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Anglicans and Dissenters in Georgia, 1758–1777

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Marjorie Daniel
Marjorie Daniel
Affiliation:
Newberry Library, Chicago, Ill.
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Extract

Georgia in the revolutionary period, not unlike many other provinces along the American seaboard, lacked social solidarity and unity. The lack was not the result of great ethnic diversity alone or of the disharmony arising from economic inequalities and political disagreement. To racial variety and divergences attributable to economic and political conditions were added many differences in customs and modes of living and in traditional thought which could be ascribed, in part at least, to the numerous religious sects attracted to the province by the liberal provisions of its charter. The religious conflicts of the period are best seen in the struggle over the establishment of the Church of England and in the relations of the dissenters with the civil government and with the religious establishment. The question of external ecclesiastical control, issues and grievances of a religious nature which appeared in the revolutionary argument, and the alignment of the sects on the question of open conflict with Great Britain, are interesting and important aspects of the whole religious situation. It is with these phases of the religious history of Georgia during two decades that this study is largely concerned.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 1938 , pp. 247 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1938

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References

1 Charter in MaeDonald, William (ed.), Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History 1606–1775 (New York, 1899), 244.Google Scholar

2 March 5, 1755. See Candler, A. D. (comp.), The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, (Atlanta, 1907), XVI, 65Google Scholar (hereafter referred to as C. R.).

3 February 7, 1757. Ibid., XVIII, 156.

4 The commons house, February 10, 1757: Ibid., 159; the upper house, February 22, 1758; Ibid., XVI, 282.

5 Presumably the unwritten constitution of Britain.

6 An abstract of a letter from Ottolenghe, August 12, 1758 (enclosed in an anonymous letter to His Grace of Canterbury) is a very illuminating and revealing document. The abstract is among the Miscellaneous Documenta of the S. P. G. Relating to Georgia 1759–1782 (photostats in the Library of Congress). These papers will hereafter be referred to as S. P. G. Documents.

7 In 1765 four other parishes were created: St. David, St. Patrick, St. Thomas, and St. Mary. At the same time, the parish of St. James was extended to include Jekyl Island. See Robert, and Watkins, George, A. Digest of the Laws of Georgia (Philadelphia, 1800), no. 126, p. 114.Google Scholar

8 The vestrymen and church wardens were to appoint the collectors of the tax.

9 See C. S., XVIII, 258–272Google Scholar, for these and other details of the act.

10 Letter to DrBurton, , 11 10, 1767Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents.

11 Letter of June 29, 1769. See S. P. G. Journals, September 15, 1769, vol. XVIII, pt. 2, pp. 205–206 (photostats in the Library of Congress).

12 “Letter of Rev. John J. Zubly, of Savannah, Ga.,” Massachusetts Historical Society Procedings for 1864–1866 (hereafter referred to as “Letter of Zubly”), VIII, 215–16Google Scholar; Campbell, J. H., Georgia Baptists: Historical and Biographical (Richmond, 1847), 9–10Google Scholar; History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia (Atlanta, 1881), 11–12Google Scholar; letter from Frink, to DrBurton, , 01 4, 1769Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents; Bowden, H. S., History of Savannah Methodism from John, Wesley to Silas Johnson (Macon, Georgia, 1929), 44.Google Scholar

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14 Letter of July 2, 1771, in S. P. G. Documents.

15 C. R., X, 432, 553–54, 690Google Scholar; Asplund, John, The Annual Register of the Baptist Denomination, in North-America (n. p., c. 1791), 44Google Scholar; History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia, 23Google Scholar; Stacy, James, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Georgia (n. p., c. 1912), 3Google Scholar; “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 215Google Scholar; Records of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Philadelphia, 1904), 361–62, 375, 422.Google Scholar

16 Letter to DrBurton, , 08 24, 1772Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents.

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18 See especially, S. P. G. Journals, May 21, 1773, vol. XIX, pt. 3, p. 418; April 15, 1774, vol. XX, pt. 2, pp. 129–30; letter from Frink, to Burton, , 04 9, 1766Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents.

