, 1812, a meeting was called in Judge Baldwin's office in New +Haven, with President Dwight in the chair, to organize a Society for +the Suppression of Vice and the Promotion of Good Morals. At this +meeting the political situation was thoroughly discussed, and measures +were taken to cope with it. + +I am persuaded [wrote the Rev. Lyman Beecher to Rev. Asahel Hooker in +the following November] that the time has come when it becomes every +friend of the State to wake up and exert his whole influence to save +it from innovation.... That the effort to supplant Governor Smith [s] +will be made is certain unless at an early stage the noise of rising +opposition will be so great as to deter them; and if it is made, a +separation is made in the Federal party and a coalition with +Democracy, which will in my opinion be permanent, unless the overthrow +by the election should throw them into despair or inspire repentance. + +If we stand idle we lose our habits and institutions piecemeal, as +fast as innovations and ambitions shall dare to urge on the work. + +My request is that you will see Mr. Theodore Dwight, expressing to him +your views on the subject, ... and that you will in your region touch +every spring, _lay_ or clerical, which you can touch prudently, +that these men do not steal a march upon us, and that the rising +opposition may meet them early, before they have gathered +strength. Every blow struck now will have double the effect it will +after the parties are formed and the lines drawn. I hope we shall not +act independently, but I hope we shall all act, who fear God or regard +men. [206] + +Writing of the meeting to organize the Society for the Suppression of +Vice and the Formation of Good Morals, Dr. Beecher in his +"Autobiography" gives a sketch of the politics of the time that had +led up to the occasion. One of the prominent actors of the time, he +tells us that this meeting, composed of prominent Federalists of all +classes, was unusual, for-- + + it was a new thing in that day for the clergy and laymen to meet + on the same level and co-operate. It was the first time there had + ever been such a consultation in our day. The ministers had always + managed things themselves, for in those days the ministers were + all politicians. They had always been used to it from the + beginning.... On election day they had a festival, and, fact is, + when they got together they would talk over who should be + Governor, and who Lieutenant-Governor, and who in the Upper House, + and their councils would prevail. Now it was a part of the old + steady habits of the state ... that the Lieutenant-Governor should + succeed to the governorship. And it was the breaking up of this + custom by the civilians, against the influence of the clergy, that + first shook the stability of the Standing Order and the Federal + party in the state. Lieutenant Governor Treadwell (1810) was a + stiff man, and the time had come when many nlen did not like that + sort of thing. He had been active in the enforcement of the + Sabbath laws, and had brought on himself the odium of the opposing + party. Hence of the civilians of our party, David Daggett and + other wire-pullers, worked to have him superseded, and Roger + Griswold, the ablest man in Congress, put in his stead. That was + rank rebellion against the ministerial candidate. But Daggett + controlled the whole of Fairfleld County bar, and Griswold was a + favorite with the lawyers, and the Democrats helped them because + they saw how it would work; so there was no election by the + people, and Treadwell was acting Governor till 1811, when Griswold + was chosen. The lawyers, in talking about it, said: "We have + served the clergy long enough; we must take another man, and they + must look out for themselves." Throwing Treadwell over in 1811 + broke the charm and divided the party; persons of third-rate + ability on our side who wanted to be somebody deserted; all the + infidels in the state had long been leading on that side ... minor + sects had swollen and complained of certificates. Our efforts to + reform morals by law were unpopular. [t] + +Finally the Episcopalians went over to the Democrats. The Episcopal +split was due to a foolish and arbitrary proceeding on the part of the +Federals. In the spring of 1814, a petition was presented to the +General Assembly for the incorporation of the Phoanix Bank of +Hartford, offering "in conformity to the precedents in other states, +to pay for the privilege of the incorporation herein prayed for, the +sum of sixty thousand dollars to be collected (being a Premium to be +advanced by the stockholders) as fast as the successive instalments of +the capital stock shall be paid in; and to be appropriated, if in the +opinion of your Honors it shall be deemed expedient, in such +proportion as shall by your Honors be thought proper, to the use of +the Corporation of Yale College, of the Medical Institution, +established in the city of New Haven, and to the corporation of the +Trustees of the Fund of the Bishop of the Episcopal church in this +state, or for any purpose whatever, which to your Honors may seem +best." The capital asked for was $1,500,000. "The purpose of this +offer [u] a was a double one,--creating an interest in favor of the +Bank Charter among Episcopalians and retaining their influence on the +side of the Charter Government, as there was no inconsiderable amount +of talent among them." The Bishop's Fund, slowly gathering since 1799, +amounted to barely $6000. This bonus would give it a good start, and +conciliate the Episcopalians, still indignant at the refusal of the +Assembly to incorporate their college. When presented to the Assembly, +the Lower House favored the bank charter; the Council, rejecting it, +appointed a committee to consider its request. They soon originated an +act of incorporation, granting a capital of $1,000,000, and ordered +the bonus to be paid into the treasury. An act of incorporation, +rather than a petition, was, they claimed, the way established by +custom of granting bank charters. The same session of the legislature +originated bills giving $20,000 to the Medical Institution of Yale +College, and one of the same amount to the Bishop's Fund, "in +conformity to the offer of the petitioners for the Phœnix Bank, and +out of the first moneys received from it as a bonus." The bill for +the medical school was passed unanimously by the House; that for the +Bishop's Fund uniformly voted down. [v] The Episcopalians, to whom the +Republicans were quick to offer their sympathy, asserted that by the +"grant to Yale the legislature had _committed themselves in good +faith_ to make the grant to the two other corporations connected +with it in the same petition." [w] Stripped of formal and courteous +wording, the petition, both in letter and in spirit, had offered its +conditions to all, if accepted by one; or, if refused at all, the +opportunity to divert the money from all three recipients to some +other and quite different use which should be approved by the +legislature. + +The further bad faith of both branches of the Assembly increased the +enmity of the Episcopalians. In the spring of 1815, they petitioned +for their first installment of $10,000. They were told that the +treasury was empty, and that war time was no time to attend to such +matters. In the fall, in answer to their second petition, they found +the Lower House still hostile; the majority of the Council, including +the governor, in their favor, until the discussion came up, when the +Council, with one exception, sided with the House. The explanation of +the change appeared to the Episcopalians to be due to the fact that +during the session the Medical School had petitioned for the balance +of the $30,000, and seemed likely to receive it at the spring +meeting. This was too much for the Episcopalians, and thereafter the +Democrats claimed nine tenths of their vote. The sect was estimated in +1816 to contain from one eleventh to one thirteenth of the +population. The Democratic-Republicans had won over discontented +radicals, a majority of the dissatisfied dissenters, a few +conservatives, and now the indignant Episcopalians. Their political +hopes rose higher, but the War of 1812-1814 interfered, substituting +national interests for local ones, yet all the while adding recruits +to the Republican ranks, so that at its close there was a strong +party. There was also a Federal faction in process of +disintegration. The result was that when the constitutional reform +movement again became the issue of the day, though supported by the +Republicans, the question at issue soon drew to itself a new political +combine which under various forms kept the name of the Toleration +Party, and which eventually won the victory for religious freedom and +disestablishment. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] This party, called for short "Republican," stood for the +principles known as "democratic,"--the appellation of the party itself +since 1828. This was the school of Jefferson. + +[b] There were men of mark among the Anti-Federalist leaders, such as +William Williams of Lebanon, a signer of the Declaration, Gen. James +Wadsworth of Durham, and Gen. Erastus Wolcott of East Windsor,--these +three were members of the Council; Dr. Benjamin Gale of Killingworth, +Joseph Hopkins, Esq., of Waterbury, Col. Peter Bulkley of Colchester, +Col. William Worthington of Saybrook, and Capt. Abraham Granger of +Suffield. At the ratification of the Constitntution the Tote stood 128 +to 40. Afterwards for about ten years, in the conduct of state +politics, there was little friction, for in local matters the +Anti-Federalists were generally conservatives." + +[c] Two deputies were allowed every town rated at $60,000. In 1785 +Oliver Ellsworth had prepared a bill limiting towns of £20,000 or +under to one deputy. It passed the Senate, but was defeated in the +House.--_The Constitution of Connecticut_, 1901, State Series, +p. 105. + +[d] In his pamphlet Dr. Gale advises that each town nominate one man, +and from the nominations in each county, the General Assembly elect +two, four or six delegates from each county to meet and frame a new +constitution, since "any legislature is too numerous a body, and too +unskilled in the science of government to properly perform such a +task" (p. 29).--J. Hammond Trumbull, _Hist. Notes on the +Constitution of Conn._, p. 17, and Wolcott's Manuscript in +_Mass. Hist. Soc. Col._ vol. iv. + +[e] A similar method of election applied to the representatives in +Congress. Eighteen names were voted on in May for nomination, of which +the seven highest were listed for election in September. + +[f] Bishop Seabury's church, St. James of New London, had neglected to +ohserve President Washington's proclamation of a national thanksgiving +on February 19, 1795, which fell in Lent. This roused some antagonism, +and was made the subject of a sharp and rather censorious newspaper +attack upon the Episcopalians. At the same time a few Federal +Congregationalists were further stirred by Bishop Seabury's signature, +viz. "Samuel, Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island," to a +proclamation that the prelate had issued, urging a contribution in +behalf of the Algerine captives. This signature was regarded as a +"pompous expression of priestly pride." Governor Huntington was a +personal friend of Bishop Seabury. Moreover, at this particular time, +the congregation to which the Governor belonged in Norwich was +worshiping in the Episcopal church during the rebuilding of their own +meeting-house, which had been destroyed by fire. The Governor had +previously been approached with a suggestion that the fasts and feasts +of the Congregationalists and Episcopalians should be made to +coincide, or at least that the annual fast day should not be appointed +for any time between Easter Week and Trinity Sunday, and that the +public thanksgivings, when occasion required them, should, if +possible, not be appointed during Lent. In 1795, the annual fast day +would have fallen upon the Thursday in Holy Week. In order to avoid +laying any stress upon the sanctity of certain days of the week, and +because Governor Huntington wished to turn the public mind away from +the petty controversy, he appointed the fast day on Good Friday. In +1796, the annual fast fell in the Lenten season. In 1797, in order to +avoid having the fast interfere with the regular sessions of the +County Courts, and at the same time to avoid its falling in Easter +week, Governor Trumbull appointed it again on Good Friday. The +arrangement was accepted with satisfaction by the Episcopalians and +with no objections from the Congregationalists, and thereafter it +became the custom. (Bishop Seabury had been elected to the bishopric +of Rhode Island in 1790.)--William DeLoss Love, Jr., _Fasts and +Thanksgivings of New England_, pp. 346-361. + +[g] Early in his career he had written a versification of the Psalms, +in 1788 his _Conquest of Canaan_, and later _Triumph of +Infidelity_. President Dwight taught the seniors rhetoric, logic, +ethics, and metaphysics, and the graduate students in theology. In +1805 he was appointed to the professorship of the latter study. + +[h] Dr. Dwight's _Theology Explained_ was not published until +1818, after his death, and his _Travels_ not until 1821-22. + +[i] Except among the backwoodsmen of Kentucky in 1799-1803. + +[j] The Society was granted a charter in 1802. In 1797 interest in the +missions was intensified by the free distribution of seventeen hundred +copies of the report of missionary work in England and America. + +[k] The Rev. Jedidiah Champion of Lifcchfield, an ardent Federalist, +on the Sunday following the news of the election of Adams and +Jefferson, prayed fervently for the president-elect, closing with the +words, "0 Lord! wilt Thou bestow upon the Vice-President a double +portion of Thy grace, _for Thou knowest he needs it._" This was +mild, for Jefferson was considered by the New England clergy to be +almost the equal of Napoleon, whom one of them named the "Scourge of +God." + +[l] Pierpont Edwards, b. April 8, 1750, graduated at Princeton, 1768, +died April 5, 1826. + +Timothy Dwight, b. May 14, 1752, died January 11, 1817. + +Aaron Burr, b. February 6, 1756, Vice-President 1801-05, died +September 14, 1836. + +Theodore Dwight, b. December 15, 1754, educated for the law under +Pierpont Edwards, and practiced it for a time in New York city with +his cousin, Aaron Burr. He broke the partnership because of difference +in politics, and went to Hartford. He became a member of the +governor's council, 1809-1815; secretary of the Hartford Convention, +1814. He established the _Connecticut Mirror_ in 1809; founded +and conducted the _Albany Daily Advertiser_, 1815-16, and the +_Daily Advocate_, New York, 1816-36. He died June 12, 1846. + +[m] The crimes against religion punishable by law were Blasphemy (by +whipping, fine, or imprisonment); Atheism, Polytheism, Unitarianism, +Apostaey (by loss of employment, whether ecclesiastical, civil, or +military, for the first offense).--_Swift's System of Law_, ii, +320, 321. + +[n] _Oration delivered in Wallingford on the eleventh of March 1801, +before the Republicans of the State of Connecticut at the General +Thanksgiving for the election of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency, +and of Aaron Burr to the Vice-Presidency, of the United States of +America 1801._ + +See the appendix to the Oration for an account of the New Haven +episode. + +[o] "Connecticutensis," or David Daggett, also replied in _Three +Letters to Abraham Bishop._ Theodore Dwight's _Oration at New +Haven before the Society of the Cincinnati, July 7, 1801,_ took up +the constitutionality of the charter government. + +[p] Later chief justice. + +[q] Windham County was steadily Republican after this election. + +[r] Major William Judd of Farmington, Jabez H. Tomlinson of Stratford, +Augur Judson of Huntington, Hezekiah Goodrich of Chatham, and +Nathaniel Manning of Windham. + +[s] Federalist. + +[t] To preserve our institutions and reform public morals, to bring +back the keeping of the Sabbath was our aim ... We tried to do it by +resuscitating and enforcing the law (That was our mistake, but we did +not know it then.) and wherever I went I pushed that thing; Bear up +the laws--execute the laws.... We took hold of it in the Association +at Fairfield, June, 1814, ... recommending among other things a +petition to Congress." (_Autobiography_, i, 268.) At this meeting +originated the famous petition against Sunday mail. + +Dr. Beeeher urged a domestic missionary society to build up waste +places in Connecticut. His sermon "Reformation of Morals practicable +and desirable" warned against "profane and profligate men of corrupt +minds and to every good work reprobate." + +[u] Judge Church. + +[v] The final speech in favor of the bill was made by Nathan Smith, a +lawyer of New Haven. When he had finished his eloquent setting forth +of the benefits and dangers attendant upon passing the bill, there was +an unusual and solemn silence. Dr. Gillett says if the bill had been +promptly put to vote it would probably have been passed, but the +churchlike silence was broken by a shrill voice piping forth, +"Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, what shall we sing?" The laughter which +followed broke the orator's charm and sealed the fate of the bill. + +[w] See _Columbian Register_ of June 17, 1820, for a full +account of the Bishop's Fund and the final award of the bonus. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DISESTABLISHMENT + + + No distinction shall I make between Trojan and Tyrian. + +The Federal grip upon Connecticut, one of the last strongholds of that +party, was weakening. Preceding the deflection of the Episcopalians +in Connecticut, there had been throughout New England a strong Federal +opposition to the national government and its commands during the War +of 1812. Such conduct had shattered party prestige, and when its +opposition culminated in the Hartford Convention of 1814, it wrote its +own death-warrant. The Republicans, on the contrary, had dropped local +questions of constitutional reform and religious liberty, preferring +to bend all their energies to the support of the general +government. When as a national party they humbled England and brought +the war to a victorious close, the contrast of their loyalty to state +and national interests steadily drew the popular favor. In the era of +good feeling and prosperity that followed, the great national +political parties dissolved somewhat and crystallized anew. In +Connecticut a similar change took place in local politics. In the +years immediately following the war, the Democratic-Republicans, the +majority of the dissenters, and the dissatisfied among the +Federalists, formed different coalitions that, under the general name +of Toleration, [a] opposed the Standing Order. In 1816 the agitation +for constitutional reform was revived, and after three years resulted +in the overthrow of the Federalists and the triumph of a peaceful +revolution whereby religious liberty was assured. + +The conduct of the Federal party, both within and without Connecticut +from 1808 to 1815, was quite as much the real cause of their downfall +in the state as that coalition between clergy and lawyers described by +Dr. Beecher as causing the breakdown of party machinery and its +ultimate ruin. Glancing somewhat hastily at some of the most +far-reaching acts of the Federalists, we find first the Federal +opposition to the embargo that from December 22, 1807, for over a year +paralyzed New England commerce. In February, 1809, John Quincy Adams, +who had recently resigned the Massachusetts senatorship because of his +unpopular support of the embargo, informed President Jefferson that +the measure could no longer be enforced. He assured the President that +the New England Federalist leaders, privily encouraged by England, +were preparing to break that section off from the union of the states +if the embargo were not speedily repealed. This information, whether +accurate or not, so influenced the President and his advisers that the +Non-intercourse Act, applying only to France and England, replaced the +embargo, whose repeal took effect from March 4, 1809. In the following +December, Madison's administration (in the belief that France had +withdrawn her hostile decrees) limited non-intercourse to England +alone, after having vainly urged upon her a repeal of her Orders in +Council. With the embargo lifted, New England commerce revived, and +Connecticut seamen, Connecticut farmers, [b] Connecticut merchants, +together with artisans of all the allied industries that were called +upon in the fitting out of ships and cargoes, enjoyed two years of +prosperity. The period was given over to money-getting, and the +ordinary rules of national or commercial honesty were flung to the +winds. Napoleon sold licenses to British vessels to supply his +famishing soldiers stationed in continental ports, while forged +American and British papers were openly sold in London. So enormous +were the profits of a successful voyage that the possibility of +capture only added zest to the American ventures and contributed not a +little to the daring of the privateers in the years of the war. So +enriched was the state that by May, 1811, Connecticut