The rise of religious liberty in America : a history

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THE RISE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN AMERICA

Preface

Though the title of this work suggests a topic having a religious aspect, yet the book itself offers no history of the churches or of religion in America. That field is well occupied by such works as those of Baird, Dorchester, Bacon, and others, and by denominational histories. The aim of the present work is political rather than religious. It attempts a systematic narrative — so far as the author is aware, not hitherto published — of that historical development through which the civil law in America came at last, after much struggle, to the decree of entire liberty of conscience and of worship. It is thus purely historical, and confines itself rigidly to those incidents in colonial history which are closely related to this special theme. The purpose is to exhibit in proper historical sequence those influences and events which guided the American republics to their unique solution of the world-old problem of Church and State — a solution so unique, so far-reaching, and so markedly diverse from European principles as to constitute the most striking contribution of America to the science of government.

With such aim and for the double purpose of correcting certain popular misconceptions and of placing plainly before the mind the complete goal of this historical progress, it has seemed desirable to define in the first chapter the elements of a pure religious liberty, as that principle has embedded itself in the American mind and law. Besides, in order that this principle and its development might be shown in true historical relations, it seemed further needful to describe in the second chapter, so briefly as possible, the viii PREFACE

genesis and growth of the " Old World Idea " in regard to Church and State, which obtained in full force in every European government at the time of American colonization, with which the American liberty stands in so sharp a contrast, and from the bonds of which the story will show the colonies gradually setting themselves free.

As to works cited, it is proper to specially note that the citations from Bancroft's " History of the United States " refer to the 23d (8 vol.) edition, Boston, 1864 ; also, that in the sketch of the " Old World Idea," in view of its special place in this treatise, the author has felt at liberty to depend largely upon the very acute and comprehensive monograph, " Church and State," by A. Innes of Edinburgh, whose page is cited in every instance of direct quotation.

Table Of Contents

Its unique character — American law — Church and State — Definition of the principle — Strictly an American idea — Growth — Roger Williams — Contents of liberty — Not simply freedom of conscience

— Dr. Francis Lieber — Spinoza — Liberty not toleration — Lord Stanhope — Paine — Relation to civil law — Heresy — Interferences of civil law — In Russia — In England — Mutual limitations of Church and State in America — Independence of each other — Williams quoted — William Penn — Fostering environment of colonial life — Points of distinction — Lieber — Kent — Rawle — Cooley

II

Church and State in Europe — A problem of western Christendom — A Christian problem — The Hebrew theocracy — Pagan conditions — At first Christianity religio illicita — Spread of the Church — Persecution by Diocletian — Toleration of Galerius — Constantine — Edict of Milan — Proclamation to the peoples of the East — A full Religious Liberty — Repression of heathenism by sons of Constantine

— Christianity established by law — Ambrose — Augustine — His maxim — Episcopal power — The Church saves society — Rome — Epochs of development — Claims of the Church — Gregory the Great

— Charlemagne — Subjection of the Church to the empire — Hildebrand — Henry IV. — Canossa — Investitures — Innocent III. — Church supremacy — Frederic II. — Rise of nationalism — Boniface VIII. — Edward I. — Philip the Fair — No freedom of conscience in nationalism — Protestantism — Lutheran and Reformed — Power of princes — Cujus regio, ejus religio — Conceded by Protestants — Peace of Augsburg — Luther — Confession of Augsburg — Calvin — Helvetic Confessions — French Confession — Zwinglius — Belgic Confession — Arminius — Church of England — Church of Scotland — Westminster Confession — Erastus — Grotius — Spinoza — Cartwright —

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PAGE

Hooker — Exceptions to supremacy of State few — Cromwell — Vane — Quakers — John Locke — English Toleration Act — Burke

— Anabaptists 19

III COLONIAL BEGINNINGS

Most of the colonies begun under dominance of the European principle

— Persecution wroug or right according to the character of the doctrine — Pilgrim tolerance — Massachusetts intolerance — John Cotton — Virginia conformity — Three systems — Four groups of colonies — Origin of colonial establishments — Influence of English government 67

