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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2011
Americans in “search” of the “goals,” “prospects,” and “purpose” of the United States share an interest in the latter part of the eighteenth century. This was the age of the democratic revolution in Western civilization which produced the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, those primary and permanent legacies paramount to our national existence. Although remote in time this period is the common experience of Americans because our lives are still regulated by the political instruments it produced.
1 Cf. Huston Smith (ed.), The Search for America (1959); Goals for Americans (Prentice-Hall, 1960); Prospect for America (Doubleday, 1961); J. K. Jessup et al., The National Purpose (1960).
2 Cf. Palmer, R. R., The Age of the Democratic Revolution (1959Google Scholar).
3 Cf. Baldwin, Alice, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (1923Google Scholar) ; Rossiter, Clinton, Seedtime of the Republic (1953Google Scholar); Curti, Merle, The Roots of American Loyalty (1946Google Scholar);Gabriel, Ralph, The Course of American Democratic Thought (1956Google Scholar);Kohn, Hans, The Idea of Nationalism (1961Google Scholar); Niebuhr, H. Richard, The Kingdom of God in America (1937Google Scholar) ; Miller, Perry, “From the Covenant to the Revival,” in Smith, J. W. and Jamison, A. L. (eds.), The Shaping of American Religion (1961), pp. 322–368Google Scholar; Mead, Sidney, “American Protestantism during the Revolutionary Epoch,” Church History 22 (1953), 279–297CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 Cf. Howard, Leon, “The Late Eighteenth Century: An Age of Contradictions,” in Clark, Harry Harden (ed.), Transitions in American Literary History (1954), pp. 51–89Google Scholar.
5 Barth, Karl, Protestant Thought: From Rousseau to Ritschl (1959), p. 28Google Scholar.
6 Miller, op. cit., p. 325.
7 Samuel Cooper, A Sermon (Boston: T. and H. Fleet, and J. Gill, 1780), pp. 52–53.
8 This expression was used in thanksgiving sermons after the Revolutionary War. Cf. Cook, Rozel. A Sermon (New London: Timothy Green. 1784Google Scholar) ; Duffield, George, A Sermon (Philadelphia: F. Bailey, 1784), p. 5Google Scholar; Stiles, Ezra, The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor (Worcester: Isaiah Thomas. 1785). p 36Google Scholar; Rodgers, John, The Divine Goodness Displayed in the American Revolution (New York: Samuel Loudon, 1784), pp. 3–4Google Scholar; Samuel McCorkle, Ms. Sermon, July 4, 1786, Duke University Library.
9 Minutes of the Warren Association … September 7, 8, 1784 (n.p., n.d.), p. 7; Oliver Hart, America's Remembrancer (Philadelphia: T. Dobson. 1791), pp. 4–6.
10 Samuel West, A Sermon (Boston: Adams and Nourse, 1786). p. 31 ; cf. also Loren Baritz, “The Idea of the West,” The American Historical Review 66 (1961), 618–640.
11 Cf. Thomas Brockway, America Saved, or Divine Glory Displayed (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1784), p. 23; Varnum Lansing Collins, President Witherspoon, II (1925), pp. 191–192; Lathrop, John, A Discourse on the Peace (Boston: Peter Edes, 1784), p. 29Google Scholar; Bishop James Madison to James Madison, March 1, 1789, Papers of James Madison, Manuscript Division Library of Congress.
12 Cf. Osgood, David, A Sermon (Boston: Benjamin Russell, 1788), p. 18Google Scholar; Asa Burton, A Discourse (Rutland: 1795), p. 17; McClintock, Samuel, A Sermon (Portsmouth: Robert Gcrrish, 1784), p. 27Google Scholar; Hemmenway, Moses, A Sermon (Boston: Benjamin Edes and Sons, 1784), p. 46Google Scholar; Rogers, William, An Oration (Philadelphia: T. Dobson, 1789), p. 10Google Scholar; Parker, Samuel, A Sermon (Boston: Thomas Adams, 1793), p. 32Google Scholar.
13 Cf. Williams, George Huntston, “The Wilderness and Paradise in the History of the Church,” Church History 28 (1959), 3–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Miller, Perry, Errand into the Wilderness (1956), pp. 217–239Google Scholar.
14 Miller, Perry, Jonathan Edwards (1949), pp. 307Google Scholar, 285.
15 Cf. particularly, Edwards, Jonathan, A History of the Work of Redemption (New York: Shepard Kollock, 1786Google Scholar); Edwards, Jonathan, History of Redemption, on a Plan Entirely Original (New York: T. and J. Swords, 1793Google Scholar). David Austin, Presbyterian’ clergyman of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, published this last edition with his own historical, critical and theological notes.