had so far +recovered from her late financial distress that the "state owed no +debt and every tax was paid," while her exports were: domestic, +$994,216; foreign, $38,138, or a total of $1,032,354. + +The ninety days' embargo of 1812, the declaration of war (June +18,1812), and the patrolling of Long Island Sound by a British fleet, +brought such desolation to Connecticut that ships again lay rotting at +the wharves, ropewalks and warehouses were deserted, cargoes were +without carriers, and seamen were either scattered or idling about, a +constant menace to the public peace. National taxes to support a +detested war were laid upon the people at a time when their incomes +were ceasing, and their homes and property were laid bare to a +plundering enemy. "A nation without fleets, without armies, with an +impoverished treasury, with a frontier by sea and land extending many +hundreds of miles, feebly defended" by fortifications old and +neglected, had rushed headlong into war with the strongest nation of +the earth without "counting the cost." Such was the opinion of the +Federalists everywhere and, at first, of the large wing of the +Republican party who preferred peace. The Federalists of Connecticut, +when they saw a small majority sweep the nation into the conflict with +Great Britain, believed the war threatened liberty of speech. They +feared military despotism, when the general government demanded the +control of the militia; and that the war would prostrate" their civil +and religious institutions by increasing taxation and loss of income." +[c] They feared "national dismemberment" when the war measures, +together with the presence of the British fleet blockading the coast, +alternately angered the people almost to rebellion against an +apparently indifferent central government, or drove them into plans +for self-defense. Much of the opposition in New England is in part +accounted for by the rebound towards Federalism which the declaration +of the war caused, and by the belief that the national election of +1812 would be a Federal victory. Though it turned out to be a defeat, +it consolidated and so strengthened that party in New England that +before the close of 1813 all the state executives were Federalists and +were arrayed against the administration. The Republicans kept their +hold upon the minority, partly by the diversion of the capital, thrown +out of the carrying trade, into privateer ventures, war supplies, and +manufactures. + +At the beginning of the war, Governor Griswold, of Connecticut, backed +by both houses of the legislature, joined with Governor Strong of +Massachusetts (supported only by the House of Representatives) in a +refusal to place the militia under regular officers of the United +States army. They refused also to allow the quotas called for by +General Dearborn (under the Act of Congress of April 10, 1812), for +the expedition against Canada, to leave the state. These executives +claimed that the troops were not needed to execute the laws of the +United States, to suppress insurrection, or to repel invasion,--the +only three constitutional reasons giving the President the right to +consider himself "commander in chief of the militia of the several +states." [207] By taking such a stand, the state governors assumed to +decide whether a necessity existed that gave the President his +constitutional right to call out the militia. Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, +in his "Memoir of Governor Strong," exonerates that executive by +pleading his intense convictions of duty, his loyal patriotism, and +his later efficient aid [d] in defending the eastern coast of the +state. Mr. Lodge reminds his reader that the governor's position was +supported by the best lawyers, whom he had been at great pains to +consult concerning state and federal rights, which, at that period, +had not been so carefully examined and discriminated between as +since. The same pleas may be urged for Governors Griswold [e] and +Smith. The Connecticut legislature immediately passed an act for +raising twenty-six hundred men for state defense under state +officers. Governor Griswold's successor, Gov. J. Cotton Smith, when +Decatur was blockaded in the Thames, when the descent upon Saybrook +was made, at the attack upon Stonington, and during those months when +the enemy hovered upon the long exposed coast line, kept a large force +of militia ready for duty. The state supported these troops, for, in +the wrangle over officership, the national government refused the +promised supplies. + +The New England Federalists soon found seven great reasons for party +action. They were the uncertain success of the war by land; the great +commercial distress; [f] the possession by the enemy of a large part +of Maine; the publication of the terms upon which England would grant +peace; [g] the proposed legislation in the fall of 1814, providing for +the increase of the United States army by draft or conscription; the +proposed modified form of impressment of sailors; and the bill +allowing army officers to enlist minors and apprentices over eighteen +years of age, with or without consent of parents or guardians. [h] +These measures drove the New England Federalists, at the call of +Massachusetts, to the formation of the Hartford Convention. The +Connecticut legislature approved the sending of delegates by a vote of +153 to 36 opposed. Massachusetts and Rhode Island answered with like +enthusiasm. New Hampshire and Vermont hesitated, but the counties of +Cheshire and Grafton in the former state and of Windham in the latter +sent each a delegate to the convention. Rhode Island sent four +delegates and Massachusetts twelve, of whom George Cabot was elected +president of the convention. Connecticut furnished the secretary of +the convention, and later its historian in Theodore Dwight of +Hartford. She also sent seven other delegates, namely: Chauncey +Goodrich, mayor of Hartford, and from 1814 to 1815 governor of the +state; John Treadwell, ex-governor; James Hillhouse, who had served as +United States representative and senator; Zephaniah Swift, United +States representative and later chief judge of superior court of +Connecticut; Calvin Goddard, United States representative; Nathaniel +Smith, United States representative and later judge of the supreme +court; and Roger Minot Sherman, a distinguished lawyer and member of +the state legislature. All the delegates to the Hartford Convention +were men of high character, and most of them well-known leaders of the +Federal party. The convention lasted for three weeks, and, as its +sessions were conducted with the greatest secrecy, many prejudicial +rumors and surmises arose. The Massachusetts summons had bidden the +delegates convene for measures of safety "not repugnant to our +obligations as members of the Union," and the convention acknowledged +that it found the greatest difficulty in "devising means of defense +against dangers, and of relief from oppressions proceeding from the +act of their own Government without violating constitutional +principles or disappointing the hopes of a suffering and injured +people." The secrecy, the known antagonism to the Administration, the +knowledge of New England's early disbelief in the cohesive power of +the Union, and the convention's demands and resolutions, combined to +give a bad and traitorous reputation to the Hartford Convention that +has never been absolutely cleared away. + +As early as 1796, over the signature "Pelham," there had appeared in +the "Hartford Courant" a series of articles written with great ability +and keen foresight as to the difficulties that would arise in making +any impartial legislation for a nation composed of parts having such +diverse economic systems as those of the North and the South. The +articles suggested the development of two nations instead of +one. During the War of 1812, various suggestions had been thrown out +by different newspapers enlarging upon the resources of New England +and hinting at a separate peace with England. There were not a few +who, upon learning of the resolutions of the convention, felt that +"Pelham" was a close adviser of its measures if not one of its +delegates. Public opinion was so wrought up by the assumed disloyalty +of the Hartford Convention that in 1815 it forced the publication of +the convention's brief and non-committal "Journal." From it little +more was learned than that the convention had resolved that the +different states should take measures to protect themselves against +draft by the national government, that New England should be allowed +to defend herself, and for that purpose should have returned to each +of her states a reasonable share of the national taxes to meet the +expense of their arming. In addition, each New England state should +set apart a certain portion of her militia under her governor to give +aid in cases of extremity should she be called upon by the governor of +another state. At the close of the convention, delegates were +appointed to proceed to Washington with these resolutions and also +with six proposed amendments [i] to the national constitution. These +demands and resolves were reinforced by the proposal that should the +Administration refuse to consider the propositions, another convention +should be held in the following summer to consider further action. +When the delegates arrived in Washington with the resolutions, of +which two state legislatures had meantime approved, the news of peace +had been declared. In the general jubilation they saw fit to leave +their message undelivered. For years the taint of rebellion clung to +the Hartford Convention, and forced its secretary, in 1833, to publish +his "History," a defense of its members and their measures. Even this +did not remove the stigma. The delegates had in their own communities +always retained their reputation for high personal character, but +politically they were irretrievably ruined by their participation in +the Hartford gathering. They had dealt their party in their states a +mortal blow, and the Hartford Convention has been well named "the +grave of the Federal party." + +However much the members of the convention swathed their sentiments in +expressions of allegiance to the Union, at least until extreme +provocation should force a separation; or however much they declared +their conviction that peace, not war, should be the time chosen for +such a separation, and that, first of all, distinction should be +carefully made between a bad constitution and a bad government, and a +good constitution or government badly administered, there was no doubt +but that they proposed to push nullification to the point of active +resistance within what they considered their legal rights. They had +also proposed a set of amendments which they knew stood no chance of +meeting with approval from any number of the states. Moreover the +Hartford Convention, whatever its intentions, seriously alarmed and +embarrassed the Administration. Because of the consequences of their +policy, its members were culpable in the opinion of all who hold that, +in the distress of war, to hamper one's own government is to lend +assistance to the enemy. [j] + +The war at first was not popular, but made friends for itself as it +progressed. Connecticut sailors were among the seamen that England had +impressed, and Connecticut captains had surrendered ships and rich +cargoes at the command of the mistress of the seas. But the naval +triumphs of the first year caught the popular fancy, for "not until +the Guerriere's colors were struck to the Constitution had a British +frigate been humiliated on the ocean." The victories on land were +about equally balanced. The disclosures of English perfidy in +attempting through her secret agents [k] to detach New England from +the Union before war should break out, and during the conflict, by +favoritism to Massachusetts, helped to increase the supporters of the +war policy. Further, the war brought out the latent powers of the +nation, both for defense and for prosperity. The gradual introduction +of machinery since 1800 had enlarged the small manufactories of +Connecticut, and begun the exchange of products between near +localities. But before the War of 1812 no manufacturing in Connecticut +had achieved a notable success. [l] There was invention and skill, [m] +and often profit, in the home market for the coarser products, but +there was a general tendency to prefer imported goods of finer make. +The war cut off such supplies, and the need created a paying demand +and developed an ability to supply it. The political party that +conducted the war to a successful finish developed the policy of +protection of infant industries, and the tariff of 1816 gave birth to +Connecticut as a manufacturing state. The repeal of the obnoxious war +measures, the speedy reduction of the national expenses, and the +promise of prosperity smoothed out lingering resentment. The Federal +party was virtually extinct outside of its last strongholds in New +England and Delaware. In the Era of Good Feeling following the war the +whole people composed one party, with principles neither those of the +original Federal party nor those of the original Republican party, but +a combination of both." [n] + +In New England during the War of 1812, as in the Revolution, the +clergy had been the nucleus of the local dominant party, and with its +leaders had been bitter opponents of the "unrighteous war." [208] +Consequently the Congregational clergy shared in the popular +disapproval and condemnation that overtook the Federalists. In +Connecticut, for a time, the Standing Order by its affiliation with +the Federal party prolonged its control. of the state. But the tide +was turning. Dr. Lyman Beecher, Dr. Dwight's able lieutenant, made +vigorous and laudable efforts to uphold the Dwights, the Aaron and +Moses, as it were, of the waning political power. The "Home Missionary +Society," [o] Bible societies, the "Domestic Missionary Society for +the Building up of Waste Places," and the many branches of the +"Society for the Suppression of Vice and Promotion of Good Morals" [p] +did much good among those who welcomed them. Where their results were +simply those of a morality enforced by law, they caused still greater +dissatisfaction with the ruling party. [q] The union of the clergy and +lawyers was not as influential as had been anticipated in the early +days of 1812. Soon after the war the clergy adopted a less vigorous +policy, preferring an attitude of defense against calumny and a +withdrawal from politics. [r] + +The elections showed the change in public opinion. At the April +election, 1814, the Federals reelected Governor Smith, while the +Republican candidate, Mr. Edward Boardman, received 1629 votes. The +following year, notwithstanding Governor Smith's reëlection, Mr. +Boardman polled 4876 votes, and the Republicans made a gain of twenty +in the House of Representatives, while in the fall nominations for +Assistants, the highest Federal vote was 9008 and that of the +Republicans was 4268. [209] + +In January, 1816, "a meeting of citizens from various parts of the +state" was held in New Haven to agree upon a nomination for governor +and lieutenant-governor, which would bind together the Republicans and +such of the Federalists as were opposed to the Standing Order. Oliver +Wolcott and Jonathan Ingersll were unanimously agreed upon. Oliver +Wolcott had been living out of the state for fourteen years, and for +most of that time had not been in politics. His Republican supporters +had had time to forget him as a staunch Federalist, and remembered him +only as a man of parts who had held the secretaryship of the treasury +under Washington and Adams, and who had "opposed the Hartford +Convention; like Washington was a friend to the _Union_, a foe to +rebellion; with mild means resisted bigotry, with a glowing heart +favored toleration." [210] As he had approved the policy of the +general government since the days of Madison, he was pronounced an +available candidate. A good Congregationalist, he would not offend the +Federalists, would be acceptable to the Republicans, and would stand +to the capitalists and farmers as favorable to a protective tariff and +to more equitable taxation within the state. The prestige given him by +the executive abilities of his father and grandfather in the +gubernatorial chair also counted in his favor. The candidate for +lieutenant-governor was Jonathan Ingersoll, a Federalist, an eminent +New Haven lawyer, a prominent Episcopalian, senior warden of Trinity +Church, and chairman of the Bishop's Fund. He had had political +training in the Council, 1792-1798, and had been judge of the Superior +Court, 1798-1801, and again from 1811 to 1816. His nomination was the +price of the Episcopal vote, for "it was deemed expedient by giving +the Episcopalians a fair opportunity to unite with the Republicans, to +attempt to affect such change in the Government as should afford some +prospect of satisfaction to their united demands." [s] + +The "Connecticut Herald," indignant at the Assembly's conduct in the +Phoenix Bank affair, left the Federal party and independently +nominated Jonathan Ingersoll for lieutenant-governor instead of the +regular candidate of that party, Chauncey Goodrich. The "American +Mercury," the organ of the American Toleration party, the union of +Republicans, dissenters, and dissatisfied, in order "to produce that +concord and harmony among parties which have too long, and without any +real diversity of interests, been disturbed, and which every honest +man must earnestly desire to see restored," nominated for governor, +Oliver Wolcott; for lieutenant-governor, Jonathan Ingersoll. The +Federal candidate for the executive was Governor John Cotton Smith, up +for reëlection. The Tolerationists failed by a few hundred votes to +seat their candidate for the executive, with the result that the +election of 1816 raised to office Governor Smith and +Lieutenant-Governor Ingersoll. Governor Smith received 11,589 votes, +Mr. Wolcott 10,170, while Lieutenant-Governor Ingersoll polled a +majority of 1453 over his opponent, Mr. Calvin Goddard. [t] It was the +first time that a dissenter had held so high an office. The +Federalists might have seized the opportunity to renew their former +friendship with the Episcopalians had it not been for their +stubbornness and for their old fear of Churchmen in political +office. At the October town meetings, the returns from ninety-three +towns gave a Federal vote of 7995 and a Republican of 6315 for +representatives, with a Federal majority of about thirty in the +House. [2ll] + +The Federalists, realizing that the Episcopal vote was almost lost to +them, that their domestic policy was in disfavor, and that their +conduct during the war had damaged them and was leading to their +downfall in Connecticut even as in the nation, resolved upon a +desperate measure to conciliate a larger number of the dissenters. +This was the Act of October, 1816, for the Support of Literature and +Religion. Briefly, it divided the balance of the money which the +nation owed Connecticut for expenses during the war, namely $145,000, +among the various denominations. To the Congregationalists it gave in +round numbers, and including the grant to Yale, $68,000; to the +Episcopalians, $20,000; to Methodists, $12,000; and to Baptists, +$18,000; to Quakers, Sandemanians, etc., nothing. [u] The Quakers were +assumed to be satisfied with their recent exemptions from military +duty upon the payment of a small tax; Sandemanians and other +insignificant sects to be conciliated by the act of the preceding +April, which repealed, after a duration of nearly one hundred and +eighty years, the fine of fifty cents for absence from church on +Sunday. The people were at last free, not only to worship as they +chose, but when they chose, or to omit worship. They had yet to obtain +equal privileges for all denominations, and exemption from enforced +support of religion. The passage of the Act for the Support of +Literature and Religion raised, as the Congregationalists ought to +have known it would, a violent protest from every dissenter and from +every political come-outer. Some of the towns in town-meetings opposed +the bill as unnecessary for the support of schools and clergy; as +wasteful, when it would be wiser to create a state fund; and as unduly +favorable to Yale, where the policy was to create an intellectual +class and not to advance learning and literature among the +commonalty. At Andover, February 1, 1817, Episcopalians, Baptists, and +Methodists met together and denounced the act because they disapproved +of the union of Church and State which it encouraged; because of +Yale's tendency to bias religion; because they all approved of the +voluntary support of religion; and because they all scorned such a +political trick as the bill appeared to them, namely, an attempt to +win by their acceptance of the money their apparent approval of the +enforced support of religion. The Baptist societies in different +towns met to condemn the measure on the same grounds, and on the +additional ones that it was unfair to the Quakers, who had no paid +preachers; to the Universalists, because they were numerically still +too small to be of political importance; and indeed to many men, +since, as every man had contributed to the expense of