America's First Chaplain: The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duche (Studies in the Eighteenth Century and the Atlantic World): The Life and ... America and the Atlantic World) 161146143X, 9781611461435

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Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved. Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:23:40.

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved.

America’s First Chaplain

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Studies in Eighteenth-Century America and the Atlantic World co-sponsored by The Lawrence Henry Gipson Institute for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Lehigh University General Editor: Scott Paul Gordon, Lehigh University Publishing rich, innovative scholarship that extends and enlarges the field of early American studies, Studies in Eighteenth-Century America and the Atlantic World embraces interdisciplinary work in eighteenth-century transatlantic literature, history, visual arts, material culture, religion, education, law, and medicine.

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Titles in the Series America’s First Chaplain: The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duchè, by Kevin J. Dellape Contested Commonwealths: Essays in American History, by William A. Pencak “Food for Apollo”: Cultivated Music in Antebellum Pennsylvania, by Dorothy T. Potter The Ordeal of Thomas Barton: Anglican Missionary in the Pennsylvania Backcountry, 1755-1780, by James P. Myers, Jr., Self, Community, World: Moravian Education in a Transatlantic World, edited by Heikki Lempa and Paul Peucker, Thomas Barclay (1728-1793): Consul in France, Diplomat in Barbary, by Priscilla H. Roberts and Richard S. Roberts Gentlewomen and Learned Ladies: Women and Elite Families in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia, by Sarah Fatherly Music, Women, and Pianos: The Moravian Young Ladies’ Seminary in Antebellum Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (1815-1860), by Jewel A. Smith Backcountry Crucibles: The Lehigh Valley from Settlement to Steel, edited by Jean R. Soderlund and Catherine S. Parzynski Francis Johnson (1792-1844): Chronicle of a Black Musician in Early Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia, by Charles K. Jones Promised Land: Penn’s Holy Experiment, The Walking Purchase, and the Dispossession of Delawares, 1600-1763, by Steven Craig Harper

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

America’s First Chaplain

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved.

The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché Kevin J. Dellape

LEHIGH UNIVERSITY PRESS Bethlehem Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Published by Lehigh University Press Copublished with Rowman & Littlefield 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com 10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom Copyright © 2013 by Kevin J. Dellape

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dellape, Kevin J. America's first chaplain : the life and times of the Reverend Jacob Duché / Kevin J. Dellape. pages cm. -- (Studies in eighteenth-century America and the Atlantic world) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61146-143-5 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-61146-144-2 (electronic) 1. Duché, Jacob, 1738-1798. 2. Church of England--United States--Clergy--Biography. 3. Episcopal Church--Clergy--Biography. 4. United States--Church history--18th century. I. Title. BX5995.D835D45 2013 283.092--dc23 [B] 2013030164 TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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for mom and dad with love and appreciation for your guidance and unfailing support

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved. Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Contents

Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

ix xi xiii

The Rise of the Duchés Education Assistant Minister Ideology The Prayer Independence and Disaffection The Letter Attainder Exile Return Conclusion

Bibliography Index About the Author

1 17 35 55 71 95 117 137 153 171 181 189 201 209

vii Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved. Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Illustrations

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First Prayer in Congress, 1774, T.H. Matteson Painting Figure 1.1 Christ Church by William Strickland, oil on canvas, 1811 Figure 2.1 Jacob Duché, Jr., Portrait Figure 3.1 Duché Mansion Figure 5.1 Interior of Christ Church Figure 8.1 Jacob and Elizabeth Duché Figure 9.1 Jacob and son Thomas Spence Duché

ix Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved. Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved.

Acknowledgments

There are a number of people whose gracious assistance and encouragement contributed to the completion of this work, many of whom labor tediously behind the scenes to make historical scholarship possible. These good folks include Iris Bierlein at the Maryland Historical Society, Karie Diethorn at the Independence National History Museum, Don Goldberg and Ellen Bonett at Carpenter’s Hall, the staff of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the staff of Pattee library at the Pennsylvania State University. Donald Smith, the Executive Director of Christ Church Preservation Trust, was enormously helpful in giving me access to the archives of the church on many occasions. Also helpful at Christ Church were Rev. Timothy Stafford, church historian Neil Ronk, parish administrator Cecilia Wagner, and the rest of the friendly and devoted staff. Several others read portions of the manuscript or assisted with research along the way. These include June Weston of Penn State Altoona and Randy Yoder and Maria Peachey of Belleville Mennonite School. Finally, Monica Najar, the editor of Lehigh University Press and Judi Mayer, also of Lehigh University Press, were incredibly patient, kind, and helpful as they gently walked me through the editorial process. Two Penn State professors provided assistance and direction without which this work would not be possible. John B. Frantz, my graduate school advisor and mentor, introduced me to Jacob Duché and suggested that he would be an excellent subject for research. Dr. Frantz, now retired, was with me every step of the way in this project which took me more than two decades to complete. Along the way he taught me how to research and write but more importantly he taught me valuable life lessons in kindness, helpfulness, and discipline. William A. Pencak, Dr. Frantz’s successor in the history department at Penn State and also now retired, provided a prodigious amount of assistance in the later years of the project. He read my manuscript repeatedly and provided enormous insight into how to bring a biography together and make it worthy of being published. These two professors embody the essence of what a college professor should be and I am grateful for their support and encouragement but mostly just for having the opportunity to know them. Finally, I am grateful for the love and support of my wonderful family. My wife Lisa read the entire manuscript, traveled with me to Philadelphia, and graciously listened as I told her the story of this fascinating man. My son John Dellape assisted me with research and provided a xi

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

xii

Acknowledgments

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listening ear as well as several key observations. My daughter Jamie Mauk and her husband Jason provided support and encouragement along the way as well as the wonderful distraction of four grandsons. Most importantly, my mom and dad, John and Vonda Dellape, served as the inspiration for this work. They typed my graduate seminar papers, listened attentively to this extraordinary story, read portions of the manuscript, and were always available to help, encourage, and offer advice. When life’s distractions pulled me away from this project, they would gently remind me of its value and encourage me to consider picking it up again. For teaching me the value of faith, love, and finishing what you start, I dedicate this work to them, the two most extraordinary people I know.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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Introduction

Jacob Duché has two claims to fame. He offered the most famous prayer of the American Revolution and he authored one of the most infamous letters of the American Revolution. For the prayer he was declared a national hero and named the first chaplain to the newly independent American Congress. For the letter he was declared a traitor, attainted of high treason, and sent into exile. As a result of this apparently irreconcilable contradiction in the minister’s behavior, many of his contemporaries and most historians have assumed he was weak, that in the moment of crisis he cut a deal with the British for his own safety and betrayed his own beliefs and his fellow countrymen in order to establish himself more favorably with the enemy. But this interpretation is based in assumption and innuendo rather than fact. For the evidence gathered from the life of Jacob Duché—America’s first chaplain—points to a very different conclusion, one that reveals the immense complexity of the American Revolution and the havoc it wreaked on the lives of the people who experienced it. The man behind the prayer and the letter was a witty, articulate, attractive and quite popular Anglican minister who presided over the most prestigious church in one of the greatest cities of the eighteenth century world. In his day, the minister of Christ Church and St. Peter’s was widely acclaimed as the finest orator in Philadelphia. He arrived at his local fame at an early age both because of his own unique abilities and the privilege gained from being part of one of the most economically and politically prominent families in the city. Even so, his personal rise to prominence was, like that of his immigrant grandfather, meteoric. America’s first chaplain was also the first valedictorian of the College of Philadelphia, the youngest assistant minister in the history of Christ Church, the first alumnus of the College of Philadelphia to be named to its board of trustees, and the first alumnus to become a professor at the college. Behind this quick rise to prominence in Philadelphia was a man with deeply held religious convictions, beliefs that permeated every aspect of his life defining who he was as a minister and a man. As an evangelical Anglican, Duché’s faith was intensely personal and experiential yet still intimately connected to the liturgical worship and via media—middle way—of the Church of England. This unique blend of evangelicalism and Anglicanism led Duché to embrace what he saw as three fundamental truths: that a benevolent God gave individuals free will, that free will xiii

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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xiv

Introduction

made individuals personally responsible to God for their own actions, and that the responsible individual is one who pursues the middle way, the way of moderation, in all things. Jacob Duché dedicated his life to exploring, living, and teaching these fundamental truths. As a minister, these truths translated into compassion, diligence, service, ecumenism, and tolerance. In politics, they fostered distaste for factionalism and extremism and a respect for moderation. In both arenas, evangelical Anglicanism, the pursuit of the middle way, allowed him to become a mediator in many of the great religious and political conflicts of his day. Yet, it is the prayer and the letter that have defined Duché’s life—and for good reason. His prayer to open the First Continental Congress was monumental. As a minister of the king’s church, Duché’s willingness to pray with and for the delegates was a courageous and significant act. In so doing, the Anglican minister aligned himself with men who were resisting the laws of the very king to whom he, as an official of the Church of England, had pledged his allegiance. This singular act unified the delegates at a critical moment and assured them that God was with them. They lauded the minister for his efforts making him their chaplain of choice and, as a result, America’s first chaplain. The prayer and his subsequent service to Congress marked the apex of Duché’s political involvement and was his most significant contribution to the American Revolution. Duché’s letter to General Washington suggesting that the general convince Congress to rescind the Declaration of Independence and negotiate with the British for America’s rights was the single biggest mistake of the minister’s life. The letter was misguided and ill-timed. Worse yet, it contained an intolerant and unforgiving tone that was inconsistent with Duché’s beliefs. Washington’s revelation of the letter had devastating consequences for the minister. Many of the same men who lauded him as a hero just months before, now branded him a traitor and a loyalist. As a result, Duché lost his promising career, his house, most of his personal fortune, some of his closest friends, and his country. Tragically, the minister would spend much of the rest of his life regretting his decision to write the letter, apologizing for its harshness, and explaining the circumstances surrounding his writing of it. All in an attempt to regain his good reputation, his lost fortune, and his safe return to his country. As a result of these unique circumstances, the story of Jacob Duché’s life is very personal and complicated, one that reveals the human side of the American Revolution. Duché was a relatively simple, deeply religious man who lived in an intensely complicated time and place whose life demonstrates how one man affected, and was affected by, the American Revolution. The story of Jacob Duché includes tragedy and betrayal as well as perseverance and accomplishment. It is a story of how complicated it was for ordinary Americans to navigate through the rough and ever-changing currents of the American Revolution and how critical deci-

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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Introduction

xv

sions along the way could have disastrous consequences. It is a story of how the American Revolution challenged faith, destroyed careers, separated families, wrecked reputations, and redistributed wealth. Finally, it is a story of retribution and belated vindication. In addition to its significance on this personal level, the life of Jacob Duché is useful in dealing with three major historiographical issues. First, his mistreatment by the revolutionaries calls into question whether the Revolution in Pennsylvania, traditionally regarded as the most democratic of the internal state revolutions, deserves that description. Second, it uncovers the complicated problems faced by the Anglican clergy in America in the face of a Revolution against the British government whose head, the king, also served as the ecclesiastical authority for Anglicans around the world. Third, it reveals the problem of defining all individuals who opposed the Revolution at any particular time as loyalists demonstrating rather the multi-faceted nature of responses to the Revolution and that at least one so called “loyalist” was actually not one at all, rather a person who had become a non-revolutionary after enduring a complicated process of disaffection from the Revolution. On the first historiographical issue, the nature of Pennsylvania’s Revolution, this study reinforces the work of historians who argued that the self proclaimed “democrats” who ran the new government were often oppressive and even tyrannical, an argument that challenges the traditional viewpoint that the supporters of Pennsylvania’s new state constitution of 1776 were more democratic than their opponents. 1 The life of Jacob Duché provides direct evidence to confirm that the Revolution in Pennsylvania was not a pristine “democratic” movement. As a member of the proprietary gentry, the ruling elite of colonial Pennsylvania, Duché was tied closely to those that some radical revolutionaries wanted to displace. As such, Duché was extremely uncomfortable with the internal Revolution that the radical minority prosecuted against their old political enemies—so much so that he ultimately became disaffected by their actions. The manner in which independence occurred, the seizure of power by a radical minority, the subsequent persecution of their enemies, and the arrest of his assistant minister were key events in this process of disaffection. His conviction of high treason without trial, the arbitrary confiscation of his home and personal property, and his long exile demonstrates the complicated and repressive nature of Pennsylvania’s “democratic” Revolution. With regard to the second historiographical issue, the complex circumstances faced by Anglicans during the American Revolution, this book builds on new historical interpretations that demonstrate the inadequacy of simplistic explanations of Anglican behavior. 2 Duché’s experience verifies the argument of these historians that the Anglican clergy faced complicated questions, found themselves in an intensely difficult situation, and often responded differently than traditionally portrayed.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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xvi

Introduction

As Anglican ministers in a region where the church was neither established nor persecuted, the Pennsylvania ministers of the king’s church took a variety of positions on the Revolution which for some changed as the Revolution changed. Some actively opposed the Revolution from the start, others slowly became revolutionaries, while some, like Duché, were active at the beginning and disaffected by the end. Duché himself faced extraordinary pressure as an Anglican minister who early on took a leading role in the Revolution. His connection to the king’s church made every decision more significant and more difficult. The positive and negative consequences of his decisions were also intertwined with his Anglican affiliation. It was, simply put, complicated being an Anglican minister in the midst of a Revolution against the government that provided the leadership for the very church in which one ministered. The third historiographical issue, that of loyalism, is relevant in light of the experience of Jacob Duché, a man incorrectly identified as a loyalist during and after the American Revolution. In the revolutionary era the term loyalist was not used in America. In Pennsylvania, those who actively supported the British and many others who did not but did not show sufficient passion for the Revolution were labeled as Tories. An article in the Pennsylvania Packet of August 5, 1779 argued that Tories were guilty of a number of offenses including but not limited to encouraging King George III to prosecute the war against the colonies, inciting Indian attacks on the colonial frontier, joining and/or spying for the British army, refusing to join the American army and harboring deserters from it, and refusing to accept American currency thereby undermining it and the American economy. The first half-century of historical scholarship on the American Revolution tended to accept this general description of a Tory but inaccurately labeled everyone in America as either a Tory or a Whig. Tories, of course, so defined, did exist, but far too many Americans who did not meet the description above were included under the label simply because they could not be identified as active Whigs or patriots. 3 In 1847, Lorenzo Sabine attempted a revision of this record when he began to use the word “loyalist” to describe those who opposed the Revolution. While Sabine did not coin the term used first by the British during the war, his use of the term marked an important shift in emphasis toward a more sympathetic and nuanced view of the Revolution’s opponents. Sabine argued that the only difference between a Whig and a Tory, or loyalist, was that Whigs chose to remain colonists only if their rights were restored while Tories were willing to remain colonists without such a guarantee. The implication of this reasoning was that those who opposed the Revolution were not against something as much as they were for something: the blessings and protections provided to America by the British Empire. For nearly a century historians used Sabine’s “loyalist” terminology and built on his more sympathetic view. 4 What emerged

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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Introduction

xvii

was the idea that the “loyalists” tended to be wealthy aristocrats who were much like the rest of the colonists in many ways but differed mainly in the extent of their admiration for and loyalty to the British Empire. After World War II, a new emphasis on understanding the ideology of the loyalists began to dominate the historical discussion largely due to two factors: the growing interest in defining and understanding American conservatism and the influence of the neo-Whig school of historical scholarship. Some of these historians saw loyalists as the conservatives of their time, individuals who favored tradition over experimentation and cautiously resisted change primarily because of a pessimistic view of man and a fear that a disorderly uncontrollable element would come to power as a result of independence. 5 Other historians, known as neo-Whigs, unleashed a bevy of scholarship attempting to uncover just what was in the loyalist mind. They postulated that the loyalists were diverse, leaderless, unorganized, and generally in the minority. They were conservatives who felt they needed protection against an American majority and that power should be in the hands of an intelligent and wealthy minority. Some of them felt that the British Constitution was too valuable to be risked in a revolution, some sympathized with the revolutionaries’ grievances but sought accommodation with the British, and some thought that Revolution was morally wrong. Some of these historians saw the loyalists as diverse while others saw them as holding to a unified ideology. One historian saw a common ideology that included affection for empire, the belief in a prospering union between Great Britain and its colonies, and the sovereignty of parliament. 6 More recently, historians have focused variously on the experiences and influence of loyalists. Some of these historians argued that because loyalists perceived themselves as cultural minorities they were timid and fearful of losing a government that had protected them, their actions motivated more often by instinct rather than ideology. 7 One historian who focused on these experiences, Mary Beth Norton, also made a very important point about those like Duché who according to historians “became” loyalists. Norton argued that during the early years of the Revolution—from 1774 to 1776—it was the Revolution that changed, not the loyalists. She insisted that loyalists remained loyal. Loyalty and obedience, Norton concluded, were instinctive: to be a revolutionary was not. 8 Maya Jasanoff’s recent work takes the conversation even further by looking at the complicated influence of loyalist exiles on the British Empire. 9 What remains to be done is to look more carefully at the experience of the exiles, like Jacob Duché, who returned to America. Norton’s argument that loyalists remained loyal raises several important questions. What exactly is the definition of a loyalist? Who was one and who was not? Could someone support revolutionary measures resisting British laws like boycotts in 1774 and still be called a loyalist? Could someone support a war against the British Empire in 1775 and still

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

Copyright © 2013. Lehigh University Press. All rights reserved.

xviii

Introduction

be called a loyalist? Or are revolutionary activities prior to independence irrelevant and should loyalism be solely defined by one’s position on independence? A study of the life of Jacob Duché as well as the various historical interpretations of his political activities helps to answer these questions. In Duché’s case, he supported resistance and war, but opposed the idea of independence. Was Jacob Duché a loyalist as many have argued? The central problem here is with Sabine’s word itself. In attempting to humanize the Tories, Sabine replaced the negatively connotated word “Tory” with the more positive word “loyalist.” Historians have used the word extensively ever since. But to be “loyal” means to remain faithful to something. It is a strong word that demands consistency from those deemed worthy of its label. From this meaning it would seem that one cannot become loyal; one either is loyal or becomes disloyal. Anne Ousterhout defined loyalism to the British during the American Revolution as persons who were “primarily motivated by affection and preference for the mother country and its government and who faithfully adhered to England during the imperial struggle.” She concluded that her study of 2000 opponents of the Revolution in Pennsylvania revealed very little of this kind of loyalty. She suggested that those who opposed the Revolution in America were more likely to have been disaffected from the Revolution because of some negative experience with the revolutionaries than by loyalty to Britain. 10 An examination of the experience of Jacob Duché during and after the Revolution reinforces Ousterhout’s thesis by providing critical insight into the process of disaffection and its consequences. But still the problem of categorizing those who opposed the Revolution plagues us. I suggest that we concede that the ideas, motivations, and actions of those who opposed the Revolution defy simple categorization; that we accept that one term—especially a very specific and strong word as “loyalist”—cannot describe such a diverse group of individuals, many of whom, like Duché, were obviously disloyal to the British at one time or another. Instead, it would be better to identify the colonists as residing within two broad and complicated groups: revolutionaries, those who were supporting the Revolution at a given time, and nonrevolutionaries, those who were opposing the Revolution at a given time. In doing so we must begin with the understanding that these two broad groups contained within them great diversity. To be a revolutionary, for example, meant very different things at different times. In 1774 it meant to support the enforcement of a boycott of British goods, in 1775 it meant to support a war against the British, in 1776 it meant to support a permanent separation from the mother country. Thus, one could be a revolutionary in 1774 or 1775 and a non-revolutionary in 1776. We also must note that within the ranks of the revolutionaries at any given time there was even further diversity. Some were radical and sought to change American society in a less elitist if not

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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Introduction

xix

necessarily more democratic direction, replacing traditional elites with people who made their careers as revolutionaries. Others were moderate, seeking accommodation with Britain until the last moment, and seeking to preserve American society from the dangers of revolutionary upheaval. Still others were practical men who chose to go along with the Revolution because they believed it was the best way for them to preserve their own security. Some of these even could be termed disaffected nonrevolutionaries. Under this definition, Duché—because of his support of the enforcement of boycotts and war against the British Empire—was a moderate revolutionary in 1774 and 1775. The ranks of the non-revolutionaries were even more diverse. Within their numbers were “loyalists” whom I would define very narrowly as those who opposed the Revolution from its beginnings in 1774 and remained loyal to the British throughout the Revolution by opposing the enforcement of the boycott, the prosecution of the war, and independence. Some loyalists were active and some were passive. Non-revolutionaries also included the “disaffected,” those who became disconnected from the Revolution because of something offensive that happened in America rather than any loyalty to England. The non-revolutionaries numbers were also swelled by “pacifists” who opposed war and “antiindependents” who opposed independence. The group also contained a large number of “neutrals” who simply could not decide which side to take and, therefore, did their best to stay out of the conflict. By this definition, Duché became a non-revolutionary in 1776, after undergoing a process of disaffection spurred on by his own opposition to independence and the radicals who insisted on pursuing it, not because of loyalty to the British government. Finally, it is interesting to consider how this study of Jacob Duché fits into the larger context of interpreting the causes of the American Revolution. Historians have postulated variously that British politics, colonial irresponsibility, economic grievances, ideology, religion, internal revolution, or emotion caused the Revolution. 11 The plethora of interpretations, revisions, and new scholarship, each of which is designed to simplify our understanding of what happened into a too neat package, has added much to our understanding while obscuring the complexity of the American Revolution and oversimplifying its causes. A few historians have refused to latch onto a particular interpretation and hold it above all the rest. Instead, they have adopted a multi-causational approach to the American Revolution, seeing the validity inherent in each interpretation while refusing to adopt one as the ultimate cause of the break between the colonies and Great Britain. All of the historical interpretations are true to some degree: what is important is to avoid embracing one to the exclusion of the others and instead to discover how the causes interacted and overlapped with each other in different times, in various places, and among diverse peoples. All of the identified causes had a part in the

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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Revolution, but none by itself fully explains it, or the life experience of Jacob Duché. Like the Revolution itself, Jacob Duché’s life was complicated. Two events—a prayer and a letter—shaped much of the latter part of his life and determined his place in history for two centuries. The letter unfortunately obscured the earlier prayer, causing his significance as America’s first chaplain, a role he fulfilled at a time when the founding fathers needed spiritual guidance the most, to disappear into the abyss of attainder, high treason, and exile. These two political events, in turn, have obscured our view of the extraordinary life lying in the background. This biography attempts to reinterpret the prayer and the letter in light of the man behind them and to uncover the real significance of both. In the process, we will obtain a glimpse into the complexity and contradictions of the American Revolution.

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NOTES 1. For the anti-democratic interpretation, see Henry J. Young, “Treason and Its Punishment in Revolutionary Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 90 (1966): 287-313; David F. Hawke, In the Midst of a Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961); Owen S. Ireland, Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics: Ratifying the Constitution in Pennsylvania (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University, 1995); and Mark A. Stern, David Franks: Colonial Merchant (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University, 2010). Hawke agreed with the traditional view on one point, that the state constitution was indeed a radically democratic document in theory, but argued that it lacked wide popular support. Young demonstrated that the radical government used treason laws to eliminate political enemies and those with opposing viewpoints as well as genuine loyalists. Ireland uncovered the ethnic-religious dimension in Pennsylvania politics and showed how Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and other Calvinists took charge of the state in the years following independence using loyalty oaths to disarm Quakers, other neutrals, and opponents of the Revolution. Mark Stern showed how Ireland’s thesis worked for one man, David Franks, a Jewish merchant who was commissioned by the British to supply their prisoners in America and who was persecuted by Pennsylvania authorities simply for doing his job. For the more traditional view of Pennsylvania’s Revolution see Charles H. Lincoln, The Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania, 1760-1776 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press: 1901); Robert L. Brunhouse, The Counter-Revolution in Pennsylvania, 1776-1790 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1942); J. Paul Selsam, The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776: A Study in Revolutionary Democracy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936); and Merrill Jensen, The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774-1781 (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1940). 2. On Anglicanism see Nancy L. Rhoden, Revolutionary Anglicanism: The Colonial Church of England Clergy during the American Revolution (New York: New York University Press, 1999); James B. Bell, The Imperial Origins of the King’s Church in Early America, 1607-1783 (New York: Palgrave, 2004); James B. Bell, A War of Religion: Dissenters, Anglicans, and the American Revolution (Basingstoke, England: Palgrave, 2008); and William A. Pencak, “Out of Many, One: Pennsylvania’s Anglican Loyalist Clergy in the American Revolution,” in William A. Pencak, ed. Pennsylvania’s Revolution (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010). Rhoden has shown how Anglican clergy in the South, where the church was established, tended to become

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

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Introduction

xxi

either patriots or neutrals while Anglican clergy in the New England colonies, where the church was persecuted, tended to become loyalists. Bell argued that the association of the Anglican church as the “King’s Church” made it nearly impossible for the church to survive the Revolution intact. Pencak asserted that the eleven Anglican clergymen of Pennsylvania struggled to come to terms with the Revolution but avoided simple stereotypical categorizations. Only William White carried through in support of the Revolution until its conclusion. 3. Mason Weems, A history of the life and death, virtues and exploits, of General George Washington (Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1800); David Ramsey, The History of the American Revolution (Philadelphia: R. Aitken and Son, 1789). 4. Lorenzo Sabine, The American Loyalists, or Biographical Sketches of Adherents to the British Crown in the War of the Revolution, alphabetically arranged: with a Preliminary Historical Essay (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1847); Moses C. Tyler, The Literary History of the American Revolution (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897); Claude H. Van Tyne, The Loyalists in the American Revolution (New York, 1902); Lawrence H. Gipson, American Loyalist: Jared Ingersoll (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1920); and Philip Davidson, Propaganda and the American Revolution, 1763-1783 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941). 5. Leonard W. Labaree, Conservatism in Early American History (New York: New York University Press, 1948); and William A. Pencak, America’s Burke: The Mind of Thomas Hutchinson (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1982). 6. William H. Nelson, The American Tory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961); William A. Benton, Whig-Loyalism: An Aspect of Political Ideology in the American Revolutionary Era (Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1969); Bernard Bailyn, The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1974); Robert M. Calhoon, The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1760-1781 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973); Robert M. Calhoon, The Loyalist Perception and Other Essays (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989); and Janice Potter, The Liberty We Seek: Loyalist Ideology in Colonial New York and Massachusetts (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983). 7. Wallace Brown, The King’s Friends: The Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University Press, 1966); Wallace Brown, The Good Americans: The Loyalists in the American Revolution (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1969). Mary Beth Norton, The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England, 1774-1789 (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1972). 8. Norton, The British-Americans. 9. Maya Jasanoff, “The Other Side of Revolution: Loyalists in the British Empire,” William and Mary Quarterly 65:2 (2008): 205-32; Maya Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011). 10. Anne M. Ousterhout, A State Divided: Opposition in Pennsylvania to the American Revolution (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987), 2-4. 11. For British politics see Sir Lewis Namier, England in the Age of the American Revolution (London: Macmillan, 1930). For colonial irresponsibility see Charles M. Andrews, The Colonial Background of the American Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1931). For economic grievances see Louis M. Hacker, Triumph of American Capitalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1940); Thomas Abernathy, Western Lands and the American Revolution (New York: Russell and Russell, 1937). For the importance of ideology see Edmund S. Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953 ); Robert E. Brown, Middle Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1955); Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967); and Gordon S. Wood, Creation of the American Republic (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969). For internal Revolution see Charles A. Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (New York: Macmillan Company, 1913). For religion see Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:06.

xxii

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Press, 1928); Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic Faiths, Ideas, Personalities, and Politics, 1689-1775 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952); Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966); Patricia U. Bonomi, Under the Cope of Heaven (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). For emotion see Nicole Eustace, Passion is the Gale (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008); T. H. Breen, American Insurgents, American Patriots (New York: Hill and Wang, 2010).

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ONE

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The Rise of the Duchés

It was the morning of September 7, 1774, the day that would change the course of the minister’s life forever. In front of him sat the representatives of twelve of the thirteen North American mainland colonies of the British Empire. They were the political and economic leaders of their age, merchant princes, government officials, doctors, and lawyers, a religious mixture that included Anglicans, Puritans, and Quakers. The prestigious group included future presidents George Washington and John Adams, political firebrands Sam Adams and Patrick Henry, and future icons of American independence Richard Henry Lee and John Hancock. They had gathered at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia to discuss an appropriate response to King George III’s Coercive Acts which had punished the insubordination of the rebels of Massachusetts by closing the port of Boston, dissolving the colony’s government, and declaring martial law. 1 Considering the enormity of the situation and the precarious nature of their deliberations, the delegates decided to have a local Anglican minister open their first ever Continental Congress with a prayer. 2 The minister began in the formal tradition of the Anglican liturgy by reading first the appointed scripture for the day, Psalm 35, and then a recitation from the Book of Common Prayer. The delegates sat quietly as the minister uttered the powerful and fitting words of the day’s scripture, “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.” It was a particularly appropriate reading for the already emotionally disrupted delegates who the night before had heard a rumor that the British had begun bombarding Boston. 3 In the midst of enormous uncertainty, the scripture of the day provided certainty to many of the delegates that God had divinely appointed this moment in time, their deliberations as a body, and their place on history’s stage.

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After he finished the formal readings for the day the minister paused and then began to pray. What followed was no ordinary prayer. The soon to be famous religious orator of the American Revolution launched into an extemporaneous prayer that, according to some accounts, lasted for almost ten minutes. 4 What he said in his prayer is not known for certain since the delegates opted not to have the prayer printed for the minister’s own protection, but the effect of his words is unquestioned. 5 According to John Adams, everyone present was profoundly affected. 6 Silas Deane said that “even the Quakers” shed tears. 7 T.H. Matteson’s painting of the extraordinary event depicts a pleading minister in the center of the room leaning almost prostrate over a large, wooden podium with his hands raised and head gazing up toward heaven. All around him are delegates huddled in groups, many on their knees, some in tears, others gazing in bewilderment at the wonder of the moment. 8 From all accounts, it was an extraordinary moment. Maybe it was the delivery of quite possibly the most gifted orator in the city, maybe it was the sight of an Anglican minister courageously risking his career to stand with those who would resist the very king and country he had pledged his allegiance to, maybe it was the sensation of impending divine intervention, or maybe it was just pure, unadulterated fear as the delegates considered the imminent repercussions that awaited those who would dare to defy the most powerful king in the world. Most likely it was all of these factors coupled with the pastor’s assurance that the delegates’ cause was righteous and that God Himself had ordained them “guardians” of the liberty they had gathered to defend. Whatever the case, the moment had defined the man and the minister walked out of Carpenters’ Hall the first true national hero of the American Revolution. The Rev. Jacob Duché’s tumultuous ride through the Revolution had begun. 9 He was born thirty-six years earlier on January 31, 1738, in the city of Philadelphia, the son of Mary Spence Duché, who would die shortly after his birth, and Jacob Duché, Sr., a prosperous and influential Philadelphia lawyer. 10 The fascinating history of the Duché family and their experience in America began with the migration to Pennsylvania in 1699 of Jacob’s grandfather, Anthony Duché, a potter of French Huguenot descent. 11 The Huguenots were French Calvinists who since the Protestant Reformation had been persecuted by the French government and the Roman Catholic Church. During the latter decades of the seventeenth century some 250,000 Huguenots attempted to escape persecution by leaving France for Switzerland, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, or America. It is likely that Anthony Duché departed France for England during this period although the nature of his escape is unknown. Some 7000 of these religious refugees, including Anthony Duché, eventually found their way to America.

