Did You Know that Half the Declaration's Signers Had Divinity School Training?

History News Network ^ | 5/30/05 | LS

[LS]

After reading "A Patriot's History," the editor of HNN asked me to write something on the Founders and religion.

[lilylangtree]

Tell that to the ACLU and they'll sue to de-constitutionalize our country.

[ConservativeMind]

Thank you.

[muir_redwoods]

That's partly bacause most schools were religiously affiliated. Yale was a seminary when it began.

[Matchett-PI]

BTTT!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Vanderbilt were all originally divinity schools. They still have divinity courses becaue it is required in their charters but they are only token courses often taught by people who view Christianity as for the unenlightend, unwashed masses.

[kabar]

Here is a list of the signers and their religious affiliations:

Signers of The Declaration of Independence

Framers of the Constitution

[Matchett-PI]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1412896/posts?page=129#129
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1412896/posts?page=130#130
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1412896/posts?page=152#152
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1412896/posts?page=153#153
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1412896/posts?page=154#154
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1412896/posts?page=160#160

[Knitting A Conundrum]

At least one of the signers, George Ross, was the son of an Anglican minister.

[Temple Owl]

Swarthmore was a Quaker institution.

[guitar Josh]

Interesting.

[Racehorse]

Alexander Hamilton stated that he would “willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station.” But of course, Hamilton had gotten that training from a New Jersey minister, who funded his education.

His education was paid for by a stipend donated by the St. Croix business community.  They had hopes he might become a doctor and return to the island to set up practice.  Must be thinking about Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian minister, a graduate of the College of New Jersey, who some think was responsible for motivating the St. Croix business people to set up Hamilton's stipend.

His earlier education was done privately by a local Jewess.  His family history probably kept him out of the local religious school.

[Bigh4u2]

A letter written to Edward Stevens from the West Indies during Hamilton's early employment at the counting



house.http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/burr/HamLettertoFriend.htm

[chaosagent]

bookmark

[LS]

Interestingly the "logo" at Harvard was three books, two turned face up, but one turned face down to symbolize that man will not know all truth. Moreover, the original motto was "Veritas et Christo" Truth and Christ. Now, the logo is three books, all face up, and just "Veritas."

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Did you know that after flunking out of Harvard Law, Algore flunked out of divinity school at Vanderbilt?

[Bommer]

A real interesting essay would be how this whole separation of church & state was implemented by the Supreme Court, the players involved, how they got away with this and why?

[Racehorse]

A letter written to Edward Stevens . . .

Much, much thanks!  That's the source of it, alright!

Some speculate, based solely on reports of their close resemblance, that Edward Stevens was Hamilton's half-brother.

Cannot imagine a 14 year old writing such a letter.  Not the kind of prose I would have written at that age.  But then, even his poetry surpasses the maudlin doggerel I did pen at about the same age.  And of course, he did pretty much run that counting house.  Quite a remarkable person, that Hamilton.

[ConservativeDude]

This headline is both accurate but slightly misleading.

It is true (as already posted) in the sense that all schools were "divinity schools" in that day....It was commonplace for the educated class to have an education would would rival the clergy and be almost indistinguishable from the clergy. That is extremely significant.

That said, it is not true that they were seminary graduates in the sense that we think of it today....Only John Witherspoon was a clergyman, although two of the others had been clergy in a previous life.

But each of Harvard, Yale and Princeton were basically like seminaries or would look like what we would think of nowadays as a seminary.

Also...John Adams' father was a minister of the Gospel and he desired John to follow in his footsteps, but John chose the law. I'm sure others were the sons of ministers in addition to Adams and Ross.

[ConservativeDude]

" while John Adams was the most overtly pious"

I believe Witherspoon would strongly disagree with that...

Also...did y'all know that Ben Franklin proposed once in a letter to the evangelist George Whitefield that they start a colony in Ohio in order to evangelize it and train up the "savages" there to become members of Christian civilization?

Thus...we se yet again what the author of this piece is getting at: even the least religious of the founders were more evangelical than our most religious today.