the war, every +man ought to be rewarded proportionally. The Methodists agreed in all +these criticisms, and were no more backward in denouncing a measure +which forced on them money they did not seek, and for a purpose of +which they disapproved. The Methodist Society of Glastonbury were most +outspoken, declaring the law-- + + incompatible with sound policy and inconsistent with any former + act of the legislature of the state; the ultimate consequence of + which will prove a lasting curse to vital religion, which every + candid and reflecting mind may easily foresee; and we view it as a + very bold and desperate effort to effectuate a union between + Church and State.... We are induced to believe that Pilate and + Herod, and the chief Priests are still against us,... $12,000 to + the contrary notwithstanding. Resolved-- + + (1) We don't want such reparation for being characterized as an + illiterate set of enthusiasts devoid of character; our clergy a + set of worthless ramblers, unworthy the protection of our civil + laws. + + (2) Pity and contempt for the Legislature should be expressed for + bribery. + + (3) We believe the money, if received, would be a lasting curse. + + (4) The measure was intended for politics, not religion, and was + a species of Tyranny. + + (5) We should use our best endeavors to have the money used for + state expenses. + + (6) Thanks should be sent to the members of the Legislature who + had opposed the measure. + +All Methodists were further angered by the affront put upon them by +the General Assembly, which, in spite of their known determination not +to receive the money, appointed Methodist trustees, of whom a majority +were Federalists, to receive their share of the appropriation. The +trustees accepted the money, defending their action on the ground that +they believed that their claim would become void if they did not draw +the money, and it might then be put to a worse use. But the Methodist +societies did not uphold the trustees, and "regretted the committee +imposed on us by the Legislature of the state." The chairman of the +committee, the Rev. Augustus Bolles, refused to serve, and the +societies rejected the money. [v] + +As a result of the unwelcome legislation, the Republicans received the +whole vote of the Methodists for the "Toleration and Reform Ticket" of +1817, which repeated the nominations of the preceding election. The +Episcopalians of course favored the reëlection of Lieutenant-Governor +Ingersoll. One small provocation by the Congregationalists of the +First Church of New Haven--the attempt to place the odium of expulsion +upon a member who became an Episcopalian--did not tend to allay +feeling. The Toleration party were sure of the votes of the more +feeble dissenters, whose interests they promised to regard, as well as +of those of the Baptists and of such Federalists as disapproved of the +high-handed policy of the Standing Order. The Tolerationists were also +counting upon a steady increase of recruits from the Federal ranks as +soon as the appreciation of a recent attack by the legislature upon +the judiciary and its danger should become more and more +realized. Many such recruits, convinced of the necessity of +constitutional reform, had gathered at the general meeting of +Republicans held in New Haven in October, 1816, to make up the ticket +for the spring election of 1817. The campaign issue was "whether +freemen shall be tolerated in the free exercise of their religious and +political rights." It was met by the election of Governor Wolcott with +a majority of 600 votes over ex-Governor J. Cotton Smith, and by no +opposition to the reëlection of Lieutenant-Governor Ingersoll. [w] At +the same election many minor Republican officials were seated, and the +House went Republican by an assured majority of nearly two to one, the +Senate remaining strongly Federal. + +Governor Wolcott's inaugural placed before the Assembly the following +subjects for consideration: (1) A new system of taxation; for, as the +governor pointed out, the capitation tax was equivalent to about +one-sixteenth of the laboring man's income. (2) Judges of the Superior +Court should hold their office during good behavior instead of by +annual appointment by the legislature. (3) There should be a complete +separation of legislative and judicial powers of government. (4) +Rights of conscience and the voluntary support of religion, though if +necessary with "laws providing efficient remedies for enforcing the +voluntary contracts for their [ministers'] support," should be +considered; and (5) Freedom of suffrage. In concluding, the governor +urged that "whenever the public mind appears to be considerably +agitated on these subjects, prudence requires that the legislature +should revise its measures, and by reasonable explanation or +modifications of the law, restore public confidence and tranquillity." +[x] + +To consider briefly these various points: Taxes upon mills, machinery, +and manufactures needed to be light in order to secure their continued +existence. The necessities of war-time had created a larger market for +their products, but one that could not be continued after the close of +the war allowed European products to enter free of duty. Nor could +the factories exist if burdened with heavy taxes before the new tariff +measures of 1816 had revived these depressed industries. In +agriculture, taxes upon horses, oxen, stock, dairy products, and +increased areas of tillage handicapped the farmer. Again, the tax upon +fire-places, rather than upon houses, weighed heavily upon the poor +and the moderately well-to-do, who built small and inexpensive houses +with say three fireplaces, while the rich owners of older and more +pretentious dwellings were often rated for fewer. [y] Money was +scarce, rich men rare. So also was great poverty. There was a scanty +living for the majority. Trades were few, wages low. A farm-hand +averaged three shillings a day, paid in provisions. Women of all work +drudged for two shillings and sixpence per week, while a farm overseer +received a salary of seventy dollars a year. The children of people in +average circumstances walked barefoot to church, carrying their shoes +and stockings, which they put on under the shelter of the big tree +nearest to the meeting-house. Their fathers made one Sunday suit last +for years. The wealthy had small incomes, though relatively great. It +was whispered that Pierpont Edwards, the rich and prosperous New Haven +lawyer, had an income from his law practice of two thousand dollars +per year. + +Points (2) and (3) in the governor's address were prompted by the +widespread interest created by the action of the legislature in +October, 1815, when it had set aside the conviction, by a special +Superior Court at Middletown, of Peter Lung for murder, on the ground +that the court was irregularly and illegally convened. The chief judge +was Zephaniah Swift of Windham, author of the "System of Connecticut +Laws." [z] Judge Swift appealed to the public [aa] to vindicate his +judicial character from the censure implied by the Assembly's +action. An ardent Federalist, who in the early days of statehood could +see no need of a better constitution than he then insisted Connecticut +possessed through the adoption of her ancient charter, he had long +opposed the ecclesiastical establishment which that charter upheld. In +his defense of the constitution he had maintained that "it ought to be +deemed an inviolable maxim that _when proper courts of law are +constituted, the legislature are divested of all judicial +authority_." [2l2] But when the legislature claimed as +constitutional the right to call to account any court, magistrate, or +other officer for misdemeanor or mal-administration, [ab] Judge Swift +admitted the lack of "a written constitution." He further argued that +the one "made up of usages and customs, had always been understood to +contain certain fundamental axioms which were held sacred and +inviolable, and which were the basis on which rested the rights of the +people." Of these self-evident principles one was that the three +branches of government--the executive, legislative, and judicial--were +coordinate and independent, and that the powers of one should never be +exercised by the other. "It ought to be held as a fundamental axiom," +the judge declared, "that _the Legislature should never encroach on +the jurisdiction of the Judiciary,_ nor assume the province of +interfering in private rights, nor of overhauling the decisions of the +courts of law." Otherwise, "the legislature would become one great +arbitration that would engulf all the courts of law, [ac] and +_sovereign discretion_ would be 'the only rule of decision,--a +state of things _equally favorable to lawyers and criminals."_ +[213] + +With respect to the fifth point in the governor's address, the right +of suffrage, the Republicans and their allies demanded its extension +from householders haying real estate rated at $7 (40s.), or personal +estate of $134 (£40), to "men who pay small taxes, work on highways, +or do service in the militia." + +In the fall of 1817, the reform party had forced the repeal of the +obnoxious Stand-Up Law, and it demanded that other restrictive +measures should be annulled. So bitter was the Federal antagonism in +the Council that during all the spring session of 1817, the +Tolerationists loudly complained that every reform measure proposed in +the House was lost in the Federal Senate. The committees to which +parts of the governor's speech had been referred for consideration did +little. That on taxation made a report in the fall recommending that a +careful investigation of conditions and resources should be made, +because, as capital sought investment, in banks, manufacturing, and +various commercial enterprises unknown to the earlier generations, +[ad] the fairness of the old system of taxation was lapsing. The mixed +committee, including several Tolerationists and having an Episcopal +chairman, that was to report upon the religious situation, gave no +encouragement to dissenters. The spring session allowed one barren act +to pass, the "Act to secure equal rights, powers, and privileges to +Christians of all denominations in this state." It enacted that +henceforth certificates should be lodged with the _town clerk,_ +and permitted a come-outer to return to the society from which he had +separated. In the following spring, when an attempt was made to pass a +bill to supersede this act, it was maintained that the law of 1817 +"did not effect the object or answer the desire of the aggrieved +party," for it retained the certificate clause and continued to deny +to dissenters the measure of religious liberty freely accorded to the +Established churches. + +The Tolerationists were determined to carry the elections of 1818. In +the fall elections of 1817, they again had a majority of nearly two to +one in the House, and consequently the struggle was for the control of +the Senate. At the fall meetings, they placed in nomination their +candidates for senators, and all through the winter they agitated in +town meetings and in every other way the discussion of their +"Constitution and Reform Ticket." Party pamphlets were scattered +throughout the state. One of these, the most in favor, was "The +Politics of Connecticut: by a Federal Republican" (George H. Richards +of New London). At the spring elections of 1818, the Constitution and +Reform Ticket carried the day, seating the reflected governor and +lieutenant-governor, eight anti-Federal senators, and preserving the +anti-Federal majority in the House. The political revolution was +complete, and the preliminary steps towards the construction of a new +constitution were at once begun. [ae] + +The governor's inaugural address specified the main task before the +Assembly in the following words:-- + + As a portion of the people have expressed a desire that the form + of civil government in this State should be revised, this highly + interesting subject will probably engage your [the Assembly's] + deliberations.... Considered merely as an instrument denning the + powers and duties of magistrates and rulers, the Charter may + justly be considered as unprovisional and imperfect. Yet it ought + to be recollected that what is now its greatest defect was + formerly a pre-eminent advantage, it being then highly important + to the people to acquire the greatest latitude of authority with + an exemption from British influence and control. + + If I correctly comprehend the wishes which have been expressed by + a portion of our fellow citizens, they are now desirous, as the + sources of apprehension from external causes are at present + happily closed, that the Legislative, Executive and Judicial + authorities of their own government may be more precisely denned + and limited, and the rights of the people declared and + acknowledged. It is your province to dispose of this important + subject in such manner as will best promote general satisfaction + and tranquillity. + +The House appointed a select committee of five to report upon the +revision of the form of civil government. The Council appointed +Hon. Elijah Boardman (Federalist) and Hon. William Bristol +(Tolerationist) to act as joint committee with several gentlemen +selected by the House. The joint committee reported that "the present +was a period peculiarly auspicious for carrying into effect the wishes +of our fellow-citizens,--the general desire for a revision and +reformation of the structure of our civil government and the +establishment of a Constitutional Compact" and "that the organization +of the different branches of government, the separation of their +powers,the tenure of office, the elective franchise, liberty of speech +and of the press, freedom of conscience, trial by jury, rights which +relate to these deeply interesting subjects, ought not to be suffered +to rest on the frail foundation of legislative will." [214] +Immediately, the House passed a bill requiring the freemen of the +towns to assemble in town meeting on the following Fourth of July "to +elect by ballot as many delegates as said towns now choose +representatives to the General Assembly," said delegates to meet in +constitutional convention at Hartford on the fourth Wednesday of the +following August (Aug. 26) for "the formation of a Constitution of +Civil Government for the people of this state." The bill further +declared that the constitution when "ratified by such majority of the +said qualified voters, convened as aforesaid, as shall be directed by +said convention, shall be and remain the Supreme Law of this State." +An attempt was made to substitute "one delegate" for "as many +delegates" as the towns sent. Upon the question in the convention, as +to what majority should be required for ratification, there was +considerable diversity of opinion. "Two-thirds of the whole number of +_towns"_ was suggested, but was opposed on the ground that +"two-thirds of the whole number of the _towns_ might not contain +one-fourth of the people." _"Three-fifths_ of the legal voters of +the state" was also suggested. In the final decision, the simple +"majority of the freemen" was accepted. Had this not been the case, +the constitution would have failed of ratification, for, as Burlington +made no returns, the vote stood 59 out of 120 towns for ratification, +with 13,918 yeas to 12,364 nays, giving a majority of but 1554. + +Several causes tended to bring about an eager, an amiable, or tolerant +support of the work of the convention. Eepublicans and Tolerationists +hoped for sweeping reforms. The Federalists were divided. Many there +were who believed it dangerous for the state to continue destitute of +fundamental laws defining and limiting the powers of the legislature, +and to such as these the need of a bill of rights, and of the +separation of the powers of the government, was immediate and +imperative. The influential faction of the New Haven Federalists were +moved to modify any opposition existing among them by the proposed +change to annual sessions of the legislature with alternate sittings +in the two capitals. There were still other Federalists who accepted +the proposed change in government as inevitable, and who wisely +forebore to block it, preferring to use all their influence toward +saving as much as possible of the old institutions under new +forms. And in this resolve they were encouraged by the high character +of the men that all parties chose as delegates to the constitutional +convention. + +The convention met August 26,1818, at Hartford. Governor Wolcott, one +of the delegates from Litchfield, was elected president, and Mr. +James Lanman, secretary. Mr. Pierpont Edwards was chosen chairman of a +committee of three from each county to draft a constitution. The +estimated strength of the parties was one hundred and five Republicans +to ninety-five Federalists, and, of the drafting committee, five +members belonged to the political minority. [af] An idea of the +character of the men chosen for this important task of framing a new +constitution is gained from a glance at some of the names. To begin +with, over thirty-nine of the delegates to the convention either were +Yale alumni or held its honorary degrees, and half of the drafting +committee were her graduates. Ex-Governor Treadwell and Alexander +Wolcott led the opposing parties, while their able seconds in command +were General Nathaniel Terry of Hartford and Pierpont Edwards of New +Haven. The latter still held the office of judge of the United States +District Court, to which Jefferson had appointed him. Among the +delegates, there were Mr. Amasa Learned, formerly representative in +Congress, the ex-chief-judges Jesse Root and Stephen Mix Mitchell, +Aaron Austin, a member of the Council for over twenty years until the +party elections of 1818 unseated him, ex-Governor John Treadwell, and +Lemuel Sanford,--all of whom had been delegates to the convention of +1788, called to ratify the constitution of the United States. Five +members of the drafting committee were state senators, namely: +Messrs. William Bristol, Sylvester Wells, James Lanman, Dr. John +S. Peters of Hebron, and Peter Webb of Windham. Five others, +Messrs. Elisha Phelps, Gideon Tomlinson, James Stevens, Orange Merwin, +and Daniel Burrows were afterwards elected to that office, while +Gideon Tomlinson and John S. Peters became in turn governors of the +state. James Lanman, Nathan Smith (a member also of the committee), +and Tomlinson entered the national Senate. Among the delegates, there +were nearly a dozen well-known physicians, most of them to be found +among the Tolerationists. Messrs. Webb, Christopher Manwaring of New +London, Gideon Tomlinson of Fairfield, and General Joshua King of +Ridgefield, together with Joshua Stow of Middletown (also on the +drafting committee), had been for years the warhorses of the +democracy, loyal followers of their leader Alexander Wolcott, who had +been the Republican state manager from 1800 to 1817. + +The method of procedure in the convention was to report from time to +time a portion of the draft of the constitution, of which each article +was considered section by section, discussed, and amended. After each +of the several sections had been so considered, the whole article was +opened to amendment before the vote upon its acceptance was +taken. When all articles had been approved, the constitution was +printed as so far accepted, and was again submitted to revision and +amendment before receiving the final approval of the convention. + +While the constitutional convention was in session, the Baptists and +Methodists resolved that no constitution of civil government should +receive their approbation and support unless it contained a provision +that should secure the full and complete enjoyment of religious +liberty. [2l5] And it was known that the Episcopalians were ready to +second such resolutions. These expressions of opinion were of weight +as foreshadowing the kind of reception that many of the towns where +the dissenters were in the ascendant would accord any constitution +sent to them for ratification. + +In the convention both the old Federal leader and the old Democratic +chief objected to the incorporation in the constitution of a bill of +rights. Governor Treadwell opposed it on the ground that such +_"unalterable"_ regulations were unnecessary where, as in a +republic, all power was vested in the people. Alexander Wolcott +objected that such a "bill would circumscribe the powers of the +General Assembly" and also because of his disapproval of some of its +clauses. [216] When the draft of fourth section was under discussion, +namely that "No preference shall be given by law to any religious sect +or mode of worship," the Kev. Asahel Morse, a Baptist minister, +offered the substitute,-- + + That rights of conscience are inalienable, that all persons have a + natural right to worship Almighty God according to their own + consciences; and no person shall be compelled to attend any place + of worship, or contribute to the support of any minister, contrary + to his own choice. + +The substitute was rejected, and after some discussion, the wording of +the section was changed by substituting "Christian" in place of +"religious" and this change retained in the final revision. [ag] + +The seventh article, "Of Religion," was the subject of a long