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Anthony Duché’s specific destination in America was Pennsylvania, a young, burgeoning colony founded only two decades earlier. As a French Huguenot seeking to escape religious persecution there was no better place in the world to settle. Pennsylvania afforded its citizens economic, political, and religious freedom, a combination rarely found anywhere in the world at that time. In addition, Pennsylvania, though founded by Englishmen, welcomed immigrants from various ethnic backgrounds. In Pennsylvania, a French Protestant could find the opportunity to work, vote, and worship God according to his own precepts. The people who created this extraordinary place where Anthony Duché and his family could rise to prominence were a unique group of religious thinkers who called themselves the Society of Friends. 12 The central tenet of the Society of Friends was the principle of the inner light which the Friends believed was “a divine light planted by God in every person for his or her guidance.” This belief led the Friends to view all human life as sacred, as exhibited by their pacifistic tendencies, to embrace an egalitarian form of worship and church government, and to be tolerant of other religious beliefs. The Friends’ belief system included three related principles that emanated from the central principle of the inner light: democracy, perfectionism, and continuing revelation. In the seventeenth century, the Society of Friends, though a small group was one of the most feared, and reviled, religious groups in Europe. As such, members of the Society of Friends faced intense persecution from governments and other religious denominations. Many chose to leave England. Their favorite destination was Pennsylvania, the colony granted by King Charles II to one of their own members, William Penn, in 1681. Penn, who secured the right to plant a colony in America largely because of the close connection between his prominent family and the British monarchs, took the unique opportunity granted to him to create a haven for religious refugees like Anthony Duché. Penn’s “Holy Experiment,” as he called it, was to create a place where political equality, economic opportunity, and religious tolerance were available to almost everyone. Penn secured his vision for Pennsylvania for future generations by writing these principles into the founding documents that provided the political and religious framework within which Pennsylvania’s citizens would live: the Pennsylvania Charter, the Great Law, and the Charter of Privileges. 13 The vision of William Penn’s holy experiment and the principle of religious freedom he engrained in Pennsylvania’s governmental structures had a significant impact on the composition of the colony’s population. According to historian John Frantz, “Pennsylvania’s religious freedom led to greater variety in beliefs and practices than existed in any of Great Britain’s other American colonies.” 14 Historian Frederick Tolles pointed out that “early Pennsylvania had a genuine and important culture or complex of cultures.” Indeed, colonial Pennsylvania’s population

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contained a diverse mix of peoples consisting mainly of three large groups: the English, the Germans, and the Scots-Irish. The English, at least early on, were mostly Quakers, who came as “yeoman farmers, husbandmen, artisans, shopkeepers, hired servants,” and other men and women who made their living by working with their hands. The Germans, or the Pennsylvania Dutch, as they were incorrectly called, could be broken into three distinct groups according to religion: the sect or plain people, the church people, and the more ecumenical Moravians. The German sects included the Mennonites, Amish, Dunkers, and Schwenkfelders. The church people were either German Reformed or Lutherans. The Scots-Irish were mostly Presbyterians. Other pocket groups living in the colony included Swedish and Dutch settlers who preceded Penn’s arrival, a significant Anglican community, English and Welsh Baptists, a few Roman Catholics, a small contingent of Jewish settlers, and several thousand African-Americans, some slave and some free. Almost all of these groups could be found at some time or another in the city of Philadelphia, making it one of the most diverse cities of the eighteenth century. 15 Anthony Duché may have come to Pennsylvania with William Penn on Penn’s second journey to his colony when many other Huguenots were coming to America and Pennsylvania was welcoming about 1500 immigrants a year from various parts of the world. 16 If Anthony did come with Penn, he arrived in Pennsylvania in November of 1699. Jacob’s grandfather related the following story regarding his arrival in the colony. Supposedly, during the journey, Anthony lent Penn L30. Upon landing in Philadelphia, Penn offered Duché a square of the city between Third and Fourth streets as payment for this debt, a piece of land that would hold inestimable value in the coming years. In response to this offer Duché replied, “You are very good, Mr. Penn, and the offer might prove advantageous; but the money would suit me better.” Penn responded by calling Duché a “blockhead” and then paid him the money. Anthony Duché summed up his decision to pass up Penn’s offer like this, “So I was paid, and have ever since repeated [repented] of my folly.” 17 There is no record of what Anthony did when he first arrived in the city of some 5000 people, but he did something to amass a reasonable amount of financial resources. By 1725, he used these resources to establish his own pottery business on Chestnut Street across from the future site of Independence Hall. 18 From this location Anthony produced the unique pottery for which he would become famous. In 1737, he attempted to sell his pottery business including the thirty foot wide by 178 foot deep lot, house, and “all utensils belonging to the Potters Business.” The artisan found no takers for his offer and continued in the pottery business for the next two decades. 19 In 1743, Anthony Duché diversified his business interests by becoming a dyer. He advertised his new business in the Pennsylvania Gazette:

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Anthony Duché, Dyer, IS removed from his House in Front Street, to the upper end of Chestnut Street, near the State House, Philadelphia. Where all persons may have all sort of Silks, Sattins, Woollens, Cotton and Linnens, scoured, dyed and pressed, Coats, Jackets and leather Breeches scoured. He Prints Counterpains, Carpets, or any other Linen for Gowns or Petticoats. He also makes Bandages or Trusses, for Men or Children and is a very good Artist at putting up Ruptures. 20

How many people he employed or whether he worked alone we do not know. We do know that one of his three sons, Andrew Duché, followed in his father’s footsteps, establishing pottery related businesses in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. 21 As a potter and dyer, Anthony Duché was able to earn enough money to acquire significant property within the city. As seen in his 1743 advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette, he owned land on Front Street, an area of the city near the river where, at that time, property was very valuable. He also owned a considerable amount of land in Wiccacoe Township some of which was on the east side of Second Street. His other land holdings included property near Old Swedes Church located next to the Delaware River, land on the west side of Front Street in Moyamensing Township to the south of the city, and land on Catherine Street in the prestigious Society Hill section of town. 22 Anthony Duché died in 1762 and bequeathed his estate to his daughter Ann and his three sons, Anthony, Andrew, and Jacob, the father of Reverend Duché. 23 He had come to Pennsylvania as a refugee and established himself as a potter and dyer, an artisan and businessman of considerable wealth and property. By the 1730’s he had abandoned his Calvinist heritage and become an Anglican, and at least one of his sons as well as his famous grandson followed him into the Anglican tradition. 24 French Huguenots were much more Calvinistic in theology than Anglicans and, therefore, had more in common with other dissenting groups like the Presbyterians. The history of the French Huguenots in America, though, is not one of belligerent theology but rather of intelligent opportunism. The Huguenots in America, according to historian Louis Wright, “exerted the most pervasive influence in proportion to their numbers.” This was in large part because they were “industrious, intelligent, and adaptable.” This adaptability allowed many of them to assimilate quickly and to occupy places of prominence in the British colonies by the second generation. In South Carolina, where the largest numbers of French Huguenots migrated, their members saw the wisdom of associating with the Anglican Church and ultimately united five of the six churches they founded there into that establishment. In Pennsylvania, where the second largest number of French Huguenots lived, the advantages of the Anglican relationship were more economic in nature. Many French Huguenots were upper class merchants and the Anglican churches contained many of this economic group. Anthony Duché may have converted to Angli-

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

6

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canism for economic reasons or because the Presbyterian community in Philadelphia was relatively small at the time. Whatever the reason, his conversion to Anglicanism set the course of his grandson’s life. 25 When his father brought young Jacob to Christ Church for baptism on February 12, 1738, he brought his son to what for him would become the center of his world. 26 For Jacob Duché, Christ Church was a place of enormous importance, a place for worship, education, and ministry for most of his life. Here he probably came every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for prayers and services, either as parishioner or pastor. Here, he would learn the tenets of the Anglican faith, participate in the controversial revivals of the Great Awakening, and ultimately become one of the finest preachers in colonial America. Here he would meet and marry his wife and bring his own children for baptism. Here he would raise a family in the traditions, practices, and liturgy of the Anglican Church. Here he would one day preach to the Continental Congress, omit prayers for the king from the liturgy, and be arrested by British soldiers. 27

Figure 1.1. Christ Church by William Strickland, oil on canvas, 1811 Christ Church by William Strickland, oil on canvas, 1811, call #Bc 132 C554, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

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The Rise of the Duchés

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In 1738, no one could envision the grandeur that would someday accompany this church. At the time, the church and its building were a work in progress. Founded in 1695 by thirty-nine individuals desiring to build the first Anglican Church in Philadelphia, Christ Church had grown so quickly that its first building had become obsolete within a decade of its construction. By 1702, 500 people were worshipping at Christ Church and the little building on Second Street could hardly contain the congregation. The remarkable growth of the church was due in large part to the interest of the various sect people in the city, especially Quakers, in what the Anglican Church had to offer. Many of these sect people would stand outside the windows of the church under cover of darkness to listen to evening lectures preached by the church’s second rector, Evan Evans. In 1727, as a result of church growth, the vestry of the church undertook a building project which would be completed in three tedious phases, the first phase of which was completed in 1730 adding a new three bay structure to the western end of the building. 28 At the time of Jacob Duché’s baptism, the current church was in the middle of its second phase of construction, the addition of the five bays on the eastern side of the church abutting Second Street. The soon to be beautiful and majestic edifice was not at all attractive at this juncture. The pulpit was temporarily housed in the newly completed western end of the make-shift building. With its elaborate brickwork this new end of the building was awkwardly connected to the old wooden church structure which still served as the eastern end of the building and was in the process of being rebuilt. Nearly a decade into the building process, the congregation and leadership of the church were becoming impatient with the slow progress as well as the disorder that the building project had wrought on the church. Indeed, when Archibald Cummings, the fifth rector of Christ Church, baptized Jacob Duché, the future eighth rector of the church, there was no wine glass pulpit, no beautiful chancel, no twenty-four point chandelier, and no grand tower and steeple yet making its mark as the tallest and most pronounced structure in the Philadelphia skyline. Even the famous pews that would one day seat presidents were only partially finished. There was nothing to suggest the style that would give the future church what Duché would call “the most venerable appearance of any building in this city.” 29 The oldest and most prominent Anglican parish in Philadelphia, in fact the only one at the time, was located in the center of young Jacob’s childhood world. Just two blocks southeast of the Second Street church, was Jacob’s boyhood home on Front Street. Five blocks to the southwest of the church was the Chestnut Street home and business of his grandfather, Anthony Duché. Just a few blocks to the northwest of the church the future home of the College of Philadelphia where Duché would attend and teach was about to be constructed. Even the sister church of St. Peter’s, where Duché would minister for fifteen years, as well as the

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mansion his father would build for him on Society Hill, would be built less than six blocks away from Christ Church. In fact, Duché would spend most of his life within this little sphere of religious, educational, domestic, and economic activity. 30 While the spiritual center of his life was Christ Church, colonial Philadelphia provided the backdrop for what Jacob learned there and was, undoubtedly, a fascinating place in which to grow up. In 1738, the rapidly growing city was already approaching 10,000 inhabitants and on the verge of becoming the most populous and commercialized city in the American colonies. 31 While much of the wilderness of eastern Pennsylvania had been tamed by civilization by the time of Jacob’s birth, the dangers of a frontier society were still very much a reality of life in the colony. Just outside of the city, wolves threatened livestock and stories of panthers, or mountain lions, chasing frightened men and women on foot or horseback still made the local newspapers. Cow-herders still came through the city to collect family cows and herd them through the streets to pasture lands outside the city. 32 And although the local Delaware Indians were in the process of being removed from eastern Pennsylvania with the help of the Iroquois, their more powerful “cousins” from New York, the specter of Native Americans in full regalia both inside and outside the city would continue to fascinate and, on occasion, terrorize colonists for decades to come. 33 Nestled between two rivers, at the convergence of the Schuylkill and the Delaware, William Penn had located the city of Philadelphia “in the most Convenient place upon the river for health and Navigation.” 34 Duché would later write of Penn’s design, “no city could be laid out with more beauty and regularity than Philadelphia.” 35 Penn designed the streets in a rectangular grid pattern that was groundbreaking for the time. City inhabitants developed the eight city blocks along Front Street which ran parallel to the Delaware River almost immediately. From there development marched in a steady progression westward block by block. By the 1730’s there were even a few buildings as far west as Sixth Street— construction on the State House, later to be known as Independence Hall, began in 1732. The fact that the streets were “well paved in the middle for carriages, and there is a foot path of hard bricks on each side” impressed Duché. 36 The grandest of the streets was High Street, or Market Street, a 100 foot wide avenue which ran all the way to city square where it crossed Broad Street, a similar street. These grand avenues were wider than any other streets in the city or in London. Penn’s “green Country Towne” quickly developed into an economic juggernaut in colonial America and the British Empire. Through the seaport came almost every good imaginable: candles, soap, tobacco, malt liquor and distilled spirits, paper, anchors, nails, Windsor chairs, ploughs, carriages, shoes, boots, saddles, hosiery, woolen and cotton clothing, and gold and copper metal products. 37 By 1774, imported goods

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The Rise of the Duchés

9

moving through the port of Philadelphia from England and Scotland totaled more than L600,000 annually. 38 Many of these products found their way to the city’s market located on High Street, the grand avenue of the city. Later in life Duché described the economic scene along the Delaware:

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The voice of industry perpetually resounds along the shore; and every wharf within my view is surrounded with groves of masts, and heaped with commodities of every kind, from almost every quarter of the globe. 39

In all of this commercial activity there was an enormous amount of work to be done and money to be made. Captains, riggers, shipbuilders, and sailors, made their living directly on the river. 40 Other members of the working class included numerous non-propertied mechanics, some indentured servants, and a few slaves. 41 The skilled trades included wheelwrights, fullers and dyers, millwrights, painters and carvers, gunsmiths and locksmiths. Artisans included cabinet makers, silversmiths, pewterers, glass blowers, carriage and wagon builders, clock and furniture makers, bookbinders, and the makers of hats and hosiery items. 42 Upper class Philadelphians—the gentlemen, professionals, officeholders, and “merchant princes” 43—presided over it all amassing significant wealth primarily through landholding, patronage, and local and foreign commerce. These economic “princes” lived in brick homes, two or three stories high, with large windows and balconies, many of which were located in the Society Hill area in the southern end of the city where Jacob’s father would build his son a mansion in 1761. The upper class used their considerable wealth to import the finest furniture, fabrics, and silver. Wives and daughters of the merchant princes adorned themselves in the finest imported silks and satins, bracelets, necklaces, and jewelry; men wore expensive coats with silver buttons and buckles. The upper class enjoyed fine foods such as beef, pork, ham, mutton, lamb, duck, chicken, wild game, oysters in hot shells, turtle soup, and that unique Pennsylvania creation, scrapple. For dessert they ate extravagant culinary delights like syllabubs, floating islands, and trifles. They washed it down with imported Madeira, burgundy, claret, and rum punch served in a crystal china bowl, or the more traditional drinks of the common man, tea, beer, and coffee. The more affluent citizens also enjoyed foxhunting, the Philadelphia Dancing Assembly, and the ever controversial theater. 44 Jacob Duché, Sr., Anthony Duché’s second son, was one of these upper class Philadelphians, a leading figure in the bustling world of the emerging city. He had benefitted greatly from his father’s success. He received training as an attorney and conducted business as a lawyer on Front Street between Market Street and Chestnut Street where he also lived until the late 1750’s. In 1734, he married Mary Spence who gave birth to his son four years later. 45 Mary died while Jacob Duché, Jr., was

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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10

Chapter 1

still a young child leaving the attorney to raise his son as a single parent until 1747 when he married a widow named Esther Duffield. 46 As an attorney, Jacob Duché, Sr., did business with all classes of Philadelphia society including many prominent individuals. He signed a power of attorney granted by Benjamin Franklin to his wife Deborah Franklin, 47 argued a case with the renowned attorney and judge Benjamin Chew, 48 and conducted a number of transactions with the famous Quaker Israel Pemberton. 49 He also signed affidavits, 50 took depositions, 51 did the legal work for numerous mortgages and property transfers, 52 and acted as an administrator or executor for the estates of deceased persons. Then too, Duché facilitated the sale of estate items which at least a few times involved him in the selling of indentured servants and once in the selling of a slave. He also was involved in recovering stolen goods. This part of the legal profession at one time or another drew Duché into recovering and returning to their rightful owners stolen horses, clothes, shoes, a tomahawk, silver spoons, and a runaway servant girl. It seems as if Jacob Duché, Sr., learned a lot about the importance of diversification in business from his artisan father. 53 Jacob Duché, Sr., experienced significant success as a lawyer which allowed him to amass a considerable fortune much of which he invested in property. Like his father, he owned valuable property on Front Street in the heart of the city. In between Chestnut and Market he owned two properties, one for his business and one for his residence. At the southern end of Front Street he owned another large house 20 feet wide and 40 feet deep “three stories high, with a good kitchen adjoining, and a handy pump, with good water.” He also owned a plantation in Passyunk Township and kept horses in a pasture on the west side of Moyamensing road possibly on the property in that area owned by his father. 54 The successful attorney was wealthy enough to acquire a number of luxurious items to adorn his home and at least one servant, a Dutch boy named Hans George Myer who, in 1754, ran away. His home furnishings included “a large Chimney Glass” with “an elegant frame,” “two large Sconce Glasses,” a glass case, “hard metal pewter Plates and Dishes,” and a mahogany chest. In addition to these and other household items, he collected a number of things that fed his curiosity for things scientific like a pair of assay scales, two small stills and worms, a “solar camera obscura,” and a microscope. 55 Jacob’s success as an attorney allowed him the opportunity to advance his position in Philadelphia. During his lifetime he held at one time or another almost every public office available in the city and county. He was elected coroner, assessor, commissioner, common council man, alderman, and mayor. In 1761, he published an address as mayor of Philadelphia that dealt with the importance of preserving the Sabbath day and the enforcement of laws governing “Negroes.” 56

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Jacob Duché, Sr., also involved himself in the military issues of the day. From the beginning the defense of the colony was a problem for the pacifistic Quakers who repeatedly refused not only to serve in the military but to grant money to maintain a military. This was a particular problem in Pennsylvania whenever the English were at war and the king requested that the colony prepare to defend itself. In 1748, Duché, Sr.’s, close friend Benjamin Franklin proposed a lottery scheme to allow for the creation of a militia that would not require public funding. Duché participated in Franklin’s scheme by serving as one of the managers of this lottery and selling lottery “billets” at his home. In 1756, during the French and Indian War and no doubt because of his support of the movement to properly defend the colony, “the Captains, Lieutenants and Ensigns” of the regiment of Philadelphia County elected him as their colonel. It was a prestigious honor which Duché accepted. A month later, Franklin, “the Captain General,” arrived to review the troops under the colonel’s command with Jacob Duché, Jr., as his secretary. Later that summer, Colonel Duché’s Philadelphia County Regiment greeted the newly appointed governor of Pennsylvania, William Denny, at the county line. 57 When Jacob Duché, Sr., was not involved in protecting the community from foreign invasion, he was busy developing it in other ways. His community involvement included participation in the creation of the Library Company, extensive work on behalf of Christ Church and St. Peter’s, and the development of a hospital. He was one of the original members of the Library Company who, along with Franklin and other prominent Philadelphians, signed the charter in 1742. 58 In 1745, he was chosen to serve as a member of the vestry of Christ Church, a position he held during every decade for the next thirty years. 59 He used his connections and influence in the city to raise funds for various church projects like the new church steeple for Christ Church and the building of St. Peter’s. 60 He also was a significant contributor of money for the development of the hospital. 61 As a successful professional and officeholder, an owner of significant property in the city, and an active member of the Philadelphia community, Jacob Duché, Sr., was closely connected to a very influential group of men in Philadelphia that Stephen Brobeck called the “proprietary gentry.” These twenty-two non-Quakers who allied politically with the proprietors were, according to Brobeck, “the most cohesive and prominent upper-class group in pre-revolutionary Philadelphia.” 62 These men of mostly inherited wealth dominated the executive and judicial branches of Pennsylvania’s government, controlled the Philadelphia Corporation which governed the city, and dominated the board of directors of the College of Philadelphia. Many of these men were members of the Anglican Church which, according to G.B. Warden, “helped to unify a vast majority of the Proprietary group in a subtle but strong cohesiveness, equaling if not surpassing the distinctive organization of the Society of

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12

Chapter 1

Friends.” 63 Indeed, the only real competition these men faced for power in the city was from the Quakers who dominated the Pennsylvania Assembly for most of the colonial period. The proprietary gentry held most of the prominent positions in colonial and local government. In the province they served as governors, Supreme Court justices, provincial secretaries, attorney generals, and councilors. In the city they dominated the Philadelphia Corporation. Membership in the corporation was significant since each member had the power to vote to approve or reject all proposed ordinances. Those members who became aldermen in the city, such as Jacob Duché, Sr., gained the important power in the corporation to initiate ordinances and act as justices. 64 These men and their families lived at the top of Philadelphia society. Most had country houses and half owned their own carriages and had at least one hired servant. They established and frequented a number of social organizations open to only the wealthiest of Philadelphia’s inhabitants. Members of the St. Regale Fishing Company dined every Thursday at Robinson’s Tavern from June through September. The Jockey Club held annual horse races. The Sons of St. Tammany held an annual dinner and the Hand-in-Hand Fire Company, first established to protect their homes from fire, held monthly dinner meetings. They gathered at the American Philosophical Society to discuss the great issues of their day and the Philadelphia Dancing Assembly to socialize. Only about 200 Philadelphians belonged to these organizations which constituted about six percent of the taxable inhabitants of the city and about one percent of the total population. 65 Although Brobeck does not list Jacob Duché, Sr., as one of the twentytwo men who constituted the upper layer of the proprietary gentry, he does list him among a group of nine men he termed as the next most influential men in the city. These nine men were closely connected to the twenty-two through business, government, and society, but generally did not have the extensive family connections that the top twenty-two enjoyed. This is understandable since Jacob Duché, Sr., was the son of a French Huguenot artisan rather than an English gentleman or merchant. Regardless of his exact position inside of, or closely connected to, the proprietary gentry, Jacob Duché, Sr., lived, worked, and socialized in their world and, therefore, was one of a few dozen of the most influential non-Quakers in a city of 20,000 people. 66 A successful attorney and property owner, city and county officeholder, colonel of the county regiment, vestryman of Christ Church, and member of the Library Company, Jacob Duché, Sr., placed himself and his family firmly in the center of the most prominent social circles in colonial Philadelphia. His father, Anthony Duché, had elevated the family’s economic position from that of immigrant refugee to artisan businessman and property owner; he advanced the family into that of upper class professionals, merchant “princes,” officeholders, and landed gentle-

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

The Rise of the Duchés

13

men. Through the efforts of his grandfather and father, Jacob Duché, Jr., would grow up a member of the proprietary gentry, a class of privileged, upper-class Philadelphians, many of whom were Anglicans, who aligned with the proprietors to govern the city, the county, and the colony. That prominent social position garnered respect, privilege, and important connections for the Duché family. The stunning rise of the Duchés of Philadelphia gave the third-generation grandson of an immigrant potter distinctive privileges and opportunities as well as a unique perspective for young Jacob Duché, more than his father or grandfather, would be a Philadelphia man, a man who understood the transformational power of freedom and opportunity. Being a Philadelphia man meant living in a city where unfathomable population growth and intense economic activity created challenges as well as a pervasive optimism. In the Philadelphia of his youth, few were poor, some were wealthy, and many more were convinced they were on their way to becoming wealthy. For Jacob Duché, Philadelphia was a place of incomparable beauty and opportunity, a “sacred spot” that the romantic in him called “my fair inheritance, the calm abode of Peace and Virtue, Liberty and Law.” 67 “Fair Philadelphia” provided a backdrop, Christ Church provided the spiritual center, but the serious contemplation and deepening of his beliefs occurred in a classroom. For it was in school, at the feet of some of the finest pedagogical minds in colonial America, that the colonel’s son and the refugee’s grandson would distinguish himself as a remarkably gifted, passionate, and ambitious young man, a Philadelphia man.

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NOTES 1. For additional background on the First Continental Congress see Edmund C. Burnett, The Continental Congress (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941); Lynn Montross, The Reluctant Rebels: The Story of the Continental Congress, 1774-1779 (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishing, 1950); and Jack N. Rakove, The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979). 2. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, ed. Worthington C. Ford et al. (Washington, D.C., 1904-37), 1:25. 3. John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 16, 1774, in Paul H. Smith, et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 19762000), 1:74. 4. Silas Deane to Mrs. Deane, September 7, 1774, in Edmund C. Burnett, Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute, 1923), 1:18. 5. James Duane—Notes, September 7, 1774, in Burnett, Letters of Members, 1:15. 6. John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 16, 1774, in Smith, Letters of Delegates, 1:74. 7. Silas Deane to Mrs. Deane, September 7, 1774, in Burnett, Letters of Members, 1:18. 8. Matteson probably completed his painting around 1848, seventy-four years after the event. It was engraved on steel by H.S. Sadd. The painting’s caption reads as

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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14

Chapter 1

follows: “The First Prayer in Congress. September 1774, in Carpenters’ Hall Philadelphia.” Matteson’s painting is incorrect in two areas, it portrays the room as it was in 1848 not in 1774, and it pictures only thirty-six of the fifty-six delegates present. 9. The four secondary accounts of the life of the Rev. Jacob Duché are Edward D. Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché, The First Chaplain of Congress,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2 (1878): 58-71; George E. Hastings, “Jacob Duché, First Chaplain of Congress,” South Atlantic Quarterly 31 (1932): 384-400; Clarke Garrett, “The Spiritual Odyssey of Jacob Duché,” Society 119 (1975): 143-55; and Kevin J. Dellape, “Jacob Duché, Whig-Loyalist?,” Pennsylvania History 62 (1995): 293-305. 10. “Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, 1719-1749,” 29, Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 11. Hastings, “Jacob Duché,” 386. 12. For background on William Penn and the Society of Friends see Russell Elbert, The History of Quakerism (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942); Frederick B. Tolles, Meeting House and Counting House: The Quaker Merchants of Colonial Philadelphia, 1682-1763 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1963); and Edwin B. Bronner, William Penn’s “ Holy Experiment”: The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978). 13. Charter Granted by King Charles II to William Penn on March 4, 1681 (Microfilm Roll 3485), in “Basic Documents of Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania State Archives, 26.2.1; The Great Law, December 10, 1682 (Microfilm Roll 3485), “Basic Documents of Pennsylvania,” 26.2.7; William Macdonald, ed., Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1899), 224. 14. John B. Frantz, “’Prepare Thyself . . . to Meet the Lord thy God!’ Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution,” Pennsylvania Heritage (June, 1976): 28-32. 15. Frederick B. Tolles, “The Culture of Early Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 81 (1957): 119-37. 16. Philip S. Klein and Ari Hogenboom, A History of Pennsylvania (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1980), 30. 17. John F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, in the olden time: being a collection of memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the city and its inhabitants, and of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania: intended to preserve the recollections of olden time, and to exhibit society in its changes of manners and customs, and the city and country in their local changes and improvements (Philadelphia: Edwin S. Stuart, 1891), 1:264. 18. Luke Beckerdite and Robert Hunter, “Earth Transformed: Early Southern Pottery at MESPA and Old Salem,” Magazine Antiques (January 2007). For additional information on Anthony Duché see Robert L. Giamini, Anthony Duché, Sr.: potter and merchant of Philadelphia Dm.785 119, Historical Society of Pennsylvania [hereafter HSP]. 19. Pennsylvania Gazette, July 7, 1737. 20. Ibid., August 18, 1743. On January 14, 1752, Anthony Duché placed a similar advertisement in the same newspaper advertising his pot-house. 21. American Pottery History, “Pottery and Porcelain—American,” accessed November 11, 2008, http://www.corzillus.org/Narratives/PotteryInAmerica.htm. 22. Pennsylvania Gazette, April 3, 1755; March 25, 1749, July 27, 1758, September 24, 1761, October 15, 1761; D.S. Deed Case, HSP. 23. Harold E. Gillingham, “Pottery, China, and Glass Making in Philadelphia,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 54 (1930), 120; Pennsylvania Gazette, June 17, 1762. Apparently Anthony Duché’s other son, Anthony Duché, Jr., became a silversmith and died in 1772. Pennsylvania Gazette, July 23, 1772. 24. Protest of the Vestry of Christ Church in re the election of R. Peters as Rector, September 12, 1736, 1:26, Peter’s Papers, HSP. 25. Louis B. Wright, The Cultural Life of the American Colonies, 1607-1763, The New American Nation Series, ed. Henry S. Commager and Richard B. Morris (New York: Harper and Row, 1957), 51-55; Jon Butler, The Huguenots in America: A Refugee People in

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15

a New World Society, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992). Anglicans in Pennsylvania were also supported by the SPG which was another economic advantage. 26. “Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, 1719-1749,” 29, Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 27. Deborah M. Gough, Christ Church, Philadelphia: The Nation’s Church in a Changing City (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), 25. 28. Gough, Christ Church, 9-12, 14, 23, 27, 48. 29. Jacob Duché, Caspipina’s Letters (London: Bath, 1777), 7; Benjamin Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, Philadelphia (Philadelphia: R.S.H. George, 1841), 64, 72, 8385, 87. 30. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 87. 31. Joseph Jackson, Encyclopedia of Philadelphia (Harrisburg: The National Historical Association, 1931-1933), 4:1014. Also see John K. Alexander, “The Philadelphia Numbers Game: An Analysis of Philadelphia’s Eighteenth-Century Population,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 98 (1974); and Gary B. Nash, “The Population of Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 99 (1975). 32. Joseph J. Kelley, Jr., Life and Times in Colonial Philadelphia (Harrisburg: Stackpole Books, 1973), 52. 33. Robert Secor, ed. Pennsylvania: 1776 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975), 90, 57-58, 72. 34. Thomas Holme, A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania in America (Ithaca, NY: Historic Urban Plans, 1965). 35. Duché, Caspipina ’ s Letters, 5. 36. Kelley, Life and Times, 50; Duché, Caspipina’s Letters, 6. 37. Leonard Bernstein, “The Working People of Philadelphia from Colonial Times to the General Strike of 1835,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 74 (1950): 322. 38. Thomas M. Doerflinger, “Philadelphia Merchants and the Logic of Moderation, 1760-1775,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 40 (1983): 205. 39. Duché, Caspipina’s Letters, 3. 40. Jesse Lemisch, “Jack Tar in the Streets: Merchant Seamen in the Politics of Revolutionary America,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 25 (1968): 399. 41. Historian Gary Nash argued that less than 2 percent of the city’s population lived in poverty. Gary B. Nash, “Poverty and Poor Relief in Pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 33 (1976). 42. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 217. 43. Doerflinger provides an excellent description of the dry goods trade in Philadelphia and the methods used to move goods through the city. These methods included English merchants selling goods to Philadelphia merchants on credit who then sold to local shopkeepers on credit, English merchants selling directly to shopkeepers on credit, English merchants “adventuring” goods on their own credit and paying a Philadelphia merchant a commission for sale, and English merchants moving goods through a Philadelphia auctioneer. 44. Secor, Pennsylvania:1776, 159, 161, 175-77. 45. “Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, 1719-1749,” 29, Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981; Neill, 58; Hastings, “Jacob Duché,” 386. 46. Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 58. 47. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree et. al. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960), 7:170. 48. Recognizance the King vs. Charles Lee, April 28, 1760, Society Collection, D.S., HSP. 49. Mortgage from William ___ to Israel Pemberton, June 30, 1770, Society Collection, D.S., HSP.

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50. From John Stephens, October 17, 1766, 4:366, Stauffer Collection, HSP. 51. Deposition of Walter Drummond, November 21, 1768, 34, Etting Papers, Clergy, HSP. 52. Deed from Robert Shewell to William Masters, January 2, 1767, Deeds, D.S., Section D, HSP. 53. Pennsylvania Gazette, November 21, 1734, September 19, 1765, June 6, 1751, September 26, 1754, October 16, 1760, February 24, 1763, September 19, 1765, April 30, 1767, November 20, 1760, November 30, 1758, May 15, 1760, July 10, 1766, August 20, 1767, July 31, 1760. 54. Ibid., September 13, 1759, July 22, 1756, September 18, 1766, November 2, 1752. 55. Ibid., June 20, 1754, December 10, 1783. 56. Ibid., October 6, 1743, October 6, 1748, October 5, 1752, October 9, 1755, October 6, 1757, October 8, 1761, November 12, 1761. 57. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 3:296, 6:442, 490; Pennsylvania Gazette, June 2, 1748, April 8, 1756, May 13, 1756, September 2, 1756; Conarroe Papers, D.S., 10:62, HSP. 58. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 2:347-48. 59. Vestry Minutes, April 15, 1745, Volume 1, Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 60. Vestry Minutes, May 14, 1745, Volume 1; Pennsylvania Gazette, September 21, 1758, February 28, 1765, October 16, 1766. 61. Pennsylvania Gazette, May 29, 1775. 62. Stephen Brobeck, “Revolutionary Change in Colonial Philadelphia: The Brief Life of the Proprietary Gentry,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 33 (1976): 411. Also see John W. Jordan, Colonial Families of Philadelphia (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911). 63. G.B. Warden, “The Proprietary Group in Pennsylvania, 1754-1764,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 21 (1964): 374. 64. Brobeck, 412-13. 65. Ibid., 417, 427-28. 66. Ibid., 414, 416. The following men made Brobeck’s list: Andrew Allen, James Allen, John Allen, William Allen, Benjamin Chew, William Coxe, James Hamilton, Lynford Lardner, John Lawrence, Thomas Lawrence, John Penn, Richard Penn, Richard Peters, Samuel Powel, Jr., Edward Shippen, Jr., Joseph Shippen, Jr., William Shippen, James Thighman, Joseph Turner, Alexander Wilcocks, John Wilcocks, Jr., and Thomas Willing. Of these men, Jacob Duché, Jr. had close associations with Peters, Willing, Chew, and John Penn. Brobeck’s next nine most important non-Quaker Philadelphians included John Gibson, John Swift, Amos Strettle, John Redman, George Clymer, Thomas Cadwalader, Samuel Meredith, and Thomas Bond. 67. Jacob Duché, Pennsylvania: A Poem (Philadelphia: Franklin and Hall, 1771).

