Political Sermons of the Founding Era

This is a Reading List based upon a Liberty Fund Conference on “Liberty in the Political Sermons of the American Founding Era.”

Liberty in the Political Sermons of the American Founding Era

Guide to the Readings

Edition used:

• Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805, 2 vols, Foreword by Ellis Sandoz (2nd ed. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998).

See also the Topic:

• The American Revolution and Constitution.

Session I: Liberty and Religious Understandings of Civil Government.

• §3 Elisha Williams’s “The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants” (1744), pages 55–78 and 97–118 (46 pages)
• § 32 Samuel Langdon’s “The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States” (1788), pages 945–967 (23 pages).

Session II: The Connections of Religious and Civil Liberty.

• §17 John Witherspoon’s “The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men” (1776), pages 533–558 (26 pages)
• §37 John Leland’s “The Rights of Conscience Inalienable” (1791), pages 1083–1099 (17 pages).

Session III: Christianity, Liberty, and Rebellion.

• §12 from Samuel Sherwood’s “Scriptural Instructions to Civil Rulers” (1774), pages 394–407 (14 pages)
• §13 John Wesley’s “A Calm Address to Our American Colonies” (1775), pages 413–420 (8 pages).

Session IV: Religious Practice and Religious Liberty After Disestablishment.

• §11 Isaac Backus’s “An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty” (1773), pages 331–367 (38 pages)
• §38 David Tappan’s “A Sermon for the Day of General Election” (1792), pages 1105–1127 (23 pages).

Session V: Comparing American Religion and Religious Liberty to the British Experience.

• §34 Richard Price’s “A Discourse on the Love of Our Country” (1790), pages 1009–1028 (20 pages).

Session VI: Comparing American Religion and Religious Liberty to the French Experience.

• §48 Timothy Dwight’s “The Duty of Americans, At the Present Crisis” (1798), pages 1367–1394 (28 pages).