16 Cf. Karl Loewith, Meaning in History (1957), pp. 137 f.
17 Cf. Goen, C. C., “Jonathan Edwards: A New Departure in Eschatology,” Church History 28 (1959), 25–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
18 Cf. Hopkins, Samuel, A Treatise on the Millennium (Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, 1793Google Scholar); Linn, William, Discourses on the Signs of the Times (New York: Thomas Grcenleaf, 1794Google Scholar); Austin, David, The Millennium (Elizabeth Town: Shupard Kollock, 1794Google Scholar); Winchester, Elhanan, A Course of Lectures on the Prophecies that remain to be Fulfilled, 3 vols. (London: R. Hawes, 1788Google Scholar, 1789, 1790); Benjamin Rush to Elizabeth G. Ferguson, January 18, 1793, Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. L. H. Butterfield, II (1951), p. 628.
19 John Woodhull, A Sermon (Trenton: Isaac Collins, 1790), p. 22.
20 Winchester, op. cit., II, pp. 369–370.
21 Cf. Hopkins, op. cit., p. 98; Linn, op. cit., pp. 170–171; Austin, op. cit., pp. 394–395.
22 Samuel Stillman, An Oration (Boston: B. Edes and Son, 1789), p. 29.
23 Daniel Foster, A Sermon (Boston: Thomas Adams, 1790), p. 28.
24 David Tappan, A Discourse (Salem: Samuel Hall, 1783), pp. 12–13.
25 Samuel McClintock, op. cit., p. 19.
26 Cf. Brockway, Thomas, America Saved, or Divine Glory Displayed (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1784), p. 12Google Scholar; Tappan, op. cit., pp. 7–8; George Duffield, op. cit., pp. 3–4; Smith, Robert, The Obligations of the Confederate States of North America to Praise God (Philadelphia: Francis Bailye, 1783), p. 28Google Scholar.
27 James Manning and Nathan Miller to the Governor of Rhode Island, September 28, 1786, Rhode Island State Archives.
28 Cf. James H. Smylie, American Clergymen and the Constitution of the United States of America, 1781–1796 (Typed Th.D. Dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary), pp. 176–181; also Forrest McDonald, We the People (1958).
29 Hall, Aaron, An Oration (Keene: James D. Griffith, 1788), pp. 6–7Google Scholar; Cf. Hitchcock, Enos, An Oration (Providence: Bennett, Wheeler, 1758), pp. 9Google Scholar, 12; Rogers, William, An Oration (Philadelphia: T. Dobson, 1789), pp. 16–17Google Scholar.
30 Cf. Samuel Stillman at the Massachusetts ratifying convention, Jonathan Elliot (ed), The Debates in the Several State Conventions, 4 vols. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1836), II, p. 174; Corwin, Edward S., “The Constitution as Instrument and as Symbol,” The American Political Science Review 30 (1936), 1071–1085CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also, Smylie, op. cit., pp. 242–249.
31 Cf. James Dana, Ms. Sermon (n.d.), Rare Book Room, Sterling Library. Yale University.
32 Cf., e.g., Osgood, David, A Sermon (Boston: Benjamin, Russell, 1788), p. 8Google Scholar; Linn, William, The Blessings of America (New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1791), pp. 20–21Google Scholar; McCorkle, Samuel E., A Sermon, on the Comparative Happiness and Duty of the United States of America (Halifax: Abraham Hodge, 1795), pp. 31–32Google Scholar.
33 Maxeey, Jonathan, An Oration (Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1795), pp. 19–20Google Scholar.
34 Austin, op, cit., p. iii.
35 Muir, James, An Examination of the Principles contained in the Age of Reason (Baltimore: S & J Adams, 1795), pp. 115–116Google Scholar.
36 Cf. Stillman, , Thoughts on the French Revolution (Boston: Manning & Loring, 1795), p. 27Google Scholar; Miller, Samuel, A Sermon (New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1793), p. 29Google Scholar; Austin, op. cit., pp. 331, 400–401; also, Hazen, Charles Downer, Contemporary American Opinion of the French Revolution (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1897Google Scholar).
37 Perry Miller, “From the Covenant to the Revival,” op. cit., p. 351.
38 Perry Miller, Jonathan Edwards, op. cit., p. 329.
39 Price, Richard, Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, and The Means of Making it a Benefit to the World (London: Printed; Trenton: Reprinted by Isaac Collins, 1785), p. 87Google Scholar. Price's observations were also published in Boston, Bennington, New Haven, and Philadelphia.
40 Cf. James Muir, op. cit., pp. 151–152; The Prophet Nathan (Hudson: Ashbel Stoddard, 1788), p. 30Google Scholar; The Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer, September 3, 1787; Mason, John Mitchcl, A Sermon (New York: Samuel Loudon & Son, 1793), p. 64Google Scholar; also, Powell, J. H., Bring Out Your Dead (1949), p. 304Google Scholar.
41 Backus, Charles, A Sermon (Springfield: Weld & Thomas, 1788), p. 11Google Scholar. Cf. also, e.g., Langdon, Samuel, The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States (Exeter: Lamson and Ranlet, 1788), p. 29Google Scholar.
42 Charles Nisbet, Ms. Letter (n.d.), Autograph Collection of Simon Gratz, Pennsylvania Historical Society.
43 Madison, Bishop James, Manifestations of the Beneficence of Divine Providence Towards America (Richmond: Thomas Nicolson, 1795), pp. 18–19Google Scholar.