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TWO

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Education

It was 1741, or the year of disasters, and Jacob Duché was three years old. An extremely cold January caused the Delaware to freeze crippling the city’s commercial enterprises. Fears of currency devaluation caused city merchants to refuse to accept foreign coins which resulted in angry mobs breaking windows and causing disturbances throughout the city. Between three and four feet of snow cut off the countryside until March, subsequently killing livestock and causing widespread hunger in Philadelphia. During the summer months, war with France loomed on the horizon and, in August, the dreaded Yellow Fever struck the city again. In October, frustrations spilled over into the election campaign as fistfights broke out at the polls over the Quaker’s failure to defend the province from the possibility of French attack. Pennsylvania was still very much a frontier environment and the challenges of Penn’s Holy Experiment now more than a half-century old continued to stretch the colony’s leaders. 1 During the next two decades, his formative years, Jacob Duché would grow up within the fluid, ever changing, and unpredictable environment of colonial Philadelphia. During these years Jacob would experience family tragedy, receive an outstanding education, become heavily involved in the political intrigues of the day, and find his calling. He would be introduced to a diverse and talented group of men who would teach him to pursue knowledge and to think critically, the fundamentals of a classical education. His intimate relationship with these men would shape his thoughts and provide him limitless opportunities to rise in Philadelphia society. Through the vehicle of education he would find two of his three great passions, religion and politics. Along the way, Duché would distinguish himself as a thinker and one of the finest young orators in the city. The support of a prominent family, personal ability, an excellent educa17

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18

Chapter 2

tion, and the privilege of influential friends would elevate Duché, at just twenty-one, to the position of assistant minister of Christ Church. Jacob began his educational journey in 1743 when, at the age of five, his father sent him to Francis Alison’s New London Academy in Chester County, a unique opportunity for a child at this time since most children in the colonial period did not receive any kind of formal education outside the home. Jacob’s biggest concern in this period, though, was no doubt the loss of his mother which probably occurred sometime in 1743, and the remarriage of his father to a widow named Esther Duffield five years later. 2 It is impossible to estimate the influence of this family tragedy on Jacob, but one outcome is certain, it bonded him very closely to his father. Jacob’s classmates at New London were a diverse and interesting bunch that would go on to live lives of significance both in and outside of Philadelphia. They included George Reed, Charles Thomson, and Thomas McKean, young men who would rise to prominence in Pennsylvania political circles, especially among the radical element during the Revolution. Thomson would become the secretary to the Continental Congress and McKean would become governor of Pennsylvania as well as the man who occupied Duché’s vacated mansion during the latter years of the Revolution. It is likely that the students formed close relationships with each other and the Alison family since they both attended school and lived at the Alison residence, a practice common in private academies of the colonial era. 3 Francis Alison had a stern demeanor, bad temper, and rarely smiled, yet his students loved him and valued his thoughts as he instructed them in science, mathematics, and Latin. He was born in Ireland, received a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1733, and was licensed as a minister by the presbytery of Letterkenny in 1735. In Philadelphia, he officiated as a half-time minister at the First Presbyterian Church. 4 Alison had strong beliefs on a variety of subjects. As an evangelical he opposed the revivals on the issue of ministerial qualifications. Alison opposed the establishment of an Anglican bishop in America because he feared that an American bishop would ally himself with the colony’s proprietors, who by this time were either Anglican or closely tied to Anglicans. When it came to government itself, Alison believed in compact, consent, and the right to resist unjust governments that failed to protect liberty. Matthew Wilson, one of Alison’s contemporaries, said that he “never failed to implant the love of civil and religious liberty in every heart of his pupils.” Jacob emerged from New London with a respected mentor, new friends, and a solid foundation for further study. 5 The completion of his education at the College of Philadelphia and later at Cambridge University in London, England dominated much of the 1750’s for Jacob. One of the most important and influential institutions in Jacob Duché’s life was the College of Philadelphia which he

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Education

19

entered in 1755. In 1749, Benjamin Franklin published his “Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania” which outlined his vision to create a nonsectarian institution whose goal would be to advance a practical plan for educating a business and governing class of future leaders. Teachers would instruct students in English rather than in Greek and Latin, which was the norm within the popular classical educational model of the day, and the curriculum would include more practical subjects such as natural history, geology, geography, and modern languages. 6 Franklin won enough support for his vision to establish the Academy of Philadelphia, a precursor to the college, which received a charter in 1749 and opened in 1751. When the first rector died in 1751, he was replaced by Francis Alison, a classicist, who immediately found himself at odds with the vision of Franklin. In 1753, Alison brought his young protégé, Jacob Duché, to assist him as an usher in the Latin School at a salary of L40 per year. 7 In 1752, William Smith, an Anglican minister and Scotsman, published his scheme for a “College of Mirania.” Three years after the publication of Smith’s scheme, the proprietors granted a new charter to the trustees of the academy expanding its original purpose into that of a college. The trustees then named Smith as the college’s first provost and Alison as vice-provost. Alison continued his work in the academy while also serving in his new position in the college which was common for faculty members in the early years. The first class of the College of Philadelphia, including Jacob Duché, began their studies in 1755. From 17511781, the old Whitefield building at the corner of Fourth and Arch housed the academy and the college. 8 The founders of the college designed its curriculum to be completed in three years. Each year was divided into three terms. Faculty instructed students in four main areas: Latin and Greek, Mathematics and Natural Science, English and Oratory, and Ethics. The goal of the curriculum was simple: each student, upon graduation, would be capable of applying independent thought to all situations. 9 An example of the diversity of discussions which occurred within the college’s curriculum was a philosophical discourse delivered by Duché, Samuel Magaw, and Hugh Williamson advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette on the following question: “Whether a State of Nature (so called) be a State of War?” 10 Field trips were also part of the college experience as evidenced by a trip that Jacob and his classmates took to New York where they worked on their “exercises” and read literature while staying at what Jacob called “the most agreeable place that ever I was in my life,” the Hermitage, on Long Island. 11 Jacob attended classes with about a dozen other students in his three years at the college. His classmates in college, as at New London, were to become distinguished and influential men. They included two future clergymen, Samuel Magaw and James Latta, two future revolutionaries,

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Francis Hopkinson and John Morgan, and possibly, at least for a time, the great painter Benjamin West. Two of these men, Hopkinson and Morgan would become family. Jacob and Morgan each married one of Hopkinson’s sisters. Hopkinson, the famous musician and writer, would become Jacob’s closest friend. Morgan became a physician and, during the Revolution, Medical Director General of the Continental Army. 12 Even though the college’s board of trustees was overwhelmingly Anglican, the professors at the College of Philadelphia were from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. All of them, however, were distinguished and capable educators. Alison, who combated growing Anglican power in the colony and the college but remained friends with many Anglicans themselves, was professor of Greek and Latin. Theophilus Grew, the master of mathematics in the academy of whom little is known, was professor of mathematics. Ebenezer Kinnersley was a shopkeeper and occasional preacher at the Philadelphia Baptist Church who was professor of English and Oratory. A relative of the Duché family by marriage, Kinnersly introduced Jacob to the scientific deism prevalent among Enlightenment thinkers of that era, a concept which stressed belief in a rational religion and a non-personal God which Duché rejected. Kinnersley also was a fledgling scientist, assisting his close associate Benjamin Franklin in various electrical experiments. 13 The two most lasting influences on Jacob from his college years were Alison and William Smith, the Anglican minister, provost of the college, and its professor of ethics. Smith was an intense and unpredictable figure in Philadelphia’s religious and political community. His strong viewpoints and aggressive manner made him many friends and even more enemies. Along with Alison, Smith placed more emphasis on classical education than what Franklin envisioned which put him at odds with the school’s founder almost from the start. 14 In 1756, this would lead to a major upheaval on the college’s governing board resulting in Franklin’s removal and creating bad blood between the two leading progenitors of education in the city for years to come. During his college years, Jacob became a member of Smith’s exclusive protégé group which included Francis Hopkinson and Benjamin West. 15 While learning from these outstanding educators, the great political debate of that day, the fight between the Quakers and proprietors over the defense of Pennsylvania, drew Jacob into the world of politics. The event that spawned this political fight was the French and Indian War. The Quakers who controlled Pennsylvania’s Assembly stubbornly refused to vote appropriations to prepare to defend the colony in case of French attack. They had long since determined to use the defense issue as a wedge against the power of the proprietors, refusing to pay to defend the proprietor’s western lands unless the proprietors agreed to allow their lands to be taxed and to approve Assembly bills to print paper money. These two provisions would have greatly enhanced the power of

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Education

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the Assembly and reduced that of the proprietors and their governors and were, therefore, unacceptable to the proprietors. As the conflict between France and England unfolded, this internal political standoff left Pennsylvania’s frontier unprotected. 16 The proprietary party, on the other hand, supported the defense of the colony, the claims of the proprietors to keep their lands tax free, and the extension of representation to the western part of the colony. The proprietary party leaders included lawyers Benjamin Chew and John Dickinson, Anglican clerics William Smith and Richard Peters, and gentlemen James Hamilton, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn. Most of these leaders were Anglicans. One very influential Presbyterian, the retired merchant William Allen, was also a member of this exclusive leadership group. 17 Together, some Presbyterians and most Anglicans, including Jacob Duché and his father, embraced the proprietary party, a relationship that enabled them to access the patronage of the proprietors, and to forge a political alliance designed to combat the power of the Quakers. 18 The events of 1755 altered the power structure of Pennsylvania politics and the position of the Quakers in their colony forever. That year, the British sent an army to America under the command of General Edward Braddock to remove the French forts located in land claimed by Pennsylvania and Virginia. Braddock’s army—which included some Virginians who had taken the lead in opposing the French incursion—marched into western Pennsylvania in July with the objective of seizing Fort Duquesne, the French fort recently constructed at the forks of the Ohio River in modern day Pittsburgh. The French routed Braddock’s army and killed the general leaving the Pennsylvania frontier exposed to attack. Two war parties made up of disgruntled Delaware and Shawnee Indians attacked the frontier. By October, with no forts or troops to protect it from these war parties, the entire frontier was in flight toward Philadelphia. 19 As the war parties approached the German counties, the Quaker’s traditional allies in Pennsylvania politics became alarmed. On November 25, a German mob entered the State House and, at gunpoint, demanded immediate passage of a defense measure. Under imminent danger the Quakers split, the “fighting” Quakers capitulated and voted to defend the colony. The defense measure which passed under these extraordinary circumstances allocated L60,000 to create a militia and construct forts. 20 As a college student, Jacob responded to the turmoil caused by the French and Indian War by taking up the only weapon available to a young man of his age and inexperience, the pen. Franklin and Hall published his thoughts titled Pennsylvania: A Poem in 1756 prefaced with the following advertisement: As the following little Poem discovers a Degree of Judgment, Genius, and Public-Spirit seldom to be met with in Persons so young as the Author, it was thought that the Publication of it might be seasonable at

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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this Time, as well as contribute towards the healing our unhappy Breaches, as to encourage the Author to Attempts of an higher nature.

To suggest that Jacob’s poem was the product of “genius” and might contribute to “healing” the political divisions of the moment was high praise indeed, even though Duché never did as well with the written word as the spoken. 21 The poem itself provides a window into Jacob’s developing ideas about Pennsylvania’s trans-Atlantic heritage, France, and the political factions which were tearing the colony apart. For Jacob, the French and Indian War threatened the stability of the British trans-Atlantic Empire. 22 According to the young poet, the life blood of Pennsylvania was the “majestic” Delaware “whose silver-winding wave” and “murmuring tide” brought economic life to the colony. “Fair Philadelphia” was the “Offspring of her Toil.” The colony of Pennsylvania sprang from “great Brittania” who raised her “with a Mother’s Care” and blessed her “with equal Honour, Wealth, and Strength.” The gentle rule of the British government and the freedoms this rule granted to subjects of the British Empire made Philadelphia a peaceful and prosperous city and blessed Pennsylvania with wealth and honor. From his viewpoint, two significant issues threatened the survival of this glorious place and turned his prose acidic, the tragedy of a “ruthless” war and the “Hell-born” political factions that had developed in response to it. For France, persecutor of his Huguenot grandfather and perpetrator of this evil war, Jacob had no mercy, only vitriol. France, the “Hell-born Fiend,” her sons stirred with “Thirst of Blood,” has convened her “dark” council and forged a despicable alliance sending forth the “gloomy painted Tribes” who were the “human Monsters” of the wild. In contrast to this harsh depiction of the French and their Indian allies, Jacob portrayed Braddock and his soldiers as “Great Chiefs, in Arms Renowned, in Suffering brave!” For Duché, the French were evil, as were their Indian allies, and the British were good. The problem of party factions, however, was far worse than the war presently encountered. “Restless Party-Rage,” Duché wrote, disturbed him more than “all the Terrors of a foreign war.” These “Feuds intestine” divided the strength of Pennsylvanians to resist the French and threatened to “rend” the “infant” state in two. The solution to this problem was the “generous healing Hand” and a “calm, impartial reason” only found in the virtuous leader who would employ reason and subtle persuasion to reconcile the feuding factions. For Duché, this leader was colonial governor Robert Hunter Morris whose “mild influence” and “Humane and just” rule had the potential to unite the factions and in so doing combine their strength once again to fight against France, their true enemy. Without such a leader, Duché feared that political factions would tear the colony apart and negate all the accomplishments of the British Empire as evidence by the following verse:

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

Education

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Was if for this I left my native Soil, Thee, great Britannia! Mistress of the Main! And sought these distant Shores then far remote From the sweet Influence of thy tempered Rule, To spread thy Sway, and give this fruitful Land A fair Accession to thy wide Domain? Was it for this I planned the Scheme of State, A Constitution just, impartial, free And gave my Sons to know the ruling Art, To balance fair the Legislative Powers, And teach the Free-born Subject Freedom’s Laws?

Duché’s plea for someone to recognize the depth of the problem and step forward to save the grand experiment in freedom from destruction demonstrates his love for freedom and the colonial institutions permitted and encouraged by the British Empire that made freedom possible. This passionate expression in verse reveals much about Duché’s early thought. He viewed nature as an important element in the scheme of human interaction, seeing the Delaware River as determinant of human activity, at once intermingled with human activity and larger than it. He saw Philadelphia as a place like no other, calm and free, where virtuous people lived under a just, impartial constitution granted and protected by the British Empire. He embraced freedom and the colonial institutions that made freedom possible in Pennsylvania. He was willing to depict an adversary, even one which was part of his personal heritage, in the darkest possible terms. He opposed the narrow minded and destructive force of political factionalism which threatened freedom and the institutions that accompany it. Instead, he advocated soft persuasion and reasoned arguments as the best way for political leaders to preserve a free society. As Jacob was writing his verse, he also became actively involved in the war. In 1756, his father, who had long supported the scheme of Franklin to defend the colony with associators, was elected colonel of the regiment for Philadelphia County. The “Captain General,” Benjamin Franklin, reviewed these troops on May 18. The announcement for the review was signed by Jacob Duché, Jr., who was acting as Franklin’s secretary at the time. In August, Jacob’s father and the Philadelphia County regiment greeted the new governor, William Denny, at the county line. 23 Some of the proprietary leaders resented the growing power of Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania politics even as his party, the Quaker party, was in decline. Richard Peters, Anglican minister and provincial secretary, was particularly incensed by Franklin’s influence over members of his own church. He wrote specifically of Evan Morgan and Colonel Duché who he said had become “infected” by Franklin. For Peters, Colonel Duché and others like him had become “mere Franklinists . . . creatures . . . partisans . . . minions” captivated by Franklin and his designs. 24 Navigating between the views of his father’s close friend Franklin, and

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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those of his mentors and close associates within the proprietary party, would press Jacob to apply the independent thought taught at college to the complexities and intrigues of the real world. As a student at the college, Jacob Duché, Jr., found himself in the middle of the growing dispute between Franklin and the proprietary leaders, specifically Provost William Smith who, throughout the political crisis, had condemned the assembly for its failure to adopt aggressive military measures. Franklin and others accused Smith of bringing his political views into the classroom by teaching in a partisan manner. On June 24, 1756, Jacob and three classmates penned a letter defending Smith. According to the students, Smith never introduced anything into his classroom “relating to the Parties now subsisting in this Province” and that he avoided all “Party Distinctions.” 25 Even though Jacob expressed strong support for his teacher in his letter, he did not abandon Franklin. In 1757, Franklin departed for England to share his views on the political situation in Pennsylvania with British leaders. Before he left, Franklin met with Jacob and offered to deliver any letters he might have for friends in England. On May 6, 1757, when Franklin was in England to make his case against the proprietors before the British government, 26 Jacob decided to take Franklin up on his offer and wrote to him requesting that he “take charge of the inclosed letters” since he is most likely “personally acquainted with the Gentlemen to whom they are directed.” Jacob added this to his request, “I wish you the highest success in your laudable Undertaking, as I am well convinced that all your actions hitherto have been immediately for the Public Good, and trust that in your future Conduct, you will still have that noblest of Ends in view.” It seems that young Jacob already had developed the capacity to continue to have faith in the motives of those with whom he disagreed. He closed the letter by passing on his father’s “best wishes.” 27 This conflict between Smith and Franklin, and the dilemma it presented to Jacob, continued into 1758 when Smith was arrested and charged with being a “Promoter and Abettor, of the writing and publishing a Libel.” 28 In 1757, Smith had established the American Magazine and Monthly Chronicle as a mouthpiece defending the proprietors. 29 He was arrested on January 6, 1758, for publishing The Humble Address of William Moore, One of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Chester. William Moore was a vehement critic of the assembly’s inadequate response to the war. Smith was imprisoned for three weeks. 30 During his imprisonment, Smith taught classes from his jail cell. 31 Sometime while in prison, Smith was interrogated at a public hearing which Jacob attended and participated in by taking notes. When Smith went to England later that year for trial, Jacob followed him, travelling with former Governor James Hamilton, apparently prepared to speak in Smith’s defense if neces-

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Education

25

sary. 32 Of Hamilton, Jacob wrote that he has been “in every Respect almost a Father to me” offering both “Friendship and Protection.” 33 By the time of Smith’s arrest, Jacob had already graduated from the College of Philadelphia and was preparing to go to England to further his education. While at the college, the well connected, gifted young man had distinguished himself as an orator and writer. 34 He had served as an usher in the Latin school, a clerk to Governor Denny, a secretary to Benjamin Franklin, and graduated valedictorian of his class receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree on May 17, 1757. 35 Less than a year after graduation, Jacob decided to further his education in England at Clare Hall, the graduate school of the University of Cambridge. William Smith, his mentor, wrote a letter to the Bishop of London lauding Jacob as “a young gentleman of good fortune bred up in our college under me” who “distinguished himself as a scholar and orator.” Smith also provided the first insight into Jacob’s growing spiritual commitment writing that he had “devoted himself to the church.” Apparently, Jacob was already leaning toward pursuing a clerical career even before departing for England. 36 Clare Hall was a unique and prestigious place to receive a graduate education in the eighteenth century. Founded in 1326, the college was originally endowed for fifteen scholars, no more than six of whom could be bound for priestly orders. No evidence exists that there were ever more than ten fellows at a time during the period that Jacob attended. According to the statutes of the college, students were to be “well qualified to rise according to their merits to different ranks in church and state.” The stated purpose of the school was that students would “discover and acquire the precious pearl of learning” and “enlighten those who walk in the dark paths of ignorance.” The alumni of the college were some of the most prodigious of Englishmen and included contemporaries Charles Townshend and Lord Cornwallis, who graduated from Clare Hall the year before Jacob arrived. 37 During his time at Clare Hall, Jacob undoubtedly received an outstanding education. He wrote to Richard Peters that he was reading Milton and Virgil. 38 Within a year he was translating documents from Latin to English. 39 But Jacob also longed for home. To his sweetheart and future wife, Elizabeth Hopkinson, he wrote, “I am heartily weary of this dirty city” whose streets and people apparently paled in comparison to those of “fair” Philadelphia. Jacob made it clear that he had “no taste for the gaiety and gallantry” of the rigid English class system. 40 While in England, events were unfolding back in Philadelphia that would ultimately shape his future career. As early as 1754, his father had petitioned for a lot on which to build a new Anglican church in the city that would serve the parishioners of Christ Church who lived in the growing Society Hill area in the southern part of the city. 41 On June 12, 1758, a formal proposal was made to the vestry of Christ Church to build

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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a new church and on June 20, Colonel Duché and others were assigned the task of raising funds for the project. 42 Three months later, on September 21, the Pennsylvania Gazette reported that construction on the new church had begun. 43 Later that year, Colonel Duché requested that the vestry apply to the Bishop of London to admit his son to holy orders so that he could return to Philadelphia and serve in the churches. 44 Jacob’s correspondence from England in 1758 suggests that father and son had hatched a plan to make Jacob the assistant minister for the new church even before the vestry approved building it. Jacob wrote on May 10, 1758, that he had met with Dr. Nicholls, the chaplain to the Bishop of London, to find out how long he had to stay in England before he could receive priest’s orders. Nicholls informed Jacob that he would have to wait until he attained the age of twenty-four which would force him to remain in England for four years. This surprised Jacob who thought that orders could be obtained early by “Dispensation from the Archbishop.” Nicholls told Jacob that this had never been done and that, in fact, it was against the law. He advised Jacob to stay at Cambridge for four years and get a law degree and then pursue orders in the church. Hamilton advised Jacob to stay for a year and then apply for deacon’s orders, a lesser form of a license to serve in the Church of England, and then return for priest’s orders later. Jacob, learning how to push when it achieved an important purpose, informed Nicholls that his return to Philadelphia next spring was absolutely necessary because he would be needed to officiate in the new church which had not been yet approved or built. Nicholls responded that if Jacob stayed for one year and had his father send orders for his return, that he would “do all in his power” to help him next year. 45 On February 7, 1759, the vestry of Christ Church intervened by drafting a letter to the Bishop of London requesting that Jacob Duché be admitted to holy orders. Their letter noted that Philadelphia was a populous city that needed more churches. Their specific request was for the bishop to admit Jacob Duché to holy orders and “license him to officiate as an assistant minister in the churches of Philadelphia.” They described Jacob as a “young Gent” who has “from very Early Years of his life been strongly inclined to the Ministry.” They concluded with a strong recommendation for Jacob, stating that they were “fully satisfied of his Virtue, Capacity, Piety, and Acquired Accomplishments.” 46 The bishop responded favorably by ordaining Duché a deacon in the Church of England. He was now a licensed minister. 47 On March 15, 1759, the newly ordained minister wrote a letter of thanks from London to the vestry. Jacob expressed his thanks to the vestry for their “recommendation of me to the Lord Bishop of London for Holy Orders” who was “graciously pleased, notwithstanding any want of Age, to grant me Deacons Orders, with A Lycense to exercise my Function in the Province of Pennsylvania.” In response to the faith and

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Education

27

trust the vestry had shown in him, Jacob pledged to “spare no pains in the exercise of my ministerial duty at Philadelphia, well knowing that this will be the best step I can take toward discharging the obligations I am under to my Lord of Lords and to you.” 48 By April, parson Duché was preaching. He wrote to William Smith, I “preached Yesterday Morning in the old Church here, which is a very large one, to a crowded audience, and read prayers in the Afternoon.” Jacob also relayed that he had been asked to preach in the new church in the city on Easter Sunday, but that he thought he would decline in order that he might begin the journey home as soon as possible. That journey home, after several inopportune delays, began from Portsmouth on July 7, aboard the Spithead. Jacob, obviously affected by the new position that awaited him in Philadelphia, wrote to Smith that he planned to spend the entire voyage “in calm and serious Reflection upon the Course I must take, as soon as I embark on the great Ocean of life.” And to his mentor who he was temporarily leaving behind in England he wrote a note of unfailing support, “You may depend upon it I shall take no Steps, on my Arrival, that can make me unworthy of your Friendship. You know my resolutions; and shall most religiously adhere to them. Your enemies are by this Time tired out. Their malicious designs against you have ever been fruitless. They can now only envy but not hurt you.” 49 On September 27, 1759, the vestry received Jacob Duché as an assistant minister and pledged to “endeavor to provide for him as soon as they can.” 50 Apparently, parson Duché did not, at first, receive a salary. He was young, talented, and popular; still the newly appointed assistant minister to Christ Church faced some difficult circumstances. 51 The rector of the church, Robert Jenny, was old and incapacitated by illness. During Jenny’s tenure, the church had continued to struggle with the three factors which caused the church the most trouble in the colonial period: evangelical religion, the intrusion of factional politics into the church, and the absence of an established governing structure. The presence of William Smith and Richard Peters—both of whom were Anglican ministers but had no official role in the church—and the “political squabbles” in which they involved the church “concerned and frustrated” Jenny who opposed mixing politics and religion. 52 The other assistant minister, William Sturgeon, shared Jenny’s views about Smith and Peters. Sturgeon was also old and not particularly gifted as a preacher. Both Sturgeon and Jenny were rationalists like Smith, while Peters was in a transitional phase between rationalism and a tempered evangelicalism. A third minister, William McClenachan, an evangelical and avowed Whitefieldian, was a non-paid assistant who many in the congregation wanted to fill the position of assistant minister instead of Duché. To appease the supporters of McClenachan, the vestry allowed him to act as an assistant and paid him by private subscription. This unworkable situation would

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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soon rupture into a controversial dismissal followed by a church split with McClenachan founding a new church, St. Paul’s. 53 These complications notwithstanding, young Jacob Duché was still in an excellent position, one that brought prestige and the opportunity to be influential. Later in 1759, the young assistant minister received one final honor to mark his return to Philadelphia as a licensed professional. On December 11, the Board of Trustees of the College of Philadelphia hired Duché as Professor of Oratory, a position he retained until 1777. Duché was the first graduate to be hired at the college and its youngest professor. 54 By 1760, Jacob Duché was an Anglican minister in a prominent Philadelphia church as well as a college professor. Serving as an assistant minister for the Church of England meant upholding a unique religious and theological tradition that was closely connected to the mother country and its king. Emerging from the reformation era, the Anglican church, or Church of England, had its origins in the complex interpersonal relationships of King Henry VIII who separated the Anglican church from the then dominant Roman Catholic Church because of personal, not theological, reasons. His church, which was technically protestant since it at least in some way protested against Catholicism, was largely Roman Catholic in form and tradition. During the century following the English Reformation, the Anglican church slowly evolved toward providing what its leaders called the via media, or middle way, between Catholicism and Protestantism. The via media would grow to become a powerful conceptual foundation for Anglican church leaders. In their attempt to establish a middle way between the two competing and hostile Christian traditions, Anglicans stressed like other Protestants that the scriptures, Old and New Testaments, contained all things necessary for salvation but added that the more Catholic Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed provided useful guidelines for baptism and faith respectively. In addition, the church emphasized the importance of its two founding documents: The Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-nine Articles. 55

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Figure 2.1. Jacob Duché, Jr., Portrait Jacob Duché, Jr., Portrait. Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Archives.

The Anglican church was governed by a formal structure at the top of which was the king of England who served as the supreme governor of the church. The prayer book contained numerous prayers for the king and his family. Below the king was the Archbishop of Canterbury who had a special place of honor among the other bishops as primus interpares —first among equals. The bishops ordained ministers and governed the church on a regional basis and were considered successors to the apostles—the Bishop of London had authority over the church in America since no bishop was appointed for the colonies during the colonial period. Below the bishops were the priests, or rectors, ordained ministers who shepherded local congregations. Next in line were the deacons, or assistants to the priests, who could perform priestly functions as assistants to an ordained minister. Duché began his career in the church as a deacon, rose to the position of rector, and coveted but never attained the position of bishop. 56 In England, the church was established by law, intertwined with the government, and inclusive. The Church of England was state supported, meaning money raised by taxes was used to build churches and pay ministers. The king or queen appointed bishops who served in the House

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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of Lords. The Book of Common Prayer provided a unified liturgy serving as the “symbol and reality of the national church.” All English men and women were members of the church simply because they were citizens. Those who wanted to dissent from the church had to renounce their connection to it. Otherwise, all citizens, even those nominally connected to it, were considered to be part of the Church of England. While the Anglican church was established in many southern colonies, the American establishment structures varied greatly from the English model. 57 In the mid to late eighteenth century, there were two important controversies within the Anglican church. The first controversy involved the issue of the power of church authority. High church Anglicans argued that bishops were divinely ordained and therefore their power was not to be questioned. Low church Anglicans questioned the authority of the bishops and argued that local congregations and their vestries should be given authority over their own affairs. Anglican ministers in the south where the church was established tended to be low church while Anglicans in the New York and New England colonies where the church was persecuted and the ministers were supplied by the mother church tended to be high church. In Philadelphia, where the church was not established but not persecuted the ministers tended to question the exclusive authority of the bishop but also to recognize the value that a hierarchical structure provided. 58 The second controversy was actually much more important in Philadelphia, the question of evangelicalism. Those who supported a more rational and less emotional religion were termed rationalists. Those who favored a more personal and emotional religious experience were evangelicals. The revivals of the Great Awakening intensified this debate within the church. The Philadelphia clergy represented all sides of this debate. Robert Jenny, the rector who hired Duché, and William Smith, his college mentor, were rationalists. So too was William Sturgeon, the other assistant minister. Richard Peters, the other Anglican minister in the city, was in a transitional phase. Duché, under the guidance of Peters, would soon take his stand firmly in the evangelical camp. 59 Jacob Duché’s education and training laid the foundation for an extraordinary life. During these years he learned to employ moral reasoning, independent thought, and the via media, or middle way. As a result, he developed an admiration for calm, reasoned, and impartial leadership. The privilege of his family position combined with the influence and support of mentors like Alison, Smith, and Franklin would aid in his quick advance in Philadelphia circles. These relationships, his education, and his hard work and natural ability won him the accolades of persons of significance within the Philadelphia community and allowed him to become the assistant minister of Christ Church at the age of twenty-one. By 1760, Duché had developed a certain and unique view of the world. In

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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the 1760’s, he would share this world view with the wealthy and influential congregations of Christ Church and St. Peter’s. In the next decade, the decade that would bring the start of a revolution, he would share it with America.

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NOTES 1. Joseph J. Kelly, Jr., Pennsylvania: The Colonial Years, 1681-1776 (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1980), 216. 2. John M. Coleman, Thomas McKean: Forgotten Leader of the Revolution (New Jersey: American Faculty Press, 1975), 17; Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 58. 3. Coleman, 17. 4. Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” accessed May 14, 2008, www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/ penn1700s.html. 5. James L. McAllister, “Francis Alison and John Witherspoon: Political Philosophers and Revolutionaries,” Pennsylvania History 54 (1976): 43-54; Thomas C. Pears, Jr., “Francis Alison,” Pennsylvania History 29 (1951): 219. 6. Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html. For background on the College of Philadelphia see Ann D. Gordon, The College of Philadelphia, 1749-1779: Impact of an Institution (New York: Garland, 1989); Bruce Lively, “William Smith, the College and Academy of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Politics, 1753-1758,” Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 38 (1969). 7. November 17, 1753. University of Pennsylvania Archives, Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Minute Books [hereafter Trustee Minutes], 1:36, accessed July 1, 2008, http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/upa/upa1/upa1_1online.htmls. 8. Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html. For background on Francis Alison see Elizabeth A. Ingersoll, “Francis Alison: American Philosophe,” (PhD diss., University of Delaware, 1974). 9. Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html. 10. Pennsylvania Gazette, July 31, 1755. 11. Jacob Duché to William Smith, July 31, 1755, Box 3, Folder 1730-1759, HanksSmith Papers, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore [hereafter MDHS]. 12. Neill, “The Rev. Jacob Duché,” 59; Trustee Minutes, 1:82. For additional information on Francis Hopkinson see George E. Hastings, The Life and Works of Francis Hopkinson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926). 13. Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html. 14. Ibid; Trustee Minutes, 1:49. 15. Horace W. Smith, Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith (Philadelphia: Ferguson Brothers and Company, 1878), 390. For Smith see Albert F. Gegenheimer, William Smith, Educator and Churchman, 1727-1803 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1943). 16. Smith, Life and Correspondence, 64. 17. Doerflinger, “Philaelphia Merchants,” 212. 18. Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 59. 19. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 68. 20. Ibid., 69-70. 21. Duché, Pennsylvania: A Poem. 22. There is a multitude of new scholarship on the British Atlantic world. Two works most useful in the context of this study are Elizabeth Mancke and Carole Sham-

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mas, ed., The Creation of the British Atlantic World (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, and Carla G. Pestana, Protestant Empire: Religion and the Making of the British Atlantic World (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009). Mancke and Shammas explore the transformation of peoples, institutions, and ideas around and across the ocean. Pestana argues that religion was the driving force of British expansion, that the diverse population of the British Empire was loosely connected by British Protestantism, and that leaders saw the common spiritual orientation as critical. 23. Pennsylvania Gazette, April 8, 1756, May 13, 1756. 24. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 6:457. The editor records this information in a note that cites letters from Peters to Penn dated April 25 and 29, June 1, 3, and 26, Penn Papers, HSP. 25. Trustee Minutes, 1:70-71. 26. Concise Dictionary of American Biography, American Council of Learned Societies (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Cengage Gale, 1997), 320. 27. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:207. 28. Ibid., 8:29. 29. Concise Dictionary of American Biography, 956. 30. Ibid., 689. 31. Trustee Minutes, 91. 32. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 8:29. 33. Jacob Duché to Richard Peters, May 10, 1758, Box 3, Folder 1730-1759, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 34. Hastings, “Jacob Duché,” 387. 35. Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 59; Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/ penn1700s.html. 36. William S. Perry, ed., Historical Collections Relating to the American Colonial Church (New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1969), 262. 37. Clare College, Cambridge, “Clare College History,” http:// www.clare.cam.ac.uk/about/history.html. 38. Jacob Duché to Richard Peters, May 10, 1758, Peter’s Papers, 5:43, HSP. 39. Jacob Duché to William Smith, April 9, 1759, Box 3, Folder 1730-1759, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 40. Jacob Duché to Elizabeth Duché, May 10, 1758, Society Collection, HSP. 41. Petition for a lot on which to build St. Peters, August 1, 1754, Penn Papers, HSP. 42. Gough, Christ Church, 75. Saint Peter’s Church, “A Brief History of St. Peter’s Church,” http://www.stpetersphila.org/Default.aspx?tabid=73. 43. Pennsylvania Gazette, September 21, 1758. 44. Charles P. Keith, Provincial Counsellors of Pennsylvania, 1681-1776 (Trenton: W.S. Sharp Printing Company, 1883), 276; Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 113; Vestry Minutes, February 7, 1759. 45. Jacob Duché to Richard Peters, May 10, 1758, Box 3, Folder 1730-1759, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 46. Vestry Minutes, February 7, 1759. 47. Papers of the Bishop of London, Series Fulham Papers Colonial, 9, 69, Lambeth Palace Library, London. 48. Vestry Minutes, July 18, 1759. 49. Jacob Duché to William Smith, April 9, 1759, June 29, 1759, July 5, 1759, July 7, 1759, Box 3, Folder 1730-1759, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 50. Vestry Minutes, September 27, 1759; Gough, Christ Church, 77. 51. Gough, Christ Church, 88; C.P.B. Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia, 17531783,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 48 (1924), 40; Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 60. 52. Gough, Christ Church, 62, 82. 53. Vestry Minutes, May 10, 1759; Keith, 276; Neill, 61; Gough, Christ Church, 77-82.

