Black Robes: God's Patriots that Prepared America for Indepenence

Abstract

The various causes of the American Revolution have been studied for centuries by numerous scholars. Of the many causes, the role of colonial clergy, while once studied regularly, has not received the same level of academic attention in recent years. Many ministers are noted for the direct impact they had on intellectually preparing colonial Americans for the American Revolution. John Wise, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, preached sermons against oppressive royal governance on topics such as the principle that taxation without representation is tyranny. These political sermons would captivate colonial thought in the proceeding decades. Another clergyman of colonial America was George Whitefield. Whitefield traveled the colonies during the First Great Awakening, preaching to the colonists on the importance of unification and in the belief of God with his “Father Abraham Sermons.” The unification of faith would later extend into the political realm through the creation of a uniquely American identity. A third major figure was Jonathan Mayhew. His sermon on unlimited submission paved the way for the colonial population, who were regular church attendees, to have a Biblical basis for their rebellion against the British Crown. These ministers laid the foundation for a colonial population to be prepared for a political and military revolution.