John Leland, Baptists, and the Politics of Religious Freedom in New England: 1740-1833

• Other Authors: Hicks, Jacob E. (Jacob Eugene) (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Religion; History
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_2017SP_Hicks_fsu_0071E_13852

My dissertation analyzes how New England Baptists, and specifically Baptist minister John Leland (1754-1841), participated in local, statewide, and national politics to attempt to overturn the Congregational Church in Massachusetts from 1740 to 1833. Historians who have examined Leland and the Baptists of his time either through the lens of individualism or communitarianism have created a binary that has reified both categories. Rather, by not choosing which lens is "best," I take into account the unique blend of both individualistic and communitarian elements that motivated New England Baptists' involvement in politics, which occurred in four stages. Stage one demonstrates the importance of Baptist communities providing ambitious young men like Leland with the necessary skillset (effective public-speaking, mediating church disputes between individuals, networking with other churches) to become political activists. Central to analyzing stage two is employing social theorist Michel de Certeau's explanation of the difference between "tactics" and "strategy" to show how, in between the Great Awakening and 1792, Baptists gradually departed from haphazard tactics of fighting the Congregationalist establishment to implementing a strategy that united fiercely-independent Baptist churches into the Warren Association. This association helped Baptists lobby for religious freedom with one political voice. In stage three, Leland built upon the successes of the Warren Association in uniting Baptists by encouraging Baptists to adopt a political ecumenist approach in which they would partner with non-Baptists in the new Democratic-Republican Party of the late 1790s and early 1800s to thwart the Congregationalist/Federalist alliance. Leland believed that his approach was necessary because Baptists alone did not have the political clout or numbers to effect change. Baptists and other Democratic-Republicans worked together to pass The Religious Freedom Act of 1811, which gave all religious bodies the right to exist and receive taxes in Massachusetts. Stage four highlights how by the 1820s New England Baptists' and Congregationalists' hostilities died down because both groups saw the need to evangelize the frontier and the "heathen" abroad and battle the forces of religious unbelief (Deism, Socinianism, Unitarianism, Universalism, etc.). They created similar institutions like seminaries and voluntary societies to marshal the religious impulses of average people in the pew to solve the problems of their day. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2017. === April 14, 2017. === Baptists, Congregationalists, John Leland, networking, New England, religious liberty === Includes bibliographical references. === Amanda Porterfield, Professor Directing Dissertation; Edward Gray, University Representative; John Corrigan, Committee Member; Michael McVicar, Committee Member.