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54. Trustee Minutes, 1:109. 55. Gough, Christ Church, 5-6. 56. Ibid. 57. Ibid. 58. Ibid., 62, 118-120; Deborah M. Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles: The Church of England in Colonial Pennsylvania, 1695-1789,” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1978): 1-24. For information on Anglicanism see David L. Edwards, Christian England, 3 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980-1984). 59. Gough, Christ Church, 53-55, 88-90.

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THREE

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From the start, parson Jacob Duché provided a unique and youthful presence in the pulpit of Christ Church. He had what his friend Benjamin Rush called, “a natural disposition to laughter,” so much so that he sometimes had to pinch himself while delivering a sermon to avoid breaking out into laughter in front of the entire congregation. His voice was “musical” and his actions “graceful.” The young minister was also so nearsighted that he found early on that reading his sermons was almost impossible. Fortunately for Duché, he had a special gift for memorization which allowed him to recite his sermons perfectly from memory, a gift no doubt that added to the oratorical flare of his delivery. William White, the minister who succeeded Duché as rector of Christ Church in 1779, wrote that Duché’s impeccable memory combined with his extraordinary voice “made his delivery exceedingly pleasing.” White compared Duché’s delivery to that of the great evangelist George Whitefield. Young Rev. Duché could deliver a sermon, and his congregation loved him for it. 1 Among the Anglican leaders in Philadelphia, there was widespread sentiment that Duché would be a critical force in the advancement of the church in the city and in America. Richard Peters described Duché as well respected in the community because of the “piety and goodness of his life, and the strong and lively manner in which he enforces the doctrines of Christianity.” Peters went on to state that there has never been a better prospect to lead our church toward “a due share of influence” in Pennsylvania. He even suggested that Duché had special ties to the Quakers, possibly through his friendly associations with Benjamin Franklin, which would make the church more influential with them. 2 Duché also had connections among Presbyterians and Baptists. One of Duché’s great strengths was his ability to relate to diverse peoples and to bridge the gaps that existed between them. He willingly rubbed shoulders with 35

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both the highest and lowest in Philadelphia society. He could entertain the politicians, professionals, and merchant princes of Philadelphia’s elite class or spend his day with a prisoner about to be executed. 3 Indeed, the young minister had important connections throughout Philadelphia and with the Anglican leadership in England as evidenced by a letter sent to Duché by the Archbishop of Canterbury asking him for his insights on the state of the churches in Pennsylvania. 4 The young minister also displayed a distinctive sense of style. Duché, along with his brother-in-law John Morgan, was one of the first men in the city to carry an umbrella. 5 As a member of an elite class, Duché enjoyed contrivances that only members of the elite could access, at least on a regular basis. One such proclivity of Duché’s was his daily excursion to the barber. According to Sarah Eve, a contemporary, Duché went every day to have his hair curled and powdered. The young woman struggled to come to terms with the inherent contradictions of such ostentatious behavior on the part of a minister:

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Since, I have thought about it greatly, and would like to hear his sentiments on this subject. But, my dear ma’am, what would a Parson be without powder, it is as necessary to him as to a soldier, for it gives a more significant shake to his head, and is as priming to his words and looks. As to having his hair curled, he perhaps thinks it of little or no consequence, since curled or uncurled locks will turn so gray, or perhaps he may look upon it as more humiliating to wear his own hair that a wig, as then his head must serve as a block on which the barber must dress it. 6

It is unlikely that Duché went through this procedure out of humility. He was a member of the upper class and he enjoyed the trappings that gentility brought. The stylish, young minister was married at Christ Church on June 19, 1760. 7 His bride was Elizabeth Hopkinson, daughter of Mary and Joseph Hopkinson, who was baptized in Christ Church in 1738, the same year as her new husband. 8 The two newlyweds had grown up in the same city, the same church, and the same circles. Both had made significant acquaintances in their lifetimes. Elizabeth may have even been acquainted with the young George Washington. 9 Along with his new bride, Duché inherited a relationship with a strong family. Elizabeth’s brother, Francis Hopkinson, was already his friend from his college days. Her sister, Mary, would marry John Morgan, another college friend. The most important member of Elizabeth’s family, however, was her mother Mary Hopkinson. Mrs. Hopkinson was a strong and deeply spiritual woman who would have a profound influence over Duché in the coming years. In celebration of his son’s marriage, Col. Duché built him a beautiful mansion at the corner of Third and Pine right across the street from St. Peter’s Church. 10

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Figure 3.1. phia.

37

Duché Mansion Duché Mansion. The Library Company of Philadel-

Jacob’s adoration for his wife, Elizabeth, was no secret. He loved her with the same passion that he loved his work. She was his confidante, beloved companion, trusted friend, and loyal supporter. The home they shared together was his place of refuge. To be sure the home of the newlyweds was not always a place of marital bliss. The loss of a daughter in 1762, and another in 1770 were no doubt traumatic events for the young couple. But Jacob and Elizabeth persevered and through tragedy

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grew together rather than apart. Into this happy home arrived a son in 1763, Thomas Spence Duché. On October 16, Thomas, like his father and mother before him, was baptized at Christ Church. 11 In the early years of his ministry, Duché delivered most of his sermons at St. Peter’s Church, the recently constructed sister church to Christ Church on Society Hill across the street from his beautiful mansion. 12 Society Hill was a beautiful site for a private residence, or for a church. With the exception of a belfry tower and spire which replaced the quaint belfry-cupola in 1842, St. Peter’s as it now stands is remarkably similar to the original building that opened in 1761. Its architectural style is pure colonial, or Georgian as it would more properly be called. Its walls are entirely of brick and stand two and a half stories high. The layout of the church and the structure of the pews allows for the congregation to face either way. The agreement between the two churches was strict and seamless. It called for the churches to be known formally as “the United Congregations of Christ Church and St. Peter’s in the City of Philadelphia.” Pews at St. Peter’s would be rented at the same rate as those at Christ Church, and only those who owned a pew could vote in the yearly elections of church leaders. 13 When Jacob Duché became an assistant minister to Christ Church he was accepting an appointment to a church that was in significant transition. The building project for St. Peter’s was already well underway. The new church would be opened during only his second full year in the ministry. Duché, along with the aging rector, Robert Jenny, and William Sturgeon, the only other assistant, would preside over both of these churches. It would be up to these three men to guide the churches in the delicate balance of forging a united, cooperative relationship with each other that would advance the Church of England in Philadelphia. 14 In April and May of 1760, Duché’s first full year of ministry and the year before the completion of St. Peter’s, the ministers of the Anglican churches throughout Pennsylvania met together in convention at Philadelphia to discuss various issues including the lack of properly ordained Anglican ministers and the need for an American bishop to ordain new ministers. It was an auspicious occasion for the young minister who during the convention received his Master’s degree from the College of Philadelphia. 15 The convention had three important outcomes: an address to the new governor of Pennsylvania, an address to the Bishop of London, and a final decision on the status of William McClenachan. In the address to Governor James Hamilton, written by Duché and Thomas Barton, the ministers pledged their “firm attachment to his majesty’s sacred person” and promised “to inculcate obedience to our most gracious Sovereign and to all who are put in authority under him.” They also requested that the Anglican governor reciprocate with patronage and protection for the Anglican Church. In the letter to the Bishop of London, the ministers related the “hardships” under which they labored—which was most like-

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ly a veiled reference to the problem of not having a bishop in America— their continuous financial concerns, and the confusion caused by indiscriminate removal of ministers from one congregation to another. On the McClenachan matter, when the ministers heard that the bishop had refused to grant McClenachan a license to preach they decided to not allow him to continue at the convention under the title of Assistant Minister to Christ Church. After employing some “scurrilous and abusive language,” McClenachan departed the convention in a huff and then subsequently founded St. Paul’s, a “new light” Episcopal Church. 16 This eruption in the Anglican convention of 1760 also reveals some of the interdenominational tensions existing within the city at that time. William Smith found out that the Presbyterian Synod had discussed the McClenachan affair and that some of its members were planning to send a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury in support of McClenachan. In a letter to the synod, Smith asked pointedly if the letter to the Archbishop was a “synodical” act. Six ministers, including Duché, signed the letter. The synod quickly responded by disavowing the actions of a few of their “new light” members as “not synodical” and expressed their desire not to intermeddle in the affairs of another church. Smith wrote later that the controversy “will not hold long, especially as that shining youth Mr. Duché is so much more popular than McClenachan.” It appears that the popularity of Duché and his splendid oratorical skills were significant factors in holding the churches together in the wake of the McClenachan led split. 17 On January 10, 1762, the passing of Robert Jenny brought a new concern and complications. 18 William Sturgeon, Jenny’s choice to be his successor, was in conflict with Smith and Peters and not very popular. William Smith was a highly controversial rationalist involved deeply in politics. Richard Peters was respected and slowly removing himself from political controversies, but had a complicated personal history. Duché was talented and popular but very young. The vestry compromised by appointing Sturgeon and Duché as acting ministers on equal footing with each other. Because Sturgeon was old and had already been accused of failing to carry out some of his assigned duties, the young assistant appeared to be the successor to Jenny. This would have been an amazing ascension within the Anglican community for the minister. To pursue this unique opportunity to advance his career and his ministry, Duché departed for England in June of 1762. Tragically, during his time in England, his baby daughter, Sophia Maria Duché, died. She was buried in the middle aisle of St. Peter’s Church while Duché was still in England. 19 Duché’s trip to London was successful. In London, Duché received his full license 20 to priestly orders from the Bishop of London, Richard Terrick. License in hand, he set sail for Philadelphia aboard the Packet on October 1. He arrived at Staten Island in the early morning hours of November 28 and then travelled all night in order to reach Philadelphia

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by the next evening. He was greeted by an excited and surprised family, since they had just received news of his safe arrival in England days before. Duché wrote that along the way a Mr. Mckean communicated to him “the melancholy news of my dear little Sophy’s death, which happened about six weeks after I left home.” Richard Peters, who had served the church in Duché’s absence, welcomed Duché back to the churches. 21 About a week after Duché returned to Philadelphia, the vestry met and reaffirmed Duché as one of the assistant ministers of their churches, but then unanimously appointed Richard Peters as their new rector. Peters had officiated in the church while Duché was in England and although it is not clear what led to the change in plans, undoubtedly one of the factors was Duché’s age. Peters himself was an influential religious and political figure in Philadelphia with a storied past. Born in England in 1704, as a youth Peters had contracted a clandestine marriage with a maid servant which he said had taken place under the influence of drugs. Peters refused to acknowledge the validity of the marriage and upon hearing of the maid’s death he remarried. When he found out his first wife, the maid, was not dead, he and his second wife left England and came to America. For much of his life, his political adversaries used this story whenever they could to discredit him. In 1736, Peters became an assistant minister to Archibald Cummings, Jenny’s predecessor, but was forced to leave his position because of a disagreement with the rector. When Cummings died, the conservative vestry blocked Peters from replacing him. He then pursued a secular career becoming the secretary of the land office and then secretary of the province. In public office and business, and with very close ties to the proprietors, Peters amassed a considerable personal fortune. But he was always drawn back to the ministry. He had shown great interest in the building of St. Peter’s and on September 12, 1762, was finally elected rector of the united churches. 22 Although Sturgeon protested, Duché accepted the switch to Peters with grace. He even visited Peters to persuade him to accept. Duché wrote, “I waited upon him that very Evening, and used every argument in my Power to prevail upon him to accept their offer.” Duché also approached the governor to request that “he use all of his influence with Mr. Peters” to get him to accept. After Peters accepted, Duché wrote admiringly of how Peters does most of the parochial duty, preaches now and then, and “refuses to touch a Farthing of the Church Revenues or Fees.” 23 With Peters handling much of the administrative work and Duché handling the preaching, Christ Church and St. Peter’s had a remarkable tandem of ministers who would provide tremendous leadership to the churches in the coming decades. Peters was one of the most important people in the young minister’s life for it was he who introduced Duché to the devotional writings of William Law, the Christian “mystic” who wrote numerous books on Christianity including Christian Perfection and A Serious Call to a Devout

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and Holy Life, and whose ideas captivated Duché. Law taught that religion was an inward principle, that God forgives but calls people to obedience, and that a Christ-centered life is essential. He rejected the selective grace of Calvinists arguing against the idea of an angry God rejecting a part of mankind to assuage his own wrath. According to Law, God was good, so good that He gave his son to quench not his own wrath but the wrath of fallen mankind who had freely and voluntarily chosen to reject God and embrace sin. Law taught that the only remedy for man’s fallen state was repentance. He called this act of turning to God the eruption of an “earthquake within us” that elicited the recognition of our own sinfulness and our need of an infallible savior. Though Law argued that God offered His grace freely to all men, he was not a Universalist in the sense that all men would then be saved. Instead, Law argued that man had choice and that continued rejection of God would leave him in a “hell” from which even the infinite love of God cannot deliver. Law’s theology of free will emphasized the need for inward transformation through the inner working of the Holy Spirit. 24 Law’s writings had a profound effect on Duché and probably contributed to his movement toward the evangelical bent of the revivals. The principles of Law’s teachings, especially his emphasis on universal grace, free will, and the importance of a transformed life, became the central theme of many of Duché’s sermons. Duché wrote of the impact of Law’s works on his own spiritual development: “My mind which had hitherto been unsettled, dark, doubting, and yet anxious to find the Truth, became serene, calm, and sweetly composed. It seemed as if I had got into another world, with a new set of objects, a new set of ideas, notions, and sensibilities . . . Since the blessed period all my doubts and difficulties have left me.” 25 For the rest of the 1760’s and the first half of the 1770’s, with Richard Peters as his mentor, a new home and a young bride to decorate it, and a brand new church in which to minister, Jacob Duché settled into the work of being the assistant minister of Christ Church. Several practical concerns plagued the growing church. The church was deeply in debt, it had no official charter, and the streets leading to the new church were atrocious. The debt issue was solved by the independently wealthy Peters who refused to take a salary or hire a new minister, even after Sturgeon resigned, until the debt was paid which was accomplished in 1771. 26 The church acquired a charter in 1767 which established the structure and governance of the united churches as noted previously and allowed them to make rules and by-laws “provided that they are not contrary or repugnant to the Laws of Great Britain or Pennsylvania.” 27 The city funded the paving of the streets on Society Hill with a lottery. 28 During these years, Duché carried much of the load of the basic ministry work at the churches. Peters was undoubtedly a guiding force, gifted administrator, and invaluable mentor, but he was an older man and in

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failing health. From 1766 until 1772, when the church called Thomas Coombe and William White as assistant ministers, it was just Duché and Peters, two men presiding over two churches and caring for the needs of two congregations. Consequently, much of the everyday work, the grunt work so to speak, of baptisms, funerals, marriages, sermons, visitation and the like, fell to Duché. He found himself solely responsible for the ministry at St. Peter’s during this time, a task which he completed with alacrity. 29 With only two ministers to preside over two churches, events such as trips, illness, etc. posed a significant problem. Finding ministers to officiate in the absence of Peters, who travelled often and was frequently ill, was always an issue. In 1768, while Peters was at Fort Stanwix negotiating a treaty with the Indians, a Reverend Porter served as his substitute. Duché suggested that Porter be appointed to officiate in Christ Church during Peters’ absence, most likely in an attempt to relieve some of his own extraordinary workload. The congregation received the “evangelical” minister well. The rationalist William Smith, however, opposed the evangelical Porter. In a letter to Peters, Duché recounted the nastiness of the Porter affair. Smith, Duché wrote, threatened “to break off all connection with the churches” if Porter was appointed. His reasons for this position, Duché added, “were of little weight with me.” It is clear that by 1768 Duché was no longer solely the protégé of his college mentor. The more stable and disciplined Richard Peters—and more evangelical—was now his most trusted confidant in ministry. Although Duché, as was his penchant, continued to attempt to navigate a middle way, he did not respect the reasoning or hostility of Smith, feelings which he confided to Peters. 30 This apparent rupture with Smith could be attributed to the maturation process of the young minister. Well known character flaws attributed to Smith which might have impressed Duché as a younger man were no longer as appealing to the assistant minister who now admired the more conciliatory presence and cool temperament of Richard Peters. Smith, by many accounts, was just the opposite. Benjamin Rush described Smith as a man having a “slovenly” appearance with “awkward” manners who was “often offensive in company.” According to Rush, Smith had “early contracted a love for strong drink and became near the close of his life an habitual drunkard.” Smith also had a bad temper and “when angry he swore in the most extravagant manner.” 31 In his first published sermon which was delivered in 1763, the young minister expressed his thoughts on the character issues raised by Smith’s behavior. Duché explained that the “end” of a righteous man is “peace.” According to the young minister, the inward man will display itself in the outward person through a peaceful countenance, a demonstrated love for others, a wise use of money, and a peaceful spirit in the face of death. 32 No doubt,

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Duché found these positive characteristics in abundance in Richard Peters and lacking in William Smith. In the 1760’s, Duché and the other leaders of the united churches would contend with a complex set of relationships with the other denominations in the city. The other religious groups in Pennsylvania included the powerful Quakers, Presbyterians, Lutherans, German Reformed, Baptists, German sects, and Catholics. Of these groups the Quakers and the Presbyterians were the largest, each containing about 50,000 people. The Anglicans could claim about half that number. The rapidly growing German groups separately contained somewhere between thirty and forty thousand congregants, but together made up the most formidable demographic. The Baptists and Roman Catholics in Pennsylvania numbered only a few thousand each. In Philadelphia where Anglicans had a much stronger presence in the overall percentages, the population was thirteen percent Quaker, twenty-five percent German, twelve percent Presbyterian, and eighteen percent Anglican. 33 The Anglicans had particularly interesting and complex relationships with Quakers, Presbyterians, and Lutherans. The Quakers represented the most formidable obstacle to Anglican growth in the city. They viewed the proprietor friendly Anglicans as their foes and were unhappy with the large number of Quakers who had abandoned the faith for the Anglican church. 34 The Presbyterians, like the Anglicans, were on the rise. In the Anglicans they would find a foe with regard to the issue of an American bishop, and a friend when it came to combating Quaker power in the assembly and defending the right of representation for the western counties they inhabited. 35 The Lutherans in the city were, like the Anglicans, from an established church tradition. German Lutheran minister, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, and Swedish Lutheran minister, Carl Magnus Wrangel, formed friendships with many Anglican ministers including Duché, Smith, and Peters who, in turn, attempted to Anglicize them and their German and Swedish congregations. 36 Duché worked to develop better relationships particularly with Presbyterians and Lutherans. He was well positioned for such a task. In addition to his moderate and accommodating personality, he was uniquely connected because of his family and his experience at the College of Philadelphia. At the college he had been mentored by prominent Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Baptists and forged relationships with fellow students who held a variety of religious viewpoints. As an evangelical Anglican, he was much more capable of relating to German and Swedish Lutherans than the rational Anglicans. His moderate personality, likability, and wide array of interdenominational relationships, made him uniquely qualified to be a significant actor in a movement to forge new relationships with the aforementioned groups—a movement spearheaded by the leadership of Smith and Peters but to which Duché would lend critical support.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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The relationship between Presbyterians and Anglicans was always precarious as they found common ground in their political battles against the Quakers but struggled with their differences as establishmentarians and dissenters from the establishment who disagreed vehemently on the issue of an Anglican bishop in America. Even among Anglicans, the issue of an American bishop was controversial. In Virginia, where the Church of England was established, the vestries saw an American bishop more as a threat to their power than an advantage. In New York, where the church was struggling, the opposite sentiment prevailed. In Pennsylvania, the clergy of Christ Church supported the idea of an American bishop but lacked the “fanatical zeal” of the northerners. 37 The hostility of Presbyterians to the idea of a bishop was vehement. According to Carl Bridenbaugh, the historian who wrote the seminal work on the issue of an Anglican bishop in America, a significant factor in the coming of the American Revolution was the pervasive colonial fear that the authorities of the Church of England intended to establish a bishopric in the colonies which would place limitations on their religious freedom. 38 Those advocating for a bishop claimed repeatedly that they wanted it only for limited purposes: the confirmation of lay members, to supervise the Anglican clergy, and to eliminate the long and arduous trip to England for ordination. This was most certainly Duché’s position when he signed a letter pleading for the appointment of a bishop in America. 39 Nevertheless, opponents believed the contrivance to be for the purpose of establishment, taxation, the limitation of public officeholders to church members, and to establish jurisdiction over probate and other judicial matters. 40 While these fears were not unfounded, they were never a serious possibility; nevertheless, the fear was real and it had consequences for interdenominational relationships. Duché, in part because of his strong relationship with Francis Alison, was seen by Anglican leaders as an important component in the drive to get Presbyterians to acquiesce to the idea of a colonial bishop. As Presbyterians rose in prominence within the college, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked Duché to deal “with great mildness” with the dissenters with regard to the Bishop issue. While Peters thought that a colonial bishop would benefit the Presbyterians by displaying to them the organized nature of Episcopal government, he admitted that convincing them that it would be of no threat to them was a difficult task. In 1766, a possibility of compromise appeared when Duché’s college mentor Francis Alison wrote that he had “no objection” to what he called “primitive Episcopacy” which he defined as “Episcopacy without any civil power annexed to it.” 41 Here was the crux of the matter, the fear that a religious institution would come to have political power. His work with the Presbyterians notwithstanding, it was with the Lutherans that Duché became most influential and therefore did his most significant interdenominational work. Because the Lutherans shared with

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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Assistant Minister

45

Anglicans a history of establishment, some Anglican leaders viewed them as potential converts. Smith wrote, “The Lutheran clergy have a good disposition to be united to our church.” 42 One of the reasons was their desire to be respected. Even within their own ethnic community, the Lutherans had been characterized as “priest[s] of Baal” by the leaders of the German sects. The Lutherans also, by their own account, felt somewhat disrespected by the ruling Quakers who Muhlenberg believed viewed Lutherans as “spiritless letter-worshipers.” 43 This situation of disaffection provided an opportunity for the Anglicans, with Duché in the forefront, to build an inter-denominational alliance. While the entrance of the Lutherans into the Anglican church never completely materialized, occasional hints of such a possibility continued to tantalize Anglican imaginations. One such occurrence was the request of an individual named Bryzelius, a Lutheran, for Episcopal ordination. Bryzelius, who was recommended by Muhlenberg and the Swedish Lutheran Carl Magnus Wrangel, preached adequately at least a few times in the local Anglican churches. He ultimately was sent to Nova Scotia to officiate in Anglican churches there to meet their need for a minister who could command both the English and German languages. 44 Most often, though, the relationship forged between the two denominations was ministry-based. Funerals provided such an occasion. In 1764, on the occasion of a Lutheran funeral, Muhlenberg requested that “his good friend” Duché allow him the use of the black pall for a coffin and asked that the majestic bells of Christ Church be tolled in mourning. One Lutheran funeral was attended by three Anglican ministers. Smith, Sturgeon, and Duché walked ahead of the coffin in a Lutheran funeral in 1765. Duché and Peters, along with Alison, walked with Muhlenberg during a procession in 1769. The cooperation extended to other areas of ministry as well. In 1764, Muhlenberg, Wrangel, and Duché spent time with a criminal who was to be executed the next day. At times, the denominations even gathered for services. 45 The Anglican ministers also found themselves able to provide assistance to Germans in other ways. On a number of occasions, William Smith, also a strong proponent of this new relationship, met with Muhlenberg to assist with translating documents into English. The Anglican ministers often transported notes and letters for Lutherans as they travelled and on one occasion, Duché took Muhlenberg’s sons with him to England. Smith, Wrangel, Muhlenberg, and Duché presented a petition to the governor requesting more German justices of the peace and when the Lutherans were in the midst of their building project, the Anglicans used their influence in the college to make its facilities available for Lutheran services. Peters helped to lay the cornerstone of the new Lutheran church and the Archbishop of Canterbury even got into the act by sending a gift of 20 guineas toward its construction. When the new church was dedicated, all the Anglican ministers were in attendance and

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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46

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a special English service was held at which Muhlenberg spoke and thanked his English friends for their support. Duché played a large role in forging this new relationship, mainly through his involvement in the revivals and by developing a close, personal relationship with Muhlenberg and Wrangel, with whom he found a common bound of devotion, friendship, and ministry. 46 Duché’s attempt to create interdenominational cooperation was most evident, and most successful, with his work in support of the revivals. The trans-Atlantic revivals that constituted the Great Awakening most affected the city of Philadelphia in the person of the great Anglican revivalist George Whitefield. Whitefield, an Englishman, emphasized the importance of the conversion experience to the neglect of church “doctrine, government, and liturgy.” 47 His controversial preaching was a powerful force for change. He arrived in Philadelphia for the first time in the fall of 1739, and immediately thereafter the double edged sword of Whitefield’s message became apparent. Archibald Cummings, an opponent of the revivals and then rector of Christ Church, accused Whitefield of antinomianism, the belief that Christians are not bound by established moral laws and traditional church authorities but instead may find personal guidance and direction from a direct relationship with God. Cummings, and Richard Peters, also objected to Whitefield’s theology, particularly his emphasis on the concept of imputed righteousness, that God imputed, or credited, the righteousness of Jesus Christ to believers. Many feared this doctrine on the basis that it made good works unnecessary for salvation and thus would lead to the moral decline of society. 48 The revivals split denominations and churches. New churches were formed and old churches were transformed. Indeed, many people were genuinely swept away by the auspices of the new, revived spiritual atmosphere. Those who fought this movement suffered. Cummings wrote in 1740 that the church lacked financial resources due to the loss of members of his congregation to the revivalists. In response to this insidious leaching away of their members, the “old light” clergy even went so far as to accuse Whitefield of misusing the money he was collecting for orphans. Cummings called him “Judas like” and accused him of being supported by “deists and Jesuits.” 49 By the 1760’s, these intense, disparate feelings on the revivals had been steeled by two decades of controversy. The McClenachan led split had further disrupted the church and opened up old wounds. In 1763, in the midst of this polarizing situation, Jacob Duché made a bold move by publicly endorsing the preaching of Whitefield. This was something that no other Anglican minister of Christ Church had ever done and remained influential within the Anglican churches. He then persuaded Richard Peters, a long-time foe of Whitefield, to invite the revivalist to preach in Christ Church. 50 There were several reasons for Duché’s advocacy of Whitefield. First and most important, Duché was an

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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evangelical. Second, he saw himself as a moderate voice who could forge a middle way between the “new light” and “old light” camps. Duché’s theology was particularly suited to this task. While he agreed with the revivalists’ emphasis on a conversion experience he disagreed, like those who opposed the revivals, with their concept of imputed righteousness. He also agreed with Francis Alison’s moderate evangelicalism which embraced the concept of evangelical revival but expressed concern with the attacks the revivals fostered against the clergy. Finally, Duché’s Lutheran friends, Wrangel and Muhlenberg, were strong supporters of the revivals and his developing relationship with these two ministers would undoubtedly be encouraged by his participation in the revival movement. In 1763, Peters, at the request of his congregation, and after consulting with Sturgeon and Duché, allowed Whitefield to use Christ Church for revival services for the first time since 1739. Whitefield’s first appearance at Christ Church in two decades went off without a hitch, with little fanfare or disruption. The Pennsylvania Gazette reported on the historic event stating that Whitefield preached in Christ Church to a “crowded auditory.” 51 Duché’s participation in the revivals did not end with the historic return of Whitefield to Christ Church. From 1763 forward, Duché aggressively participated in and promoted the revivals. Muhlenberg recorded that he was present with Duché and others at a Whitefield service in October of 1763. In 1764, Duché helped to orchestrate a charity sermon preached at the academy by Whitefield. The Methodists of New York, a denomination spawned by the revivals, requested that Duché come and fill their pulpit. Duché responded by sending another minister to New York, one that had been first approved by Whitefield. Duché, himself, did not escape censure for his participation in the revivals. The Anglican Reverend Hugh Neill, an avowed “old light,” claimed that Duché and Wrangel were preaching the doctrine and espousing the cause of Whitefield. Neill accused Duché of forming his theological system “from Jacob Boehmen, Mr. Law, and Mr. Whitefield.” 52 It is important that a vociferous opponent of the revivals like Neill connected Duché to Wrangel. In 1763, in response to the religious fervor of the revivals, Duché and Wrangel organized a series of religious discussions, or Bible studies, that they called the Colloquium Biblicus. Wrangel, the Swedish Lutheran minister, was a supporter of Whitefield and a promoter of church cooperation among Lutherans and Episcopalians. Duché was attempting the same things from within the Anglican community. On Monday evenings, Swedish and German clergy, Anglicans, and many leading citizens attended these events that began in the summer of 1763 and lasted until the spring of 1764. Often the meetings were held at Duché’s home or the home of his mother-in-law, the noted spiritualist Mary Hopkinson. They were by all accounts extraordinary discussions that were for those who wanted to think and converse about God in a deeper and more profound

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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way than the average churchgoer of the eighteenth century. The topic of one such discussion verifies this point. On July 18, 1763, Duché, Wrangel, Muhlenberg, Hopkinson, and two others gathered to discuss “the work of God’s Spirit upon the soul, illustrated by examples from experience and judged, in Christian simplicity, according to the Word of God as the principium cognascendi.” 53 The “colloquium Biblicus” was not an arena for the theological novice. During these years as an assistant minister, Jacob Duché also involved himself in two other pursuits: education and politics. After serving for two years as Professor of Oratory at the College of Philadelphia, a position which he retained until 1778, Duché became a trustee at the college in 1761. He had the distinguished honor of being the first alumnus of the college elected to its governing board. Undoubtedly, his work at the college, as a professor and trustee, consumed much of his time. During the summer months, the morning bell to begin classes sounded at 6:00 AM. The evening bell of dismissal did not ring until “a little before five.” 54 It is not known for how much of this exhaustive school day Duché was present, but he assuredly spent significant time at the college. Once a month trustee meetings, which Duché attended more regularly than most, as well as numerous committee assignments, made the college an incredibly time consuming part of his life, maybe even more so than his work at St. Peter’s Church. The other men who served on the board with Duché were men of great distinction and influence in Philadelphia. His mentor, Richard Peters, was the president of the board during much of Duché’s tenure. Franklin was the founder of the institution and although deposed by Peters and Smith in 1756 as part of the proprietary controversy returned later to serve on the board. William Smith was the provost and Francis Alison the vice-provost of the college. The Anglican dominated board was filled with supporters of the Penn family and their proprietary government. 55 Though many were Anglicans, the college began as a multi-denominational entity so other groups were also represented. The Presbyterians, in particular, who held the position of vice-provost as well as other faculty appointments were clamoring for greater representation on the Anglican controlled board. 56 Their main representative was William Allen. The men who met monthly to discuss educational matters included lieutenant governor John Penn, his brother Richard Penn, 57 merchants Edward Shippen and Thomas Willing, lawyer Benjamin Chew, and physician William Shippen. 58 Along with these men, Duché and the other trustees dealt with financial matters, issues related to school facilities, educational issues, disciplinary problems, and management of the conflict within the college between Anglicans and Presbyterians. 59 One issue worth a more detailed look is that of Presbyterian influence. In 1765, the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote to Duché of a letter he had received from Hugh Neill, the