and +earnest debate. + + Sec. 1. It being the right and duty of all men to worship the + Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe, in + the mode most consistent with the dictates of their own + consciences; no person shall be compelled to join or support, nor + by law be classed with or associated to any congregation, church + or religious association. And each and every society or + denomination of Christians in this State, shall have and enjoy the + same and equal powers, rights and privileges; and shall have power + and authority to support and maintain the Ministers or Teachers of + their respective denominations, and to build and repair houses for + public worship, by a tax on the members of the respective + societies only, or in any other manner. + + Sec. 2. If any person shall choose to separate himself from the + society or denomination of Christians to which he may belong, and + shall leave written notice thereof with the Clerk of such society + he shall thereupon be no longer liable for any future expenses, + which may be incurred by said society. + +The Federalists contested its passage at every point, and succeeded in +modifying the first draft in important particulars, but could not +prevent complete severance of Church and State, nor the constitutional +guarantee to all denominations of religious liberty and perfect +equality before the law. To the first clause as reported--"It being +the right and _duty_ of all men to worship the Supreme Being, the +Great Creator and Preserver of the Universe, in the mode most +consistent with the dictates of their consciences"--Governor Treadwell +objected that "Conscience may be perverted, and man may think it his +duty to worship his Creator by image, or as the Greeks and Romans did; +and though he would _tolerate_ all modes of worship, he would not +recognize it in the Constitution, as the _duty_ of a person to +worship as the heathen do." Mr. Tomlinson afterwards moved to amend +the clause to its present shape, "The duty of all men to +worship... and their right to render that worship." Governor Treadwell +objected that the same clause went "to dissolve all ecclesiastical +societies in this State. That was probably its intent as +Messrs. Joshua Stow and Gideon Tomlinson had drafted it. The former +answered all objections by asserting that "if this section is altered +_in any way_, it will curtail the great principles for which we +contend." [ah] + +The first section was finally adopted by a vote of 103 to 86, while a +motion to strike out the second section was rejected by 105 to 84. On +its final revision it read:-- + + Sec. 1. It being the duty of all men to worship the Supreme Being, + the Great Creator and Preserver of the Universe, and their right + to render that worship in the mode most consistent with the + dictates of their consciences; no person shall, by law, be + compelled to join or support, nor be classed with, or associated + to, any congregation, church, or religious association. But every + person now belonging to such congregation, church, or religious + association, shall remain a member thereof, until he shall have + separated himself therefrom, in the manner hereinafter + provided. And each and every society or denomination of + Christians, in this state, shall have and enjoy the same and equal + powers, rights and privileges; and shall have power and authority + to support and maintain the ministers or teachers of their + respective denominations, and to build and repair houses for + public worship, by a tax on the members of any such society only, + to be laid by a major vote of the legal voters assembled at any + such society meeting, warned and held according to law, or in any + other manner. [ai] + +During the last revision of the constitution Mr. Terry had offered the +two amendments that continue the old ecclesiastical societies as +corporate bodies. [217] + +The draft of the whole constitution was read through for the last time +as amended and ready for acceptance or rejection, and put to vote on +September 15, 1818. It was passed by 134 yeas to 61 nays. The +constitution then went before the people for their consideration [aj] +and ratification. For a while its fate seemed doubtful; but by the +loyalty of the Federal members of the convention and their efforts in +their own districts the whole state gave a majority for +ratification. The southern counties, with a vote of 11,181, gave a +majority for ratification of 2843; the northern counties, with a vote +of 15,101, gave a majority _against_ ratification of 1189. [218] + +The Toleration party as such had triumphed, and they felt that they +had won all they had promised the people, for they had secured "the +same and equal powers, rights and privileges to all denominations of +Christians." They had also cleared the way for a broader suffrage and +for the proper election laws to guarantee it. At the last two +elections the Republicans in the Toleration party had carefully +separated state and national issues, and had in large measure forborne +from criticism of the partisan government, insisting that the people's +decision at the polls would give them--the people--rather than any +political party, the power to correct existing abuses. The Republicans +also insisted that the Tolerationists, no matter what their previous +party affiliation, would with one accord obey the behests of the +sovereign people. But when the constitution was an assured fact the +Republicans felt that the Federalist influence had dominated the +convention, and the Federalists that altogether too much had been +accorded to the radical party. Nevertheless it was the loyalty of the +Federal members of the convention that won the small majority for the +Tolerationists and for the new constitution, even if that loyalty was +founded upon the belief, held by many, that the choice of evils lay in +voting for the new regime. + +The constitution of 1818 was modeled on the old charter, and retained +much that was useful in the earlier instrument. The more important +changes were: (1) The clearer definition and better distribution of +the powers of government. (2) Rights of suffrage were established +upon personal qualifications, and election laws were guaranteed to be +so modified that voting should be convenient and expeditious, and its +returns correct. (3) The courts were reorganized, and the number of +judges was reduced nearly one half, while the terms of those in higher +courts were made to depend upon an age limit (that of seventy years), +efficiency, and good behavior. Their removal could be only upon +impeachment or upon the request of at least two thirds of the members +of each house. Judges of the lower courts, justices of the peace, were +still to be appointed annually by the legislature, and to it the +appointment of the sheriffs was transferred. [ak] (4) Amendments to +the constitution were provided for. (5) Annual elections and annual +sessions of the legislature, alternating between Hartford and New +Haven, were arranged for, and by this one change alone the state was +saved a yearly expense estimated at $14,000, a large sum in those +days. (6) The governor [al] was given the veto power, although a +simple majority of the legislature could override it. (7) The salaries +of the governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and representatives +were fixed by statute, and were not alterable to affect the incumbent +during his term of office. (8) And finally, _the union of Church and +State was dissolved_, and all religious bodies were placed upon a +basis of voluntary support. + +Among the minor changes, the law that before the constitution of 1818 +had conferred the right of marrying people upon the located ministers +and magistrates only, thereby practically excluding Baptist, Methodist +and Universalist clergy, now extended it to these latter. While +formerly the only literary institution favored was Yale College, +Trinity College, despite a strong opposition, was soon given its +charter, and one was granted later to the Methodists for Wesleyan +College at Middletown. Moreover, the government appropriated to both +institutions a small grant. The teaching of the catechism, previously +enforced by law in every school, became optional. Soon a normal +school, free to all within the state, was opened. The support of +religion was left wholly to voluntary contributions. [am] The +political influence of the Congregational clergy was gone. "The lower +magistracy was distributed as equally as possible among the various +political and religious interests," and the higher courts were +composed of judges of different political opinions. + +The battle for religious liberty was won, Church and State divorced, +politics and religion torn asunder. The day of complete religious +liberty had daw'ned in Connecticut, and in a few years the strongest +supporters of the old system would acknowledge the superiority of the +new. As the "old order changed, yielding place to new," many were +doubtful, many were fearful, and many there were who in after years, +as they looked backward, would have expressed themselves in the frank +words of one of their noblest leaders: [an] "For several days, I +suffered what no tongue can tell _for the best thing that ever +happened to the State of Connecticut."_ + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] Party names were "American," "American and Toleration," +"Toleration and Reform." + +[b] Three fourths of Connecticut's exports were products of +agriculture. + +[c] "All institutions, civil, literary and ecclesiastical, felt the +pressure, and seemed as if they must he crushed. Our schools, churches +and government even, in the universal impoverishment, were failing and +the very foundations were shaken, when God interposed and took off the +pressure."--Lyman Beecher, _Autobiography_, i, 266. + +[d] The Massachusetts militia were placed under General Dearborn, +August 5, 1812. + +[e] Governor Griswold died Octoher, 1812, and was succeeded in office +by Lieutenant-Governor John Cotton Smith. + +[f] The direct tax laid July 22-24,1813, by the national government, +was apportioned in September, as follows: To Massachusetts, +$316,270.71; to Rhode Island, $34,702.18; and to Connecticut, +$118,167.71, divided as follows (which shows the relative wealth of +the different sections of the state), Litchfield, $19,065.72; +Fairfield, $18,810.50; New Haven, $16,723.10; Hartford, $19,608.02; +New London, $13,392.04; Middlesex, $9,064.20; Windham, $14,524.38; and +Tolland, $6,984.69. Duties were levied upon refined sugar, carriages, +upon licenses to distilleries, auction sales of merchandise and +vessels, upon retailers of wine, spirits, and foreign merchandise; +while a stamp tax was placed upon notes and bills of exchange.--See +_Niles Register_, v, 17; _Schouler_, ii, 380. The tax in +1815 was $236,335.41.--_Niles_, vii, 348. + +[g] Briefly, an independent Indian nation between Canada and the +United States; no fleets or military posts on the Great Lakes, and no +renunciation of the English rights of search and impressment. + +[h] The April (1815) session of the Connecticut legislature passed an +"Act to secure the rights of parents, masters and guardians." It +declared the proposed legislation in Congress contrary to the spirit +of the Constitution of the United States, and an unauthorized +interference with state rights. It commanded all state judges to +discharge on habeas corpus all minors enlisted without consent of +parents or guardians, and it enacted a fine, not to exceed five +hundred dollars, upon any one found guilty of enlisting a minor +against the consent of his guardian, and a fine of one hundred dollars +for the advertising or publication of enticements to minors to enlist. + +[i] "Amendments: (1) Restrictions npon Congress requiring a two thirds +vote in making and declaring war, (2) in laying embargoes, and (3) in +admitting new states. (4) Restriction of the presidential office to +one term without reëlection, and with no two successive Presidents +from the same state. (5) Reduction of representation and taxation by +not reckoning the blacks in the slave states. (6) No foreign born +citizen should be eligible to office. + +[j] "They advocated nullification and threatened dissolution of the +Union."--J. P. Gordy, _Political History of the United States_, +ii, 299. + +[k] The President in March, 1812, sent to Congress the documents for +which he had paid one John Henry $50,000. The latter claimed to be an +agent sent from Canada in 1809 to detach New England Federalists from +their allegiance to the Union. Congress by resolution proclaimed the +validity of the documents. The British minister solemnly denied all +knowledge of them on the part of his government. The American people +believed in their authenticity, which belief was confirmed during the +war by the distinct favor shown for a while to Massachusetts, and by +the hope, openly entertained by England, of separating New England +from New York and the southern states. + +[l] Manufactures in Connecticut (abridged from the U. S. marshal's +report in the autumn of 1810, cited in _Niles' Register_, vi, +323-333) were represented by 14 cotton mills, 15 woolen mills. (By +1815 New London county alone had 14 woolen mills and 10 cotton.) These +had increased to 60 cotton in 1819, and to 36 woolen. Flax cloth, +blended or unnamed cloths, and wool cloth,--all these made in +families,--amounted to a yearly valuation of $2,151,972; hempen cloth, +$12,148; stockings, $111,021; silks (sewing and raw), $28,503; hats to +the value of $522,200; straw bonnets, $25,100; shell, horn, and ivory +in manufactured products, $70,000. Looms for cotton numbered 16,132; +carding machines, 184; fulling mills, 213, and there were 11,883 +spindles. + +In iron, wood, and steel: 8 furnaces, with output of $46,180; 48 +forges, $183,910; 2 rolling and slitting mills, 32 trip-hammers, +$91,146; 18 naileries, $27,092; 4 brass foundries, 1 type foundry, +brass jewelry, and plaited ware, $49,200; metal buttons, 155,000 +gross, or $102,125; guns, rifles, etc., $49,050. + +Among other manufactories and manufactures there were 408 tanneries, +$476,339; shoes, boots, etc., $231,812; the tin plate industry, +$139,370; 560 distilleries, $811,144; 18 paper mills, $82,188; +ropewalks, $243,950; carriages, $68,855, and the beginnings of +brick-making, glass-works, pottery, marble works, which, with the +state's 24 flaxseed mills and seven gunpowder mills, brought the sum +total to approximately $6,000,000. + +Still the great impetus to manufacturing, which completely +revolutionized the character of the state, followed the Joint-stock +Act of 1837, with its consequent investment of capital and rush of +emigration, resulting in later days in a development of the cities at +the expense of the rural districts. + +[m] Gilbert Brewster, the Arkwright of American cotton machinery, Eli +Whitney, with his cotton gin and rifle improvements, and John Fitch, +with his experiments with steam, are the most distinguished among a +host of men who made Yankee ingenuity and Yankee skill proverbial. + +[n] "Era of Good Feeling, 1817-1829. The best principles of the +Federalists, the preservation and perpetuity of the Federal +government, had been quietly accepted by the Republicans, and the +Republican principle of limiting the powers and duties of the Federal +government had been adopted by the Federalists. The Republicans +deviated so far from their earlier strict construction views as in +1816 to charter a national bank for twenty years, and to model it upon +Hamilton's bank of 1791 which they had refused to re-charter in +1811,"--A. Johnson, _American Politics_, pp. 80, 81. + +[o] "This was for the support of missions outside the state. The +Domestic or State Home Missionary Society undertook the buiding up of +places within the state that were without suitable religious care. The +former finally absorbed the latter when its original purpose was +accomplished. Then, there was the Litchfield County Foreign Mission +Society, founded in 1812, the _first _auxiliary of the American +Board, which began its career in 1810, and was incorporated the same +year that its youngest branch was organized."--Lyman Beecher, +_Autobiography_, i, 275, 287-88 and 291. + +[p] Organized in New Haven in October, 1812, with Dr. Dwight as +chairman. Members of the committee upon organization included nearly +all the prominent men of that day, both of the clergy and of the +bar. A list is given in Lyman Beecher, _Autobiography_, i, 256. + +[q] "We really broke up riding and working on the Sabbath, and got the +victory. The thing was done, and had it not been for the political +revolution that followed, it would have stood to this day.... The +efforts we made to execute the laws, and secure a reformation of +morals, reached the men of piety, and waked up the energies of the +whole state, so far as the members of our churches, and the +intelligent and moral portion of our congregation were +concerned. These, however, proved to be a minority of the suffrage of +the state."--Lyman Beecher, _Autobiography_, i, 268. + +"In Pomfret the Justice of the Peace arrested and fined townspeople +who persisted in working on Sunday, and held travellers over until +Monday morning."--E. D. Lamed, _History of Windham_, ii, 448. + +[r] "The odium thrown upon the ministry was inconceivable. ... The +Congregational ministers agreed to hold back and keep silent until the +storm blew over. Our duty as well as policy was explanation and +self-defence, expostulation and conciliation."--_Autobiography_, +i, 344. + +[s] "Aristides," March 26, 1826, and "Episcopalian," March 13, issues +of the _American Mercury_. + +"When the Episcopal Church petitioned the legislature in vain, as she +did for a series of years, for a charter to a college, he (the +Rev. Philo Shelton of Fairfield) with others of his brethren +_proposed a union with the political party, then in a minority_, +to secure what he regarded a just right. And the first fruit of the +union was the charter of Trinity (Washington) College, Hartford. He +was one of a small number of clergymen who decided on this measure, +and were instrumental in carrying it into effect; and it resulted in a +change in the politics of the State which has never yet been +reversed."--_Sprague's Annals of American Pulpit_ (Episcopal), v, +35. + +[t] Total vote for governor 21,759. Mr. Goddard received 9421 +votes.--J. H. Trumbull, _Hist. Notes_, p. 36. + +[u] The law apportioned one third of the money to the +Congregationalists; one seventh to Yale; one seventh to the +Episcopalians; one eighth to the Baptists; one twelfth to the +Methodists, and the balance to the state treasury.--Cited in +_Connecticut Courant_, November 8, 1816. _Acts and Laws_, +pp. 279, 280. + +[v] The first installment, $50,000, was paid into the Treasury in +June, 1817. The Methodists, and later the Baptists, accepted their +share, but not until political events had removed some of their +objections. + +See the _Mirror_, February 16, 1818. It was not until 1820 that +the final acceptance of the money took place. + +J. H. Trumbull, _Hist. Notes_, p. 36, foot-note, gives the +following figures. By November, 1817, $61,500 had been received and +apportioned: Congregationalists, $20,500.00; Trustees of the Bishop's +Fund, $8,785.71; Baptist Trustees, $7,687.50; Methodist Trustees, +$5,125.00; Yale College, $8,785.71, and a balance still unappropriated +of $10,616.08. + +[w] Legal returns gave Wolcott 13,655 + Smith 13,119 + Scattering 202 13,321 + ------ ------ + 334 + +"The correction of errors increased the majority to 600, which the +Federalists conceded.--J. H. Trumbull, _Hist. Notes_, p. 38, +footnote. + +[x] Governor Wolcott's speech, _Connecticut Courant_, May 20, +1817; also _Niles' Register_, xii, pp. 201-204. + +[y] "In our climate, three fireplaces are occasionally necessary to +the comfortable accommodation of every family."