"This work explores the patriot clergymen's arguments for the legitimacy of political resistance to the British in the early stages of the American Revolution. It reconstructs the historical and theological background of the colonial clergymen, showing the continued impact that Stuart absolutism and Reformed resistance theory had on their political theology. As a corrective to previous scholarship, this work argues that the American clergymen's rationale for political resistance in the eighteenth century developed in general continuity with a broad strand of Protestant thought in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The arguments of Jonathan Mayhew and John Witherspoon are highlighted, along with a wide range of Whig clergyman on both sides of the Atlantic. The agreement that many British clergymen had with their colonial counterparts challenges the view that the American Revolution emerged from distinctly American modes of thought"--

Excerpt from The New England Clergy and the American Revolution Finally, the following study has not been for me one of merely academic interest. My grandfather, Rev. Josiah Lyman, of Easthampton, Massachusetts, my father, Dr. Fritz W. Bald win, and my uncle, Dr. Albert J. Lyman, were all Congrega tional clergymen; and it was through them that I first learned to appreciate, in some measure, the ministers of New England. To their memory, also, therefore, I owe an expression of my indebtedness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This study describes the diverse experiences and political opinions of the colonial Anglican clergy during the American Revolution. As an intercolonial study, it depicts regional variations, but also the full range of ministerial responses including loyalism, neutrality, and patriotism. Rhoden explores the extraordinary dilemmas which tested these members of the King's church, from the 1760s controversy over a proposed episcopate to the 1780s formation of the Episcopal Church, and thoroughly demonstrates the impact of the Revolution on their lives and their church.