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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49

same minister who had accused Duché earlier of being a follower of Whitefield. Neill was concerned that Anglican influence in the college was waning while that of the Presbyterians was growing. The Archbishop requested that Duché offer his input on the situation. Earlier, Peters had mentioned Duché to the Archbishop as an excellent candidate to advance the influence of the church within the city. Whether or not that correspondence led to the Archbishop’s request is not known, but it is clear that Duché was seen by many as a critical player in the relationship between Anglicans and Presbyterians, most likely due to his active participation in the revivals. 60 This complex relationship between Anglicans and Presbyterians, as well as Lutherans, spilled over into the political arena. On February 1, 1764, Governor John Penn, who had just arrived in the colony in December, held a meeting at the State House where he informed citizens of the approaching Paxton Boys and implored them to take up arms to defend the city. The Paxton Boys were marching on the city to elicit revenge on any Indians they could find for the vicious attacks on the frontier. Most Germans in the city refused to defend Philadelphia. On February 6, Carl Magnus Wrangel, the friend and confidant of Jacob Duché, urged the Germans to cooperate. Duché may have had significant involvement in Wrangel’s decision, since Wrangel himself had stayed at Duché’s home the previous night. On February 7, Wrangel joined a delegation including Franklin, Chew, and Joseph Galloway to negotiate with the insurrectionists. After a successful negotiation, the Paxton Boys headed home and the newly formed militia to defend the city was discharged. 61 Duché also involved himself in other political issues of the period. The one that Duché was most invested in was opposing Franklin’s attempt to overthrow the proprietors. Duché’s history with Franklin was deep. His father had served as a colonel in Franklin’s militia lottery scheme. He had associations with Franklin through the college of Philadelphia. He had been personally involved in the tussle between Franklin and his college mentor William Smith who had deposed Franklin as the president of the college’s board of trustees. Franklin had also attempted to involve Duché in a plan to create a school for African-Americans in the city and the two enjoyed a personal relationship which still existed as late as 1768 when Franklin wrote to his wife Deborah to “remember me respectfully to Duché and others” who had enquired after him. 62 His personal relationship with Franklin notwithstanding, Duché could not support his attempts to overthrow the proprietary system. The election of 1764 became a referendum on the issue of proprietary government. It was one of the most heated and controversial election campaigns in the colony’s history. Coming on the heels of the march of the Paxton Boys, Franklin and the anti-proprietary forces decided to blame the Penns for the crisis accusing them of an alliance with the ScotsIrish and deploring their failure to make arrests for the massacres their

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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“allies” had perpetrated. The Proprietary Party decided to side with the Scots-Irish and their new Presbyterian friends and blamed the Assembly for the massacre, citing their refusal to defend the province except when the Quakers own lives were in danger and to grant adequate representation to western counties populated mostly with Scots-Irish settlers. Franklin countered by arguing that royal government would more effectively defend the colony, control land, police the internal conflicts of settlers, and block Presbyterians from taking over the province. Not surprisingly, the debate brought the Presbyterians into the Proprietary camp. Anglicans contributed by attempting to moderate their position on a bishop to form an alliance with the Presbyterians. Richard Peters saw Duché as critical in this effort. London church leaders encouraged Anglican leaders in the city to deal with the bishop issue “with great mildness” in order not to irritate the Presbyterians, which they did with great success. 63 While the union of Anglicans and Presbyterians to oppose the scheme of Franklin was significant, the real political coup of 1764 involved the work of the Anglicans to convert Henry Muhlenberg and the German church people to the proprietary cause. Muhlenberg recorded thirty-nine separate interactions with Anglicans during the election year. Much of the relationship-building chronicled earlier, including Duché’s involvement in the Bible studies and revivals, occurred in 1763 and 1764. Muhlenberg, who had been reluctant to join in English political causes previously, translated anti-royal government literature into German and encouraged other ministers to use their pulpits to thwart the designs of Franklin. On October 3, Muhlenberg recorded in his journal widespread rejoicing by his congregation over the victory of fellow German Henry Kepele in the recent elections. 64 His analysis of the election results was telling. It was a victory brought about by a union of Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and German Reformed over Quakers and pacifistic German sects. A new political coalition had been formulated and Pennsylvania politics would never be quite the same again. Franklin was defeated and royal government would soon take a backseat to other more pertinent issues. In the aftermath of the election defeat, Franklin moved quickly to push through the assembly a petition supporting royal government and his request to be named royal agent to deliver it to England. William Smith and Jacob Duché opened the doors of Christ Church to allow inhabitants of the city to sign a petition to defeat this scheme but to no avail. Franklin was named colonial agent. Still, the affects of this action by the Anglican ministers ended up to be much larger than the direct result. A short time thereafter, Presbyterian ministers Francis Alison and John Ewing wrote a letter thanking Smith and Duché for opening their doors to “dissenters” and stating that your actions have persuaded us that “your orthodoxy is no longer to be contested . . . we are heartily

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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51

willing to bring about a Union, and embrace you with open arms in our synod.” Muhlenberg also responded, recording that between sixty or seventy Lutheran and German Reformed congregants had signed a petition at the Anglican Church opposing Franklin’s selection as colonial agent. 65 Even though the Quakers achieved a quiet victory in the 1765 elections, events that involved broader questions regarding the American colonies relationship within the British Empire were rapidly transforming the political issues of the day. Foremost of these was the British parliament’s decision to pass the Stamp Act as part of a package of laws known as Grenville’s reforms. Colonists resisted the new law by refusing to buy the stamps, ceasing all activity which required their use, and boycotting British imports. The stamps arrived in Philadelphia on October 5 to enormous protest. The city bells rang muffled, ships flags flew at halfmast, and a funeral procession for liberty was held in the streets. As a result, the stamps never even left the ship. A total of 400 Philadelphia merchants signed the non-importation agreement. Economic activity came to a standstill, public offices closed, and legal proceedings were suspended. William Smith actively opposed the Stamp Act which the British repealed the next year. Jacob Duché remained in the background during the Stamp Act crisis as well as the next great trans-Atlantic issue, the passage and repeal of the Townshend Acts. 66 As the assistant minister of Christ Church and St. Peter’s, Jacob Duché played an important role in the development of the united churches and the advance of Anglicanism in Philadelphia. The evangelical Anglican was a leading force in the movement to develop better relations between Anglicans and other denominations, especially Presbyterians and Lutherans, as well as a promoter of the revivals of the Great Awakening. In education, he became a major contributor to the development of the College of Philadelphia as a professor and trustee. In politics, he followed the lead of Smith and Peters, playing a supporting role in most of the major issues of the day but honing skills and perspectives that would be important in years to come. These experiences as a Philadelphia religious leader forged and solidified a set of beliefs that permeated every aspect of his life. The resulting ideology of free will and personal responsibility would frame the minister’s response to the greatest political controversy of his lifetime—the American Revolution. NOTES 1. George W. Corner, ed., The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush: “His Travels Through Life” together with his Common Place Book for 1789-1813 (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), 240; Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 188-89. 2. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:392.

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3. Corner, Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, 240; Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, eds., The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (Philadelphia: The Muhlenberg Press, 1942-1958), 2:76; Pennsylvania Gazette, January 27, 1774, January 5, 1774. 4. Perry, Historical Collections, 3:389. 5. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 655. 6. “Extracts from the Journal of Miss Sarah Eve, ” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8 (1881): 27. 7. “Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, 1750-1762,” Rectors, 30, Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 8. “Records of Baptisms, Christ Church,” Archives of Christ Church, October 4, 1738. 9. Andrew Burnaby to George Washington, June 23, 1760, “The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799,” Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html. 10. Corner, Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, 236-38; Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 146. Elizabeth and her mother knew Benjamin Franklin, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 12:124-26. For more information on the home see Thompson Westcott, Historic Mansions of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1877). 11. Albert F. Gegenheimer, “Artist in Exile: The Story of Thomas Spence Duché,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 79 (1955): 3-4. 12. Gough, Christ Church, 75-77; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 340, 342. 13. Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 333-38, 353-55. 14. Gough, Christ Church, 75-77. 15. Perry, Historical Collections, 3:295; Trustee Minutes, May 1, 1760, 2:116; Pennsylvania Gazette, May 16, 1760. 16. Perry, Historical Collections, 3:295. For more on Barton see James P. Myers, The Ordeal of Thomas Barton: Anglican Missionary in the Pennsylvania Backcountry, 1755-1780 (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2010); Perry, Historical Collections, 3:298-303, 308; Watson, Annals, 455; John T. Farris, Old Churches and Meeting-Houses in and around Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Washington Square Press, 1926), 234; Jeffreys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 61; Gough, Christ Church, 77-81; Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 224-63. 17. Perry, Historical Collections, 3:305, 325. The “new light” members were Gilbert Tennent and his associates. 18. Perry, Historical Collections, 3:344; Gough, Christ Church, 87-91; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 41. 19. Gough, Christ Church, 88; Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 180-223; Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 144; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 57. Duché wrote a poignant poem while crossing the Atlantic in anticipation of meeting his new daughter for the first time, the daughter that he did not know had already passed away. He included the poem in his book Caspipina’s Letters. 20. Manuscripts, Seckers Cabinet, Lambeth Palace Library, 165; Ordination Papers, 1749-1775, Lambeth Palace Library, 23: 178-81. 21. Jacob Duché to William Smith, February 4, 1763, Box 3, Folder 1760-1769, Smith Papers, MDHS. 22. Gough, Christ Church, 55, 89; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 48-49. For more information on Peters see Joseph H. Fairbanks, Jr., “Richard Peters (c. 1704-1776), Provincial Secretary of Pennsylvania,” (PhD diss., Arizona, 1972). 23. Jacob Duché to William Smith, February 4, 1763, Smith Papers, MDHS; Gough, Christ Church, 89. 24. Christian Classics Ethereal Library, William Law, “Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration,” accessed April 21, 2009, www.ccel.org/ccel/law; Gough, Christ Church, 89. 25. Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 145-46. 26. Vestry Minutes, December 2, 1766; Gough, Christ Church, 90; Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 264-321; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 47.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-08 21:24:30.

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27. Gough, Christ Church, 96; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 51-54. 28. Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 60. 29. Vestry Minutes, April 13, 1766; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 59-63. 30. Duché to Peters, October 18, 1768, Peters Papers, 6:65, HSP; Vestry Minutes, September 5, 1768; Gough, Christ Church, 100. 31. “William Smith,” in Francis Drake, ed., Dictionary of American Biography (Boston: Houghton, Osgood, and Company, 1879). 32. Jacob Duché, The Life and Death of the Righteous (Philadelphia: Franklin and Hall, 1763), 8,12, 13, 15, 16. 33. Guy S. Klett, Presbyterians in Colonial Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1937), 35. Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 2572, 361-431. 34. Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 143; Gough, Christ Church, 12-18, 112-23. 35. Doerflinger, “Philadelphia Merchants,” 215; Gough, Christ Church, 113-14, 11822. 36. Leonard R. Riforgiato, Missionary of Moderation: Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and the Lutheran Church in English America (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1980), 210, 225, 233; Gough, Christ Church, 112. 37. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:409; Gough, Christ Church, 113-14, 118-22; Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 432-506. 38. Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre, 307. 39. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:319. 40. Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre, 307; Gough, Christ Church, 121. 41. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:389-90, 394-95, 404-5; Gough, Christ Church, 112-13. 42. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:411-12. 43. Tappert, Journals, 2:136. For information on Muhlenberg see Paul A.W. Wallace, The Muhlenbergs of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1950) and Leonard R. Riforgiato, Missionary of Moderation. 44. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:411-12. 45. Tappert, Journals, 2:76, 125, 126, 225, 255, 382. 46. Ibid., 2:101, 111, 148, 297, 301-3, 402-4. 47. Milton J. Coulter, Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986), 58. 48. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:210, 404; Archibald Cummings, Faith Absolutely Necessary, But Not Sufficient to Salvation without Good Works (Philadelphia: Andrew and William Bradford, 1740). 49. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:203, 204, 210-11. 50. Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 144; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 51, 51. Pennsylvania Gazette, September 29, 1763; Gough, Christ Church, 105. 52. Tappert, Journals, 2:689, 137; Perry, Historical Collections, 2:354, 360, 365; Gough, Christ Church, 104. 53. Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 144; Tappert, Journals, 1:652. The Lutheran recorded nine meetings in ten months. 54. Trustee Minutes, 2:130, 134; Thomas H. Montgomery, A History of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs and Company, 1900), 374. 55. Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html. 56. Joseph E. Illick, Jr., Colonial Pennsylvania: A History (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976), 254-57; Gough, Christ Church, 114. 57. Perry, Historical Collections, 392. For the Penn family see Lorett Treese, The Storm Gathering: The Penn Family and the American Revolution (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992). 58. Coleman, Thomas McKean, 93; Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/ penn1700s.html. For more on the Shippens see Randolph S. Klein, Portrait of an Early American Family (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975).

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59. Trustee Minutes, 1:163, 171, 275, 328. 60. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:389-391; Gough, Christ Church, 115-117. 61. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 495; Tappert, Journals, 2:18-20, 22, 24; Riforgioto, Missionary of Moderation, 233. 62. Albert Henry Smith, ed., The Writings of Benjamin Franklin (New York: Haskell House Publishers LTD, 1970), 5:183; The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 15:290, 14:340, 13:442; Richard I. Shelling, “Benjamin Franklin and the Dr. Bray Associates,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 111 (1987): 285. 63. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:389-90, 392; Gough, Christ Church, 95. 64. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 495-541; Tappert, Journals, 2:123. 65. Francis Alison and John Ewing, An Address of Thanks to the Wardens of Christ Church (Philadelphia, October 26, 1764); Tappert, Journals, 2:140. 66. Tappert, Journals, 2:272; Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 82; Ellis P. Oberholtzer, Philadelphia: A History of the City and its People (Philadelphia: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1911); Smith, Life and Correspondence of William Smith, 384.

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Ideology

On the eve of the American Revolution, Jacob Duché was a well-respected and accomplished Philadelphia religious leader. So much so that he was able to publish two books—a book of sermons and a book of letters—containing his unique spiritual perspective as an evangelical Anglican on subjects ranging from politics to manners. In these books, Duché laid out his ideology of free will and personal responsibility, the central themes that permeated every aspect of his thought. Underlying this ideology were three theological principles: man’s inherited sin nature, God’s universal grace selectively received, and evangelical morality. These theological principles were influenced by colonial religious tradition, the Great Awakening, Anglicanism, and the devotional writings of William Law. 1 This theology, in turn, influenced Duché’s perspective on everything else, including what became the American Revolution. Whether Duché preached before his own parishioners, battalions of soldiers, or the Continental Congress, he was always quick to point out the fallen nature and inherent sinfulness of mankind, the first of his theological principles. “From the original apostasy of our first progenitor” [Adam], Duché argued, “we inherit a distempered ruined nature: our whole frame hath lost its primitive health, and strength, and beauty.” Duché taught that this original turning away from God was a voluntary act of man’s own free will but did not argue that God imputed Adam’s sin to all people. Instead of divine retribution against all men for the sin of one, Duche asserted that a sin nature—a capacity to sin—was passed forward to all mankind. The result was Adam’s original sin being repeated over and over again by the free will of his descendants. The continuous sinfulness of mankind relegated him to eternal damnation, a fate not desired or planned by God. For Duché, man’s continuous capitulation to this sin nature was the direct result of the influence of evil in the world 55

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embodied by Satan who placed impediments such as wealth, luxury, and pleasure in the path of men in order to keep them in their fallen state. 2 This belief in the fallen state of mankind was a common doctrine of America’s religious tradition and the Great Awakening; the specifics of Duché’s theology of the nature of the fall, however, are most attributable to the writings of William Law. Attacking the evils of society was a common element of the American jeremiad, the intense colonial sermons filled with condemnation and rebuke delivered on Sundays and special occasions in colonial churches of almost all denominations. Indeed, throughout colonial history it was normal for ministers to lash out against the evils of mankind. The Great Awakening fostered a heightened sense of spirituality as well as a renewed emphasis on a need for a conversion experience that intensified this tradition of condemnatory theological invectives. William Law, like Duché, rejected the concept of a wrathful God who imputed sin to man in order to condemn him arbitrarily. Instead, both argued that man was personally responsible for his own sin. 3 The second theological principle of Duché’s thought, the doctrine of universal grace selectively received, rested on the principle that Jesus Christ was the divine Son of God and that his crucifixion and resurrection together constituted the redemptive act for mankind. This divine act of redemption was the product of a benevolent God seeking to appease not his own wrath, but the wrath of individual people who had chosen sin over him. Duché wrote: No angry God—no vindictive justice—no wrath in heaven, that refused to be appeased without the blood of Jesus, shed instead of the blood of sinners—no arbitrary imputation of Adam’s sin, nor of Christ’s Righteousness—the wrath is in man alone who refuses to be at peace with his Maker—All is life and love on the part of God, and in the atonement of Christ—Heaven triumphs over hell . . . inward rectitude over inward depravity—Christ in us the Hope of Glory destroying in us the works of the devil!

Instead of an angry God requiring a sacrifice to appease his own wrath, Duché saw a loving God giving his Son to appease the wrath of man. This was a critical element in Duché’s thinking and again demonstrates the influence of William Law. 4 Duché believed individuals have the power to choose of their own free will to accept or reject God’s redemption. Acceptance of Christ, he taught, simply involves “a calm and quiet resignation of thyself and all this is within thee” to Jesus Christ. God offered his redemptive grace universally to all but that did not mean that it would be accepted by all, for it was a universal grace selectively received. Duche wrote: The free gift of God in Christ, is as universal as the fall and though I am far from asserting, that all men will be saved, yet scripture sufficiently

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warrants me to assert that all men might be saved, if they would; or, in other words, that there is in every man, that is born into this world, a hidden power or capacity of being “born again” into an higher and heavenly world.

This new birth was a direct result, Duché argued, of a union—or cooperation—between the will of God and the will of man, a union that could only have significance if both wills were absolutely free. Salvation, then, was an internal, personal experience between God and man that was universally available to anyone who would choose to place their faith in the redeeming work of Christ and commit to following him. Duché adamantly discounted the ability of nature or man’s reason to accomplish salvation as deists and Enlightenment philosophers suggested. 5 Duché’s concept of universal grace selectively received was in some respects similar to the Calvinism of the Great Awakening, but in others quite different. Calvinism stressed a direct, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and it emphasized the importance of the salvation experience which stood in sharp contrast to the salvation process that Arminians espoused. Duché, like Calvinists, believed in a personal relationship with Christ and a salvation experience. Unlike many of his fellow Anglicans, he was not an Arminian. Pure Calvinists, however, taught selective grace, that God predestined or chose those who would be saved. In the Calvinists’ view, individuals have no control over their spiritual destiny. Duché clearly rejected this selective aspect of Calvinism; instead he claimed like William Law that God gave to all men the power to accept or reject Christ. Since not all accepted this universally offered grace, it was selectively received. Duché’s acceptance of the concept of personal salvation through Christ led directly to his third theological principle, evangelical morality. After accepting Christ, Duché argued, the new believer is immediately empowered by the inner working of the Holy Spirit which in turn reconnects him to the righteousness of Christ thereby restoring his relationship with God. Believers then, in their new relationship with God can refer to Jesus, as Duché did, as “the Lord our righteousness” not because Christ’s righteousness is imputed or credited to them but because they now have access to the goodness of God working in them and through them. But, as with the initial choice at the time of conversion, engaging this transformative power depended on man’s free will. Duché rejected the idea that salvation credited an individual with the righteousness of Christ and, therefore, required nothing further of him. Instead, Duché’s theology required the individual to take action and, therefore, become personally responsible to live a life of serious spiritual commitment. The example for Christians to follow as they pursue this new spiritual life, and the one Duché tried to follow, was the holy life of Jesus Christ. Duché believed that to know Christ is to live according to the precepts of his life. This is

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accomplished by the Christian’s acceptance of the will of God, their dedication of themselves to the glory of God, and their demonstration of the love of God. For Duché, true Christianity resulted from the strict observance of the principles of Christ’s life, a belief that emanated again from the teachings of William Law. In all of this is seen the minister’s attempt to forge a middle way between the Calvinist’s arbitrary imputation of Christ’s righteousness and the Arminian emphasis on works. As was often the case, Duché positioned himself right in the middle of this great theological disagreement, proposing an evangelical morality in which the source of all goodness was God but the choice to connect to this source and actually do good still belonged to the individual. 6 This view of Christian living was rooted in colonial religious tradition. Colonial religious tradition emphasized the destructive capabilities of too much prosperity. It was thought that excessive wealth would reduce dependence on God and cause spirituality to decline. In their journeys to the new world, religious leaders asserted that if the colonists would simply adhere to the example of Christ’s life, a new and better world would emerge which would be the envy of all nations. Additionally, colonial religious tradition emphasized the importance of calling, the fulfillment of God’s divine and specific purpose for an individual life which also coincided with the idea of living a distinctively Christian life. Revivals brought with them a millennial quest for perfectionism, the idea that while the temporal world remains imperfect and unsettled the spiritual world offers hope of a better life here on earth. These three theological principles—the inherited sin nature, universal grace selectively received, and evangelical morality—supported a world view in which individuals were free and, therefore, personally responsible for their own choices. Duché refused to accept that God blames others for the sin of one or credits some for the goodness of another. He rejected the idea that God arbitrarily saves some and condemns others. For Duché, everything rested on the individual’s choice to accept or reject a benevolent God and he insisted that his parishioners take personal responsibility for that choice. The Duché theology was not original however. Instead, it was a unique blend of various concepts most of which were already present in one form or another within the Anglican tradition. Evangelical Anglicans John Wesley and George Whitefield preached the need for a conversion experience, a spiritual rebirth, and that good works are the “consequences and correlates” of justification. Wesley, like Duché, taught universal grace. 7 Seventeenth century Anglicans Herbert Thorndike and George Bull argued that the formal cause of justification was “the faith and moral obedience of the justified believer” and not the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. 8 Most eighteenth century colonial Anglicans “assumed the freedom of the will and studied the works of moral perfection” advocating elements of the later Duché theology. James Blair

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preached evangelical righteousness, George Keith claimed man chose God of his own free will and that any subsequent obedience to God was the work of the Holy Spirit, and John Checkley argued the “freedom of the will, the call to a sense of duty, and the cause of a benevolent deity.” 9 We must also remember that the evangelical Duché taught this blended theology in an atmosphere of competing theological perspectives existing within Philadelphia’s Anglican community. Cleric Richard Peters was, like Duché, a mystic and St. Paul’s Church had been founded as a “new light” parish. But the previous rector of Christ Church, Robert Jenny, was a strong rationalist. So too was the influential Anglican provost of the college, William Smith. Thomas Coombe and William White, Duché’s assistants when he was rector, were also rationalists. What is extraordinary about Duché is that he preached such strongly evangelical sermons while working closely and cooperatively with other Anglican leaders who did not share his perspective. White, it should be noted, was instrumental in turning Christ Church and St. Peter’s away from the evangelical perspective of Peters and Duché. Indeed, before and after the evangelical tenure of Peters and Duché, rationalism was the dominant theme of the united churches. Jacob Duché’s theological perspective influenced his philosophy on life, a coherent set of beliefs on just about everything. Central to this philosophy was the idea that people are personally responsible for their own destiny. This concept, rooted in his theology, provided guiding principles for thought and action. Duché laid out this philosophy in a series of letters that ran in a local newspaper in 1772 and 1773 under the pseudonym of Tamoc Caspipina—The Assistant Minister of Christ Church and St. Peter’s in Pennsylvania in North America. These letters, which were later published as a book titled “Caspipina’s Letters,” contained Duché’s thoughts on everything from the purpose of government to the importance of good manners. They included discussions on the grandeur of Philadelphia, the genius of liberty, the separatism of the Ephrata cloister, the secret of a successful marriage, and a comparison of faith and humanism. Three broad areas of interest are the focus of most of the letters: political philosophy, tolerance, and human relationships. 10 Duché’s careful observation of his immediate surroundings, the bustling city of Philadelphia and all the opportunity it contained, were critical influences on his developing political philosophy. Duché was truly “delighted with America” and enamored with the thriving, prosperous, and diverse city in which he lived. The Delaware River was central, in his view, to the city’s growth and prosperity. Sitting at a window overlooking “the majestic Delaware,” as he described it, he watched in awe as “the voice of industry perpetually resounds along the shore; and every wharf within my view is surrounded with groves of masts, and heaped with commodities of every kind, from almost every quarter of the globe.” For Duché, the river and the ships that graced the river’s waters with their

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cargoes of goods ready to be sold on the streets of Philadelphia was the force that made the city go, fed its people, and fueled its economy. 11 The river was an ever-present reminder of Philadelphia’s connection to a trans-Atlantic world that provided peace and prosperity to all those who lived within the domains of the British Empire. For Duché, industry and commerce were the lifeblood of Philadelphia’s trans-Atlantic economic existence and their preservation was one of the major goals of politics; therefore, government’s most important role was to maintain an ordered society that would promote stability. Potential disruptions which threatened this stability were a great concern for the minister. As Duché considered the possibility that impending conflict with Great Britain or other disruptive factors within the political arena might push this burgeoning economic activity to some other venue he wrote with apprehension: “I cannot behold this lively scene, without lamenting, that the streams of commerce should ever be checked in their course, or directed to wander in other channels, than those which they now possess.” 12 Duché understood the centrality of a thriving economy to the survival of his city as well as the need for a stable government to maintain the conditions necessary for economic prosperity. No doubt, the position of the Duché family in the upper levels of Philadelphia society, and the wealth and property they controlled that allowed them this position, had a profound influence on this viewpoint. Duché was impressed with how government officials had designed and maintained the city in a way conducive to growth and prosperity, at least most of the time. Duché wrote, “no city could be laid out with more beauty and regularity than Philadelphia.” This regular design contributed directly to the city’s amazing growth. Indeed, by 1770 the city had developed along the river two miles and as far inland as half a mile and the wide streets first envisioned by William Penn were well lit by lamps and policed by night watchmen. But Duché did not support every decision by city officials. He wrote of the “shambles” on Market Street: “The principal street, which is an hundred feet wide, would have a noble appearance, were it not for an ill-contrived court-house, and a long range of shambles which they have stuck in the middle of it.” Why the courthouse did not appeal to his architectural tastes is unknown. The “shambles” that he wrote of were small, unattractive buildings that provided shelter for the open-air market from which the street took its name. On market days, Duché wrote, the street “exhibits such a scene of plenty, as is scarcely equaled by any single market in Europe.” But, the empty shambles, which apparently remained in the street when the market closed, made the street look desolate and cluttered. In place of the “shambles,” Duché proposed the construction of “moveable stalls” that could be set up on market days and removed on other days to clear the streets of the ghastly structures which stood empty much of the time. 13

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For Duché it was a magnificent scene, the river and well planned streets spawning commerce, industry, and prosperity in the city and attracting to it people from almost every imaginable background. In Philadelphia, he wrote, “almost every sect in Christendom have here found an happy asylum.” The interaction of these various groups who at other times and in other places may have persecuted, fought, and even killed each other, was remarkably benign and even cooperative. Between these various denominations, he wrote, “a catholic spirit” prevails, allowing members of congregations with diverse religious beliefs and practices to assist each other in numerous ways, including the erection of their church buildings. 14 The church buildings themselves fascinated Duché, none more than his own about which he was ebullient. Duché viewed Christ Church as having “the most venerable appearance of any building in this city.” The “well designed” church was highlighted by its “elegant steeple,” the “bells” that adorned its belfry, and its beautiful eastern front which, again the critic appears, was unfortunately placed “to near the street,” an observation that most likely a number of those who have enjoyed the beauty of this edifice over the more than 300 years of its existence have at least considered if not spoken. 15 There were other institutions besides the churches and their luminous buildings that Duché recognized for their importance in the city, mostly for the order and stability they provided. The center of the province’s political activity resided in the state house, a “large plain building, two stories high” located in what was then the western portions of the great city. The Library Company, located nearby the state house, housed an array of books which provided intellectual fodder for the abnormally literate masses of the city. The “general taste for books,” Duché wrote, “prevails among all orders and ranks of people in this city.” The local government, even though housed in a poorly conceived edifice, provided a “well-regulated” atmosphere. Seldom did Philadelphia experience “mobs or riots” that were “frequent” among its “northern neighbors.” The poor of the city were lodged in a building where they worked in different trades and were, in return, “amply provided for.” A hospital funded by private contributions operated in the city to care for the “sick and lunatic.” 16 Among all of these institutions, many of which Duché and his family had a direct hand in either creating or sustaining, none was more dear to him than the College of Philadelphia where he was both a professor and a trustee. Duché was impressed with how the college, in just a short period of time, had grown to include an “excellent” Latin and Greek school, a Philosophy School that taught geography, math, logic, rhetoric and natural and moral philosophy, a medical school, and a charity school. Although he did take a particular interest in the charity school, mainly because of he and his wife’s benevolent spirit towards the poor,

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the most important aspect of the college for Duché was the English school, in which he had a significant hand both in the day to day operations as a professor and in the guidance, vision, and oversight of the school as a trustee. The English school emphasized the use of proper grammar in writing and pronouncing English with great “propriety” as well as the ability to conquer difficult reading material. Duché gave some insight into his own work as professor of oratory when he explained to his readers how students in the English school were exercised in oratory by making “little speeches, extracted from plays, parliamentary debates, Roman history, poems, sermons” and other material worthy of a classical education. 17 Central to the existence of the college, according to Duché, were a number of important groups and individuals including the trustees, the faculty, William Smith, and Benjamin Franklin. The trustees were “gentlemen of first distinction for their learning and fortune.” Welcomed to the faculty were men of “literary merit and moral character” from diverse religious backgrounds since the trustees required no denominational litmus test for faculty membership. The provost of the college, William Smith, handled the day to day administration of the college and in his able and “good hands” the institution had prospered. The “ingenious” Franklin, Duché wrote, was also critical to the college’s success but, Duché added pointedly, he should leave politics and return to education, a pursuit that would “agree much better with the Doctor’s genius and disposition.” Apparently Duché appreciated Franklin’s contributions to education in Philadelphia more than his political aspirations to overthrow the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, an action which Duché opposed. 18 According to Duché, the “genius of Pennsylvania” was liberty, a blessing which made Philadelphia such a unique place, a place with a thriving industry, safe streets, religious diversity, and well respected institutions. In his view, the concepts of freedom inherited from Britain and brought here to Pennsylvania by William Penn had “acquired new vigor by being transplanted into an American soil.” Penn’s most significant contribution was allowing the people of Pennsylvania to live in an atmosphere of freedom. Liberty provided every inhabitant of the city with opportunity causing them to “think, speak, and act from her immediate inspiration.” This opportunity to speak your mind had no class boundaries, everyone had the right to voice their opinion on government if not to actually participate in governing. “The poorest laborer,” Duché wrote, “thinks himself entitled to deliver his sentiments in matters of religion or politics with as much freedom as the gentleman or the scholar.” Duché embraced this proclivity of Philadelphians to speak their mind as an inoffensive way to allow all citizens to participate in political affairs without destabilizing the institutions themselves. Instead, Duché wrote of how much he loved to hear “a plain man deliver his real sentiments with

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that downright bluntness” that only a regular person can muster. Here is seen in Duché a magnanimous spirit of acceptance of all people sprinkled with class consciousness and elitism. 19 The liberty existent in Philadelphia had the tendency to break down the walls which usually separate classes from each other. Duché wrote, “there is less distinction among the citizens of Philadelphia, than among those of any civilized city in the world.” The opportunity afforded by the existence of liberty extended to both the economic world, as “every man expects one day or another to be upon a footing with his wealthiest neighbor,” and to the educational world since in Philadelphia nearly “every man is a reader.” In Duché’s Philadelphia, opportunity was moving people upward and, in the process, providing hope of a better future, a future that citizens of all stations were actively pursuing. Many of Philadelphia’s leaders embraced this same idea. This spirit of freedom and the upward movement in society it produced, according to Duché, benefitted everyone affecting the progress of arts and sciences, the development of commerce, the gradual improvements in tastes and manners, and the “rise of various sects of religion.” 20 Duché cautioned, however, that liberty and the institutions which came from it were not the contrivances of human philosophy or understanding. Duché said of Hume and Voltaire, the famous Enlightenment thinkers of the day who would have credited their own species for the successes of their generation, they have “poisoned so many weak and tender intellects with their gilded pills of unbelief.” By disregarding the guidance of a transcendent moral force in the world, they had “shaken the very foundations of Virtue” in a significant number of men and women. Without a solid sense of the divine origin of everything virtuous, including liberty, man and the institutions he created were doomed to failure. This was a subtle path that would ultimately lead to the abandonment of religion. Thankfully, in his opinion “this infernal system had not found many admirers” in America although it had captivated many in England and elsewhere in Europe. 21 For Duché, this debate over who deserved the credit, God or man, questioned what he believed was the essence of true religion. The humanists chose to credit man; Duché chose to credit God. True religion, for Duché, was marked by quietness and humility, not by pride and selfishness. The humanists who extolled the abilities of man and disregarded God did so in error. One of the most abhorrent acts man could commit was to attempt to place himself above God. The pursuers of true religion must not, he argued, succumb to such heresy. A humanist faith in yourself and your world was not the answer for Duché, instead he embraced a more humble perspective rooted in his theology that virtue has its origins not in man but in a benevolent God. 22 The prosperity, growth, and stability that Duché witnessed in Philadelphia—which he believed were the direct result of a divinely inspired

