In this Book

buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary
This interdisciplinary volume brings together essays on eleven of the founders of the American republic—Abigail Adams, Samuel Adams, Oliver Ellsworth, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Paine, Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Rush, Roger Sherman, and Mercy Otis Warren—many of whom are either little recognized today or little appreciated for their contributions. The essays focus on the thinking of these men and women on the proper role of religion in public life, including but not limited to the question of the separation of church and state. Their views represent a wide range of opinions, from complete isolation of church and state to tax-supported clergy. These essays present a textured and nuanced view of the society that came to a consensus on how religion would fit in the public life of the new nation. They reveal that religion was more important in the lives and thinking of many of the founders than is often portrayed and that it took the interplay of disparate and contrasting views to frame the constitutional outline that eventually emerged.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Frontmatter
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Foreword
  2. pp. ix-xi
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Preface
  2. pp. xiii-xxi
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. Famous Founders and Forgotten Founders: What’s the Difference, and Does the Difference Matter?
  2. pp. 1-25
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. The Way of Duty: Abigail Adams and Religion
  2. pp. 26-39
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. Samuel Adams: America’s Puritan Revolutionary
  2. pp. 40-64
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4. Oliver Ellsworth’s Calvinist Vision of Church and State in the Early Republic
  2. pp. 65-100
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. Alexander Hamilton, Theistic Rationalist
  2. pp. 101-124
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. Patrick Henry, Religious Liberty, and the Search for Civic Virtue
  2. pp. 125-144
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. John Jay and the "Great Plan of Providence"
  2. pp. 145-170
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. Thomas Paine’s Civil Religion of Reason
  2. pp. 171-195
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. Anglican Moderation: Religion and the Political Thought of Edmund Randolph
  2. pp. 196-219
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 10. Benjamin Rush and Revolutionary Christian Reform
  2. pp. 220-247
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 11. Roger Sherman: An Old Puritan in a New Nation
  2. pp. 248-277
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 12. Mercy Otis Warren on Church and State
  2. pp. 278-294
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. For Further Reading
  2. pp. 295-303
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 304-305
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 306-316
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.