Patriotism and Piety: Federalist Politics and Religious Struggle In the New American Nation

In the first chapter, the author quotes John Jay saying that Christian ideals as the foundation of public behavior, and crediting Christian values with many of the traits that led to independence . However, let’s look at this in context of Christianity at the time; the Anglican church favored monarchy, the Congregationalists  looked down on English holidays as a holdover from Catholicism, and all the other sects, be they Quakers or evangelicals, got along as best as they could. Jay wasn’t sure about having a minister deliver opening prayers at the Continental Congress, out of fear that any one of the numerous denominations. At the same time he tried to exclude Catholics from the legislature, on the grounds that they were only loyal to the Pope in Rome.

This book uses examples of early Federalists to explain the role of religion in society at the time. For instance, you had Caleb Strong, a Massachusetts politician, who was something of a “law and order” type. Maybe it was shay’s Rebellion, maybe it was the lawlessness following the revolution, either way he believed that religion was essential to order. He was big on public morals, public observation of the Sabbath, but he wasn’t about to force everyone to go to church, nor would he have tried to fund the churches with public money. In those days it was common to force pubs to either open later or close altogether on Sunday, and even close regular stores on Sunday. Religion at the time had more to do with morals and behavior than anything spiritual.

My only fault with this book is that the characters should be listed in the introduction. Most of these were men I’d never heard of, so the book is a bit difficult to follow. I also would have liked some photos in the book, because I have no idea what a lot of these men looked like. There’s an illustration available online, of the men at the Continental Congress kneeling on the floor and praying, hands clasped together or raised heavenward, which I suppose would prove that all those delegates were god-fearing. However, it would’ve been painted long after the fact, and I would also question it in terms of practicality. Would all those guys have stopped proceedings to pray like that? The delegates were all businessmen, and they were all under deadline, so I suspect it would’ve been more like 5 minutes of bowed heads and silence, followed by a short sermon.

Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish community, I went to the Synagogue every Saturday, and saw no patience on the part of the educated businessmen. They couldn’t stand the Cantor’s yodeling, and by the last four prayers, everyone was unruly. Something tells me that the founding fathers would not have had the patience to sit through a three hour Baptist service every Sunday.