19 S. P. G. Journals, September 20, 1765. vol. XVI, pt. 4, p. 425.

20 Letter from Frink, to Burton, , 04 9, 1766Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents.

21 Letter from Seymour, , 03 1, 1773Google Scholar. See S. P. G. Journals, May 21, 1773, vol. XIX, pt. 3, p. 418.

22 It must be clear that the dissenters were by no means a unit. See, in this connection, a letter from Zubly, to Stiles, , 04 19, 1769Google Scholar, quoted in Howe, George, History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina (Columbia, 1870), I, 361Google Scholar; “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 215, 219Google Scholar; The Literary Diary of Esra Stiles (New York, 1901), I, 236 (entry of 05 16, 1772).Google Scholar

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24 “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 216.Google Scholar

25 Ibid.

26 C. S., XIII, 535, 567, 579, 583Google Scholar; vol. XIX, pt. 1, p. 453.

27 Letter from Frink, to Burton, , 01 7, 1768Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents; letter from the church wardens and vestrymen of St. Paul's parish, March 24, 1763, in ibid. See also, C. R., IX, 341–42; X, 119.Google Scholar

28 See petition from the church wardens and vestrymen of the parish of St. Paul to the S. P. G. Committee in London, dated February 8, 1762, in S. P. G. Documents. See also, Flippin, P. S., “The Royal Government in Georgia, 1752–1776,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, IX (09, 1925), 190.Google Scholar

29 Letter from Whitefield, to Mr. S—S—, 01 14, 1765Google Scholar, in The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield (London, 1771), III, 320.Google Scholar

30 C. R., X, 280–81; XI, 304.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., IX, 144; X, 351–52, 432, 553–54, 690, 695; XI, 4; “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 215.Google Scholar

32 C. R., XVII, 573.Google Scholar

33 Frink, to Burton, , 07 6, 1770Google Scholar, S. P. G. Documents.

34 C. R., XV, 145–46, 151–54, 165–66, 172; XVII, 572–575.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., XVII, 559–63; “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 217Google Scholar. “We now bury in the same Ground unmolested,” Zubly wrote, “& pay no fees except to the sexton, which I have consented to pay whenever his attendance should be required, & not otherwise.”

36 “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 215Google Scholar; C. R., XV, 473.Google Scholar

37 Records of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, 30Google Scholar; S. P. G. Journals, vol. XVIII, pt. 4, p. 443; letters from Frink, to Burton, 06 29, 1769, 07 8, 1771Google Scholar, in S. P. G. Documents.

38 “Letter of Zubly,” loc. cit., 216–18Google Scholar. Frink once offered to endorse licenses for Zubly in return for half of the fee. Ibid., 218.

39 For details, see Cross, A. L., The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies (New York, 1902), 80–86, 312–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tyerman, Luke, The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield (London, 1876), I, 357–364, 395–406.Google Scholar

40 See letters from Zubly, to Stiles, , 10 10, 1768Google Scholar, April 19, 1769, in Howe, , op. cit., I, 361–62Google Scholar. While Zubly was at the Continental Congress in 1775, he visited William Tennent, President Witherspoon, and Dr. Livingston. On August 25 (?), Zubly recorded in his journal that he breakfasted with Dr. Livingston, who gave him “a Charge aa a delegate to be attentive to the religious Liberty of A—a thought it probable this was a design of Part [?] in my being sent to the Congress.” Manuscript Journal of the Revd John Joachim Zubly (in the Georgia Historical Society, Savannah).

41 Letter in S. P. G. Documents.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

44 The Georgia Gazette (09 14, 1774).Google Scholar

45 Ibid. (September 21, 1774).

46 Candler, A. D. (comp.), The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia (Atlanta, 1908), I, 53, 265Google Scholar (hereafter referred to as Rev. Recs.); Force, Peter (ed.), American Archives (Washington, 1840), series IV, vol. IIIGoogle Scholar, col. 635.

47 The text of the constitution is in Rev. Recs., I, 282ff.Google Scholar

48 The situation in Georgia was much unlike that in Pennsylvania. Geographical intermixture may have hindered strong combinations in Georgia.

49 Letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, April 24,1775, in White, George, Historical Collections of Georgia (third ed.; New York, 1855), 523.Google Scholar

50 “Letters from Sir James Wright,” G. H. S. Colls., III, 342.Google Scholar

51 Rev. Recs., I, 27–29, 230.Google Scholar

52 Letter to Germain, Lord, 03 9, 1781Google Scholar, in “Letters from Sir James Wright” loc. cit., 341.Google Scholar

53 G. H. S. Colls., vol. V, pt. 1, pp. 4, 30, 70.Google Scholar