The Presbyterians’ Role In America’s Founding

The series continues with a discussion of the Presbyterians around the time of America’s founding. The discussion emphasizes educational efforts and institutions; and relates how these produced many of America’s early statesmen and leaders.

Of most interest to those of us in the South, a discussion begins around the 20:00 mark regarding Virginia and later the Carolina’s. It turns out that Princeton University– a Presbyterian institution at that time– was the model for forming Washington and Lee University and Hampton-Sydney. There is also some discussion of the founding of Union Theological Seminary in Richmond; the University of North Carolina; the University of South Carolina; and Davidson College.

The role of prominent Presbyterians with the adoption of our founding documents is discussed, including but not limited to John Witherspoon and Greensboro’s David Caldwell. There is some discussion of the fact that North Carolina had a religious test to serve in public office– initially one had to be a Protestant; and later pagans and Jews were specifically excluded.

Finally, the speaker points out that Presbyterians were very prominent in urging for the Revolutionary War itself. In fact, the war was called by some the “Presbyterian Rebellion”:

Share:

4 thoughts on “The Presbyterians’ Role In America’s Founding”

  1. It is not your great-grandfather’s Presbyterian church in America today.

    1. You’re right, Fred. The PCUSA– of which Greensboro’s First Presbyterian is part– is thoroughly corrupted; and this denomination represents the majority of Presbyterians in this country. For instance, Union Theological Seminary– probably a pretty good place a long time ago, is now affiliated with the PCUSA. Davidson College is also affiliated with the PCUSA.

      However, there are also some conservative/ orthodox Presbyterian denominations. These represent a minority of American Presbyterians– but they are out there.

  2. I feel like he is a little remiss in implying the Presbyterians came from primarily Scotland. It is significant that most of them in the Carolinas were Ulster Scots, who came from several generations (including previous generations on the Scotland-England border) of people who suffered a lot of abuse. I think I’m right on that…not positive. Witherspoon was from Scotland, but people like Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, & Davie Crockett were Ulster Scots (aka Scots-Irish).

    If memory serves, David Caldwell voted with the majority to reject the Constitution at the 1788 Hillsborough Constitutional, largely because it lacked a Bill of Rights. Rightly so.

    I think the founding of Washington & Lee as “Liberty Hall” by a Presbyterian minister in 1774 says a lot about the ideology underpinning the Revolution, something much ignored in novels, dramatizations, and talks on the Revolution these days. Both Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon were named for flaming libertarians.

    1. Thanks for the clarifications, J. Sobran. Definitely a rich history is uncovered with these lectures.

      And yes, the Scots-Irish were part of this picture; North Carolina refrained on the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was introduced; and liberty pulsed through the entire time period.

Comments are closed.