Revolutionary Anglicanism : The Colonial Church of England Clergy during the American Revolution

Decisions of loyalism or patriotism were rarely easy during the American Revolution, and the colonial Anglican clergy, all of whom had taken oaths to the King and his Church, faced a particularly difficult dilemma.

Revolutionary governments demanded that they repudiate their oaths, end prayers for the King and alter the liturgy.

Examining the plight of these clergymen, this study tracks down every one of the 300-plus Anglican ministers in the 13 colonies to assess their diverse political opinions and collective strategies for personal and institutional survival. Whilst the Revolution transformed and politicized the civilian population, Nancy L.

Rhoden finds that most Anglican clergy experienced a process of depoliticization as they attempted to negotiate a volatile political climate in which they were viewed with grave suspicion by their revolutionary neighbours.

This non-political foundation facilitated the creation of the American Episcopal Church, which began to embrace the new religious paradigms of the American republic. By emphasizing the Revolution as a rejection not only of the English monarch but of his Church, the book implicitly challenges the long-standing tradition which has placed Puritanism or evangelical religion at the centre of the early American religious experience.