IV Church Of England Establishments

Established by charter or legislation and remaining until the Revolution 74

1. Virginia

Religious motive in foundation of colony — Sir Walter Raleigh — Church established — Robert Hunt — Whitaker — Governor Dale — "Lawes Divine, Moral and Martial" — Argal — Wyatt — Virginia becomes a royal province — Care for the Church — Religious legislation— Ministers — Lord Baltimore expelled from Virginia — Early toleration — Puritans in Virginia — Severer measures — Romanists

— Sir William Berkeley — Boston ministers driven away — Vestries and patronage — The period of the commonwealth — Quakers — The Restoration — Stringent laws against dissent — Scattered settlement— "Virginia's Cure" — Clerical morals — Schools and printing

— Francis Mackemie — Toleration Act — Huguenots — Persecutions

— Baptists — Other sects — Methodists — Scotch Presbyterians — Whitefield — Samuel Morris — Irregular religious services — Governor Gooch — Presbytery of Newcastle — Acts of repression — Samuel Davies — John Rodgers — Forbidden to preach — Davies's triumphant defence — Growing disaffection to the establishment — Causes of it — "Disarming Papists" — Two-Penny Act — "Parsons' Cause" — Patrick Henry — Persecution of Baptists — Fall of

the establishment 74

2. The Carolinas

Charter — Anglican Church established — Toleration — Religious control — Dissenters — " Fundamental Constitutions " — Atheists excluded — Church of England — Rules for dissenting churches —

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PAGK

Irreligion outlawed — Religious destitution — Anglican immigration

— Plot against dissenters — First clergyman in colony — Governor Archdale — Act of 1704 — Dissenters disfranchised — A lay ecclesiastical court — The people of the colony — Quakers — Act of 1704 annulled — Letters of the clergy — Morals of the clergy — Few churches — Charter abrogated and province divided — Establishment only nominal in North Carolina — South Carolina church laws

— Chapels of ease — Three-fourths of the population averse to the establishment 115

V

PURITAN ESTABLISHMENTS

All New England outside of Rhode Island — Congregationalism — Established by colonial legislation — Distinctions among the colonies . 133

1. Plymouth

From Scrooby to Holland — Attempts to emigrate to America — Lord Bacon — Plymouth Company — Emigration as a church — Mayflower Compact — Freedom of conscience — Freeman's law — Tolerant spirit — Religious legislation — ' ' Presbyterian Cabal ' ' — Criticism by Massachusetts — Quakers — Hubbard — Chauncy — Lechford — Oldham — Doughty — Thomas Morton — Governor Bradford — Comparative isolation of Plymouth — United with Massachusetts . . 133

2. TJie Massachusetts TJieocracy

First settlers on the Bay — Coming of Endicott — Salem — Charter to "Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay" — Religious attitude of the Puritans — Endicott's administration — Religious aim — "The Planters' Plea" — " Scottow's Narrative" — Company's instructions — Organization of Church at Salem — Civil power over religion — Expulsion of the Brownes — "New England's Plantation"— Emigration of 1630 — John Winthrop — Dudley — Cotton's ' ' Abstract of Laws ' ' — Tax for support of Church — Voluntary support in Boston — Morton of Merry-Mount — Freemen — Franchise made dependent on membership in State-Church — Reasons for exclusiveness — Act of 1635 completing the establishment — Inquisitorial power — No right of presentation — Origin of the establishment

— Domicile — Heresy — Contempt — Non-attendance at church — Romanists — New England Confederacy — Power of the ministers — Civil Code — Roger Williams — Process against him — His flight — Reasons for the persecution — Mrs. Hutchinson — Antinomian controversy — Sir Harry Vane — Wheelwright — Synod of 1637 — xii TABLE OF CONTENTS

Action of general court — Remonstrance — Banishment of Mrs. Hutchinson — Church trial and censure — Harvard College — Samuel Gorton — " Presbyterian Cabal " — " New England's Jonas Cast-up at London" — Cambridge Synod — Civil interferences — William Pynchon — Clarke and Holmes at Lynn — SaltonstalPs letter — Cotton's reply — "Simple Cobler of Aggawam" — The English commonwealth — More repression — Popery and Christmas — Moral laxity — Non-church members — Half- Way Covenant — Synod of Boston, 1662 — Widening of franchise — Quakers — Their offensive conduct — Frantic legislation — Executions — Disapproval of the people — Reproof of the king — Judgment on the persecution — Its effect on the theocracy — Suffrage and Episcopacy — Royal commissioners to the colonies — New law of franchise — Baptists persecuted