44 Religion and American Society (The Fund for the Republic, Inc., 1961), p. 30.
45 Cf. Psalm 82:6.
46 Samuel Davies, Sermons on Important Subjects, 5th ed., 3 vols. (New York: T. Allen, 1792), III, p. 345. Cf. also sermons concerning the death of Washington, e.g., Benjamin Trumbull, The Majesty and Mortality of Created Gods (New Haven: Read & Morse, 1800), p. 31.
47 Cf. Richard Eddy, Universalism in America, 2 vols. (Boston: Universalist Publishing House, 18S6); Charles Chauncy, Salvation for All Men (Boston: T. and J. Fleet, 17S2), and The Mystery Hid from Ages and Generations, made manifest by the Gospel-Revelation; or, The Salvation of All Men the Grand Thing Aimed at in the Scheme of God (London: C. Dilly, 1784). The following items deal with Universalism in terms of public morality: Isaac Backus, The Doctrine of Universal Salvation Examined and Refuted (Providence: John Carter, 1782) ; Jonathan Edwards, Jr., The Necessity of the Belief of Christianity by the Citizens of the State in Order to our Political Prosperity (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1794); Robert Annan, Brief Animadversions on the Doctrine of Universal Salvation (Philadelphia: R. Aitken & Son, 17S7); Thomas Reese, An Essay on the Influence of Religion in Civil Society (Charleston: Markland & M'lvcr, 1788), p. 32; David Caldwell, ''The Doctrine of Universal Salvation Unscriptural,” in E. \V. Caruthers, A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell (Grecnsborough: Swaim and Sherwood, 1842), pp. 285–302.
48 Goen, op. cit., p. 38.
49 Baptist Henry Abbot at the North Carolina ratifying convention, in Elliot, op. cit., IV, pp. 195–196.
50 Cf. Proverbs 14:34; Samuel West, A Sermon (Boston: Samuel Etheridge, 1795), p. 11.
51 John Murray, Jerubbaal, or Tyranny's Grove Destroyed, and the Altar of Liberty Finished (Newbury-Port: John Mycall, 1784), p. 60.
52 Reese, op. cit., p. 86; cf. also, Andrew Hunter, Ms. Sermon, preached January 5, 1788, October 6, 1793, November, 1795, Speer Library, Princeton Theological Seminary.
53 Reinhold Niebuhr, The Structure of Nations and Empires (1959), pp. 182f.
54 Cf. Smylic, op. cit., pp. 371–376.
55 Samuel Hopkins, A Discourse upon the Slave-Trade, and the Slavery of Africans (Providence: J. Carter, 1793); Jonathan Edwards, Jr., The Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave Trade (New Haven : Thomas and Samuel Green, 1791); Samuel Miller, A Sermon (New York: Thomas Grccnlcaf, 1793), p. ?7; David Rice, Slavery Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy (Philadelphia: 179:; London: M. Gurncy, 1793); Robert Semple, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (Richmond: Joh n O'Lynch, 1810), p. 79; [David Barrow], Circular letter … 1798 (Norfolk: Willett & O'Connor, n.d.), p. 4.
56 Cf. Joshua 7; Samuel Hopkins to Moses Brown, October 22, 1787, Moses Brown Papers, Rhode Island Historical Society.
57 Cf. Minutes of the Warren Association (Boston: John W. Allen, 1787), p. 5; Rice, op. cit., p. 24.
58 Charles Nisbet to Charles Wallace, October 31, 1797, Manuscript Division, New York Public Library; An Address from the Presbytery of Newcastle to th e Congregations under their Care (Wilmington: James Adams, 1785), p. 12; Vcrnon Stauffer, New England and the Bavarian Illuminati (New York: Th e Columbia University Press, 1918).
59 Cf. William Linn, The Blessings of America, op. cit.; Jedidiah Morse, The Present Situation of Other Nations of the World, contrasted with our own (Boston: Samuel Hall, 1795), p. 37.
60 Hans Kohn, op. cit., p. 263.
61 Samuel Miller, op. cit., pp. 17–18.
62 Charles Nisbet to Alexander Addison, January 26, 1786, October 21, 1786, November 5, 1790, all in the Darlington Memorial Library, University of Pittsburgh; Charles Nisbet to Charles Wallace, September 2, 1790, Manuscript Division, New York Public Library. Cf. E. P. Link, Democratic-Republican Societies, 1790–1800 (1942).
63 Hayes emphasizes the importance of a common language and historical traditions, e.g., religious, territorial, political, economic, and cultural. Carlton J. H. Hayes, Nationalism: A Religion (1960).
64 Smylic, op. cit., pp. 65–115; Edward Frank Humphrey, Nationalism and Religion in America, 1774—1789 (1924).
65 Weinberg, A. K., Manifest Destiny (1935Google Scholar); Reinhold Nicbuhr, The Irony of American History (1952).
66 David Potter, People of Plenty (1954).
67 Joseph Sittler has a very suggestive treatment of “The Tyranny of Boundlessness” in American life, see The Ecology of Faith (1961), pp. 14–25.
68 Herbert Butterfield, Christianity and History (1949), p. 58.