--Governor's speech. + +[z] Published 1795. + +[aa] A vindication of the calling of the Special Superior Court at +Middletown... for the trial of Peter Lung... with observations, &c, +Windham, 1816. + +[ab] The legislature had also interfered with decisions regarding the +Symsbury patent. See E. Kirby, _Law Reports,_ p. 446. + +[ac] A summary of the Connecticut constitution, taken from _Niles's +Register,_ asserts that the General Court has sole power to make +and repeal laws, grant levies, dispose of lands belonging to the state +to particular towns and persons, to erect and style judicatories and +officers as they shall see necessary for the good government of the +people; also to call to account any court, magistrate, or other +officer for misdemeanor and maladministration, or for just cause may +fine, displace, or remove, them, or deal otherwise as the nature of +the ease shall require; and may deal or act in any other matter that +concerns the good of the state except the election of governor, +deputy-governor, assistants, treasurer and secretary, which shall be +done by the freemen at the yearly court of election, unless there be +any vacancy by reason of death or otherwise, after an election, when +it may be filled by the General Court. This court has power also, for +reasons satisfactory to them, to grant suspension, release, and jail +delivery upon reprieves in capital and criminal cases. + +The elections for the assistants and superior officers are annual; for +the representatives, semi-annual. The sessions of the General Court +are semi-annual. The Governor and the speaker have the casting vote in +the Upper and Lower House, respectively. + +The Superior Court consists of one chief judge and four others, and +holds two sessions in each county each year. Its jurisdiction holds +over all criminal cases extending to life, limb, or banishment; all +criminal cases brought from county courts by appeal or writ of error, +and in some matters of divorce. + +The county court consists of one judge and four justices of the +quorum, with jurisdiction over all criminal cases not extending to +life, limb, or banishment, and with original jurisdiction in all civil +actions where the demand exceeds forty shillings. Justices of the +Peace, in the various towns, have charge of civil actions involving +less than forty shillings, and criminal jurisdiction in some cases, +where the fine does not exceed forty shillings, or the punishment +exceed ten stripes or sitting in the stocks. Judges and Justices are +annually appointed by the General Court, and commonly reappointed +during good behavior, while sheriffs are appointed by the governor and +council without time-limit and are subject to removal. Recently +county courts determined matters of equity involving from five pounds +to two hundred pounds, the Superior Court two hundred pounds to +sixteen hundred, and the General Assembly all others. + +Probate districts, not coextensive with the counties, exist, with +appeal to the Superior Court. + +In military matters, the governor is the captain-general of the +militia, and the General Court appoints the general officers and field +officers, and they are commissioned by the governor. Captains and +subalterns are chosen by the vote of the company and of the +householders living within the limits of the company, but must be +approved by the General Court and commissioned by the governor before +they can serve. All military officers hold their commissions during +the pleasure of the General Assembly and may not resign them without +permission, except under penalty of being reduced to the ranks.-- +_Niles' Register,_ 1813, vol. iii, p. 443, etc. Corrected +slightly by reference to Swift's _System of Laws._ + +[ad] Banks and insurance companies began to organize about 1790 to +1810. + +[ae] In 1818, for the first time, a dissenter, Mr. Croswell, rector of +Trinity Church, New Haven, preached the Election Sermon. + +[af] Messrs. Pitkin, Todd, G. Lamed, Pettibone, and Wiley. Of these, +the first had been twenty times state representative, five times +speaker of the House, and for thirteen years had been representative +in Congress. + +[ag] The first seven sections of the Bill of Bights according to the +final revision are:-- + + Sec. 1. That all men when they form a social compact, are equal in + rights; and that no man, or set of men are entitled to exclusive + public emoluments or privileges from the community. + + Sec. 2. That all political power is inherent in the people, and + all free governments are founded on their authority, and + instituted for their benefit; and that they have, at all times, an + undeniable and indefeasible right to alter their form of + government, in such a manner as they may think expedient. + + Sec. 3. The exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and + worship, without discrimination, shall forever be free to all + persons in this state; provided, that the right, hereby declared + and established, shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of + licentiousness, or to justify practices inconsistent with the + peace and safety of the state. + + Sec. 4. No preference shall be given by law to any Christian sect + or mode of worship. + + Sec. 5. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his + sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of + that liberty. + + Sec. 6. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the + liberty of speech or of the press. + + Sec. 7. In all prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth + may be given in evidence; and the jury shall have the right to + determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court. + +[ah] Mr. Trumbull asserts that "writers and historians are in error +when attributing to Mr. Morse of Suffield (the Baptist minister +aforementioned) the drafting of the Article on Religious Liberty. The +drafting committee were Messrs. Tomlinson and Stow, and the first +clause, as reported, seems to have been taken with slight alteration +from Governor Woleott's speech to the General Assembly, May, 1817, +namely, 'It is the right and duty of every man publicly and privately +to worship and adore the Supreme Creator and Preserver of the Universe +in the manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.'" +--J. H. Trumbull, _Notes on the Constitution_, pp. 56, 57. + +[ai] The second section remained unchanged. + +[aj] Seven hundred copies were distributed among the towns. + +[ak] By later amendments, judges of the Supreme Court of Errors and +the Superior Court are nominated by the governor and appointed by the +General Assembly. Judges of probate are now elected by the electors in +their respective districts; justices of the peace in the several towns +by the electors in said towns; and sheriffs by their counties. + +[al] By amendment of 1901, the vote for governor, lieutenant-governor, +secretary, treasurer, comptroller, and attorney-general was changed +from a majority to a plurality vote, the Assembly to decide between +candidates, if at any time two or more should receive "an equal and +the greatest number" of votes. + +[am] "It cut the churches loose from dependence upon state support--It +threw them wholly on their own resources and on God." "The mass is +changing," wrote Dr. Beecher. "We are becoming another people. The old +laws answered when all men in a parish were of one faith."--Lyman +Beecher, _Autobiography,_ i, pp. 344, 453. + +[an] Lyman Beecher. + + + +APPENDIX + + +NOTES + + +CHAPTER I. THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM. + +1, H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Literature, p. 49. + +2, Robert Browne, A True and Short Declaration, p. l. + +3, H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Literature, p. 70. + +4, Report of Conference April 3, 1590, quoted in F. J. Powicke, Henry +Barrowe, p. 54. + +5, W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 12. + +6, Ibid., pp. 14, 15; also H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in +Literature, pp. 96-104. + +7, Robert Browne, A Treatise on Reformation without Tarrying, pp. 4, +7,12. + +8, Robert Browne, A True and Short Declaration, p. 7; Book which +Sheweth, pp. 117-148. + +9, Robert Browne, Book which Sheweth, Questions 55-58. + +10, Ibid., Def. 35-40; Henry Barrowe, Discovery of False Churches, +p. 34, and The True Description in Appendix IV of F. J. Powicke's +Henry Barrowe. + +11, Robert Browne, Book which Sheweth, Def. 53 and 54. + +12, Henry Barrowe, Discovery of False Churches, p. 48. + +13, Henry Barrowe, Discovery of False Churches, pp. 166, 275; Robert +Browne, Book which Sheweth, Def. 51; A True and Short Declaration, +p. 20; The True Confession of Faith, Article 38. + +14, H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Literature, pp. 221, +232; also John Brown, Pilgrim Fathers of New England, pp. 22-25. + +15, The True Confession, Art. 39. + +16, "The Seven Articles," of which the following is the text:-- + + (1) "To ye confession of fayth published in ye name of ye Church + of England and to every artikell thereof wee do w'th ye reformed + churches wheer wee live & also els where assent wholly.". + + (2) "And as wee do acknowlidg ye doctryne of fayth theer tawght so + do wee ye fruites and effeckts of ye same docktryne to ye + begetting of saving fayth in thousands in ye land (conformistes & + reformistes) as ye ar called w'th whom also as w'th our brethren + wee do desyer to keepe speirtuall communion in peace and will + pracktis in our parts all lawful thinges." + + (3) "The King's Majesty wee acknowlidg for Supreme Governor in his + dominion in all causes, and over all parsons [persons] and ye none + maye decklyne or apeale his authority or judgment in any cause + whatsoever, but ye in all thinges obedience is dewe unto him, + either active, if ye thing commanded be not against God's woord, + or passive yf itt bee, except pardon can bee obtayned." + + (4) "Wee judge itt lawfull for his Majesty to apoynt bishops, + civill overseers, or officers in awthoryty onder hime in ye + severall provinces, dioses, congregations or parishes, to oversee + ye churches, and governe them civilly according to ye Lawes of ye + Land, uutto whom ye ar in all thinges to geve an account and by + them to bee ordered according to Godlyness." (This is not an + acknowledgment of spiritual--superiority or authority, only the + recognition that as church officers were also magistrates, the + king could appoint them as his civil servants.) + + (5) "The authority of ye present bishops in ye land wee do + acknowlidg so far forth as ye same is indeed derived from his + Majesty untto them and as ye proseed in his name, whom wee will + also therein honor in all thinges and hime in them." + + (6) "Wee believe ye no sinod, classes, convocation or assembly of + Ecclesiastical Officers hath any power or awthority att all but ye + same by ye Majestraet given unto them." (Intended to be a denial + of Presbyterianism.) + + (7) "Lastly wee desyer to geve untto all Superiors dew honour to + preserve ye unity of ye spiritt w'th all ye feare God to have + peace w'th all men what in us lyeth and wherein wee err to bee + instructed by any." (Text of Points of Difference and Seven + Articles in W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, pp. 75-93.) + + +CHAPTER II. THE TRANSPLANTING OF CONGREGATIONALISM. + +17, The Commons prayed, "that no man hereafter be compelled to make or +yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, without +common consent by Act of Parliament. And that none be called to make +answer, or to take such oaths, or to be confined or otherwise molested +or disputed concerning the same, or for refusal thereof. And that no +freeman may in such manner as is before mentioned be imprisoned or +detained."--Extract from the Petition of Right. See J. R. Green, Short +History of the English People, pp 486, 487. + +18, E. H. Byington, The Puritan in England and New England, pp. 486, +487. + +19, See Gott's Letter in Bradford's Letter-Book, Mass. Hist. Soc., +iii, 67,68. + +20, G. L. Walker, History of the First Church in Hartford, p. 154. + + +CHAPTER III. CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND. + +21, Thomas Hooker, Survey of Church Discipline, chap. 3, p. 75; also +Mass. Col. Rec., iii, 424; J. Cotton, Way of the Churches, pp. 6, 7. + +22, J. Cotton, Way of the Churches, pp. 6, 7; Plymouth Col. Rec., ii, +67; Mass. Col. Rec., i, 216, iii, 354; Hartford Town Voter, in +Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., vi, 32; Conn. Col. Rec., i, 311, 545. + +23, Plymouth Col. Laws, ed. 1836, p. 258; Conn. Col. Rec., i, pp. 96, +138, 290, 331, 389, 525. + +24, J. Cotton, A Discourse about Civil Government in a New Plantation +whose Design is Religion (written many years since), London, 1643, +pp. 12, 19. (This is a misprint in the title-page, for the author was +John Davenport.) + +25, Mass. Col. Rec., i, 87. + +26, J. Cotton, Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, pp. 50, 53. + +27, Mass. Law of 1636; Conn. Col. Rec., i, 341. + +28, Conn. Col. Rec., i, 525. + +29, G. F. Ellis, Puritan Age in Massachusetts, p. 34. + +30, Winthrop, i, 81. + +31, Mass. Col. Rec., i, 142. + +32, Winthrop, i, 287; H. M. Dexter, Ecclesiastical Councils of New +England, p. 31. + +33, J. A. Doyle, Puritan Colonies, ii, 70. + + +CHAPTER IV. THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM AND THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. + +34, C. Mather, Magnalia, ii, 277. + +35, Horace Bushnell, in Discourse on Christian Nurture, p. 25. + +36, Cotton Mather, Magnalia, ii, 179. + +37, Results of Half-Way Covenant Convention, Prop. 4. See W. Walker, +Creeds and Platforms, p. 296. + +38, W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 295. See Question 7, of +Results. + +39, Conn. Col. Rec., i, 386, 426. + +40, Conn. State Papers (Ecclesiastical), vol. i, Doc. 106. Quoted in +the Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register, x, p. 116. + +41, Beardsley, Hist, of the Church in Connecticut, i, 101; Perry, +Hist, of Epis. Church in the United States, i, 283, 284. + +42, Conn. Col. Rec., i, 437, 438. + +43, G. L. Walker, Hist, of First Church in Hartford, p. 200. + +44, Record of the United Colonies, i, 506. + +45, G. L. Walker, Hist, of First Church in Hartford, p. 209. + +46, L. Bacon, Coatr. to Eccl. Hist, of Connecticut, p. 29. + +47, E. Stiles, Christian Union, p. 85; J. A. Doyle, Puritan Colonies, +ii, 69; Conn. Col. Rec., i, 545; ii, 290 and 557. + +48, Conn. Col. Rec., vii, 33; viii, 74. + + +CHAPTER V. A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. + +49, Thomas Prince, Christian History, i, 94. + +50, Preface to Work of the Reforming Synod. + +51, C. Mather, Magnalia, Book v, p. 40. + +52, C. Mather, Ratio Discipline, p. 17. + +53, C. M. Andrews, Three River Towns, p. 86. See also Bronson, Early +Government, in New Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, iii, 315; +Conn. Col. Rec., 290-293, 321, 354. + +54, Conn. Col. Rec., v, 67. + +55, L. Bacon, Contr. to Ecel. History, p. 33. + +56, Conn. Col. Rec., v, 87. + + +CHAPTER VI. THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM. + +57, Saybrook Platform. + +58, L. Bacon, Thirteen Historical Discourses, pp. 190, 191. + +59, S. Stoddard, Instituted Churches, p. 29. + +60, Trumbull, Hist, of Connecticut, i, 406; T. Clap, Hist, of Yale +College, p. 30. + +61, Trumbull, Hist, of Connecticut, i, 406. + +62, L. Bacon, Thirteen Historical Discourses, p. 190. + +63, H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Literature, pp. 489, +490. + +64, Conn. Col. Rec., v, 87. + +65, Ibid., v, 50. + +66, A. Johnston, Connecticut, p. 232. + + +CHAPTER VII. THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM AND THE TOLERATION ACT. + +67, John Bolles, A Relation of the Opposition some Baptist People met +at Norwich in 1761. + +68, Ibid., p. 7. + +69, Quaker Laws. The New Haven Laws against Quakers deal thus +fiercely:-- + + "_Whereas_ there is a cursed sect of heretics lately risen up + in the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon + them that they are immediately sent of God and infallibly assisted + by his spirit, who yet write and speak blasphemous opinions, + despise governments and the order of God, in church and + commonwealth... we do hereby order and declare + + "That whosoever shall hereafter bring, or cause to be brought, + directly or indirectly, any known Quaker or Quakers, or other + blasphemous heretics, into this jurisdiction, every such person + shall forfeit the sum of 600 pounds to the jurisdiction, except it + appear that he wanted true knowledge or information of their being + such... and it is hereby ordered that what Quaker or Quakers + soever come into this jurisdiction, from foreign parts or places + adjacent, if it be about their civil, lawful occasions to be + quickly despatched among us, which time of stay shall be limited + by the civil authority in each plantation, and that they shall not + use any means by words, writings, books, or any other way, to go + about to seduce others, nor revile nor reproach, nor any other way + make disturbance or offend. They shall upon their first arrival, + or coming in, appear to be brought before the authorities of the + place and from them have license to put about and issue their + lawful occasions, and shall have one or more to attend upon them + at their charge until such occasions of theirs be discharged, and + they return out of the jurisdiction which if they refuse to do, + they shall be denied such free passage and commerce and be caused + to return back again, but if this first time they shall offend in + any of the ways as before expressed, and contrary to the intent of + this law, they shall be committed to prison, severely whipped, + kept to work, and none suffered to converse with them during their + imprisonment, which shall be no longer than necessity requires, + and at their own charge sent out of the jurisdiction." + +For a second offense, they were to be branded, as well as to be +committed to prison. For a fourth offense, they were to have their +tongues bored through with hot irons. Their books, papers, etc., were +to subject their possessors to a fine of 5 pounds, and entertaining or +concealing a Quaker was to be punished by a fine of 20s.; while +undertaking to defend any of their heretical opinions was doubly +fined.--New Haven Col. Kec., ii, 217, 238,363. + +In 1656, the Connecticut Court, in conformity to a suggestion from the +commissioners of the United Colonies, ordered that "no towne within +this jurisdiction shall entertaine any Quakers, Kanters, Adamites, or +such notorious heretiques, or suffer them to continue with them above +the space of fourteen days,... and shall give notice to the two next +towns to send them on their way under penalty of £5 per week for any +town entertaining any such person, nor shall any master of a ship land +such or any." In August, 1657, the above fine was imposed on the +individual who entertained the Quaker, etc., as well as on the town, +and an officer was appointed to examine suspects. A little later, a +penalty of 10s. was imposed for Quaker books and MSS. found in the +possession of any but a teaching elder. Twice the Court saw fit to +leave, notwithstanding all former orders, all such cases to the +jurisdiction of the separate towns, to order fines, banishment, or +corporal punishment, provided the fines "exceed not ten pounds." + +The tone is brief and businesslike, dealing with a matter that had +already caused great trouble to the other United Colonies, and which +might become a menace to Connecticut. There are almost no recorded +cases of sentence being imposed. See Conn. Col. Kec., i, 283,303,308, +324. + +70, J. Bowden, History of the Society of Friends, i, 104, quoting +Norton's Ensign, p. 52. + +71, Ibid., i, 106. + +72, Ibid., i, 440. + +73, R. P. Hallowell, The Pioneer Quakers, p. 47. + +74, R. R. Hinman, Antiquities of the Charter Government of +Connecticut, p. 229. + +75, E. E. Beardsley, History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, +i, 19. + +76, A. L. Cross, Anglican Episcopate in the American Colonies, pp. 33 +et seq. + +77, Ibid., p. 95, note. + +78, C. F. Hawkins, Missions of the Church of England, 377, 378. + +79, Church Documents, Conn., i, 14. + +80, Ibid., i, 59. + +81, Ibid., i, 136. + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE FIRST VICTORY FOR DISSENT. + +82, Church Documents, Conn., i, 153. + +83, Ibid., i, 56. + +84, S. D. McConnell, History of the American Episcopal Church, p. 132. + +85, Conn. Col. Rec., viii, 106; and Church Documents, Conn., i, 280, +283. + +86, Conn. Col. Rec., vii, 459, and viii, 123, 334. + +87, Rogerine Laws. See Conn. Col. Rec., v. 248, 249. + +88, C. W. Bowen, The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut, especially +pp. 48, 58, and 74. + +89, The Talcott Papers, published in vols. iv and v of the +Conn. Hist. Soc. Collections. + +90, Conn. Col. Rec., iv, 307. + +91, Talcott Papers, i, 147, 189, and ii, 245, 246, in +Conn. Hist. Soc. Collections, vols. iv and v. + +92, C. M. Andrews, The Connecticut Intestacy Law, in Yale Review, iii, +261 et seq. + +93, Conn. Col. Rec., vii, 237. + +94, Ibid., vii, 257. + + +CHAPTER IX. THE GREAT AWAKENING. + +95, Jonathan Edwards' Works, iv, 306-324. + +96, Ibid., iv, 81. + +97, Lauer, Church and State, p. 77; also Conn. Col. Rec., vi, 33. + +98, A. Johnston, Hist, of Conn., pp. 255, 256; also H. Bronson, +Historical Account of Conn. Currency, in New Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, +i, 51 et seq. + +99, Joseph Tracy, The Great Awakening, p. 13. + +100, Edwards' Works, iv, 34-37. + + +CHAPTER X. THE GREAT SCHISM. + +101, Conn. Col. Rec., vii, 309. + +102, Ibid., viii, 522. + +103, Charles Chauncy, Seasonable Thoughts, p. 249. + +104, Conn. Col. Rec., viii, 438, 468; also Joseph Tracy, The Great +Awakening, p. 303. + +105, Conn. Col. Rec., viii, 454 et seq.; B. Trumbull, Hist, of +Connecticut, ii, 165; C. Chauncy, Seasonable Thoughts, p. 41. + +106, Conn. Col. Rec., viii, 456. + +107, Ibid., viii, 456. + +108, Ibid., viii, 457. + +109, Trumbull, Hist, of Conn., ii, 135. + +110, S. W. S. Button, Hist, of the North Church in New Haven. + +111, E. D. Lamed, Hist, of Windham County, vol. ii, book 5, chapter +3. + +112, O. W. Means, Hist, of the Enfleld Separate Church. + +113, Conn. Col. Rec., October, 1751. + +114, E. D. Lamed, Hist, of Windham County, vol. ii, book 5, chapter +3. + +115, Conn. Col. Rec., viii, 501. + +116, Ibid., viii, 502. + +117, E. D. Larned, Hist, of Windham County, ii, 417, 419, 425, 426; +L. Bacon, Thirteen Historical Discourses, p. 245. + +118, Solomon Paine's View, pp. 15, 16. + +119, Thomas Clap, History of Yale, p. 27. + +120, G. P. Fisher, Church of Christ in Yale College, app. 6. + +121, E. D. Lamed, History of Windham County, i, 425, 426. + +122, S. L. Blake, The Separatists, pp. 183, 192. (This book gives the +origin and end of every Separate church.) Also 0. W. Means, History of +the Enfield Separate Church. + +123, Conn. Col. Rec., xii, 269, 341. + +124, Ibid., viii, 507. + +125, Trumbull, History of Connecticut, i, 132, 133. + +126, W. C. Reichel, Dedication of Monuments erected by the Moravian +Historical Societies in New York and Connecticut. + +G. H. Loskiel, Hist, of Missions of the United Brethren among the +Indians of North America. J. Heckwelder, Missions of the United +Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, pp. 51 et seq. + +127, Conn. Col. Rec., ix, 218. + +128, I. Backus, History of the Baptists, ii, 80. + +129, H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Literature, p. 503. + + +CHAPTER XI. THE ABROGATION OF THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM. + +130, Frederick Dennison, Notes of the Baptists and their Principles in +Norwich, Conn., p. 10. + +131, Ibid., p. 16. + +132, Stiles, Ancient Windsor, p. 439. + +133, C. H. S. Davis, Hist, of Wallingford, pp. 164-210. + +134, "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council." (Quoted in +Frederick Dennison, Notes of the Baptists.) + +135, T. Clap, History of Yale, pp. 41-60. + +136, Quoted by E. H. Gillett, Civil Liberty in Connecticut, Historical +Magazine, 2d series, vol. iv. + +137, E. D. Lamed, History of Windham County, i, 468. + +138, Thomas Darling, Some Remarks, p. 6. + +139, Ibid., p. 41. + +140, Ibid., pp. 43, 46. + +141, Robert Ross, Plain Address, p. 54. + +142, E. Frothingham, Key to Unlock, p. 147. + +143, Ibid., pp. 56, 58. + +144, Ibid., pp. 51-53. + +145, Ibid., p. 42. + +146, Ibid., p. 156. + +147, Ibid., p. 181. + +148, Loomis and Calhoun, Judicial and Civil History of Connecticut, +p. 55. + +149, M. C. Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution, i, 133. + +150, Fulham, MSS. cited in A, L. Cross, Anglican Episcopate in the +American Colonies, p. 115. See also pp. 122 et seq. and 332, 345. + +151, A. L. Cross, Anglican Episcopate, pp. 164 and 216. Perry, +American Episcopal Church, i, 415. + +152, Minutes of the Association, i, 3. + +153, F. M. Caulkins, History of Norwich, p. 363. + +154, Conn. Col. Rec., xiii, 360. + +155, I. Backus, History of the Baptists, ii, 340. + +156, E. D. Lamed, History of Windham County, ii, 103. + +157, I. Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty, Boston, +1773, p. 28. + +158, Ibid., p. 13. + +159, Ibid., pp. 43-48. + +160, John Wise, Vindication, Edition of 1717, p. 84. + +161, Public Records of the State of Connecticut, i, 232. + +162, Quoted in E. H. Gillett, Civil Liberty in Connecticut, +Hist. Magazine, 1868. + +163, I. Backus, History of the Baptists, ii, 304. + +164, Minutes of Hartford North Association. + +165, I. Foster, Defense of Religious Liberty, pp. 30, 32; also 135 +and 142. + +166, Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, 1784, pp. 21, 22, 213, +235. + + +CHAPTER XII. CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION. + +167, P. K. Kilbourne, History of Litchfield, pp. 166, 169. + +168, James Morris, Statistical Account of the Towns of Litchfield +County. + +169, Judge Church, in his Litchfield County Centennial Address. + +170, J. D. Champlin, Jr., "Litchfield Hill." + +171, Noah Webster, Collection of Essays (ed. of 1790), p. 379. + +172, Ibid., p. 338. + +173, Ibid., p. 338. + +174, Letter of Sept. 11,1788, one of the series in answer to the +quotations from Richard Price's "Observations on the Importance of the +American Revolution." See American Mercury, Feb. 7, 1785. Connecticut +Journal, Feb. 16, and Connecticut Courant, Feb. 22, 1785. + +175, James Schouler, History of the United States, i, 53. + +176, Isaac Backus, The Liberal Support of the Gospel Minister, p. 35. + +177, Report of Superintendent of Public Schools, 1853, pp. 62, 63. + +178, W. Walker, The Congregationalists, pp. 311 et seq. + +179, John Lewis, Christian Forbearance, p. 31. + +180, E. Stiles, Diary, i, 21. + +181, H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Literature, p. 523. + + +CHAPTER XIII. CERTIFICATE LAWS AND WESTERN LAND BILLS. + +182, Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut (ed. of 1784), pp. 403, +404. + +183, Courant, May 28, 1791. + +184, Ibid., May 28, 1791. + +185, J. Leland, High Flying Churchman, pp. 10, 11, 16, 17. + +186, Acts and Laws (ed. of 1784), p. 418. + +187, Ibid., p. 417. + +188, Cited from Report of the Superintendent of Public Schools, 1853, +p. 65. + +189, The American Mercury, Feb. 24 and Apr. 17, 1794. + +190, J. Leland, A Blow at the Boot, pp. 7, 8. + +191, See Rep. of Supt. of Public Schools, 1853, pp. 74-95. + +192, Ibid., pp. 101, 102. + +193, Published in Courant of March 16, 23 and 30, 1795. + +194, See Hollister, Hist, of Connecticut, ii, 568-575; Report of +Superintendent of Public Schools, 1853; Swift's System of Laws, i, 142 +et seq. + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE DEVELOPMENT or POLITICAL PARTIES IN CONNECTICUT. + +195, Wolcott Manuscript, in vol. iv, Library of Conn. Historical +Society, Hartford, Conn. + +196, Judge Church's Manuscript, deposited with New Haven Historical +Society. + +197, Swift, System of the Laws of Connecticut, i, 55-58. + +198, Hollister, Hist, of Connecticut, ii, 510-514, quoting Judge +Church. + +199, D. G. Mitchell, American Lands and Letters, i, 142; F. B. Dexter, +Hist, of Yale, p. 87. + +200, Minutes of the General Association, Report of the Session of +1797. + +201, A. Bishop, Proofs of a Conspiracy, p. 32. + +202, Connecticut Journal, April 30, 1816, quotes the Petition and +reply. + +203, J. Leland, Van Tromp lowering his Peak, p, 33. + +204, A. Bishop, Oration in Honor of the Election of Jefferson, pp. 9, +10, 11-16. + +205, Judge Church's Manuscript. + +206, Lyman Beecher, Autobiography, i, 257, 259, 260, 342, 343. + +207, Constitution of the United States, Article II, Sect, ii, 1; +Art. I, Sect, viii, 15. For the correspondence between General +Dearborn and Gov. J. C. Smith, see Mies' Register, viii, 209-212. + +208, Hildreth, History of United States, vi, 319-325; Schouler, Hist, +of United States, ii, 270. + +209, Niles' Register, viii, 291; ix, 171; also American Mercury of +April 19, 1815. + +210, New Haven Register, and also the American Mercury of Feb. 12, +1817. + +211, Niles' Register, xi, 80. + +212, Swift, System of Law, i, 74. + +213, Swift, Vindication of the calling of the Special Superior Court, +pp. 40-42. + +214, Report of the Committee. See also J. H. Trumbull, Historical +Notes, pp. 43-47. + +215, Connecticut Courant of Aug. 25, 1818. + +216, J. H. Trumbull, Historical Notes, pp. 55, 56. + +217, Journal of the Convention, pp. 49, 67. (The Connecticut Courant +and the American Mercury published the debates of the Convention in +full as they occurred.) + +218, Trumbull, Historical Notes, p. 60. See also the text, preceding +this note, p. 483. + + +The Constitution of 1818, admirable for the conditions of that time, +leaves now large room for betterment. The century-old habit of +legislative interference was not wholly uprooted in 1818, and soon +began to grow apace. The Constitution stands to-day with its original +eleven articles and with thirty-one amendments, some of which, at +least in their working, are directly opposed to the spirit of the +framers of the commonwealth. The old cry of excessive legislative +power is heard again, for the legislature by a majority of one may +override the governor's veto, and, through its powers of confirmation +and appointment, it may measurably control the executive department +and the judicial. Moreover, apart from these defects in the +constitution, certain economic changes have resulted in a +disproportionate representation in the House of Representatives. The +Joint-Stock Act of 1837 gave birth to great corporations, and with +railroads soon developed the formation of large manufacturing +plants. As a result, there was a rush, at first, of the native born, +and, later, of large numbers of immigrants, who swelled the +population, to the cities. This, together with the development of the +great grain-producing western states, changed Connecticut from an +agricultural to a manufacturing state, and from a producer of her own +foodstuffs to a consumer of those which she must import from other +states. + +Such shifting of the population has produced a condition where a bare +majority of one in a House of two hundred and fifty-five members may +pass a measure that really represents the sentiment of but +one-fifteenth of the voters of the state. There results a system of +rotten boroughs and the opportunity for a well-organized lobby and the +moneyed control of votes. It is asserted that the first section of the +bill of rights, namely, "That no man or set of men are entitled to +exclusive public emoluments or privileges from the community," is +constantly violated by this misrepresentation, which especially +affects the population in the cities, and is felt not only in all +state measures, but in all local ones about which the legislature must +be consulted. As an illustration of the inequality of representation, +the following figures are given. In the Constitutional Convention of +1818, 81 towns sent _two_ delegates each, and 39 towns sent +_one_, from communities out of which 11 had a population of less +than 1000, and 100 ranged between 1000 and 4000, while only 9 +surpassed this last number. In the Constitutional Convention of 1902, +87 towns, with an aggregate population of 781,954, sent each +_two_ delegates, while 81, with a combined population of 126,411, +sent each _one_ delegate. Thus it happened that in 1902, New +Haven, population 108,027, sent _two_ delegates, and the town of +Union, population 428, also sent _two_ delegates, while ten other +towns, with a population ranging from 593 to 885 each, sent _two_ +delegates. + +The "Standing Order" of to-day is not a privileged church, but a +dominant political party strong in the privilege and powers derived +from long tenure of office and intrenched behind constitutional +amendments which, in addition to this unequal representation in the +House, provide for the election of Senators upon town and county lines +rather than upon population. The Constitutional Reform Party of to-day +propose radical measures to remedy these more glaring defects in the +administration of government, and to consider these, called the +Constitutional Convention of 1902. In it, the influence of the small +towns on the drafting of the proposed constitution was so great that, +when it was presented to the people for ratification, an adverse +majority in every county refused to accept it. In fact, only fifteen +per cent of the whole people thought it worth while to express any +opinion at all. + +References for the Constitutional Convention of 1902: Clarence Deming, +Town Eule in Connecticut, Political Science Quarterly, September, +1889; and M. B. Carey, The Connecticut Constitution. (These will be +found useful as summing up much of the newspaper discussion of the +period, and also for the data upon which the argument for the desired +changes is based.) There is also "The Constitutions of Connecticut, +with Notes and Statistics regarding Town Representation in the General +Assembly, and Documents relating to the Constitutional Convention of +1902," printed by order of the Comptroller, Hartford, Conn. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +A. HISTORIES + +1. GENERAL + +A few titles are given of those works found most useful in acquiring a +general historic setting for the main topic. + +Bancroft, George. History of the United States. New York, 1889. + +Gardiner, S. R. History of England from Accession of James I. London, +1863. + +----History of England under the Duke of Buckingham and Charles +I. London, 1875. + +----History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate. London and New York, +1894-1903. + +Green, John Richard. Short History of the English People. London, +1884. + +----History of the English People. New York, 1880. 4 vols., chiefly +vol. iii. + +Hildreth, Richard. History of the United States to 1824. New York, +1887. 6 vols. + +McMaster, John Bach. A History of the People of the United States from +the Revolution to the Civil War. New York, 1884-1900. 5 vols. + +Schouler, James. History of the United States of America under the +Constitution. Washington, Philadelphia, and New York, 1882-99. 6 vols. + +Tyler, Moses Coit. A History of American Literature, 1607-1765. New +York, 1879. 2 vols. + +----The Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763-1783. New +York and London, 1897. 2 vols. + +Winsor, Justin. Narrative and Critical History of America. Cambridge, +1886-89. 8 vols. + +2. SPECIAL + +Adams, Henry. Documents relating to New England Federalism, +1800-1815. Boston, 1877. + +Adams, John. Works with a Life of the Author, Notes and +Illustrations. (Ed. by Charles Francis Adams.) Boston, 1850-56. 10 +vols. + +Arber, Edward. The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1606-1623 A. D. as +told by themselves, their Friends and their Enemies, edited from the +original Texts. London, 1897. + +Barlow, Joel. Political Writings. New York, 1796. + +Bradford, William. History of "Plimoth" Plantation. + + Reprint from original MS. with report of proceedings incident to its + return. Boston, 1898. + +Brown, John. The Pilgrim Fathers of New England and their Puritan +Successors. London, 1895. Revised American ed. 1897. [a] + +Byington, Ezra B. The Puritan in England and New England. Boston, +1897. + +Campbell, Douglas. The Puritans in Holland, England and America. New +York, 1892. 2 vols. + +Cobb, Sanford H. Rise of Religious Liberty in America. New York and +London, 1902. + + Pages 236-290 and 512-514 treat of Connecticut, while 454-482 deal + with the American Episcopate. + +Doyle, John Andrew. The English in America; The Puritan Colonies. New +York, 1889. 2 vols. + +Ellis, George E. The Puritan Age and Rule in the Colony of +Massachusetts Bay, 1629-1685. Boston and New York, 1888. + +Felt, Joseph Barton. The Ecclesiastical History of New England, +comprising not only Religious but Moral and other Relations. Arranged +chronologically and with index. Boston, 1855-62. 2 vols. + +Fish, Carl Russell. The Civil Service and the Patronage. New York, +1905. + + Pages 32-39, Jefferson's removal of Mr. Goodrich of New Haven. + +Fiske, John. The Beginnings of New England; or, The Puritan Theocracy +in its Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty. Boston and New York, +1880. + +Gardiner, S. R. The First Two Stuarts and the Puritan Revolution, +1603-1660. London, 1887. + +Goodwin, John Abbott. The Pilgrim Republic: An Historical Review of +the Colony of New Plymouth, with sketches of the Rise of other New +England Settlements, the History of Congregationalism and the Creeds +of the Period [New England to 1732]. Cambridge, 1895. + +Heckewelder, J. A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren +among the Delaware and Mohigan Indians from 1740 to +1808. Philadelphia, 1820. + +Lauer, P. E. Church and State in New England. Baltimore, 1892. + + Also in Johns Hopkins University Studies, Nos. 2 & 3. + +Lodge, Henry Cabot. A Short History of the English Colonies in +America. New York, 1881. + +Love, Wm. De Loss, Jr. The Fasts and Thanksgiving Days of New +England. Boston, 1895. Includes a bibliography. + +Loskiel, George H. History of the Missions of the United Brethren +among the Indians in North America. London, 1794. + +Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical +History of New England from its First Planting in the Year 1620 to the +Year of our Lord 1698. Ed. London, 1702,--Hartford, 1820. 2 vols. [a] + + 3d ed. with Introduction and occasional Notes by T. Bobbins. + Hartford, 1853, 2 vols. + +Mourt's Relation or Journal of a Plantation settled at Plymouth, in +New England and proceedings Thereof. London, 1622. 2d ed. Annotated +by A. Young. Boston, 1841. Also found in Young's Chronicle of the +Pilgrim Fathers. Boston, 1846. [a] + + Reprint with illustrative cuts, George B. Cheever, Editor, New York, + 1849. + + Reprint ed. by H. M. Dexter. Boston, 1865. (See vol. viii, 1st + series, Mass. Hist Soc. Col., also Library of New England History, + vol. i.) + +Neal, Daniel. History of the Puritans, or Protestant Non-conformists: +from the Reformation in 1517 to the death of Queen Elizabeth, with an +Account of their principles: their Attempts for a further Reformation +in the Church: their Sufferings, and the Lives and Characters of their +considerable Divines, etc. London, 1732, 4 vols. Revised ed. London, +1837, 3 vols. [a] + +Palfrey, John G. Comprehensive History of New England. Boston, +1858-90. 5 vols. + +Prince, Thomas. A Chronological History of New England in the form of +Annals. Boston, 1736. Edited by Drake with Memoir of the +Author. Boston, 1852. [a] + + Reprint to Mass. Hist. Soc. Col., 2d series, vol. vii, 1818. New + edition, edited by N. Hale. Boston, 1826. Found also in Arber's + English Garner, vol. ii, 1879. + +Reichel, W. C. Memorial of the Dedication of Monuments erected by +Moravian Historical Society to mark the sites of ancient missionary +stations. Philadelphia, 1858. + +Schaff, Philip. Religious Liberty. See American Historical Society +Annual Report, 1886-87. + +Thornton, J. Wingate. The Pulpit of the American Revolution. Boston, +1876. + +Weeden, William B. Economic and Social History of New England. Boston, +1890. 2 vols. + +Winthrop, John. History of New England, 1636-47, edited by James +Savage. Boston, 1853. 2 vols. + +Wood, John (Cheetham, James). History of the Administration of John +Adams. New York, 1802. + +----History of the Administration of J. Adams, with Notes. New York, +1846. + +3. STATISTICAL + +Baird, Robert. Religion in America; or An Account of the Origin, +Relation to the State and Present Condition of the Evangelic Churches +in the United States. New York, 1856. + +Bishop, J. Leander. A History of American Manufactures, +1608-1860. 1868. 3 vols. + + This includes a history of the origin and growth of the principal + mechanical arts and manufactures: notice of important inventions; + results of each decennial census; tariffs; and statistics of + manufacturing centres. It has a good index by which the industrial + history of each colony and state can be quickly traced. Bolles, + Albert S. The Financial History of the United States. New York, + 1879-86. 3 vols. + +Carroll, Henry King. Religious Forces in the United States, +enumerated, classified and described on the basis of the Government +Census of 1890. New York, 1893. + +Dorchester, Daniel. Christianity in the United States from the first +settlement down to the present time. New York and Cincinnati, 1888. + +Hayward, John. The Religious Creeds and Statistics of every Christian +Denomination in the United States. Boston, 1836. + +4. LOCAL + +Connecticut-State, county, town, etc., of which only the more +important town and county histories, and reports of anniversary +celebrations are given. Those omitted are of small interest outside of +their respective towns, except to genealogists or to those whose +families chance to be mentioned in the sketch of historical +development or of commercial growth. The many books of this type +contribute general coloring, and some of them a few important bits of +information, to the story of the development of the state, but many +are not worth enumerating as sources, or as assistants to the general +reader or student. + +Allen, Francis Olcott. The History of Enfleld, compiled from all the +public records of the town known to exist, covering from the beginning +to 1850. Lancaster, 1900. 3 vols. + + Carefully compiled and attested by the town clerk. Includes also + graveyard inscriptions and extracts from Hartford, Northampton and + Springfield records. + +Andrews, Charles M. The River Towns of Connecticut, Wethersfield, +Hartford and Windsor. Baltimore, 1889. (Also Johns Hopkins Historical +and Political Science Papers, vii, 341-456.) + +Atwater, Edward E. (editor). History of the City of New Haven. New +York, 1887. + + Good for the earlier history, for a few extracts from records; + contains descriptions of public men and events, also extracts from + old newspapers, etc. + +----History of the Colony of New Haven to its absorption into +Connecticut. New Haven, 1881. A much better book, being the best +special history of the New Haven Colony. + +Baldwin, Simeon E. Constitutional Reform. A Discussion of the Present +Inequalities of Representatives in the General Assembly [of +Connecticut]. New Haven, 1873. + +----The Early History of the Ballot in Connecticut. American +Historical Association Papers, i, 407-422. New York, 1890. + +----The Three Constitutions of Connecticut. In New Haven Historical +Society Papers, vol. v. + +Barber, John W. Connecticut Historical Collections. New Haven, 1856. + + A book of brief anecdotal town histories, curious legends, notable + events, newspaper clippings, together with a goodly number of + illustrations. + +Bolles, John Rogers. The Rogerenes: Some hitherto unpublished annals +belonging to the Colonial History of Connecticut. Part +1. A. Vindication, by J. R. Bolles. Part 2. History of the Rogerenes, +by Anna B. Williams. Boston, 1904. + +Bowen, Clarence W. The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut. Boston, +1882. + +Breckenridge, Francis A. Recollections of a New England Town +(Meriden). Meriden, 1899. + +Typical of the life in New England towns, 1800-1850. + +Bronson, Henry, Early Government of Connecticut. (New Haven +Historical Society Papers, iii, 293 et seq.) + +Bushnell, Horace. "Work and Play," being the first volume of his +"Literary Varieties." New York, 1881. + + Contains an historical estimate of Connecticut. + +Caulkins, Frances M. History of New London, Connecticut. New London, +1852. + +----History of Norwich, Connecticut. Norwich, 1845. + + These two histories are readable, reliable and full of detail, + culled from original records, many of which are now deposited with + the New London Historical Society. + +Clap, Thomas. Annals or History of Yale College. New Haven, 1766. + +Cothren, William. History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, +1669-1879. (Including Washington, Southbury, Bethlehem, Roxbury, and +part of Oxford and Middlebury.) Waterbury, 1854, 1872, 1879. 