— Popular disapproval — The charter revoked — Governor Andros — Struggle for Episcopal services — Proclamation of religious liberty by James II. — Boston regards it suspiciously — Accession of William III. — New Massachusetts charter absorbs Plymouth — All religious restriction on suffrage removed — Church support — The Five-Mile Act — The Great Awakening — Futile efforts to obtain a synod in 1725 — Loss of ministerial power 148

3. Connecticut

Foundation a protest against ecclesiasticism of the Bay — The younger Winthrop and Hooker — Saybrook — Character and attitude of Hooker — Settlement on the Connecticut in 1638 — Civil power in the Church — Church polity — Liberality — The franchise — Legislative care of the churches — High moral and non-political purpose of magistrates — No persecutions — Organization of churches — Maintenance of the ministry — Beginnings of voluntary system — Meeting-houses — The legislature an Ecclesiastical Court — Legislative interest in Spiritual Affairs — Half- Way Covenant — Religious life — Report on state of religion by the general association of ministers to the legislature — Saybrook Synod and Platform — By the legislature made law — Dissent — Quakers — Charter of 1662 — Royal commissioners — Acknowledgment of liberty of opinion — Report of Governor Leete, 1680 — Under James II. and William III.

— First movements towards organized dissent — Episcopal Church at Stratford — Act of 1708 — Defection of Cutler and Johnson — Disorders — Church rates — "Act for ease of such as soberly dissent," 1727 — The Great Awakening — Disturbances — New law for dissenters, 1743 — Distinction against Romanists — The Moravians at Sharon and Kent — Silenced and driven away — Protest of Zinzendorf — The "Separates," or "New Lights" — Absence of theocratic ideal 238

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4. The New Haven Theocracy

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More strict than Massachusetts — Eaton and Davenport — Settlement on the Quinnipiac — "Civil Government according to God" — Constitution — Seven Pillars — Religious function of government — Unity of Church and State — "Blue Laws" — Franchise — New England Confederacy — " Jurisdiction " — Milford — Quakers — Drastic laws against them — Discontent with limited franchise — Union with Connecticut — Regicides — Davenport removes to Boston — Pierson founds Newark in New Jersey 280

5. New Hampshire

Founded hy exiles for conscience — "Agreement" for government — Wheelwright — Franchise — Religious establishment — Support of the Church — Union with Massachusetts — Quakers — Union dissolved, 1679 — New Hampshire becomes a royal province — Franchise given to "all Englishmen-Protestants" — Church support again — Governor Cranfield — Attempt to establish the Church of England — Persecution of Rev. Joshua Moody — Church a town establishment — Not much legislation on religious matters — Method of choosing ministers — Religious tests — Legislature considers propriety of publishing a religious treatise 290

VI

Modifications during the colonial period of the relations between Church and State 301

1. New York

The Dutch West India Company — Settlement on Manhattan — Care of religion — Reformed Church established — Patroons — Quarrel on appointment of minister — Company exercise authority over churches and minister — Megapolensis — Bogardus — Stuyvesant — Toleration — Ann Hutchinson — Ministerial support — Stuyvesant dictates to ministers — Action against Lutherans — Baptism — Religious powers of a commercial company — Jews — Baptists — Act against "conventicles" — Persecution at Flushing — Harsh treatment of Quakers — John Bowne — English conquest, 1664 — Return of Dutch power in 1673-1674 — Evertsen and Colve — Their action in religious affairs — Fall of Reformed Establishment — Dutch privileges secured by treaty — The " Duke's Laws " — Freedom and establishment — Proclamation of religious liberty by James II. — Andros — Right of presentation — Struggle with the Dutch Church at Albany— Ordination of Tesschenmacker — "Charter of Liberxiv TABLE OF CONTENTS ties" — Beginning of effort to establish the Church of England — Dongan — Leisler — Komanists — Accession of William and Mary — Royal instructions to governors concerning churches — Oath of supremacy — Fletcher's struggle with the legislature to obtain an act establishing the Anglican Church — Act of 1693 — Does not establish the Church of England — Fletcher's anger — The act construed by the legislature — Collegiate Reformed Church charter — Incorporation refused to Lutherans and Presbyterians — Charter of Trinity Church — Lord Cornbury — His attempt to induct a minister in the Reformed Church at Kingston — Dictates to the Church of Kinderhook — Denounces heresy — The Jamaica Church — Patronage