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liberty that offered political and economic opportunity and inspired man to hope for and work toward a better future for himself and his family— was foundational in his formulation of a political philosophy. According to Duché, the authority of government originally had divine origins. Governments exist because God allows them to exist. The people, therefore, had a divine obligation to abide “by the laws of the particular government under which they live.” 23 Within this construct of divinely ordained governments the purpose of government, then, was to bring “happiness” to the people, but not in the way that we would commonly think. Happiness, to Duché, was when the government provided, above all else, order by protecting people and their property and punishing evildoers. Again we see the blending of the influences of Duché’s social position and theological principles over his thinking. Government, Duché wrote, must be “bold in the punishment of vice” as well as the “encouragement and support of virtue.” “The grand design of all human governments,” according to Duché, “is the happiness of the people; and the end of supreme authority . . . is to promote this happiness by the punishment of evil doers, and the reward or protection of those that do well. Good government, then, provides as much freedom as possible without endangering order. Although Duché loved and valued both concepts, he preferred order to freedom. Whenever forced to choose between the two, as would be the case during the Revolution, he would choose order. The loss of stability in society, for Duché, was simply the far greater threat. 24 It is also important to understand that Duché did not believe that the promotion of happiness extended to making everyone equal, or giving everyone equal portions. His belief that government should protect the property of everyone in society—including his own—did not allow him to envision an egalitarian world. He argued that government should “administer comfort and relief to the poor and helpless” while at the same time it should “protect the hard earnings of honest industry from the hands . . . of oppression.” Duché supported government involvement in temporary forms of relief like poor houses but he opposed any significant redistribution of wealth or readjustment of the correlating class structures that existed in colonial Pennsylvania and from which he and his family directly benefitted. 25 A benevolent government, then, was one that cared for the needs of as many people as possible always with an eye toward the greater good of all people in society. The two great enemies of benevolent government, for Duché, were corruption and party factions. The government and its citizens by their examples of virtue must work diligently “to pull down corruption” wherever it emerges. To combat party factions, government needed men who were “such friends to virtue and public peace” as will “content themselves to retire during the heat of faction” and wait to “seize upon some happy moment, some favorable circumstance” when

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they can use their position for “the accomplishment of their benevolent purpose.” Duché admired political leaders who possessed the character to stay above the political fray, even in the heat of the moment, and who demonstrated a spirit of moderation, a spirit which allowed them to act as mediators, to bring competing sides back to the table to hammer a compromise acceptable to all parties. These were the men whose presence in government benefitted the people the most. 26 America, Duché thought, was the best hope for his political vision of a free and orderly society to become a reality. Europe was becoming mundane, its institutions had passed their peak, and its proven ideas were fading from popular acceptance, no longer flourishing in the minds of those shaping the future of European governments and institutions. America, in contrast, was on the rise. Its “growing greatness” evidenced that fact. Its burgeoning farms, budding art, and traditional manners suggested a bright future. Everything here was new and fresh. Duché’s only concern, and one that found its way into many of his sermons, was that “wickedness” would ruin this wonderful place. In his mind, religion had fled to America and so too the hope of a better future where individuals can live in freedom and the opportunity it provides to all under temperate and moderate rulers who rise above the corruption and factionalism that plague most governments. In a world where this kind of political philosophy held sway, anything was possible. People of various backgrounds and beliefs could live together in relative harmony. 27 Harmony in a diverse society depended on tolerance and acceptance of others with divergent beliefs. Duché, for the most part, was a splendid example of this much needed virtue. Duché demonstrated his philosophy of tolerance most notably in his relationship with the two groups with whom he also experienced the most conflict, Quakers and Presbyterians. Quakers, as we know, were mostly on the other side of the political spectrum from Duché, yet he was able to credit them for much of the success of Pennsylvania. Some of the best institutions in Philadelphia, Duché wrote, “are under the direction and management of the people called Quakers whose disapproval of amusements allows them time to do things useful as well as ornamental to human society.” Duché was not put off like many of his contemporaries by Quaker railings against amusements. Instead, he saw it as a virtue that freed them to do better things with their time. Quakers were, according to Duché, a “sober” and “virtuous” people whose great accomplishments in Philadelphia included the hospital and the house of employment. Their willingness to cooperate with people of other religious backgrounds by working on the development of the American Philosophical Society and their support of education for the purpose of the “defense of Religion” also inspired Duché. 28 The dissenters, in particular the Presbyterians with whom Duché disagreed on the bishop issue, he also credited for a number of significant

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accomplishments. Dissenters, Duché wrote, engaged actively with warmth and cooperation in virtually every scheme “proposed for the general good.” Duché was also able to distinguish the difference between theological disputes over nonessentials, which he felt were those matters not connected to salvation and the indispensable principles of the Christian faith, and those that were fundamental to the survival of a true religion. Duché believed that other religious leaders in Philadelphia also possessed this capacity observing that there is “less religious bigotry here, than in any place I have yet visited.” Only the Presbyterians “violent opposition” to an Anglican bishop fell outside the parameters of what Duché believed were good interdenominational relations. But even on this highly sensitive point, Duché conceded, the Presbyterian hostility over the issue was not necessarily their fault. Their position, which Duché respected, was that they would not support the concept of an Anglican bishop in the colonies until “the powers of the intended Bishop were accurately defined, and a satisfactory security given by act of Parliament against any future encroachments.” Duché had no problem with this specific request of the Presbyterian leaders since it was designed to protect the freedoms of their denomination as well as those of other religious groups in America. 29 Interdenominational cooperation, according to Duché, was crucial to the creation of a society at once diverse and harmonious. The city’s Christian churches, three Quaker, three English Presbyterian, two Scotch Presbyterian, two German Lutheran, one German Calvinist, one Baptist, one Methodist, and two Roman Catholic, all found a way to coexist and cooperate for the betterment of all. This cooperative spirit he attributed to two factors: that most of the church leaders were “moderate, quiet, and charitable” men and “warmly attached to the British constitution.” Again we see Duché emphasize the importance of moderation, stability, and a healthy trans-Atlantic relationship. But the important attachment to the British constitution was conditional; it would remain strong so long as the British government continued to protect the religious and civil liberties of its people. 30 One of the more fascinating and revealing experiences that Duché recounted in his letters was his visit to the Ephrata Cloister in 1771. While he had strong disagreements with the separatism of the cloister, he still developed a strong connection with their extraordinary music. Separatism had the effect of emphasizing the external situation, while for Duché spiritual reality was to be found in the internal state. Yet, as much as their overall religious concept of these separatists troubled Duché, their music captivated and inspired him. Its effects on him were so powerful that he said that he felt as if while listening to it he had been taken into “the world of spirits.” He wrote further that “the impression this scene made upon my mind continued strong for many days.” Here we have one of the first instances of Duché’s penchant for mysticism that

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would lead him late in life to embrace the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg. 31 As Duché espoused the importance of tolerance in his diverse city, he recognized that a well defined philosophy of the inner workings of individual relationships was crucial to the success of relations among various groups. Having always despaired of bitter and unforgiving spirits, he wrote, “the reformation of the heart and life is the great and only end of true religion: and I cannot think this end will ever be promoted by such controversies as have a tendency to kindle up wrath, or produce bitterness of spirit.” Nothing bothered Duché more than bad relationships. Those who had an authentic religious experience, he thought, simply could not accept such a thing. For him, the breakdown of personal relationship was nearly debilitating. He wrote, “The uneasiness of mind which I always suffer on the detection of fraud or insincerity in a pretended friend, is far heavier to me than any temporal loss I might thereby sustain.” 32 Individual relationships mattered to Jacob Duché and he had a clear idea of the best way to maintain them. At the heart of his thoughts on this was what he called “the fundamental graces.” These graces consisted of meekness, humility, and condescension—when the word had the positive meaning of one who was capable of becoming like a person of lesser station without giving offense. Meekness, showing mildness or quietness of nature, humility, being modest or respectful, and condescension, the ability to communicate with people of lower social rank without pride or a sense of superiority, were attributes that Duché strived to develop in his own character and respected in the character of others. They were the essence of true politeness which Duché found lacking in the rich and the poor. Duché recounted that many of the connections that he formed early in life, during his education in Philadelphia and in England, were relationships marked by the fundamental graces. 33 Duché used the word singularity to describe how he felt people should view other people. By singularity Duché meant developing an inoffensive method of communication that derived from a “singular” behavior marked by consistency between belief and action. Duché wrote that the Christians “singularity is conspicuous in no other way, than in the sweetness of their temper—the meekness of their deportment—the unaffected decency of their conversation—their readiness to oblige— their frequent sacrifice of private ease or interest to the comfort and convenience of their brethren.” Duché challenged the outwardly pious, excessively religious conversations of some Christians. According to scripture, he wrote, we are to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves, to become all things to all men.” Therefore, the Christian should avoid conversation that will “disgust” men. Always pointing out the shortcomings of others or railing against the sins of individuals was unappealing to Duché. Instead, he wrote, the Christian should “by forbearance and gen-

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tleness” strive in their relationships with others to “win their hearts and thus command their attention.” If Christians lived like this, Duché wrote, “Deists would be confounded—Hypocrites would tremble—and bad men of all sorts be more effectually alarmed, than by all the thundering eloquence of the most zealous preachers in the world.” 34 Thus, for Duché, human interactions involved a careful application of certain rules that governed good relationships. Armed with the fundamental graces and singularity, Duché aspired to change the world he lived in for the better by carefully and persistently developing healthy relationships one at a time without giving offense to anyone, a task that he would find quite difficult to complete successfully as a prominent religious leader in the midst of a revolution. On the eve of the Revolution, Jacob Duché was an evangelical Anglican who had a well thought out philosophy on life that rested on theological principles that he believed were the fundamental truths of his existence. This blended, evangelical theology was the foundation of Duché’s ideology of free will and personal responsibility, an ideology that led the minister to embrace concepts such as political liberty, tolerance, and politeness. The Revolution would stretch and challenge this ideology revealing strengths and weaknesses within the ideas and the man. The minister’s strong belief system and coinciding penchant for finding the path of moderation, tendencies that do not bode well in revolutionary times, placed him in difficult situations that made him a hero for some and a traitor for others. When the events of the Revolution put Pennsylvania into a political tailspin, Duché interpreted events in light of these long-held principles and reacted accordingly. On many fronts he would find difficult questions. The uncomfortable answers to these questions would lead the minister to prominence and acclaim at first, but in the end to a long and painful journey for redemption. NOTES 1. On colonial religious tradition see Winthrop S. Hudson, Religion in America (New York: Scribner, 1973); Carla G. Pestana, Protestant Empire; and Henry F. May, The Enlightenment in America, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978). On the Great Awakening see Charles H. Maxson, The Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1920); Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind; Patricia U. Bonomi, Under the Cope of Heaven; and Thomas S. Kidd, The Great Awakening: The Roost of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007). 2. Jacob Duché, Discourses on Various Subjects (London: J. Philips and T. Cadell, 1779), 1:79, 1:121, 2:6. 3. For more information on theology and religion in colonial America see Richard Beale Davis, Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1978); Winthrop S. Hudson, Religion in America; and Jon Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990). 4. Duché, Discourses, 1:33, 1:309, 2:190, 2:317.

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5. Ibid., 1:38, 1:43, 1:204, 1:308, 2:49. 6. Ibid., 1:43, 215, 258. 7. Horton Davies, Worship and Theology in England: From Watts and Wesley to Maurice, 1690-1850 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961), 3:152-55. 8. E. Brooks Holifield, Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of the Puritans to the Civil War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 57, 234. 9. John F. Woolverton, Colonial Anglicanism in North America (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1984), 183-85. 10. Jacob Duché, Caspipina’s Letters. In an advertisement to the reader the publisher of the letters described Duché in the following manner: “The following letters were written by a Gentleman residing in Philadelphia, no less esteemed for this amiable virtues, than for his learning, wit, and genius . . . As these letters are perfectly free from the spirit of party, and contain nothing injurious to religion of morality; but, on the contrary, are frought with matter both instructive and entertaining; the editor flatters himself [that] he has performed an acceptable service to the public.” Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 146. Garrett recounts that the letters were published as a book in 1774 that went through two editions. During his exile, the book was published in England and went through several editions there. 11. Duché, Caspipina’s Letters, 1:2-3. 12. Ibid., 1:3-4. 13. Ibid., 1:5-7. 14. Ibid., 1:7 15. Ibid., 1:8. 16. Ibid., 1:8-11. 17. Ibid., 1:13-15. 18. Ibid., 1:17-19. 19. Ibid., 1:22-24. 20. Ibid., 1:22-23, 28. 21. Ibid., 1:36-38. 22. Ibid., 1:78, 101. 23. Ibid., 2:12. 24. Ibid., 2:13-14. 25. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 2:10, 14. 27. Ibid., 1:80-85. 28. Ibid., 1:40-41. 29. Ibid., 1:44-48. 30. Ibid., 1:48-50. 31. Ibid., 1:58, 61, 112, 115. 32. Ibid., 1:112, 115. 33. Ibid., 1:116, 117, 120. Duché also referred to other close friendships, one of which he describes as Lord H___ [referring to Admiral Lord Howe]. For more on the Howe brothers see Ira Gruber, The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1972). 34. Ibid., 2:1-4, 6, 8, 9.

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FIVE

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The Prayer

By 1774, the moderate, ecumenical, Anglican writer and minister was well-known and respected as a significant force in the advancement of the Church of England in America. So far he had dedicated his life to the pursuit of his great love, the advancement of what he called true religion—a personal, relational faith based on the concepts of free will and personal responsibility. Jacob Duché’s life was directed and meaningful. He had a clear purpose and a career that allowed him to pursue that purpose. He had a beautiful family and lived in a stately mansion. His was a pristine life. In the fall of 1774, the American Revolution burst into this world disrupting the life he had built for himself and his family. As an Anglican minister who had unashamedly proclaimed his love for freedom and good government, Duché had much to offer revolutionaries seeking legitimacy. The event that catapulted the eloquent and popular minister to his position as the delegates’ spiritual advisor and America’s first chaplain was his famous prayer to open the First Continental Congress. As a result of the unusual prayer, Duché became a national figure and the first real hero of the American Revolution, at least according to the members of the Continental Congress. Over the next several years, Duché became a critical figure in support of the Revolution, preaching sermons to Congress and troops, opening subsequent sessions in prayer, delivering the funeral sermon of the first president of Congress, Peyton Randolph, and becoming the official chaplain of Congress after independence. During these extraordinary months, Jacob Duché reached the zenith of his involvement as a supporter of American rights but remained true to his principles, defending freedom yet outlining a moderate response to the British threat to American liberties. The spiral of events that led to that momentous day in 1774, when Duché defined himself as a friend of American liberty, began with parlia71

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ment’s passage of the Tea Act in 1773. The Tea Act was a measure designed to bail out the struggling British East India Company by reducing the tax on tea in America while requiring the colonists to purchase their tea from the British company. When news of the Tea Act reached Pennsylvania, the colonial response was swift and decisive. Using the tactics perfected a decade before during the Stamp Act crisis, those who opposed the new measure called a town meeting at the State House yard. During the meeting, thousands of citizens adopted measures by a general howl. The meeting declared the tea tax unconstitutional and demanded the resignation of the three tea agents in the city who had been appointed by the crown. After the meeting, mobs forced the resignation of the three agents and an ad hoc committee, “The Committee on Tarring and Feathering,” threatened river pilots who would bring ships carrying the British tea to Philadelphia. 1 In December of 1773, a ship loaded with the British tea arrived at Chester provoking another episode. This time, a mob brought the captain of the Polly, Captain Ayres, to the State House where a hastily called meeting attended by a crowd of between 8000 and 10000 citizens demanded that the captain leave Pennsylvania—a request with which Ayres complied. The crowd also voiced their approval of the resistance to the tea act going on in other colonies. The Philadelphia Tea Party though not as famous, or destructive, as its Boston counterpart, affirmed that the people of Philadelphia would not passively accept the new tax. It also established the mass meeting as the chosen method of response to British encroachments on American liberties. 2 The British responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing a series of laws known collectively in England as the Coercive Acts and in America as the Intolerable Acts. The Coercive Acts closed the port of Boston, suspended the charter of Massachusetts, forced colonists to quarter British troops in their homes, created special courts for maritime cases, and moved the trials of British officials accused of violating American laws to England. King George III’s patience with the American colonists had run out and the harsh new measures he imposed would incite an American rebellion of proportions hitherto unknown in British American relations. 3 Paul Revere arrived in Philadelphia in mid-May with news of the new laws and a call for an inter-colonial Congress. City leaders met immediately at the City Tavern to discuss strategy. At that initial meeting, John Dickinson, Joseph Reed, Thomas Mifflin, William Smith, and others were appointed to a “committee of nineteen” to draft a response. 4 The committee decided to stand firmly behind Massachusetts, collect money and goods for its citizens, and urged moderation, most likely due to the presence of moderates Dickinson and Smith. Early on, both Quakers and Anglicans like William Smith, the college provost and early mentor of Duché, tried to keep colonial resistance moderate by limiting the response to a call for a repeal of the Coercive Acts. Some Anglican and

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Quaker merchants even “insisted that Boston should pay for the ruined tea.” 5 Merchants from these two denominations, in particular, advocated a moderate response emphasizing the need for stability and security. On May 20, radicals Charles Thomson, Joseph Reed, and Thomas Mifflin called for a town meeting in the State House yard. Citizens who sympathized with the British were not invited, or conveniently not informed of the meeting. Although the meeting was dominated by radicals, the leaders deftly secured moderates Dickinson, Anglican merchant Thomas Willing, and Edward Pennington to co-chair the meeting. The result of the meeting was the creation of a committee to draft a reply to the Massachusetts request and the approval of one resolution requesting that the Coercive Acts be rescinded and another suggesting that Boston pay for the destroyed tea. 6 In the aftermath of the meeting, radical leaders visited representatives of each denomination in the city to obtain their support for what was called a “solemn pause” on June 1, the day the Boston Port Bill was set to go into effect. All except one Quaker agreed to the request, but Quakers and Anglicans declined to hold special services. 7 On June 1, the city paused in support of Boston, shops were closed, flags flew at half-mast, and ministers delivered sermons at special services throughout the city. Interestingly, the bells of Christ Church rang muffled all day signaling Anglican support for their fellow colonists despite their refusal to hold services. 8 Richard Peters claimed that the muffling of the bells was unauthorized and months later got the vestry to approve a measure forbidding the ringing of the church bells for any occasion unless approved by the rector, wardens, and vestry. 9 The appointment of the moderate William Smith to the Committee of Nineteen, as well as the lack of representation both at the mass meeting and on the committee, provoked a response from the mechanics of the city. On June 9, 1200 mechanics gathered in the State House yard and voted to form their own committee. The main committee moved quickly to appease the mechanics by promising them representation on their committee. At a secret meeting between radical Charles Thomson and leaders of the disgruntled mechanics at the Bunch of Grapes Inn, the decision was made to drop Smith and appoint six Germans to the main committee. 10 Dickinson, Thomson, Reed, Mifflin, and George Clymer, four radicals and one moderate, then called on Governor Penn to request that he convene the Assembly to appoint delegates to the First Continental Congress. Penn refused, so the leaders called another mass meeting, this one on June 18, which endorsed the call for a colonial Congress, appointed a committee of correspondence which fed information to similar committees in the western portions of the colony, and called for a Provincial Conference to be held in July. 11 Some 8000 citizens attended this June 18th meeting. Once again moderates, Dickinson and Willing this time, stood as chair and co-chair of the meeting. Smith spoke for the moderates and

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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called for the support of a colonial Congress but insisted the Assembly, the legitimate government of Pennsylvania, had the right to name the delegates. In the end, Smith survived the mechanics insurrection by securing appointment to the new committee of 43 that would draft a circular letter inviting counties to send delegates to the conference. 12 From the beginning, the radical elements in the city saw the value of allowing the moderates to be represented on their committees and at their meetings. Moderates, on the other hand, seized this opportunity to influence decisions and temper responses. The first Provincial Conference met in mid-July at Carpenter’s Hall. The delegates agreed to the insistence of the rights of Englishmen, disavowed any aspirations for independence from England, and recommended that the Assembly appoint delegates to the colonial Congress. 13 They then moved into the hall where the Assembly had just convened and presented their recommendations to the regular government. The Assembly approved the actions of the conference and appointed seven men as delegates to the Continental Congress. Three of the delegates appointed were moderates, Joseph Galloway, Charles Humphreys, and Samuel Rhoads, and the four remaining delegates, Thomas Mifflin, John Morton, George Ross, and Edward Biddle, were radicals. 14 The Pennsylvania Packet described the Assembly’s intentions for the Pennsylvania delegates to the Congress:

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to form and adopt a plan for the purposes of obtaining redress of American grievances, ascertaining American rights upon the most solid and constitutional principles, and for establishing that Union and harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies which is indispensably necessary to the welfare and happiness of both. 15

Thus, as the first meeting of an American Congress approached, Pennsylvanians were united in support of ascertaining America’s constitutional rights but divided over the methods of such an assertion. Still, the plan agreed to emphasize the desire for a harmonious relationship with Great Britain. The delegates to the First Continental Congress began arriving in the city in early September. On Monday, September 5, the delegates met for the first time at City Tavern and walked to Carpenter’s Hall to approve the facility for their deliberations. 16 The delegates from Massachusetts included cousins Samuel Adams and John Adams, the future president, and John Hancock, all radicals hoping to convince delegates to stand strongly with Massachusetts. From Virginia there were moderates like the esteemed Peyton Randolph who was quickly elected president of the Congress, radicals like Patrick Henry of “give me liberty or give me death” fame, Richard Henry Lee who would propose the resolution for independence, and one other delegate, George Washington, the man who

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would command the Continental Army and become the first president of the United States, whose leadership and gravitas was apparent to all. Together, the fifty-six men who made up the first American Congress were men of wealth, position, and influence. From the beginning the Congress broke into two factions, conservatives or moderates and radicals. The conservatives were led by Joseph Galloway, James Duane, and John Jay. The radicals were led by the delegates from Massachusetts and Virginia. 17 Joseph Galloway, the future loyalist from Pennsylvania, described the two parties in Congress as the “loyal principled men of great fortunes” and the “congregational and Presbyterian republicans of bankrupt fortunes” overwhelmed with debt to British merchants. The men of the First Continental Congress were “probably the pick of the colonies.” Nine had been members of the Stamp Act Congress. 18 All but one had been born in America, yet most of them had ancestors who came to America from England two or three generations past. Thirty were lawyers or judges, three were officeholders, nine were planters or farmers, nine were merchants, three were millers, one was a surveyor, and one was a carpenter. Nearly one-fourth of the group attended school in England. Fourteen more members received their education in American colleges and most of the rest were educated by private tutors. Nineteen of these delegates would eventually sign the Declaration of Independence while as many others would openly oppose it. 19 On September 6, the Congress met formally for the first time at Carpenters’ Hall. One of the major debates of that first day was whether or not to ask a clergyman to open the Congress with prayer. Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts triggered the debate by making a motion that Congress should be opened with prayer. 20 Those who supported the measure cited the need to demonstrate a “Reverence and Submission to the Supreme Being and Supplicating his Blessing on every Undertaking on the practice of . . . the British parliament and . . . the Assemblies on the Continent.” John Jay of New York and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina opposed the motion because the Congress was so divided in religious sentiments that “we could not join in the same Act of Worship.” Indeed, the delegates represented a plethora of competing denominations including Anglicans, Quakers, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Congregationalists. Other delegates worried that such an act would be considered as “Enthusiasm”—a reference to some of the old divisions created by the revivals. Another delegate raised concern of the danger of submitting such a momentous task to the “judgment of any clergy.” After their objections, Samuel Adams stood up and said he was “no bigot” and that he “could hear a prayer from a Gentleman of Piety and Virtue, who was at the same time a Friend to his Country.” Adams then said that “as a Stranger in Phyladelphia” he had heard that Mr. Duché “deserved that character” and moved the “Episcopal clergyman” be asked to read prayers to the Congress the next morning. The motion carried after debate on a final

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objection which raised the issue of a “lack of a suitable form” of prayer in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer which was riddled with prayers to the king and his family. 21 Samuel Adams’s decision to propose Jacob Duché, an Anglican minister, to open Congress in prayer served several purposes. Duché was a well known and well respected religious leader in Philadelphia. He possessed great oratorical skills, good relationships with members of other denominations, and an interest in politics. In his just published book of letters he had made known that he was indeed a “friend” of liberty. Then too, he was an Anglican which made him a good political choice for two reasons, one having to do with Anglicans unique relation to other denominations in America and the other with their connection to the British Empire. On the first point, in America at that time, Baptists and Anglicans were seeking more religious tolerance in New England where Congregationalism was established, while Baptists and Presbyterians were seeking the same in the South where Anglicanism was established. 22 A New Englander proposing an Anglican to give the prayer gave the appearance of tolerance while pacifying objecting southerners. Pennsylvania delegates would obviously support one of their own so bringing the New Englanders and southerners to agreement was all that was necessary. On the second point, the specter of an Anglican minister who had taken vows to a church whose head was the king of England opening the deliberations of these patriots with prayer brought instant credibility to the Congress. That evening, Peyton Randolph, the president of Congress, visited Duché to ask him to come to Carpenter’s Hall the next morning at 9:00 AM to open their session in prayer. It had been a long weekend for Duché. He had performed his normal duties as the lead minister at St. Peter’s and he had conducted three marriages in three days. 23 At home, his wife Elizabeth was expecting and just days away from delivering the Duché’s third child and second daughter, Elizabeth Sophia Duché, who would be born on September 18 while Congress was still in session. 24 Duché responded to Randolph’s request with his customary reticence telling Randolph that if “his health would permit” he certainly would be there. It is hard to imagine what must have been going through Duché’s mind that night as he considered the task before him. Some of the most prestigious men on the continent were gathering to decide whether or not to stand together in defiance of the most powerful king in the world, the same king who headed the Church of England, the church in which he was a minister. The city was in an uproar and more radical voices were growing stronger and stronger. Earlier that day, before the Congress adjourned, a rumor had spread through Philadelphia that the British had begun to “Cannonade” Boston. Many in the city had responded to the rumor with cries of “War!” 25 It is not known whether Randolph or any

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other delegate informed Duché of the discussion in Congress over the suitability of using the Book of Common Prayer, but undoubtedly Duché was well aware that his main tool as an Anglican minister was quite possibly ill-suited for this particular occasion. Furthermore, he was a Christian, an evangelical Anglican no less, a citizen of Pennsylvania and the British Empire, roles that as a result of recent events had come into conflict with each other. On the night of September 6, Duché had to figure out a way to reconcile these now seemingly conflicting roles and loyalties with what he had always believed and to formulate a plan of action for the critical moment that was his part in the unfolding drama. He could have chosen a path that left him on the periphery of history, one that took a non-committal position on the difficult issues he faced. But that was not Duché. Instead, he chose a different path, one that was consistent with what he believed and that, as a result, placed him directly in the center of one of history’s greatest moments. If Duché took the most direct route from his home at the corner of Third and Pine to Carpenters’ Hall on that “clear and warm” 26 Wednesday morning, he would have walked down Third Street past the splendid homes of his close friends and associates, fellow members of the proprietary gentry Samuel Powel, John Penn, Benjamin Chew, Thomas Willing, and William Bingham. There must have been numerous thoughts racing through the minister’s mind as he traversed these three blocks. Everyone in his world had much to gain or lose from the outcome of this Congress. He was an Anglican minister, and despite whatever assurances Randolph might have given him, it was unknown to him how delegates who had gathered because of their indignation against the British would respond to one who was so closely tied to the very authority they were preparing to challenge. What would the delegates expect of him? How could he perform his duties as a citizen and a Christian minister without betraying one or the other? At 9:00 AM, with his clerk by his side, Reverend Jacob Duché walked down the hall where the delegates gathered for informal discussions and into the main assembly room of Carpenters’ Hall. He was dressed in a long, flowing clerical robe, or his “Pontificallibus” as John Adams called it, which was white and red, his long, perfectly powdered and curled white hair resting gently on his shoulders. The appearance of the minister covered in white from head to toe was in stark contrast to the dower and dark outfits of the delegates. Duché calmly walked to the lectern, opened his prayer book and read several prayers in “the established form” of the Anglican Communion. Then he read “the collect for the seventh day of September, which was the Thirty Fifth Psalm.” The psalm begins with these words: Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them.

Duché must have thought it providential that he was to read that Psalm on that day for he read it in such a way and with such passion that it captivated the attention of everyone in the room. The delegates were clearly moved by the reading of the strangely appropriate scripture. John Adams wrote that “it seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that Morning” and that he had never seen “a greater Effect upon an audience.” 27 After he concluded the reading of the Psalm, Duché did something completely unexpected for an Anglican minister. The “evangelical” Anglican minister set aside his traditional forms and liturgies, leaned over the lectern, and “unexpected to every Body struck out into an extemporary Prayer.” For the next ten minutes or so, Duché prayed with such sincerity and passion that everyone in the room was affected. 28 These great men, the future leaders of armies, states, and nations, these men of wealth and position, joined with Duché in imploring God to help them in their time of need. If T.H. Matteson’s painting 29 of the moment is accurate, some kneeled by themselves with their faces cupped in their hands, others kneeled together in small groups, some simply sat in their chairs or stood with their heads reverently bowed, but all were awestruck by the unfolding scene around them. The picture is one of men of immense power, prestige, and position, in their moment of greatest need, humbling themselves in the presence of an all-powerful God. In silence they listened as Duché prayed “for America, for the Congress, for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the Town of Boston.” “Defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries,” he prayed, “convince them of the unrighteousness of their Cause and if they persist in their sanguinary purposes, of own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle!” The prayer moved the delegates, many of whom were known to be unflappable, to a degree that no one, not even the minister, could have imagined. One delegate noted that the effect of the minister’s words was so powerful that “even the Quakers shed tears.” For the delegates, the prayer spoke to their situation, their faith, and their hearts. It brought a moment of unity and assurance to a group of men who feared just the opposite. This most unusual prayer boldly affirmed that God and Jacob Duché, the renowned Anglican minister from Philadelphia, were standing with them. 30 The reaction of the delegates to this moment was exceptional. The next day the Congress voted to extend thanks to Duché for “performing divine services” and “for the excellent prayer, which he composed and

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delivered on the occasion.” The delegates also moved that the prayer be printed, but decided not to upon consideration that the prayer’s publication might expose Duché “to some disadvantage.” 31 James Duane said that the prayer was admired for its “eloquence and composition.” 32 Samuel Ward wrote that the prayer was “one of the most sublime, catholic, well-adapted prayers I ever heard.” 33 Silas Deane wrote that the prayer was offered “with such fervency, purity, and sublimity of style and sentiment, and with such an apparent sensibility to the scenes and business before us” that made it “worth riding 100 miles to hear.” 34 This was truly an exultant moment for Duché as he “basked in a blaze of glory, his praise on every lip.” 35 John Adams, in particular, was ebullient in his praise of Duché. “I must confess,” he wrote to Abigail, “I never heard a better prayer or one, so well pronounced.” “Dr. Cooper himself,” he continued, “never prayed with such fervor, such Ardor, such Earnestness and Pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime.” He concluded with a glowing personal assessment of Duché, “Mr. Duché is one of the most ingenious Men, and best Characters, and greatest orators in the Episcopal order, upon this Continent—Yet a Zealous Friend of Liberty and his Country.” Adams wrote dozens of letters from Philadelphia while serving in the First Continental Congress, but in none of those letters did he take the time to praise any one figure like he praised Duché. What astounded Adams the most was that an Anglican minister had cast his lot with colonists who were about to defy the very king who he was pledged to support. In the eyes of John Adams and other delegates, Duché had performed a heroic service to the Congress, uniting them when they needed it the most, laying the foundation for the later accomplishments of the first American Congress, and in the process becoming the first national hero of the American Revolution. 36 The fascination with Duché continued throughout the coming weeks. The day after his extraordinary performance he dined with John Adams and other delegates at Mr. Samuel Powel’s where the entourage feasted on “Curds and Creams, Jellies, Sweet meats of various sorts, 20 sorts of Tarts, fools, Trifles, floating Islands, whipped Sillabubs, Cheese, Punch, Wine, Porter, Beer,” and more. Later that evening the group “climbed up the Steeple of Christ Church” from where they could enjoy a splendid view of the whole city and the Delaware River. 37 Silas Deane went to “look” for Duché at Christ Church on Sunday but was disappointed that he only read prayers. 38 Adams went to hear Duché preach the following Sunday and wrote that there are “no preachers here like ours in Boston, excepting Mr. Duché.” Duché, Adams noted, is “a fine preacher, indeed.” 39 George Washington attended services at St. Peter’s on September 25 and went to Christ Church to hear Duché the following week. 40 One of the more intriguing aspects of Duché’s involvement in the First Continental Congress was the particular political interest that the Massa-