3 vols. + + Vols. i and ii, history, with considerable genealogy. Vol. iii, + 1679-1879, births, marriages and deaths. + +Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Thomas Clap and his Writings. See New +Haven Historical Society Papers, vol. v. + +----Sketch of the History of Yale University. New Haven, 1887. + +Dwight, Theodore. History of Connecticut. New York, 1841. + +----History of Hartford Convention. Hartford, 1833. + + Of the 447 pages, 340 are devoted to recounting the events which led + to the calling of the convention, and, with much political bias, to + the history of Jefferson's political career from 1789, quoting from + official correspondence and his private letters. Pages 340-422 deal + with the convention proper, giving, pp. 383-400, its "Secret + Journal." The Appendix, pp. 422-447, has brief biographies of the + members. + +Dwight, Timothy. Travels in New England and New York. New Haven, +1831. 4 vols. + +Dodd, Stephen. The East Haven Register in Three Parts. New Haven, +1824. + + A rare little book of 200 pages compiled by the pastor of the + Congregational Church in East Haven. Part i contains a history of + the town from 1640 to 1800; part ii, names, marriages, and births, + 1644-1800; part iii, account of the deaths in families, from 1647 to + 1824. + +Field, David Dudley. A History of the Towns of Haddam and East +Haddam. Middletown, 1814. + + A book of some forty-eight pages, of which six are devoted to + genealogies "taken partly from the records of the towns, and partly + from the information of aged people" by the pastor of the church in + Haddam. Though largely ecclesiastical, its author-- a college + A. M.--realizes the value of statistics in references to population, + necrology, taxes, militia, farming, and other industries, and weaves + them into his rambling story. + +----Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex. Middletown, 1819. + +Fowler, William Chauncey. History of Durham, 1662- 1866. + + Includes in chapter xii--pp. 229-443--extracts trom Town Records, + Ministerial Records, Proprietor's Eecords. + +Gillett, E. H., Rev. The Development of Civil Liberty in +Connecticut. In Historical Magazine, 2d series, vol. iv (1868), +pp. 1-34, Appendices, pp. 34-49. Morrisania, N. Y., 1868. + + Appendix A. Report of the Rev. Elizur Goodrich, D. D., to the + Convention of Delegates from the Synod of New York and Philadelphia + and from the Associations of Connecticut, held annually from 1766 to + 1775 inclusive (being a statement on the subject of Religious + Liberty in the Colony), with notes by E. H. G. pp. 34-43. + + Appendix B. Letter of Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston to Rev. John + Drew of Groton, Conn., May 8, 1744, pp. 43-47. (Sympathizing with + the New Lights.) + + Appendix C. Three short paragraphs omitted from the body of the + article. + + Appendix D. Extracts from the American reprint of Graham's + "Ecclesiastical Establishments of Europe," pp. 47, 48. + + This article in itself contains Israel Holly's "Memorial," Joseph + Brown's "Letter to Infant Baptisers of North Parish in New London" + (in part); also copious citations from the pamphlets of Bolles, + Frothingham, Bragge, the Autobiography of Billy Hibbard (Methodist + preacher) and extracts from Abraham Bishop's pamphlets. + +Hartford Town Votes, 1635-1716. (Transcribed by Chas. J. Hoadly.) See +Connecticut Historical Society Collections, 1897, vol. vi. + +Hollister, Gideon H. Address in Litchfleld, April 9,1856, before the +Historical and Antiquarian Society, on the occasion of completing its +organization. Hartford, 1856. + +Hollister, Gideon H. The History of Connecticut. New Haven, 1855. 2 +vols. + + A history of Connecticut from the first settlement of the colony to + the adoption of the present Constitution in 1818. + +Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Fairfield County, Connecticut, with +illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and +Pioneers. Philadelphia, 1881. + +Johnson, William Samuel. Letters to the Governors of Connecticut, +1766-1771. See Mass. Historical Society Collections, series 5, +vol. ix, pp. 211-490. + +Johnston, Alexander. The Genesis of a New England State, +Connecticut. Baltimore, 1883. Revised 1903. (Also in Johns Hopkins +University Studies, vol. i, no. 11.) + +----Connecticut; a Study of a Commonwealth Democracy. Boston and New +York, 1887. Revised 1903. + +Jones, Frederick R. History of Taxation in Connecticut. Johns Hopkins +University Studies in Political Science, series 14, no. 8. Baltimore, +1896. + +Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates Convened at +Hartford, August 26, 1818. Hartford, 1873. Reprinted by order of the +state comptroller, Hartford, 1901. + +Kilbourne, P. K. Sketches and Churches of the Town of +Litchfield. Historical, biographical, statistical. Hartford, 1859. + + An excellent account, drawing in part upon Woodruff's (George C.) + History of Litchfield, 1845, and Morris' Statistical Account of + Litchfield County, 1818, with additional matter. + +Kingsley, F. J. Old Connecticut. See New Haven Historical Society +Papers, vol. iii. + +Kingsley, James Luce. Sketch of Yale College. Boston, 1835. + +Lambert, Edward R. History of the Colony of New Haven, before and +after the Union with Connecticut. New Haven, 1838. + +Larned, Ellen D. History of Windham County. Worcester, 1874. 2 vols. + + One of the best of the local histories. + +Vol. 1, book iii. Account of Canterbury Church difficulties and of the +Clevelands. + +----Historic Gleanings in Windham County, Connecticut. Providence, +1899. + +Levermore, Charles H. The Republic of New Haven. Also in Johns +Hopkins University Studies, extra vol. i. Baltimore, 1886. + +Litchfleld Book of Days, A collection of the historical, biographical +and literary reminiscences of Litchfleld, Connecticut. Edited by +George C. Boswell. Litchfield, 1899. + +Litchfleld County Centennial Celebration, August 13-14, +1851. Hartford, 1851. + +Loomis (Dwight) and Calhoun (J. Gilbert). The Judicial and Civil +History of Connecticut. Boston, 1895. + +Orcutt, Samuel. History of New Milford and Bridgewater, Connecticut, +1703-1882. Hartford, 1882. + +----History of Old Town of Derby. Springfield, 1880. + + "Prepared with great fidelity and thoroughness, and to take rank + with the best town histories," wrote Noah Porter on Feb. 1, + 1880. Biography and Genealogy, pp. 523-785. + +----History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of +Bridgeport. New Haven, 1886. 2 pts. + +The Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the states of +Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, the Counties of Cheshire and +Grafton in the State of New Hampshire and the County of Windham in the +State of Vermont convened at Hartford in the State of Connecticut, +December 15, 1814. Hartford, 1815. + +Sanford, Elias B. A History of Connecticut. Hartford, 1887. + +A school history. + +Selleck, Charles M. History of Norwalk. Norwich, 1886. + +Statistical Account of the Towns and Parishes in the State of +Connecticut, published by Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, +vol. i, no. 1. New Haven, 1811. + +Steiner, Bernard Christian. A History of the Plantation of Menunkatuck +and of the Original Town of Guilford, Connecticut (present towns of +Guilford and Madison) written largely from the manuscripts of The Hon. +Ralph Dunning Smyth. Baltimore, 1897. + + The book draws upon the preceding histories of Guilford, namely that + of the Rev. Thomas Kuggles, Jr., and the later sketch of Guilford + and Madison by Daniel Dudley Field, first written in 1827 for the + Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. It was revised by + R. D. Smyth in 1840 and published in 1877 after his + death. Mr. Sterner has added matter derived from a study of the town + records and other sources, making a history that covers all points + of development. + +----Governor William Leete and the absorption of New Haven by the +Colony of Connecticut. American Historical Association, Annual Report, +1891, pp. 209-222. + +----History of Slavery in Connecticut. (See Johns Hopkins Historical +Studies, ii, 30 et seq.) Baltimore, 1893. + +Stiles, Ezra. A Discourse on the Christian Union. Brookfield, 1799. + +----The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, edited under the authority of +the corporation of Yale University by F. B. Dexter, M. A. New York, +1901. 3 vols. + +Stiles, Henry Reed. Ancient Windsor. Hartford, 1891. 2 vols. + +Swift, Zephaniah. System of the Laws of the State of +Connecticut. Windham, 1795. + +Trumbull, Benjamin. A Complete History of Connecticut, Civil and +Ecclesiastical, 1639 to 1713, continued to 1764. New Haven, 1818. 2 +vols. + + Reprint with Introductory Notes and Index by Jonathan Trumbull. New + London, 1898. + +Trumbull, J. Hammond (Editor). Hartford County Memorial +History. Hartford, 1886. 2 vols. + +Vol. i, part i, The County of Hartford treated topically, as early +history, the colonial period, "Bench and Bar," "Medical History," +etc. Part ii, Hartford, Town and City. Vol. ii, Brief Histories of the +different towns. + +Trumbull, J. Hammond. Historical Notes of the Constitutions of +Connecticut, 1639 to 1818; and Progress of the Movement which resulted +in the Convention of 1818, and the Adoption of the present +Constitution. Hartford, 1873. Reprinted by order of State +Comptroller, Hartford, 1901. + +----Origin and Early Progress of Indian Missions in New +England. Worcester, 1874. + +----Defense of Stonington (Connecticut) against a British +Squadron. Hartford, 1864. + +----The True Blue Laws of Connecticut and New Haven and the False Blue +Laws invented by the Rev. Samuel Peters. To which are added specimens +of the Laws of other Colonies and some of the Blue Laws of +England. Hartford, 1876. + +----List of Books printed in Connecticut, 1709-1800 (edited by his +daughter Annie E. Trumbull). The list contains 1741 titles and also a +list of printers. Hartford, 1904. + +Webster, Noah. Collection of Papers on Political, Literary and Moral +Subjects. New York, 1843. + +5. LOCAL BIOGRAPHIES + +Bacon, Leonard. Sketch of Life and Public Services of James +Hillhouse. New Haven, 1860. + +Blake, B.L. Gurdon Saltonstall. In New London Historical Society +Papers, part 5, vol. i. + +Dexter, Franklin B. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Yale. 3 +vols. May, 1701-May, 1745; New York, 1885. May, 1745-May, 1763; New +York, 1896. May, 1763-May, 1778; New York, 1903. + +Kilbourne, P. K. Biographical History of the County of Litchfield. New +York, 1851. + +Mitchell, Donald G. American Lands and Letters. 3 vols. + + First volume, for early newspapers, the Hartford Wits and literati + of the colonial period. + +Sprague, W. B. Annals of the American Pulpit. New York, 1857-69. 9 +vols. + + Biographical Sketches in chronological order, contributed by 540 + writers of sectarian prominence, and with intent to show development + of churches and the power of character. + +Vols. i and ii, Trinitarian-Congregationalists. Vols. iii and iv, +Presbyterian. Vol. v, Episcopalians (reference for the Episcopal +Republican coalition in 1818 in Connecticut). Vol. vi, Baptists. +Vol. vii, Methodists. Vol. viii, Unitarians. Vol. ix, Lutherans, Dutch +Reformed, etc. + +Tyler, Moses Coit. Three Men of Letters (George Berkeley, Timothy +Dwight and Joel Barlow). New York and London, 1895. + + +B. CONNECTICUT NEWSPAPERS + +_w_. abbreviation for weekly + +HARTFORD + +American Mercury, _w_. Anti-Federal. + + Founded July 12, 1784, with Joel Barlow, editor, and Elisha Babcock, + publisher. In 1833 merged into the Independent Press. + + Yale University Library has a file practically complete to 1828, + only 20 numbers missing. + +Connecticut Courant. _w_. Federal, Whig, Republican. + + Founded 1764, by Thomas Green as organ of the Loyal Sons of Liberty; + later supported Washington and Adams; continued as the weekly and + now daily Hartford Courant. Said to be the oldest newspaper still + published in the United States. Connecticut Courant and the Weekly + Hartford Intelligencer, 1774. + + Connecticut Courant and the Weekly Intelligencer, Feb. 1781. + + The latter part of title dropped March 21, 1791. + + In 1837 the Daily Courant was established. This paper bought out the + Independent Press (which in turn had absorbed the American Mercury); + and the staff of the Press, including Charles Dudley Warner, + Gen. J. K. Hawley and Stephen A. Hubbard, joined William + H. Goodrich, who was the business manager of the Couraut. + +Connecticut Mirror, _w_. Federal. + + Founded July 10, 1809, by Charles Hosmer, publisher. During the War + of 1812, it was the organ of the "extreme right" of the Federal + party. It was continued until about 1835. + + Yale University Library contains an almost complete file up to 1831. + +Times. _w_. Democratic-Republican. + + Founded Jan., 1817, with Frederick D. Bolles, publisher, and + M. Niles, editor. Its slogan was "Toleration" and the New + Constitution. + + March 2,1841, it became the Daily Times, and still continues. + +NEW HAVEN + +Columbian Register, _w_. Democrat. + + Founded Dec. 1, 1812, Joseph Barber, publisher, to give "proceedings + of Congress, latest news from Europe and history of New England, + particularly of Connecticut." Daily edition, 1845; Sunday edition, + 1877. + + Yale University has a continuous file. + +The Connecticut Gazette, _w_. + + Printed by James Parker, April, 1755. Suspended April 14,1764. + Eevived by Benjamin Mecom, July 5, 1765. Ended Feb. 19, 1768. + +Connecticut Herald, _w_. Federal, Republican. + + Founded 1803, by Corostock, Griswold & Co., publishers, Thomas Green + Woodward, editor. A Daily Herald, issued Nov. 16,1832. In 1835 its + publishers, Woodward & Carrington, bought the Connecticut Journal. + The Daily Herald and Journal of 1846 soon became, by buying out the + Courier, The Morning Journal and Courier, as now, and its weekly + edition, the Connecticut Herald. + + Yale University has a continuous file. + +The Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post Boy. _w_. Federal. + + Founded 1767 by Thomas and Samuel Green. It was started about four + months before the Connecticut Gazette (New Haven). It failed April + 7,1835, and was sold to Woodward & Carrington, owners of the Daily + Herald. + + The title "and New Haven Post Boy" was omitted about 1775. It was + known in 1799, for a few months only, as the Connecticut Journal and + Weekly Advertiser, and in 1809, for a few months only, as the + Connecticut Journal and Advertiser. + + Yale's file dates from 1774 to 1835. + +The New Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine, _w_. Meigs & +Dana, Feb. 16, 1786-1798. + +NEW LONDON + +The Connecticut Post and New Haven Visitor, _w_. + + Founded Oct. 30, 1802, as the Visitor; title changed Nov. 3, 1803. + Ended its existence about Nov. 8, 1834. + +The New London Gazette, _w_. (Connecticut Gazette.) + + Founded by Timothy Green, November, 1763. The earlier Connecticut + Gazette, published at New Haven, April, 1755-April 14, 1763, having + ended February, 1768, the New London Gazette adopted the New Haven + paper's name. The firm became Timothy Green & Son, 1789-1794. Samuel + Green (the son) conducted the paper to 1841, except the year 1805, + and from 1838 to 1840. Known as the Connecticut and Universal + Intelligencer, Dec. 10, 1773-May 11, 1787. + + Yale University flies are from 1765 to 1828, except 1775, '76, '77, + and '78. + +OUTSIDE OF CONNECTICUT + +Niles' Weekly Register, _w_. Baltimore, 1811-1849. + + It was known from 1811 to 1814 as the Weekly Register; from 1814 to + August, 1837, as Niles' Weekly Register, and from 1837 to 1849 as + Niles' National Register. It devoted itself to the record of public + events, essays and documents dealing with political, historical, + statistical, economic and biographical matter. + + +C. PUBLIC RECORDS AND OTHERS TOUCHING UPON CONNECTICUT HISTORY + +New Haven Colonial Records, ed. by C. J. Hoadly. 2 vols. 1638-1649; +1653-1664. Hartford, 1857-58. + +Connecticut, Colonial Records of, ed. by C. J. Hoadly and J. Hammond +Trumbull. 15 vols. 1635-1776,. Hartford, 1850-90. + +State of Connecticut, Records of the, ed. by C. J. Hoadly. 2 +vols. 1776-1778; 1778-1780. Hartford, 1894-95. + +United Colonies of New England, Records of the, in vol. ii. of +E. Hazard's "Historical Collections consisting of State Papers and +other authentic Documents, etc." + +Plymouth Colony, Records of, ed. by N. R. Shurtleff and +D. Pulsifer. 12 vols. Boston, 1855-61. + +Records of the General Association of Connecticut, June 20, 1738, June +19, 1799; Hartford, 1888. 8 vols. + +Minutes of Proceedings of the General Association, 1818, on. + +Proceedings of Connecticut Missionary Society, 1801-1819. + +Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools of Connecticut, 1853. + + This annual report has a detailed account of the Western Land Bill + appropriations, pp. 64-108. + +The Constitutions of Connecticut, with Notes and Statistics regarding +Town Representation in the General Assembly, and Documents relating to +the Constitutional Convention of 1902. Printed by Order of the State +Comptroller. Hartford, 1901. + +The Code of 1650. In Hinman's "Antiquities of Connecticut." + +The Public Statute Laws of the State of Connecticut. Hartford, 1808. + +Acts and Laws, 1784-1794. (Supplements to Oct., 1795, laid in.) New +London, 1784. + +Acts and Laws, 1811-1821. + + +D. HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS + +American Historical Association Annual Report. 1889-1904. + +Connecticut Historical Society Collections. 8 vols. + + Especially vol. i, Extract from Hooker's Sermon. Vol. ii, Hartford + Church Papers. Vol. iii, Extract from Letter to the Rev. Thomas + Prince. Vols. v and vi, Talcott Papers. + +Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 1792-1904. 64 vols. + + Volumes containing the Mather, Sewall, and Winthrop Papers were + especially useful. + +Narragansett Club Publications. Providence, 1866. 6 vols. + +The Correspondence of Roger Williams and John Cotton, vols. i and ii. + +New Haven Colony Historical Society Papers. 6 vols. + +Rhode Island Historical Society Collections. 8 vols. 1827-92. +Proceedings, 4 vols., 1871-92, and Publications, 1892, onwards. + +MANUSCRIPTS + +Judge Church's MS. in New Haven Historical Society Library. + +A sketch prepared for the historian Hollister. + +Manuscript Records of the Newport Yearly Meeting, deposited in the +Friends' School, Providence, R. I. + +Manuscript Minutes of the Hartford North Association, deposited in +Yale library. + +Stiles, Ezra. Itinerary and Memoirs, 1760-1794, deposited in Yale +College. + + +E. DENOMINATIONAL LITERATURE + +1. BAPTIST + +Asplund, John. The Annual Register of the Baptist Denomination in +North America ... to Nov. 1,1790; containing an account of the +Churches and their Constitutions, Ministers, Members, Associations, +their Plan and Sentiments, Rule and Order, Proceedings and +Correspondence. Worcester, 1791-94. + +Backus, Isaac. A History of New England with Particular Reference to +the Denomination of Christians called Baptists. Newton, Mass., 1871. 2 +vols. + + This edition by D. Weston includes Isaac Backus' prefaces to vol. i, + finished 1777; vol. ii, 1784; and vol iii, 1796. + + This contemporary writer is regarded as an authority, as much of his + work was founded upon the court, town, and church records and upon + the minutes of ecclesiastical councils. He searched diligently the + records of Plymouth, Taunton, Boston, Essex, Providence, Newport, + Hartford and New Haven. The book has a chronological record of the + Connecticut churches. It is very discursive. + +Benedict, David. A General History of the Baptist Denomination in +America and other parts of the world. Boston, 1813. + + This contains a more complete list of the associations and churches + than that given by Backus. There is a valuable chapter, "Baptist + Communities who differ from the main body of the denomination and + who are also distinguished by some peculiarities of their own." + +Burrage, Henry S. A History of the Baptists in New +England. Philadelphia, 1894. + + Particularly useful in tracing the progress of the denomination in + the different states, and in its contribution to the history of + religious liberty. + +Cathcart, William (Editor). The Baptist Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of +the Doctrines ... of the Baptist Denomination in all +Lands. Philadelphia, 1883. 