— Antonides and Freeman — Resistance of the former — Mackemie

— His trial — Governor Hunter — King's Farm — Hunter's letters

— Quakers — Moravians — Act against them — Governor Clinton — Waning power — The nondescript establishment — Its fall . . 301

2. Maryland

Calvert — Maryland patent — Religious freedom — Power of proprietary

— Intent of charter and of Baltimore — Character of Baltimore — Objections to the charter — Settlement — Clayborne — First assembly— Exclusion of clergy — " Body of Laws" — Church liberties — Clergy subjected to civil law — Protestant majority — Bennett — Romanist officials — Discontent — Act of Toleration — Non-Trinitarians excepted — Oath of fidelity — Puritan ingratitude — English commonwealth — Cromwell rebukes the Puritans — Quakers — Treachery of James II. — Writ against the charter — William III. — Puritan plot — Coode's assembly — Charter revoked by William — Church of England established — Proscription of Roman Catholics — Non-conformity — Act of 1700 — Commissary Bray — His troubles

— The clergy — Induction by the governor — No effective discipline

— Restoration of Baltimore — Offer of a suffragan — Stipends — "Proclamation and Vestry Act" — Non- conformists — Quakers — Romanists — Act of 1704 — Not very effective 362

3. New Jersey

Settlement of Newark — The proprietaries — The ' ' Concessions ' ' — Quaker purchase of West Jersey — "The Jerseys" — West Jersey

— Freedom of conscience — Civil rights — East Jersey — Limitations

— Political turmoil — Government of the Crown — Romanists — Queen Anne — Instructions to Cornbury — Assumption of ecclesiastical power — Church of England never established in New Jersey

— Quaker party — Quakers in office — Refuse to defend the colony

— Colonel Quary — Lewis Morris — Governor Hunter — Act for relief of Quakers — The fiction of an establishment — Presbyterian Society — Charter granted 399

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4. Georgia

PAGE

Oglethorpe — Charter — Eeligious freedom for all "except Papists" — No establishment — Care for religion — Charter voided in 1752 — Province assumed by the Crown — Church of England established . 418

VII

No State-Church at any time in fact or pretence — The Rhode Island conception of liberty broader than that of Pennsylvania — In both colonies the liberty of the individual complete 422

1. Rhode Island The fugitive Williams — Beginning — Letter to Mason — Providence Plantation — Design of foundation — Williams's principle — His character — Rhode Island Settlement — Warwick charter — Code of laws — Dangers — Entrance to Confederacy denied — Hostility — Effort for new charter — Charles II. — Charter of 1663 — The " lively experiment" — Full liberty — Quakers — Pseudo-legislation against Romanists — Disorders 423

2. Pennsylvania and Delaware William Penn — Charter — Penn's "Address" — The "holy experiment"— Frame of government — Religious restrictions — Faith in Jesus Christ necessary to the franchise — Assembly of 1682 — The "Great Law" — Enfranchisement of Romanists — Soon cut off by Test Oath of William — Penn in England — Legislature adopts the test — Naturalization — Pennsylvania narrower than other colonies

— No persecution — Disarming Romanists — Absurdity of laws against Romanists 440

Delaware, a part of Pennsylvania, shared in her spirit and law — One instance of discrimination 452

VIII

The demand for an American Episcopate — Need of bishops — For discipline and ordination — Reformed Church dependent on Classis of Amsterdam — Differing relations to government — Civil status of the Church of England — Early demands for appointment of bishops

— Episcopal supervision — Commissary — Clerical morals — Governor Hart of Maryland — Dean Swift — Church rates — Letters from the colonies — English sentiment — Johnson of Stratford — Dr. Mayhew against the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

— Archbishop Seeker's reply — Chandler's "Appeal" — Answer by Dr. Chauncey — Newspapers — Reasons for opposition to bishops

— Ulterior designs — The weak point in the plea — " Dissenters " —

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Southern colonies — Sympathy with both parties — Strange indifference of the authorities in England — Toryism — Prayers for the king — English cupidity and jealousy — Mingling of the question with that of political independence — Cessation of all opposition after the Kevolution 454