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chusetts delegates and other radicals had taken in Duché and what they perceived that he had accomplished for them. Samuel Adams wrote that some of our warmest friends are of the Church of England and that he thought it “prudent” to ask Duché, “a gentleman of sense and piety, and a warm advocate for the religious and civil rights of America,” to offer the first prayer. 41 Joseph Reed, the Pennsylvania radical, told John Adams that “we never were guilty of a more masterly stroke of policy, than in moving that Mr. Duché might read prayers, it has had a very good effect.” According to Adams, Reed told him “the sentiments of people here, are growing more and more favourable every day.” 42 The unity that Duché brought to the early deliberations of the Congress was particularly important with regard to the first major act to emerge from that body, the endorsement of the Suffolk Resolves on September 17, just ten days after the historic prayer. The Massachusetts delegates and other radicals in Congress desperately wanted a clear statement of support for New England from the other delegates. The resolves themselves were much more radical than anything the Congress would come up with on its own. They declared the Coercive Acts unconstitutional and suggested that as such they should not be obeyed, advised the people of Massachusetts to arm for their own defense, and recommended a non-importation agreement. 43 The measures took the conservatives in Congress by surprise and the radicals used the early spirit of unanimity to ram them through deliberations. Adams was delighted that the measure of support passed, giving him and others like him the biggest victory they would achieve in this first Congress. Adams wrote of the moment of triumph, that the affection expressed for the people of Boston and Massachusetts was enough to “melt an Heart of Stone.” 44 After another month of painstaking deliberations, Congress came up with much more benign measures than the Suffolk Resolves, but measures that would nonetheless spark a Revolution. The Congress asked moderate John Dickinson to draw up a petition of rights and grievances. An address of loyalty to the king was also prepared. And, Congress agreed to create a “continental association,” a colony wide non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement. Most importantly, the Congress requested that each colony establish committees of Associators to enforce the agreed to boycott of British goods. 45 Whether the members of the First Continental Congress knew exactly what they had done or not by creating the “Association,” the reality is that this action triggered a Revolution. Indeed, the choice to use associator committees to “enforce” the boycott was the first truly “revolutionary” act of what was previously a resistance movement and as such marks the beginning of the American Revolution for it is one thing to suggest a boycott and quite another to enforce one without any legally constituted authority whatsoever. Establishing a law and then setting up the means to enforce it without such authority is revolutionary. None of

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the inter-colonial acts of resistance to British laws previous to the creation of the Associator Committees was revolutionary in this sense. Almost immediately the situation in Pennsylvania became revolutionary. In the city, the Philadelphia committee acted as the headquarters for the Pennsylvania Associators. They set up county committees which in turn set up committees of safety, vigilance, and inspection. The committees took on police powers. They visited merchants, kept track of prices, inspected warehouses and ship cargoes, and reported on evasions. In the process, the Associators became a viable political entity that conservatives complained could operate outside the oversight of the regular government and therefore effectively supplant the laws and constitution of Pennsylvania. 46 At this point the old political distinctions of proprietary party or antiproprietary party in Pennsylvania became meaningless. The new political affiliations rested on one thing, support for what was now a Revolution. As such, colonists broke into two new groups: revolutionaries and nonrevolutionaries. From the start, these groups were permeable, not rigid, as individuals chose sides and then re-evaluated their choice based on who they were, where they were, and what was going on at that particular time as they adjusted themselves to a fluid present and an unpredictable future. Those of a more conservative political philosophy naturally opposed the Revolution at this point. A few prominent men, conservatives like Joseph Galloway and William Allen, chose to demonstrate their conservatism by publicly proclaiming their loyalty to Great Britain— something that was assumed by all just a few months prior. Other conservatives quietly withdrew from the political scene. Still other non-revolutionaries were pacifists or neutrals. Those who chose to support the unfolding Revolution now became Whigs—but this association too was complicated. The Whigs broke into two groups, moderates and radicals. 47 Moderate Whigs supported the Revolution as long as its objective was nothing more than the establishment of America’s constitutional rights within the British Empire. Radical Whigs tended to support the establishment of the same rights but accepted more radical methods as well as solutions. In the midst of this complicated landscape, revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries were in conflict with each other while revolutionaries were in conflict with themselves. Within this dynamic, Jacob Duché was a moderate revolutionary. In Pennsylvania, Whigs in general, that is moderates and radicals combined, won a decisive victory in the Assembly elections of 1774, with moderate Whigs overwhelmingly in control of that body. The new assembly approved the actions of the First Continental Congress and reappointed the same slate of delegates to the Second Continental Congress which was set to reconvene in May of 1775. With moderates in control of the regular colonial government, the radicals moved to assert themselves within the Associator Committees. In the election of the “Committee of

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Sixty-Six” the radicals gained the upper hand which allowed them to control the organization of the Second Provincial Conference scheduled to meet in January of the next year. 48 Meanwhile, Duché continued his normal activities as a minister and as a trustee of the College of Philadelphia, duties which brought him into contact with individuals on all sides of the evolving political spectrum. In his congregation, every political persuasion was represented. At the college, the trustee meetings he attended in November and December, in particular, must have been surreal. In those months, as the political situation deteriorated, Duché sat with Governor Penn, Benjamin Chew, Thomas Willing, Richard Peters, and William Allen, the old guard of Pennsylvania proprietary politics, to discuss the everyday workings of the educational institution which they governed. These men must have considered the political realities of the moment and wondered if their political power in Pennsylvania was beginning to slip away, because it was. 49 When the radical-dominated Second Provincial Conference met in January the tone had grown increasingly hostile. Radicals had learned how to use the tools of Revolution—town meetings, local committees, provincial conferences, and police power—to move power into their own hands. The conference encouraged local committees to gather military stores, promote local manufacturers, and hunt down profiteers or merchants who broke the boycott. They also named a Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence who could act in the name of the conference and reconvene it when necessary. This time there was no attempt to get the Assembly to sanction the activities of this quasi-legal body that acted alongside the regular government but outside the law. 50 At the annual meeting of the United Churches in April, Jacob Duché, Sr. was once again elected to the vestry, but the real news was the outbreak of war in Massachusetts. Citizens of Philadelphia found out about Lexington and Concord on April 24. What happened next was transformational. At a public meeting held on April 25, it was agreed that all inhabitants would join to defend colonial liberty. As a result, the Associator Committees re-organized into military units and Philadelphia began to prepare for war, an action which the Assembly belatedly tried to gain control of by creating a Committee of Safety that was given the task of supervising all military activity. Franklin, recently returned from Europe, was named to the position of chairman of this committee. 51 On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in the city as previously planned. Once again, the Congress immediately took up the issue of opening their deliberations in prayer. This time, however, there was no debate. The delegates quickly adopted a resolution inviting their “spiritual guide,” Reverend Duché, to open their second session in prayer. 52 The resolution “ordered that the Revd. Mr. Duché be requested to open the Congress with prayers to Morrow Morning and that Mr.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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Willing, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. Bland be a committee to wait on Mr. Duché and acquaint him with the request of the Congress.” 53 Duché once again complied. The reaction to this second prayer was not as extravagant as the first, most likely due to the impossibility of recreating such moments, but the delegates were nonetheless pleased with the “pertinent” and “excellent” prayer Duché offered. 54 Congress again offered their thanks for the minister’s services. 55 The next week Provost Smith invited Congress to attend the commencement of the College of Philadelphia, which they agreed to do. On May 17, the Congress proceeded from the State House, their new home, to the college where they were met at the gate by Provost Smith and seated with the trustees, including Duché, the faculty, and the students. Together this prestigious group of dignitaries enjoyed an “oration on the Fall of Empires” and a valedictory address that referenced “the present interesting Situation of public affairs” which caused the audience to break into loud applause. 56 In mid-June the Congress appointed George Washington to head a Continental Army and dispatched him immediately to Boston where the rebels had already laid siege to the city that housed the British forces. Washington called for six companies of Pennsylvania rifleman and made plans to fortify Delaware Bay. After reviewing the Pennsylvania troops, he headed to Massachusetts with Pennsylvania radical George Ross by his side as his personal secretary. What Washington left behind him in Pennsylvania was nothing less than political chaos. Multiple organizations, each claiming differing levels of legitimacy, but none with the power to carry out their edicts, all made various orders. The Assembly dominated by the moderate Whigs, a provincial conference and revolutionary committees dominated by radical Whigs, and the Second Continental Congress which was a mixture of the two, all competed for power and position as they reacted to the events of the war. In all of this, moderation was lost. Suspected Tories felt the brunt of the loss of clear governmental authority as radical mobs carted several of them through the city streets. The rest of those who took a firm stand of loyalty to the king were eliminated from political power by the fall of 1775. 57 Muhlenberg, Duché’s friend and fellow minister, saw the situation as “dangerous.” 58 On June 15, Congress made a formal request to hold a day of fasting on July 20. Richard Peters presented this request to the vestry. The vestry responded that “they know the sense of the congregation in this matter and assured him it would be universally expected by them that he should comply with the Recommendation and that if he did not it would give great offense” to the congregation. Peters agreed with the vestry’s assessment of the situation in the churches and complied with Congress’ request to keep the churches open for prayers and services. Notice of the decision was to be given in both churches the following Sunday. 59

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In the meantime, Provost William Smith preached a sermon at Christ Church to the Third Battalion titled A Sermon on the Present Situation of American Affairs. In this sermon Smith took a firm but moderate stand for resistance. He asserted that “a continued submission to violence is no tenet of our church” and that “the doctrine of absolute non-resistance has been fully exploded among every virtuous people.” He emphasized, though, that his sermon was an attempt to restore harmony by showing that although the colonists have serious grievances, they have no intention of independence. Smith stirred the troops by asserting that the “cause of virtue and freedom is the cause of God.” “Religion and liberty,” he said, “must flourish or fall together in America.” 60 On June 30, 1775, the Anglican clergy of Philadelphia met to draft a letter to the Bishop of London explaining their part in the political events unfolding in America. The ministers explained to the bishop that for most of the crisis they had avoided giving public advice from the pulpit while privately encouraging a benevolent spirit. But times were changing and the sentiments within their own congregations were becoming more volatile. “Our congregations,” they wrote, are “determined never to submit to the Parliamentary claim of taxing them at pleasure” and are now calling on us to take a more public part. Failure to respond, they wrote, would give people the wrong impression and threaten to destroy our “religious usefulness.” Their hope was to serve as mediators between England and the colonists but acknowledged that this was only possible if the British gave the colonists the right “of granting their own money.” The clergy also explained that Smith preached his sermon “to obviate any misrepresentations that might be made of the Principles of our Church” and announced that Duché would be preaching two sermons in July for the same purpose. The clergy insisted that the time has now come for them to take a public part, that if they did not their “silence would be misconstrued.” Their prayer was that the “hearts of good and benevolent men in both countries may be directed toward a plan of reconciliation.” 61 Silas Deane, who attended services at Christ Church on July 3, wrote that he heard a sermon on liberty, evidence that the addition of political content to the Sunday sermon was immediate. 62 In July of 1775, Duché once again found himself playing a critical role in the revolutionary movement when Congress requested he preach two sermons, one to troops and the other to the Congress itself. On July 7, Duché preached the first of these special sermons at Christ Church to the First Battalion of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia. He titled the sermon The Duty of Standing Fast in our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties. In that famous sermon printed and distributed throughout the colonies, Duché proclaimed his thoughts on spiritual liberty, temporal liberty, and the current state of affairs in America, and outlined a clear plan of action for the troops, a plan consistent with his theological principles and moderate philosophy. 63

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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Figure 5.1. Interior of Christ Church Interior of Christ Church, showing the wineglass pulpit, engraving attributed to James Peter Malcolm, Society Photograph Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Duché began with a prayer that asked the mercy of a powerful God, one who stood as the “guardian God of Nations” and presided over all people on earth while commanding “the armies of Heaven.” He asked that God would endow George III “plenteously with heavenly gifts” that would include health, wealth, long life, “a true spirit of wisdom,” and

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that he preserve “to a free people their undoubted birth-rights as men, and as Britons!” For his government he prayed for counselors known for their piety and virtue. And he prayed for healing of our “present unhappy divisions.” For America he prayed that God would be with “all those who are entrusted with our great American cause, as well as in council as in the field.” “Give them,” he prayed, “wisdom to devise, and firmness to execute, such measures to the restoration of public peace and harmony.” Finally, he prayed, let us not forget as we struggle for our temporal liberties those more important “spiritual privileges, which have been purchased for us by a Redeemer’s blood!” 64 Duché began his sermon by first introducing himself to his audience as “a minister of Jesus Christ, and a Fellow Citizen of the same state” who is “involved in the same public calamity with yourselves.” Duché admitted that he approached his task with “an uncommon degree of diffidence” that could only be overcome by his “sense of duty” and “sincere sympathy” for the “present trying circumstances” of the soldiers who made up his audience. The subject, according to Duché, was new to him, at least proclaiming it from the pulpit that is, but he would proceed to address them as “Freemen, both in the spiritual and temporal sense of the word” and in the course of his discussion suggest to them a course of action that would be most likely “to ensure to you the enjoyment of these two kinds of liberty.” Duché then proceeded to quote the scripture text of his sermon which was Galatians 5:1, “Stand Fast, therefore, in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” 65 Duché defined spiritual freedom by comparing it to spiritual bondage. This type of bondage, he claimed, was “far more severe” and “far more cruel” than the worst kind of earthly bondage. No one was exempt from this bondage, this tyranny which “seized not only upon the body, but upon the soul.” Only by “divine grace” could one be delivered from this evil. Those who experience grace avail themselves of that “light, and strength, and spiritual courage and constancy which his Redeemer is ever at hand to impart.” “The liberty, with which Christ has made us free, is nothing less than a release from the arbitrary power of sin, such an enlargement of the soul by the efficacy of divine grace, and such a total surrender of the will and affections, to the influence and guidance of the divine Spirit.” Duché defined Paul’s admonition to “Stand Fast” as a call to “maintain firm and unshaken the ground which Christ hath given you.” 66 Duché then launched into unfamiliar territory, an exposition of civil liberty which he acknowledged was “inferior” to spiritual freedom but “highly necessary” to our present state. Spiritual and temporal liberty is the gift of God, Duché argued, for liberty of all kinds is “of heavenly extraction” and “divine virtue is her illustrious parent.” The first man, Duché explained, was surrounded by liberty until he lost his virtue. Man’s loss of virtue, the choice to sin, resulted in the loss of his liberty

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and made him “the slave if irregular passions, at war with himself and his own species, and alien from his native country.” It was only through Christ that man was shown “a ray of hope” that could once again allow him to enjoy God’s liberty. 67 Here is seen the ministers dual emphasis on God’s goodness and man’s free will and subsequent responsibility for his actions. Duché then broadened this Biblical exposition of liberty to the sphere of government for, according to him, man can only enjoy good government through the work of Christ in the hearts of mankind. Duché made it clear to his audience that good government only exists because God has ordained it. Through his relationship with God man learned of the “social compact” that exists between the government and its citizens. Duché pointed out that there is no scriptural foundation to the idea that any particular form of government is divinely ordained, yet, he argued, the gospel is opposed to every form that does not seek “the common good of mankind.” Good government can have “no other foundation than common consent” bringing together the one, the few, and the many to “mutually control and be controlled by each other.” The rulers in such a system of government are “servants of the public” appointed to be a “terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well.” But if these rulers do not act for the common good, according to the minister, the citizen is right to stand fast in their liberty, a justified but defensive revolution. Whenever rulers, he said, “abuse their sacred trust, by unrighteous attempts to injure, oppress, and enslave those very persons, from whom alone, under God, their power is derived—does not humanity, does not reason, does not scripture call upon the Man, the Citizen, the Christian of such a community to ‘Stand Fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ . . . hath made them Free.’” Submission “to the unrighteous ordinances of unrighteous men” was not required for as long as citizens possessed the principles of spiritual and temporal freedom, they would preserve the principles of the British constitution. Duché had assured the soldiers sitting before him that taking up arms against an unjust government was a righteous cause. 68 Duché’s disappointment in the British was evident yet he disavowed independence as legitimate. England, the parent state, he said, should be the “Guardian, not the invader” of American rights. But, he continued, judging from their “ungenerous” policies they must be “jealous of our rising glory, and, from an ill-grounded apprehension of our aiming at independency, were desirous of checking our growth.” According to Duché, colonists wished not for independence but to maintain the traditional economic system and property rights and to submit to “constitutional” laws. “We wish not,” Duché asserted, “to interfere with that commercial system, which have hitherto pursued.” We only wish to keep “those fruits of honest industry” which are being “wretched from us by the

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hand of violence.” Independence was not his nor should it be America’s objective. His opposition to independence was unequivocal:

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And as to any pretensions to, or even desire of independency, have we not openly disavowed them in all our petitions, presentations, and remonstrances? Have we not repeatedly and solemnly professed an inviolable loyalty to the person, power and dignity of our Sovereign, and unanimously declared, that it is not with Him we contend, but with an envious cloud of false witnesses, that surround his throne, and intercept the sunshine of his favour from our oppressed land? 69

By this point in his sermon, as was usually the case when he preached, Duché was in full command of his audience. With his great oratorical skills at his disposal, he then got to the heart of the matter, the central question: should these young men make war against their king? It was time to decide between defiance and submission. The choice, for Duché, was clear. “If, notwithstanding all this,” Duché explained, “Britain or rather some degenerate sons of Britain, and enemies to our common liberty, still persist in embracing a delusion, and believing a lie—if the sword is still unsheathed against us, and submit or perish is the sanguinary decree—why then . . . ,” Duché paused as emotion overtook him. “I cannot close the sentence,” he said, and then paused again as he struggled to get command of his now uncontrollable emotions. “Indulge a minister of Jesus,” he said as he took a moment to compose himself. The words that followed reveal the minister’s deep internal struggle as he envisioned the fate of those soldiers who would dare to stand against the most powerful army in the world, “My soul shrinks back with horror from the tragic scene of fraternal slaughter.” Duché paused one final time, the moment filled with intense emotion as the soldiers waited to hear what had brought the great orator to such a disconcerting emotional state. “Gracious God!” he cried, “Stop the precious effusion of British and American blood.” The implication of the message was clear. The lines had been drawn, submission was no option. These courageous young men were about to confront the greatest army in the world and to come face to face with the harsh consequences of such a reality. And so Duché, the Anglican minister who had already risked everything to stand with the patriots in Congress, would stand with these soldiers and outline for them a plan which would mostly likely ensure their success. 70 Duché’s plan for the soldiers and for America rested on the same principles that undergirded his ideology of free will and personal responsibility. He told the soldiers to “stand Fast by a strong faith and dependence upon Jesus Christ, the great Captain of your Salvation.” Enlist, he said, under “the banner of his cross.” He told them to stand in unity as the colonies stand now in unity behind “an Honourable Council of Delegates.” Stand, he said, with an “undaunted courage” powered by a “firm invincible fortitude of soul, founded upon religion, and the glorious hope

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of a better world . . . that will enable you not only to withstand an armed phalanx, to pierce a squadron, or force an entrenchment” but to resist evil, endure pain, and even face death. This courage, he said, “will always be tempered with prudence, humanity, and greatness of soul” for “we contend not for victory, but for liberty and peace.” Finally, he said, prepare for the worst, seek moderation in all things and look to “the hand of providence” for direction taking comfort in the fact that you are true “Guardians of Liberty.” 71 Ten days after his rousing sermon to the soldiers, Duché spoke again from his pulpit, this time to the Continental Congress. His sermon on this occasion was titled The American Vine and focused on the connection between England and America—a vine of England planted by God—and the way that the broken relationship between the two could be restored. The message for Congress, though similar to the one delivered to the troops, would have a much stronger emphasis on national guilt and responsibility. The problem, he asserted, was that colonists had experienced the blessings of providence as a vineyard “planted by the Lord’s right hand.” They had been given the “character of temporal freedom, and the records of eternal truth.” Here in America, the “banners of Christian and British Liberty were at once unfolded, and these remote parts of the earth were thereby added to the Messiah’s kingdom.” England provided us with “the nurturing care and protection of the mother country, whose fleets and armies, in conjunction with our own, have ever faithfully and successfully employed in our defence.” The colonists would have been happy to remain in such a state had the British not decided to “exact such an illegal and unrighteous tribute” thus weakening both by cutting down its American “vine.” But the blame was not only on the British, Duché argued, the colonists shared responsibility for the crisis because of their “gross neglect” of their “spiritual privileges.” The colonists had lost their public virtue, he said, and their attachment to religion allowing themselves to be carried away by “the stream of prosperity, as to be forgetful of the source from whence it was derived.” Luxury and vice, “the common attendants of wealth and grandeur,” had “begun to spread dangerous infection” through our once thriving state. God, he said, now “speaks to us in thunder” as we feel the “rods of his wrath” and see that the “flames of an unnatural war have burst forth” on our “native” land. 72 The solution to the problem, as far as the colonists were concerned, was to approach the altar of God with an appropriate sacrifice, “a broken and contrite heart” committed to acts of “repentance and reformation.” Duché applauded the American Congress for their willingness to call upon the people to come together in one “general act of religious humiliation.” “Go on, ye chosen band of Christian Patriots!” Duché exclaimed, “Testify to the world, by your example as well as by your counsels, that ye are equally the foes of vice and of slavery—Banish the siren luxury . . .

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call upon honest industry, sober frugality, simplicity of manners, plain hospitality, and Christian benevolence to throw down the usurpers, and take possessions of their seats.” On this basis alone, he said, can the “superstructure of true Liberty” be erected. When magistrates and ministers, he said, when government and religion, conspire for “such pious and benevolent purposes” God will surely once again “visit our American vine.” 73 Reaction to these sermons was as expected. Both sermons were printed and distributed widely. 74 Benjamin Franklin sent a copy of the first sermon to a friend with the note “you will see Things are become serious here.” 75 The Pennsylvania Gazette applauded the first sermon as “a very excellent discourse.” 76 Silas Deane said Duché’s sermon to Dickinson’s regiment was presented to “a vast concourse of people” and although it would be published you will never “by reading have the same Idea of it as those who heard it.” 77 Referring to Duché’s discourse, John Adams said that he heard “good sermons” and the fast was observed more than ever by the people of the city. 78 Duché sent a copy of his first sermon to George Washington, to whom it was dedicated, with hopes “for a speedy and happy reconciliation” without “the effusion of one more drop of valuable blood.” 79 Smith sent a copy of the sermon to the Bishop of London. 80 The sentiment for the first sermon was so great that Duché was asked to preach it again in Zion Lutheran Church to three battalions of associated militia. 81 Duché’s prominence in the revolutionary movement as a spiritual leader notwithstanding, it would not be long before the minister would find himself at odds with the increasingly active radical contingent that began aggressively to push exactly what his sermons had disavowed— independence. In the process, moderate revolutionaries, like Duché, would be forced to support independence or become non-revolutionaries. Even as Duché experienced the praise and adoration of the revolutionaries, events were transpiring that would make it more and more difficult for a moderate, Anglican minister to remain within their inner circles. War and the extremity that it encourages had taken over the city. Everywhere there were soldiers training and arming. Even Quakers were seen under arms. 82 Anglican ministers were under so much pressure that they cancelled their annual meeting to discuss church business out of fear that it would be misconstrued as a meeting for other purposes. Some of the radicals contending for political power and desiring in the process to overthrow the old Anglican dominated provincial system portrayed the Anglican clergy as “secret enemies to the principles of the Revolution” which, the ministers feared, would inflict a “deadly wound” to the church in America. 83 For his part, Duché allowed his name to be placed on the conservative ticket in the August, 1775 election of the First One Hundred, the main revolutionary committee of the several that were in existence at the time.

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He and the other moderates lost this election and the radicals retained control of the committee apparatus. 84 Even though moderate Whigs still controlled the assembly, their power in the face of increasingly radical committees and a Continental Congress, neither of which had to abide by laws and institutions, was about to dissipate, leaving the Revolution in the hands of radicals pledged to the permanent dissolution of the colonial relationship with Great Britain. Duché’s hope for a moderate, reasoned resistance that would lead to reconciliation was slipping away in the face of extremism. For the Anglican minister who had united the first American Congress with a prayer and exhorted American soldiers to stand fast against the British Empire, a disillusioned retreat from politics was just around the corner.

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NOTES 1. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 84-85; Kelley, Pennsylvania, 675-88: Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania, 270. Illick noted that “the intimidated captain was sent back to England with his cargo.” 2. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 85. 3. Ibid. 4. Richard A. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), 42. 5. Doerflinger, “Philadelphia Merchants,” 223. 6. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 85. 7. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 43. 8. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 700. 9. Vestry Minutes, September 10, 1774, 1:298. 10. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 700-701; Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 49. 11. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 85. 12. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 702; Ryerson, 50, 53. 13. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 704; Ryerson, 57. 14. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 87. 15. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1:21. 16. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1:13. 17. Burnett, The Continental Congress, 33. 18. Ibid., 31. Galloway overlooked the fact that the radicals from Virginia were all Anglicans. 19. Montross, Reluctant Rebels, 29. 20. Burnett, The Continental Congress, 38. 21. James Duane’s Notes of Debates, 1:31-32, Letters of Delegates; John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 16, 1774, Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society, accessed August 1, 2008, http://www.masshist.org/ digitaladams/aea/index.html; Journals of the Continental Congress, 1:25. For more on Sam Adams see William V. Wells, The Life and Public Service of Samuel Adams (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1865). 22. Derek H. Davis, Religion and the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 111. 23. “Marriages, 1763-1835,” Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 24. Familysearch.org. 25. Burnett, The Continental Congress, 39; John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 18, 1774, Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive.

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26. Diaries of George Washington, September 7, 1774, 3:281, George Washington Papers, 1741-1799, American Memory, Library of Congress, accessed August 1, 2010, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html. 27. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1:27; James Duane’s Notes on Debates, Letters of Delegates, 1:35; John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 16, 1774, Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. The Adams letter, written nine days after the event, is like no other that Adams wrote during his time at this Congress. It provides tremendous detail and speaks to the importance that Adams gave to this moment. For more on Carpenter’s Hall see Casper Souder, Jr., Carpenter’s Hall: The Meeting Place of the First Continental Congress (Philadelphia: King and Baird Printers, 1865). 28. Silas Deane to Mrs. Deane, September 7, 1774, Letters of Members, 1:18. 29. Matteson’s painting does not depict all the delegates who were present, nor does it portray the room exactly as it was at the time. 30. Charles Thomson to George Washington, July 25, 1789, Letters of Delegates, Volume 25. The most reliable text of this prayer is the one that Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, sent to George Washington in 1789. The prayer first appeared in print in Thacher’s Military Journal of 1823. Jefferson’s copy which was printed in the University of Virginia’s Chameleon has disappeared. John Hancock’s manuscript of the prayer is at Independence National Historic Park. The Thomson text is owned by the Maryland Historical Society. It should be noted that the reprints of the prayer are only two paragraphs long and, therefore, do not represent the entire ten minute prayer that Deane referred to in his letter. Most likely the portion of the prayer printed is that which Duché used as a form on other occasions in which he officiated at the Congress. Note also, that because of his near-sightedness it is highly likely that the minister spoke this prayer extemporaneously. 31. James Duane’s Notes on Debates, Letters of Delegates, 1:35. 32. James Duane’s Notes on Debates, Letters of Delegates, 1:15. 33. Samuel Ward, Diary, Letters of Members, 1:19. 34. Silas Deane to Mrs. Deane, Letters of Members, 1:18. 35. Burnett, The Continental Congress, 40. 36. John Adams to Abigail Adams, Letters of Members, 1:32-33, September 16, 1774; John Adams—Diary, September 7, 1774, Letters of Members, 1:19. 37. John Adams, September 8, 1774, in L.H. Butterfield, ed., The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961). 38. Silas Deane to Elizabeth Deane, September 11, 1774, Letters of Delegates, 1:62. 39. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 2:149, 135. 40. Diaries of George Washington, September 25, 1774, 3:280, 284. 41. Sam Adams to Joseph Warren, September 9, 1774, Letters of Members, 1:27. 42. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 2:131. 43. Page Smith, John Adams (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1962), 176. 44. John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 18, 1774, Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive; Journals of the Continental Congress, September 17, 1774. 45. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 87. 46. Ibid. For more on the Associator Committees see Hermann Wellenreuther, ed., The Revolution of the People: Thoughts and Documents on the Revolutionary Process in North America, 1774-1776 (Gottinghem: University of Gottinghem, 2006). 47. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 87. 48. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 98. 49. Trustee Minutes, November 2, 1774. 50. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 88. 51. Vestry Minutes, April 17, 1775, 310; Klein, 88. 52. Burnett, The Continental Congress, 253. 53. Journals of the Continental Congress, 2:12. 54. Silas Deane to Mrs. Deane, May 12, 1775, Letters of Members, 1:90-91. 55. Journals of the Continental Congress, 2:13. 56. Trustee Minutes, 2:90.

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57. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 88-89. 58. Tappert, Journals, 2:699. Muhlenberg expressed his concerns on this in an extended journal entry. 59. Vestry Minutes, June 15, 1775, 313. 60. William Smith, A Sermon on the Present Situation of American Affairs (Philadelphia: James Humphreys, Jr., 1775), 26, 20-21. 61. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:470-472. 62. Silas Deane to Elizabeth Deane, July 3, 1775, Letters of Delegates, 1:573. 63. Jacob Duché, The Duty of Standing Fast in our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties, (Philadelphia: James Humphreys, Jr., 1775). 64. Ibid., i-iv. 65. Ibid., 1-2. 66. Ibid., 4-8. 67. Ibid., 9-10. 68. Ibid., 11-14. 69. Ibid., 15, 16-18. 70. Ibid., 18. 71. Ibid., 21-24. 72. Jacob Duché, The American Vine (Philadelphia: James Humphreys, Jr., 1775), ivii, 16-25. 73. Ibid., 25-32. 74. Pennsylvania Gazette, August 2, 1775. 75. Ben Franklin to David Hartley, September 12, 1775, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 22:196. 76. Pennsylvania Gazette, July 12, 1775. 77. Silas Deane to Elizabeth Deane, July 8, 1775, Letters of Delegates, 1:610. 78. John Adams to James Warren, Letters of Members, 1:162. 79. Jacob Duché to George Washington, August 5, 1775, The Washington-Duché Letters (New York: Private, 1890), 7. 80. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:479. 81. Tappert, Journals, 2:703. 82. Roger Sherman to Joseph Trumbull, Letters of Members, 1:154. 83. Perry, Historical Collections, 2:475, 478. 84. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 274.