2 vols. + +Curtis, Thomas F. The Progress of Baptist Principles in the Last +Hundred Years. Boston, 1856. + +Denison, Frederic. Notes of the Baptists and their Principles in +Norwich. Norwich, 1859. + + This contains the famous Separatist Petition to the King in 1756. + +Guild, Reuben A. History of Brown University, with Illustrated +Documents. Providence, 1867. + +Hovey, Alvah. A Memoir of the Life and Times of the Reverend Isaac +Backus, A. M. Boston, 1858. + +Newman, Albert H. A History of the Baptist Churches in the United +States. New York, 1894. + +2. CONGREGATIONALIST + +A Confession of Faith, Owned and Consented to by the Elders and +Messengers of the Churches in the Colony of Connecticut in New England +Assembled by Delegates at Saybrook, Sept. 9, 1708. + + First Edition (first book printed in Connecticut), New London, 1710. + + Second Edition, New London, 1760, with Heads of Agreement; Edition + of Hartford, 1831. [a] + +A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion +of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton and the Neighboring Towns.... In +a letter to the Rev'd. Doctor Benjamin Colman of Boston, written by +the Rev'd. Mr. Edwards, Minister of Northampton, on Nov. 6, +1736. London, 1737. + +Autobiography of Lyman Beecher, D. D. New York, 1864. 3vols. + + Especially valuable for the attitude of the Congregational clergy + during the first constitutional reform movement in Connecticut. + +Bacon, Leonard. The Genesis of the New England Churches. New York, +1874. + +----Thirteen Historical Discourses, on completion of Two Hundred Years +from the beginning of the First Church, New Haven. New Haven, 1839. + +Baldwin, Simeon E. Ecclesiastical Constitution of Yale College. In New +Haven Historical Society's Papers, vol. iii. + +Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut: prepared +under the direction of the General Association, to commemorate the +completion of one hundred and fifty years since its first annual +Assembly. New Haven, 1861. + + See under L. Bacon, the history of David Brainerd. + +Barrowe, Henry. Answer to Mr. Gifford. + +----A Briefe Discoverie of the False Church. Date, 1590. London +ed. 1707. + +----A True Description of the Word of God, of the Visible Church, 1589. + +Briggs, Charles Augustus. American Presbyterianism: Its Origin and +Early History. New York, 1885. + +Browne, Robert. An Answer to Master Cartwright His Letter for Joyning +with the English Churches. London, 1585. + +----A True and Short Declaration. Middelburg, 1584. + +----A Treatise of Reformation without tarrying. Middelburg, 1582. + +----The Book which Sheweth the life and manners of all true Christians, +and how unlike they are unto Turkes and Papists and Heathen folk. Also +the pointes and partes of all Divinitie that is of the revealed will +and words of God, and declared by their severall Definitions and +Divisions in order as followeth. Middelburg, 1582. + +Browne, Robert. "A New Years Guift:" an hitherto lost +treatise. (Letter of Dec. 31, 1588, to his uncle, M. Flower.) Edited +by Champlin Burrage. London, 1904. + +Clap, Thomas. Religious Constitution of Colleges, with Special +Reference to Yale. New London, 1754. + +Cotton, John. Civil Magistrates Power in Matters of Religion. London, +1655. + +----The Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and Powers thereof according to +the Word of God. London, 1644. + +----Questions and Answers upon Church Government. London, 1713. + +----Way of the Churches of Christ in New England. London, 1645. + +----Way of the Congregational Churches Cleared. London, 1648. + +Cotton, John. In title, but a misprint for:-- + +Davenport, John. A Discourse about Civil Government in a New +Plantation whose design is Religion, written many years +since. Cambridge, 1643. + +Dexter, Henry Martyn. The Congregationalism of the last Three Hundred +Years: as seen in its Literature with special reference to certain +Recondite, Neglected or Disputed Passages. New York, 1880. + +Lectures, with Bibliography of over 7000 titles and Index. An +historical review of Congregationalism from its earliest forms to the +last half of the nineteenth century. + +----History of Congregationalists. Hartford, 1894. Brief popular +history. + +----Story of the Pilgrims. Boston and Chicago, 1894. Dunning, Albert +E. Congregationalists in America. New York, 1894. + +Dutton, S. M. S. History of the North Church, New Haven, from its +Formation in May 1742, during the Great Awakening, to the Completion +of the Century, in May 1842. New Haven, 1842. + +Edwards, Jonathan. Works of, with Memoir by S. E. Dwight. New York, +1829. 10 vols. + +Fisher, George P. Discourses ... Church of Christ in Yale College, +November 22, 1857. New Haven, 1858. + +Frequent citations from the diaries of the Cleveland brothers. + +Fitch, Thomas. Explanation of the Saybrook Platform. The Principles +of the Consociated Churches in Connecticut; Collected from the Plan of +Union. By one that heartily desires the Order, Peace and Purity of +these Churches. Hartford, 1765. + +Hobart, Noah. An Attempt to illustrate and confirm the Ecclesiastical +Constitution of the Consociated Churches in the Colony of +Connecticut. New Haven, 1765. + +Hooker, Richard. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. London, 1648. + +Hooker, Thomas. Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline. London, +1648. + +Lechford, Thomas. Plaine Dealing. London, 1642. + +Letter of Many Ministers in Old England requesting the Judgment of +their Brethren in New England concerning Nine Positions +... 1637.... Together with their Answer thereunto returned Anno 1639 +(by J. Davenport). London, 1643. + +Mather, Cotton. Magualia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical +History of New England 1620-1698. London, 1702. Hartford, 1855. 2 +vols. + +----Ratio Discipline Fratrum Nov-Anglorum; A Faithful Account of the +Discipline Professed and Practised in the Churches of New +England. Boston, 1726. Mather, Richard. Church Government and Church +Covenant Discussed. London, 1643. + +Prince, Thomas. The Christian History of the Revival and Propagation +of Religion. Boston, 1743. + +Purchard, George. History of Congregationalism from about 250 A. D. to +1616. New York and Boston, 1865-1888. 5 vols. + +Walker, George Leon. History of the First Church of +Hartford. Hartford, 1884. + +----Some Aspects of the Religious Life of New England with special +reference to Congregationalists. New York, Boston and Chicago, 1897. + +Walter, Williston. The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism. New +York, 1893. + +----A History of the Congregational Churches in the United +States. (American Church History Series). New York, 1894. + +White, Daniel Appleton. New England Congregationalism in its Origin +and Purity: illustrated by the foundation and early records of First +Church in Salem. Salem, 1861. + +Wolcott, Roger. A Letter to Rev. Mr. Noah Hobart. [The New English +Congregational Churches.... Consociated Churches.] Boston, 1761. + +3. EPISCOPALIAN + +Beardsley, E. Edwards, D. D. History of the Episcopal Church in +Connecticut. New York, 1865-68. 2 vols. + + An account of the church in Connecticut with strong church bias and + inclination to excuse the Tory sentiments of the early + rectors. Second volume gives the Episcopal side of the "Toleration" + conflict of 1817-18. Much interesting detail. + +Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register. In American Quarterly +Church Review, vol. x, p. 116. New Haven and New York, 1848-91. + +Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society, The. New +York, 1851-53. 2 vols. + + These MSS. are found in Perry and Hawks's Documentary History, and + include a valuable article on the Episcopate before the Revolution, + by F. L. Hawks, also "Thoughts upon the present state of the Church + of England in the Colonies," [1764] by an unknown contemporary. + +Cross, Arthur Lyon. The History of the Anglican Episcopate and the +American Colonies. New York and London, 1902. + +Hawkins, E. Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of +England in the North American Colonies. London, 1845. + +Chiefly drawn from MS. documents of the Society for the Propagation of +the Gospel. + +Hawks (Frances Lister) and Perry (William Stevens). Documentary +History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United +States. Containing ... documents concerning the Church in +Connecticut. New York, 1863-34. 2vols. + +See Perry, William Stevens. + +McConnell, Samuel Davis. History of the American Episcopal Church. New +York, 1890. + + A brief general history with a number of pages devoted to the + attempts to establish the Episcopate in America and to the political + hostility that it roused. + +Perry, William Stevens (Bishop of Iowa). [See F. L. Hawks.] +Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church. New York, +1863-64. 2 vols. + + Unbiased; arranged under topical heads; has illustrated monographs + by different authors; illustrations, including facsimiles; and also + critical notes, frequently referring to original sources. It + contains many letters from the missions established by the London + Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. + +Shaw, W. A. A History of the Church of England. 2 vols. + +4. METHODIST + +Asbury's (Francis) Journal. New York, 1821. 3 vols. A brief diary of +all Bishop Asbury's American journeys: Vols. ii and iii concern New +England, with comments on his surroundings, his preaching and the +people. + +Bangs, Nathan. History of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York, +1841-45. 4 vols. + +Clark, Edgar F. The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Norwich. Norwich, +1867. + + Convenient secondary authority gives, pp. 6-21, a connected account + of the early days of Connecticut Methodism. + +Scudder, Moses Lewis. American Methodism. Hartford, 1870. + + General attitude of New England towards the introduction of + Methodism. + +Stevens, Abel. Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism into the +Eastern States. Boston, 1848. + + Biographical notices of the early preachers, sketches of the earlier + societies, and reminiscences of struggles and successes. "Some + account of every Methodist preacher who was regularly appointed to + New England during the first five years" of New England Methodism, + derived from original sources, letters, and from books now out of + print. The fullest account of Connecticut Methodists. It contains + frequent citations from Jesse Lee's diary. + + Appendix A contains valuable statistics; appendix B has a scurrilous + pamphlet, "A Key to unlock Methodism, or Academical Hubbub," etc., + published in Norwich, 1800. + +----The Centenary of American Methodism: a Sketch of its History, +Theology, Practical System, and Success. New York, 1866. + +----The History of the Religious Movement of the Eighteenth Century, +called Methodism. New York, 1858-61. 3 vols. + +5. QUAKERS, OR THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS + +Besse, Joseph. A Collection of the Sufferings of the People called +Quakers, for the Testimony of a Good Conscience, etc., to the year +1689. London, 1753. 2 vols. + + Vol. ii contains a full account of their persecutions, together with + copies of the proceedings against them and letters from the + sufferers. + +Bowden, James. History of the Society of Friends in America. New York +and London, 1845. 2 vols. + + A history of the sect throughout New England, containing many short + biographies. It is fair and frank in its record of New England + persecutions. The author adopts the unique plea that the excesses of + the converts were inspired by the Holy Spirit as a reproof to their + persecutors for the kind of persecution and punishment that was + meted out to innocent persons. + +Evans, Charles. Friends in the Seventeenth Century. Philadelphia, +1876. + +Gough, John. History of the People called Quakers. Dublin, 1789-90. 4 +vols. + +Hallowell, Richard Price. The Pioneer Quakers. Boston and New York, +1887. + +Manuscript Records of Early Newport Yearly (Friends') Meetings--at +Friends' School, Providence, R. I. + +Minutes of meetings, reports of cases of oppression, of converts, etc. + +Sewel, William. The History of the Rise, Increase and Progress of the +Christian People called Quakers, Intermixed with Several Remarkable +Occurrences. Written originally in Low Dutch by W. S. and by himself +translated into English. + + 1st ed., Amsterdam, 1717; 2d ed., London, 1722; 3d ed., 1725, 2 + vols. Philadelphia, 1728, etc. New York, 1844. [a] + +Wagstaff, William R. History of the Friends (compiled from standard +records and authentic sources). New York and London, 1845. + + A defense of the excesses in Quaker eccentricities as religious + enthusiasm in persons who were driven by persecution to the verge of + madness. A similar view is expressed by R. P. Hallowell and by + Brooks Adams in his "Emancipation of Massachusetts." + + +F. TRACTS (RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR BOTH) + +Of these, several titles that are found at full length either in the +text or footnotes are omitted here. Many more might have been added, +but it is thought best to omit them because of their cumbrous titles, +their scant interest to the average reader, and their inaccessibility, +being found only in the largest libraries or among rare Americana. For +similar reasons, works strictly theological in character are also not +listed. Any sizable library possesses a copy of H. M. Dexter's +"Congregationalism as seen in the Literature of the last Three Hundred +Years." Its bibliography of over 7000 titles gives all the religious, +ecclesiastical or politico-ecclesiastical tracts, and theological +works touching upon Congregationalism. Yale University library has a +large amount of the Americana collected by Mr. Dexter. + +Trumbull's list of books published in Connecticut before 1800 gives +the titles of books and pamphlets of strictly local import + +The Baptist Confession of Faith; first put forth in 1648; afterwards +enlarged, corrected and published by an Assembly of Delegates (from +the churches in Great Britain) met in London, July 3, 1689; adopted by +the Association at Philadelphia, September 22, 1742, and now received +by churches of the same denomination in most of the American States, +to which is added a System of Church Discipline. Portland, 1794. + +Bartlett, Moses. False and Seducing Teachers. New London, 1757. + +Beecher, Lyman. Sermon. A Reformation of Morals practicable and +indispensible. ... New Haven, 1813. Andover, 1814. + +Bishop, Abraham. Connecticut Republicanism. An Oration on the extent +and power of Political Delusion. Delivered in New Haven, September, +1800. + +----Proofs of a Conspiracy against Christianity and the Government of +the United States; exhibited in several views of the Church and State +in New England. Hartford, 1802. + +----The Oration in honor of the election of President Jefferson and the +peaceful acquisition of Louisiana, 1801. + +Bishop, George. New England Judged, Not by Man's, but the Spirit of +the Lord: And the Summe sealed up of New England's Persecutions. Being +a Brief Relation of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers in +these Parts. London, 1661. + +Bolles, John. Concerning the Christian Sabbath. 1757. + +----To Worship God in Spirit and in Truth is True Liberty of +Conscience. 1756. + +----A Relation of the Opposition which some Baptist People met at +Norwich. 1761. + +Booth, Abraham. Essay on Kingdom of Christ. London, 1788. New London, +1801. [a] + + American edition edited by John Sterry of the Norwich "True + Republican," together with notes containing his strictures on the + Connecticut and English Established Church. + +Bragge, Robert. Church Discipline. London, 1739. Republished, New +London, 1768. [a] + +"A Defence of simple Congregationalism and disestablishment." + +Browne, Joseph. Principles of Baptism. A Letter to Infant Baptisers in +the North Parish of New London. New London, 1767. + + Quoted by Rev. E. H. Gillett, Hist. Mag. 2d series, vol. iv, p. 28. + +Browne, Robert. A Treatise of reformation without tarrying for +Magistrates and of the wickednesse of those Preachers which will not +reforme till the Magistrates commande or compell them. Middelburg, +1582. Only three copies known. Reprint at Boston and London. + +Chauncy, Charles, Rev. Seasonable Thoughts. Boston, 1743. + +Treats of the Great Awakening, of which the author was a determined +opponent. + +Clap, Thomas. Brief History and Vindication of the Doctrines received +and established in the Churches of New England. New Haven, 1755. + +Daggett, David. Argument, before the General Assembly of Connecticut, +Oct. 1804, in the case of Certain Justices of the Peace.... New Haven, +1804. + +----Count the Cost. An Address to the People of Connecticut.... By +Jonathan Steadfast. Hartford, 1804. + +----Facts are Stubborn Things, or Nine Plain Questions to the People of +Connecticut. By Simon Holdfast. Hartford, 1803. + +----Steady Habits Vindicated. Hartford, 1805. + +----Sun-Beams may be extracted from Cucumbers, but the process is +tedious. An Oration, pronounced 4 July, 1799.... New Haven, 1799. + +Darling, Thomas. Some Remarks on President Clap's "History and +Vindication." New Haven, 1757. + +Foster, Isaac. Defence of Religious Liberty. Worcester, 1779. + +Frothingham, Ebenezer. A Key to unlock the Door, That leads in, to +take a Fair View of the Religious Constitution, Established by Law, in +the Colony of Connecticut ... with a short Observation upon the +Explanation of Saybrook Plan, etc. and Mr. Hobart's attempt +etc. Reviewing R. Ross, Plain Address. Boston, 1767. + +Hobart, Noah. An Attempt to Illustrate and Confirm the Ecclesiastical +Covenant of the Connecticut Churches,--occasioned by a late +Explanation of the Saybrook Platform. New Haven, 1765. + +Holly, Israel. A Plea in Zion's Behalf: The Censured Memorial made +Public ... to which is added a few Brief Remarks upon ... an Act for +Exempting ... Separatists from Taxes, etc. 1765. + + Quoted by Rev. E. H. Glllett, Hist. Mag., 2d series, vol. iv. + +Huntington, R. (Editor). Review of the Ecclesiastical Establishments +of Europe (by William Graham). 1808. + + Special reference to the bearing of the book on the Connecticut + Establishment, and particularly upon its Parish System. + +Judd, William. Address to the People of the State of Connecticut, on +the removal of himself and four other Justices from Office.... New +Haven, 1804. + +Leland, John. A Blow at the Root. Being a fashionable Fast-Day +Sermon. New London, 1801. + +----The Connecticut Dissenters' Strong Box: No. I. Containing, The +High-flying Churchman stript of his legal Robe appears a Yaho. New +London, 1802. + +----Van Tromp lowering his Peak with a Broadside: Containing a plea for +the Baptists of Connecticut. Danbury, 1803. + +----The Rights of Conscience inalienable; ... Or, The high-flying +Churchman, stript of his legal Robe, appears a Yaho. + + See The Connecticut Dissenters' Strong Box. + +Martin-Mar-Prelate Tracts. See H. M. Dexter's Congregationalism as +seen in Literature, Lecture iii, pp. 131-205. + +Norton, John. The Heart of New England rent at the Blasphemies of the +Present Generation. Or a brief Tractate concerning the Doctrine of the +Quakers etc. Cambridge, New England, 1659. + +Paine, Solomon. A Short View of the Difference between the Church of +Christ, and the established Churches in the Colony of Connecticut in +their Foundation and Practice with their Ends: being a Word of Warning +to several Ranks of Profession; and likewise Comfort to the Ministers +and Members of the Church of Christ. 1752. + +Richards, George H. The Politics of Connecticut; by a Federal +Republican. New London, 1817. + +Rogers, John. A Midnight Cry from the Temple of God to the Ten +Virgins. See F. M. Caulkins' History of New London, pp. 202-221. + +----John Rogers, A Servant of Jesus Christ ... giving a Description of +True Shepherds of Christ's Flocks and also of the Anti-Christian +Ministry. 4th ed. Norwich, 1776. + +----New London Prison. + + See F. H. Gillett, Hist. Mag., 2d series, vol. iv. + +Ross, Robert. Plain Address to the Quakers, Moravians, Separatists, +Separate Baptists, Rogerines, and other Enthusiasts on Immediate +Impulses and Revelations, etc. New Haven, 1752. + +Stiles, Ezra. A Discourse on Christian Union. (Appendix containing a +list of New England Churches. A. D. 1760.) Boston, 1761. + +Stoddard, Solomon. The Doctrine of Instituted Churches Explained and +Proved from the Word of God. 1700. Webster, Noah. A Rod for the +Fool's Back. New Haven, 1800. + +Being a reply to Abraham Bishop. + +Williams, Nathan. An Inquiry Concerning the Design and Importance of +Christian Baptism and Discipline. Hartford, 1792. + +Wolcott, Roger. The New-English Congregational Churches are and always +have been Consociated Churches, and their Liberties greater and better +founded, in their Platform of Church Discipline agreed to at +Cambridge, 1648, than what is contained at Saybrook, 1705, +etc. Boston, 1761. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[a] This is the edition referred to in text. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Development of Religious Liberty +in Connecticut, by M. Louise Greene, Ph. 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