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SIX

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Independence and Disaffection

In the fall of 1775, Jacob Duché began his retreat from the political arena. This retreat, at first, was personal, most likely unnoticed by those involved in the Revolution who had sought his counsel and participation. The resignation of Richard Peters as rector of Christ Church brought a new position and new responsibilities. The death of Peyton Randolph, the former president of Congress and a man that Duché held in high esteem, marked the loss of one of the most distinguished, moderate voices in the Congress. In December, the threat of a British invasion of the city brought widespread disruptions and instability. In the spring and summer of 1776, the radicalization of the Revolution and the ensuing push for independence by the radical contingent became a real problem for moderates like Duché. Independence from Great Britain, when it did come, forced Duché to make difficult decisions on two significant issues: prayers for the king and serving as chaplain to Congress. These gutwrenching decisions would bring severe consequences. On September 21, 1775, Richard Peters announced to the vestry that he was resigning his position as rector of the churches because of his declining health. Two days later, the vestry consented to a resignation agreement drafted by Peters and offered their thanks for the rector’s many years of service to the congregations. On the following Sunday, Peters last as rector of the churches, the congregations said farewell to their beloved rector. On Monday, September 25, the vestry met to discuss the issue of Peters’ successor. It did not take long for the vestry to make a decision. The vestry minutes for the meeting record that “upon counting up the Votes the Rev. Jacob Duché is unanimously Elected Rector of the said Churches.” The vestry then instructed the wardens to inform Duché of their decision. The vestry decision was announced to the congregation the following Sunday. Two days after the vestry meeting and before the 95

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announcement in church, the Pennsylvania Gazette broke the news of Duché’s election. 1 In a letter to the Bishop of London, the vestry explained in detail the reasons for their quick decision. “The Rev. Mr. Duché,” they wrote, “is a Native of this City and known to most of us from his Childhood . . . he has officiated . . . in Our Said Churches during the space of upwards of sixteen years, in which he has deservedly met with universal approbation.” “From the unblemished character he has hitherto supported thro’ life, from his exemplary conduct, zeal, piety, and Learning,” the vestry wrote, we are persuaded “that his best endeavors will ever be exerted for the maintenance of unanimity and Concord in the Churches, and the Advancement of true Religion and Virtue.” Duché’s many years of dutiful service had not gone unnoticed. The vestry had recognized his character, his commitment, and his ability. 2 At the October 30 vestry meeting, after waiting the required month to allow members of the congregation to make objections to the appointment, which none did, Duché took his seat as rector. It was a formal affair as the following vestry resolution demonstrates: “Resolved unanimously, that the Rev. Jacob Duché Master of Arts, be received, confirmed, and established, and he hereby is received, confirmed, and established Rector of the united churches of Christ Church and St. Peters Church.” Duché responded to the resolution thankfully, “I beg leave to return you my sincere thanks and Acknowledgement for the Honour you have done me.” Duché continued with a promise, “I hope that my future conduct will ever be as will justify your Choice.” As to his change in position, Duché said, “My Change of Station, I trust, will have no other affect upon me, than to increase my zeal for the Spiritual and Temporal Welfare of the Congregations.” The new rector concluded with a pledge, “It shall be my constant endeavor, under the blessings of heaven to preserve the same peace and harmony in our churches, which they enjoyed under my truly pious and worthy predecessor.” 3 The prize that he almost attained more than a decade before and which he had patiently and dutifully waited for as he toiled in the position of assistant minister was now his. Jacob Duché was the rector of the united churches and one of the most influential Anglican leaders in Philadelphia, and possibly America. Two items were first on the agenda of the new rector, the time and location of vestry meetings and his impending trip to England to be approved for priest’s orders by the Bishop of London. The new rector immediately requested that the monthly vestry meetings be moved to Thursday mornings at the church parsonage until a more suitable place was found. The next day, he sent a letter to the Bishop of London asking for a letter of approbation due to the inconvenience of travelling to England. On January 8, 1776, the bishop responded by approving the election of Duché without requiring a trip to England. 4

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It was not an easy time to begin his tenure. In December of 1775, the war was spreading. Fears had swept through the city that Philadelphia might be “laid waste” by British troops. 5 In more mundane matters, the roof of Christ Church was leaking, the school house was in bad shape, the organ needed replaced, pew rents were in arrears, and the estate of Dr. John Kearsley who had bequeathed money to the church for the building of a hospital had yet to be settled. Even while struggling with their own issues, the churches, under Duché’s leadership, continued to care for others. In January, the rector and his assistants preached charity sermons and distributed the L86 collected to those in need. Then too, there were the demands of ministry in a growing church. During his two years as rector, in addition to officiating at Sunday services each week, Duché performed 399 baptisms, fifty-five marriages, and 261 funerals. 6 On October 22, just a few days before Duché formally became rector of the churches, Peyton Randolph died. Randolph was the president of the Continental Congress when Duché offered his famous prayer in 1774. The Congress created a committee to request Duché “prepare a proper discourse to be delivered at the funeral.” 7 Randolph’s passing was a seminal moment for Duché. Randolph had been a giant in the Congress who had “earned the respect of colonial leaders from Massachusetts to Georgia because of his political craftsmanship and total commitment to public service.” His presence in Congress, like Duché’s prayer, had “served to unify its political image.” 8 Randolph’s political career embodied everything that Duché admired in a political leader. As a lawyer and planter turned politician, the Virginian had always been “more concerned with making government work than enhancing his own position.” At the First Continental Congress, Randolph “defined the office of the President” by his actions both inside and outside the Congress. Reserved and dignified, Randolph presided over Congress as “the image of parliamentary propriety” giving everyone opportunity to express their views without exception. After Congress adjourned, from late afternoon until he retired to bed, his was “the voice of accommodation” often “achieving more through informal conversation and quiet consultation than many others accomplished in debate.” He preferred to work over “a long leisurely dinner” or to enjoy “a quiet evening of discussion over a glass of port.” Jefferson called him “beloved,” “respected,” “good humored,” and “conciliatory,” all qualities which Duché admired. 9 Probably the greatest demonstration of this statesman’s character was the way Randolph handled the less than exemplary conduct of his successor as president of Congress, John Hancock. During the Second Continental Congress, events in Virginia forced Randolph to resign the office of president. John Hancock of Massachusetts was named as his replacement. The ostentatious Hancock, who had relished in living the high life in Philadelphia and acquired a number of questionable associates while

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in town, had not won much respect from his colleagues. When Randolph returned to Congress in the fall of 1775, most delegates expected that Hancock would resign his position in deference to Randolph, but he did not. This insolent action aroused the indignation of even fellow Massachusetts’ delegate John Adams. 10 The contrast between the two men, Hancock proudly sitting in the president’s chair, and Randolph, unseated and disrespected, sitting with quiet dignity alongside his fellow Virginians, was tremendous. Duché later contrasted the two men in a letter to General Washington. Of Randolph, Duché wrote, he is one of those men “whose names will ever be revered . . . and whose truly glorious and virtuous sentiments I have frequently heard with rapture from their own lips.” For Hancock his words were stinging. Who would want to associate with such a man, he wrote, unless his “soft and mild address . . . can atone for his want of every other qualification necessary for the seat which he fills?” 11 The funeral of Peyton Randolph, which was held in Christ Church, was quite an affair. The former president’s body lay in state for several days to allow his friends, family, and fellow-citizens opportunity to pay their respects. Congress, three battalions of militia, the provincial Assembly, the revolutionary government of Pennsylvania, city officials, and the vestry of Christ Church and St. Peter’s all attended. 12 Between 12,000 and 15,000 citizens attended the burial in Christ Church cemetery. Duché preached a sermon on Colossians 4:5 which states, “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” 13 Josiah Bartlett, an attendee, said that it was “the greatest funeral that ever was in America.” 14 By early 1776, the independence movement was in full swing. On January 9, Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense appeared in Philadelphia bookstores. 15 The pamphlet argued for independence and sparked an intense debate. The arrival of the pamphlet at the precise time the colonists became aware of the British intention to hire German mercenaries to fight in America further inflamed the debate. Moderates were quickly put on the defensive. William Smith initially expressed his concern with some of the misrepresentations contained in Paine’s pamphlet, but promised to support independence if the rights of the colonists could not be secured by a less drastic method. The radicals in Philadelphia moved quickly, using the pamphlet and the news of Hessian troops to radicalize the main revolutionary committee in Philadelphia. In February, at the semi-annual election of the Committee of Inspection and Observation—the Second One Hundred—thirtytwo new members, largely supporters of independence, were elected. The radicals employed a less than democratic “caucus” system to elect these new members in order to take over the committee and remove the influence of the propertied men of the city, many of which were conservative or moderate. 16 Radicalization of the Revolution in Pennsylvania

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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was underway. At this point, as the radicals framed the debate around independence, the definition of a “revolutionary” changed significantly. In the coming months, moderate revolutionaries like Duché who opposed independence but supported resistance and war would find themselves in a dilemma. Some would tolerate independence and move forward with the revolutionaries, others would be disaffected by the independence movement and become non-revolutionaries. Crucial to this process of radicalization and the subsequent process of disaffection it spawned was the emergence of six men, somewhat new to the political scene, as the key leaders of the revolutionary movement in the city. Three were on the committee, Christopher Marshall, Timothy Matlack, and Benjamin Rush. Three others, James Cannon, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Young, were not but worked as behind the scenes political operatives. The ex-Quaker Matlack was a bankrupt merchant who had turned his interests to cockfighting, bull-baits, horse racing, and selling bottled beer. Rush was a struggling doctor who had published a controversial anti-slavery pamphlet in 1772. The Irish-born Marshall was a druggist and a manufacturer of chemicals in Philadelphia. Cannon was a teacher who was intensely bitter against his boss, college provost William Smith, for his failure to rise as quickly as others in his profession. Paine had arrived in the city in 1774 and had with the publication of his pamphlet for the first time become famous for something more than a string of failures and a wrecked marriage. Young, also arrived in Philadelphia in 1774, was an avowed Deist and a good friend of Samuel Adams. Historian David Freeman Hawke drew the following conclusion about these men: None of these six men believed he had yet found his place in the world. Each believed his talents were going to waste, unrecognized by society. Each detested the present and found happiness in the future. 17

To the elites of the city, these were not men of the standing or temperament of a Randolph. Nonetheless, the Revolution was moving in their direction, overpowering the vision of Duché and other moderate revolutionaries. The attempt of these men to gain control of the Second One Hundred was successful, aided by the fact that as many as half of the members of the committee did not attend the weekly meetings at the American Philosophical Society. Matlack, Rush, and Marshall always showed up and pushed radical ideas such as a constitutional convention to supplant the moderate dominated Assembly which they said, because of representation inequities in the city and the western counties, did not represent the people of Pennsylvania. 18 On this point the radicals were absolutely correct. In order to thwart this effort, the Assembly agreed to a special election in May which would add delegates to western counties and four

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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new delegates for the city of Philadelphia. The radicals then dropped the call for a convention and focused their attention on the special election. 19 A fiery debate ensued. Moderate revolutionaries led by William Smith squared off against the independents, as the radicals now called themselves. Smith argued as “Cato” in local newspapers that the “independents” were seeking an internal political Revolution in Pennsylvania that had little to do with the larger Revolution within the British Empire. Smith attempted to refute Paine’s political theories. Cannon and Paine responded to Smith’s opposition to independence as “Cassandra” and “Forester.” Cannon’s responses to Smith were particularly vindictive and personal, a tactic not unknown to Smith himself. The series of letters appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette from March 13 to April 24. 20 The names of those on the moderate and independent (radical) tickets were not released until the morning of the election, a typical tactic of the time. The idea was that elections should focus more on issues and less on personalities. The independent ticket included George Clymer, Daniel Roberdeau, Owen Biddle, and Frederick Kuhl. Clymer was a young, prosperous, Anglican merchant, Roberdeau was a popular merchant, Biddle was a fighting Quaker, and Kuhl was a German. The moderates put forward Andrew Allen, Thomas Willing, Samuel Howell, and Alexander Wilcox. Allen was the distinguished son of the richest man in Philadelphia, Willing was probably the second richest man in the city, Howell was a wealthy Quaker merchant, and Wilcox was a wealthy merchant as well. Christ Church had representation on both tickets—Clymer for the radicals, Willing and Wilcox for the moderates. While the two tickets both included men of distinction in the city, the moderate ticket certainly had the men of greatest distinction and wealth. 21 Voters were generally apathetic during most Philadelphia elections with voter turnout normally low, but this election was different. 22 A tremendous turnout secured a victory for the moderate revolutionaries who won three of the four new seats in the city and all of the seats in the western counties. 23 Only George Clymer of Christ Church was elected as a supporter of independence. 24 There were several reasons for this moderate victory. The city, though at war, was still experiencing widespread prosperity, the battlefields were still far away, many in the city had bitter feelings toward the New Englanders and Virginians who seemed to be pushing their own agenda, and there were continued rumors that the British were sending peace commissioners to the colonies. In short, the people of Philadelphia were not ready to take the radical step of declaring independence. Instead, like Duché and other moderate revolutionaries, they preferred a more cautious approach that would lead to the restoration of a harmonious relationship between Great Britain and America. In the special election of May 1, 1776, the people of Pennsylvania demonstrated unequivocally that they were “not yet ready for any abrupt change.” 25

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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The only election issue that independents could point to was the unsubstantiated conjecture that the property requirement for voting had prohibited many of their number from voting. Even Paine, however, admitted that “the provincial law requiring a man to swear or affirm himself worth fifty pound currency deprived few who really wanted it of the right to vote.” Indeed, anyone who had some tools, a spare set of clothes, a bed, and a few household items could argue that he was worth the required amount. The moderates simply had greater support among the people. Thus, “the common people and not the gentlemen alone, had defeated the independents.” Christopher Marshall, however, did not agree with this assessment. He wrote, grasping for straws, that the independents had been defeated by a coalition of “Tory non-conformists,” “testimonizing Quakers,” Roman Catholics, and “Proprietary Dependents.” 26 Following this clear statement against independence by the people of the province, the movement toward independence took a decidedly nondemocratic turn. The Congress, under the strong influence of the Massachusetts and Virginia delegations frustrated by Pennsylvania’s election results, adopted a resolution calling on citizens to create new provincial governments where the old ones were incapable of providing for the public welfare. The Pennsylvania Gazette published the resolution in its entirety:

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Resolved, That it be recommended to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies, where no Government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs has been hitherto established, to adopt such Government as shall, in the opinion of the Representatives of the People, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their Constituents in particular and America in general. 27

The independents in Congress had been working for months to get reluctant colonies like Pennsylvania to accept independence. In fact, from the moment they arrived in Philadelphia, John and Samuel Adams “were determined to guide America toward a declaration of independence.” Their first objective was to get each of the thirteen colonies to establish its own government, free from royal control which would be followed by a colonial confederation and then a formal declaration of independence. 28 To accomplish these goals the Massachusetts cousins had joined with Benjamin Franklin, a long-time foe of the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, to incite radicalism in Pennsylvania politics. 29 Having failed to accomplish their goals through the normal democratic processes, most obviously in Pennsylvania, these radicals lost patience with the moderates and turned to other means to advance their agenda. The resolution of May 15 was nothing less than a call for an internal, minority-led Revolution in Pennsylvania. Radicals had decided to overthrow traditional governments, some of which had majority support, in

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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order to declare independence from Great Britain. Radical leaders in Pennsylvania welcomed the resolution of Congress and moved quickly and decisively, immediately calling for yet another mass meeting in the State House yard. The city’s inhabitants were already in an uproar over the recent incursion of British ships in the Delaware River, an advance that was met and repulsed by a Pennsylvania “armada” of thirteen armed boats. 30 At the May 20 meeting, 4000 men in addition to numerous women and children stood in a steady downpour as the recent resolution of Congress and the Assembly’s instructions to the Pennsylvania delegates to the Congress to oppose independence were read. Then, a series of resolves that would not be available in print until May 22 were read and adopted. The rain-soaked crowd agreed to the following resolutions: the Assembly had not been elected to form a new government, the need to carry out the request of Congress to create a new government, to call a Provincial Convention for the purpose of creating the new government, and to call a Provincial Conference to determine the franchise and to set elections for delegates to the Provincial Convention. A mob of 4000 people in a city of more than 20,000 inhabitants had decided to overthrow the colonial government. Moderates now clearly on the defensive responded by putting forward a Remonstrance opposing the Provincial Convention. The Remonstrance, in time, acquired more than 6000 signatures. 31 The Pennsylvania Provincial Conference met on June 18. The conference that had been created by a radical minority was controlled by this minority as well. The conference issued a call for a constitutional convention and then decided that only persons approved by Associator Committees could cast ballots for delegates and that only those who had formally repudiated their allegiance to King George III and had taken a religious oath could sit as a delegate. These actions are clear proof that the radicals considered themselves to be in a minority, which they were. As a result of their decision, any Associator age 21 or older could vote if they had been assessed for taxes, taken an oath supporting the government of Pennsylvania and denying loyalty to the king, and believed in the trinity. Lutheran minister and Duché friend Henry Muhlenberg had supported the Christianized oath which excluded Jews and deists from voting. The tolerant Duché disagreed with the oath, arguing that an oath that opened the franchise to non-Christians was “well-suited to the present time and conditions . . .” The Conference also approved a preliminary draft of the Declaration of Independence and reversed the Assembly’s directions to the Pennsylvania delegates to Congress freeing them to vote for independence. 32 The result of this Revolution in Pennsylvania was a landmark event, the July 2 passage in Congress of the independence resolution put forward by Richard Henry Lee on June 7. The delegates from Pennsylvania, with conflicting instructions in their hands from the moderate Assembly and the radical Provincial Conference, were left on their own to deter-

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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mine the fate of a revolution. Franklin, radical John Morton who was appointed to Congress in 1774, and radical James Wilson who was added to the delegation in 1775 voted in favor of independence; Thomas Willing and Charles Humphreys against it. Dickinson and Morris absented themselves to allow the measure to carry without their direct support. 33 Congress approved Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence two days later. The make-up of the Pennsylvania delegation and their relationship to Christ Church is important. Franklin, Wilson, Willing, and Morris were Christ Church parishioners; Franklin and Wilson voted for independence, Willing against, and Morris abstained demonstrating the enormous complexity of the Revolution even for a small, relatively cohesive group of men. This complexity would not bode well for the rector of their church. The first matter at hand upon receiving the news of independence was the complicated question of whether or not to omit prayers for the king from the liturgy used in the services at Christ Church and St. Peter’s. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer contained dozens of references to the king and the royal family. For example, the Litany which was sung or said after morning prayers said, “That it may please thee to keep and strengthen in the true worshipping of thee, in righteousness and holiness of life, thy servant, GEORGE, our most gracious king and Governor.” The Morning Prayer itself contained the following: . . . behold our most gracious Sovereign Lord, King GEORGE; and so replenish him with the grace of the Holy Spirit, that he may always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way: Endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant him in health and wealth long to live; strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies, and finally, after this life he may attain everlasting joy and felicity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 34

These “prayers” for the king were as much a part of an Anglican service as was the use of scripture. Continuing to use these prayers could enflame sentiment against the Anglican churches both inside and outside the congregation. Duché also had to consider the oath that he took as an ordained minister of the Church of England, a church whose head was the king of England, as well as the charter which governed his congregations. Omitting these prayers would be a direct violation of both commitments. In addition, many ministers had great difficulty giving up the “Erastian” importance of these prayers—the view that the church was entirely under the control of the state—and felt as if they could not minister properly to their congregations without including these prayers in the liturgy. 35 Simply put, once the colonies declared independence it was impossible for Duché to keep all of his commitments and maintain the peace and harmony of his churches.

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Duché’s congregation and the vestry they elected in April were divided on the issue of independence. According to William A. Pencak, by 1778, forty-nine percent of the congregation were patriots and forty-one percent were loyalists while among the elite members only twenty-nine percent were patriots. 36 The vestry was diverse as well including loyalists Edmund Physick, James Humphreys, and Joseph Swift, reluctant moderates like Edward Shippen and Alexander Wilcocks, and up and coming members of the radical contingent like Richard Willing. 37 Thus, it is incorrect to suggest that most Anglicans were loyalists. Anglicans were prominent in Philadelphia politics and could be found in every corner of the political spectrum including the proprietary gentry that controlled Pennsylvania’s colonial politics and the radical minority that had swept the old proprietary government out of power. Historian Richard Ryerson has suggested that “in the twenty months before Independence, it was the Anglicans who emerged as Philadelphia’s most active denomination in radical politics.” 38 This complexity in his own congregation had already affected the Anglican minister who had persisted “to the very last moment” to use the prayers for the king though he was, as he later wrote, “threatened with insults from the violence of a party.” 39 On July 4, Duché met with nine members of the vestry who had the courage to attend the meeting to discuss their thoughts on this delicate matter. At that meeting the vestry approved the following resolution: Whereas the Hon. Continental Congress have resolved to declare the American Colonies to be free and independent States, in Consequence of which it will be proper to omit those Petitions in the Liturgy wherein the king of Great Britain is prayed for, as inconsistent with the said declaration. Therefore, Resolved, that it appears to this Vestry to be necessary for the peace and well-being of the Churches to omit the said Petitions, and the Rector and Assistant Ministers of the United Churches are requested in the Name of the Vestry and their Constituents to omit such Petitions as are above mentioned. 40

The vestry resolution provided clarity as to the direction the churches would take as well as a certain amount of cover for the ministers by stating that they “are requested in the Name of the Vestry” to omit the now controversial prayers. This clarification demonstrates the concern of the vestry, and most likely the ministers, that omitting prayers for the king could lead to serious repercussions from British religious and civil authorities. Duché later wrote the following description of the events of that momentous meeting and his thoughts regarding the outcome: Upon the declaration of independency, I called my vestry, and solemnly put the question to them, whether they thought it best, for the peace and welfare of the congregation, to shut up the churches, or to continue the service, without using the prayers for the Royal Family. This was

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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the sad alternative. I concluded to abide by their decision, as I could not have time to consult with my spiritual superiors in England. They determined it most expedient, under such critical circumstances, to keep open the churches, that the congregations might not be dispersed, which we had great reason to apprehend. 41

The decision, for Duché, was one that hinged on the well being of the congregations. While it is most likely that Duché and the other ministers considered the affect this decision would have on their careers as ministers of the Church of England, the overriding concern of the vestry and Duché was the survival of the churches. The only way to keep the churches open was to omit the prayers. If the churches were closed for any period of time it was feared that the congregations would disperse. Once the vestry took their position, it was now left to Duché to put it into action. Thus, at Christ Church on July 7, for the first time in an Anglican church in America the rector, Jacob Duché, offered no prayers for the king of England. 42 Historian James B. Bell argued that one of the difficulties that Anglican ministers faced that was different from any other figures during the American Revolution was that they were uniquely connected to the “King’s Church.” According to Bell, the English government had planted the church in America specifically to strengthen royal authority in the colonies, they had refused to grant an American episcopate creating an administrative hodgepodge in America, that as the church grew it became increasingly Americanized with more American-born ministers, and that the Revolution had a disastrous affect on the church in America. Several of these postulates have particular relevance for Duché. The rampant suspicion among dissenting groups that the British intended to establish the Church of England in America made any attempt to defend British policy extremely difficult for Anglican ministers. The refusal to grant an Anglican episcopate forced Jacob Duché and his vestry to make decisions in a vacuum without any ability to acquire guidance from those who were at the head of their church organization. For Duché, and his church to a lesser extent, the effects of the Revolution would be exactly what Bell described. 43 Another historian, Nancy L. Rhoden, argued, like Bell, that the Anglican ministers faced extraordinary challenges. Rhoden asserted that because Anglican ministers were increasingly Americanized—more were born in America and had developed regional, family, and local ties to their community—they faced intensely “contradictory demands of conscience, duty, and allegiance.” One of the outcomes of this complexity was that, according to Rhoden, Anglican ministers residing in areas where the Church of England was in the minority and therefore more suspect tended to oppose the Revolution, possibly because they felt more at home with their English counterparts. On the other hand, Anglican

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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ministers who resided in areas where the church was in the majority, like Virginia, tended to support the Revolution. Rhoden’s findings raise interesting questions regarding the experience of Jacob Duché who resided in an area where the church was both powerful and suspect, where the congregation contained all sides of the political spectrum, and where there was no “safe” position to take. 44 A third historian, William A. Pencak, has demonstrated that the Anglican ministers of Pennsylvania each “underwent their own odysseys and personal soul searching.” Each individual minister, according to Pencak, had to weigh the physical, earthly, and eternal consequences of violating an oath that no one else in America had to take. Residing in a colony that was in the midst of two revolutions, one internal and one external, the ministers’ experiences were marked by “agony and diversity.” Most of the ministers underwent some form of disaffection, a few were outright loyalists, and only one, William White, remained a revolutionary to the end. The responses of the three ministers of Christ Church to the Revolution demonstrate the inadequacy of simplistic portrayals of Anglican clergy. White was cautious at first but would later jump into the fray as a revolutionary and remain so. Thomas Coombe’s support for the Revolution was tepid from the beginning, making his transition to nonrevolutionary in 1778 fairly innocuous. Jacob Duché, on the other hand, had his own unique experience. He was initially the strongest supporter of the Revolution of the three ministers of Christ Church, as a moderate revolutionary he tolerated independence at first but then underwent a long, tedious process of disaffection from the Revolution. 45 On Monday, July 8, the Declaration of Independence was read in public for the first time at a celebration at the State House which was scheduled by the radicals for the same day as the election of delegates to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. 46 John Nixon, an Anglican and neighbor of Duché, read the declaration. The Pennsylvania Gazette reported that the thousands in attendance at the noon time public reading “testified their approbation by repeated acclamations.” On the same day Philadelphia voters, at least the minority of them who had taken the proper oaths, elected the following men to the Provincial Convention: Benjamin Franklin, Owen Biddle, George Clymer, Frederick Kuhl, Timothy Matlack, David Rittenhouse, James Cannon, and George Schlosser. Two days later at a meeting in Lancaster, Colonel George Ross was elected president of the Associator Battalions and Daniel Roberdeau was chosen as First Brigadier General. Ross and Roberdeau were given authority to call up the militia to assist any free state until the convention took action. 47 The radicals had seized power in Pennsylvania and the duly elected proprietary government of colonial Pennsylvania was about to pass out of existence as a result. Many prominent moderate revolutionaries, like Duché, were less than exultant about these developments. Pennsylvania delegates to Congress

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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John Dickinson, Thomas Willing, Owen Biddle, Andrew Allen, and James Humphreys never signed the Declaration of Independence. 48 Nearly all the members of the proprietary gentry opposed the measure. Even John Jay of New York, one of the future authors of the Federalist Papers, retired from Congress because he did not want to sign the document. 49 As seemed always to be the case whenever major political events occurred in the city, Duché was once more thrust into the center as an Anglican minister. The same day as the public reading of the Declaration, John Hancock wrote a letter to Duché asking him to become the official chaplain to the newly independent American Congress. The letter was sent by express to Germantown where Elizabeth and the children were staying for the summer. Hancock wrote, “from a Consideration of your Piety (and Religion), as well as your uniform and zealous Attachment to the Rights of America” the Congress has decided to appoint you their chaplain. Hancock requested that Duché come at 9:00 AM the next day to begin his duties. 50 As Duché later explained, the request was unexpected:

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A few days after the fatal declaration of independency, I received a letter from Mr. Hancock sent by express to Germantown, where my family were for the summer season, acquainting me I was appointed Chaplain to the Congress, and desired my attendance next morning at nine o’clock. Surprised and distressed, as I was by an event I was not prepared to expect; obliged to give an immediate attendance, without the opportunity of consulting my friends, I easily accepted the appointment—I could have but one motive for taking this step. I thought the churches in danger, and hoped, by this means, to have been instrumental in preventing those ills; I had so much reason to apprehend.

Again a retreating Duché acted in self defense of his congregations. Duché later justified his decision to go against his own sentiments and accept the chaplaincy by arguing that at that moment he “looked upon independency rather as an expedient, and hazardous, or, indeed, thrown out in terrorem, in order to procure some favorable terms, than a measure that was seriously persisted in, at all events.” 51 The decision to accept the chaplaincy was a major error. It was inconsistent with Duché’s earlier statements on independence. While he may have had legitimate concerns for his congregation and even himself if he did not accept, the choice to accept the chaplaincy to the newly independent Congress would cause confusion regarding his future actions opposing the Revolution. Indeed, a strong stand against independence at this moment would have been far better in the long run than the path he chose. The acceptance of the chaplaincy also demonstrates an emerging weakness in the minister; he was beginning to overestimate his own significance. Historical events had thrust Duché into the political limelight—influential leaders had coveted his counsel—and elevated his self-importance. Unfortunately for

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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Duché, he was not as influential as he thought and independence was not a temporary expedient but rather the beginning of a permanent separation, truths that made his decision to accept the chaplaincy one that he would later regret. On July 9, Duché reluctantly began his duties as the first chaplain of Congress, most likely believing that he would forge a “middle way” between those who sought a permanent separation and those who sought restoration of American rights and reconciliation. As usual, he opened the meeting with prayer. 52 The evidence suggests that the form of prayer he used on this occasion appears to be identical to the prepared portion of the celebrated prayer he delivered to open the First Continental Congress. 53 One delegate’s response to the prayer reveals why Duché remained the favorite of Congress for almost two years. In a letter to James Caldwell, Abraham Clark wrote, “At my coming to Congress, I moved for a Chaplain to Attend Prayers every morning which was carried—and some of my Staunch breathren will scarcely forgive me for Naming Mr. Duché. This I did knowing without such a one many would not Attend. He hath Composed a form of Prayer Unexceptionable to all parties.” 54 Jefferson, it appears, did not agree with Clark’s assessment as he wrote to John Payne, “I inclose you (to amuse your curiosity) the form of the prayer substituted in the room of the prayer for the king by Mr. Duché chaplain to the Congress. I think by making it so general as to take in Conventions, assemblies etc. it might be used instead of that for parliament.” 55 The minister’s now tenuous position had drawn the attention of at least one revolutionary. At the same time that these critical political events were unfolding, Duché’s personal and clerical life was in turmoil. His son Thomas, who would experience long bouts of sickness often in his short life, had taken ill and was absent from school for the entirety of the summer months. 56 The government required both his clerk and sexton to report for military duty from which Duché requested an exemption on the grounds of the importance of their presence at the church to the conducting of ministry. 57 Finally and most devastatingly for Duché, on July 10, 1776, his mentor and predecessor Richard Peters died. 58 These events undoubtedly weighed heavily on the mind of the rector as he fulfilled his daily duties of delivering morning prayers to Congress which met eighty-two times during his tenure as chaplain. 59 It is impossible to know how many of these meetings Duché attended, but the evidence suggests he was there for the vast majority of them. While he was officiating as chaplain to Congress, a number of events occurred that pushed Duché further into the process of disaffection from the revolutionary movement and its leaders. On July 15, the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention opened with Franklin in the chair. 60 The delegates to the Convention appointed their own Council of Safety with blanket authority to act as the government of the province until a new

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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constitution could be written. The new committee exercised dictatorial control within Pennsylvania. It “directed military affairs, disarmed nonAssociators, borrowed money, fixed commodity prices, defined offenses against the state, prescribed oaths, called and supervised elections, and administered justice.” The Convention also restructured the delegation to the Continental Congress by replacing moderates Allen, Dickinson, Humphreys, and Willing with radicals Clymer and Rush. 61 Note that the two radical replacements were again associated with Christ Church. Pennsylvania, as a result of this transition and the ongoing war, was in a state of civil war. The government of the city of Philadelphia collapsed, the events of the war dislocated nearly half of the population, taxes went uncollected, and by the end of the year, Congress had fled to Baltimore. The year also had brought a spasm of loyalist witch-hunting to the city “that humiliated Philadelphia Tories who paid for their declarations of loyalty to England by being carted through town by mobs.” 62 After the Declaration, the city was put into the hands of military guards. The city became a “military post” with troops from the interior coming to Philadelphia for training before they headed off to serve in armies in the north or south. The barracks for these troops in the Northern Liberties, as well as for Philadelphia’s own militia, were filled to overflowing. The army quartered soldiers in the college, churches, or vacant homes. The sick and wounded were brought down in “shallops” on the Delaware River and taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital which also overflowed. Smallpox and camp diseases ravaged the city. Hundreds were buried in the Potter’s Field. When no more room was found there, “Great Shallow trenches, twenty by thirty feet, were dug along the line of Walnut Street, as well as on the southern side of the square to hold the coffins of the dead.” As many as 2000 soldiers were said to be buried there. 63 Merchants who refused to accept continental and state paper money had their property, and sometimes themselves, attacked by mobs. Customers showed up with the worthless money demanding that merchants accept it as legal tender. As a result, business became almost impossible to conduct. Some who spoke against Congress were imprisoned and those who sang “God Save the King” filled the jails. Officials housed additional detainees in the Masonic Lodge. Rampant vigilantism led to numerous arrests and property confiscations. As a result, political moderates “grew increasingly fearful and disillusioned.” 64 In the midst of this chaos, moderate revolutionaries like Duché placed their hopes in one event, the September meeting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge with the British peace commissioner General William Howe. 65 At this meeting on Staten Island, Howe informed the Americans that they must “return to and acknowledge obedience to his majesty” and that, once they did this, some acts of parliament may be revised and colonial grievances removed. The Americans responded that “a return to the domination of Great Britain was not now to

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be expected” and that the Declaration had been called for by the people of the colonies and approved by every colony all of which now considered themselves as “independent states.” The Americans then proposed a peace treaty which, having no power to negotiate or accept such a mechanism, Howe rejected. 66 Thus, the hope of many moderates in England and America for reconciliation came to an abrupt end. Duché was severely disappointed by the failure of the Howe committee to achieve a peaceful resolution to the crisis. He believed the conference was tainted from the beginning by radical ideals. Among his concerns was that the Americans each gave different accounts of the event, it took so long for the American commissioners to put the matter before the public, and the “amazing” disagreement between the newspaper accounts and “the relation I myself had from the mouth of one of the Committee.” These and other concerns convinced Duché that “there must have been some unfair and ungenerous procedure.” Duché later wrote, “This determination to treat no other strain than that of independency, which put it out of his Lordship’s power to mention any terms at all, was sufficient proof to me that independency was the idol they had long wished to set up, and that, rather than sacrifice this, they would deluge the country with blood.” 67 Duché’s hospitable relations with the American Congress were about to come to an end. The final straw for Duché was the passage of the new constitution of Pennsylvania on September 28. 68 Drafted mainly by Franklin, Cannon, and Bryan, with lots of advice from Samuel Adams, the new constitution created a powerful unicameral legislature, a weak administrative body, and an appointed judiciary. All freemen who took an oath of loyalty could vote. There was not much change from the previous colonial constitution except for one thing, the people who governed Pennsylvania. Gone were the propertied men. In their place the freeman Associators had seized the ballot and used it to vote in a new group of leaders, many of whom were almost completely inexperienced in the matters of governing. 69 On one level, the new constitution eliminated the inequities existing in Pennsylvania’s old proprietary government which was dominated by elites and facilitated abuses such as multiple office holding and excessive patronage while opening the franchise to a larger segment of society than previously. On another level, it used oaths and test acts—in the name of democracy—to eliminate these same individuals from political participation. The new leadership had taken one step forward and two steps back. The new constitution appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette for public consumption on October 16. 70 These changes in the government of Pennsylvania did not sit well with a number of prominent Philadelphians. Merchants who opposed the new constitution formed a group called the Republican Society, whose members included Robert Morris, James Wilson, George Clymer, John Nixon, and Samuel Meredith—most of whom were associated with

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Christ Church. 71 At an October 21 debate on the merits of the new constitution held at the State House, Cannon and Matlack defended the document while Dickinson and Thomas McKean condemned it. The crowd condemned the new constitution which was never put to the people of Pennsylvania for ratification. 72 Again the varying degrees within the revolutionary group became even more complicated. Those radicals who supported the new Pennsylvania constitution became known as constitutionalists. But not all those who supported independence supported the new constitution. A case in point that supports Judith Van Buskirk’s idea of the permeable nature of all of these groups 73 is the strange odyssey of James Wilson, a Christ Church congregant who supported independence but opposed the new constitution and fell under virulent attack by the radical constitutionalists as a result. These most intense radicals were the ones who became the bitter enemies of Jacob Duché. The new Pennsylvania constitution, the failure of the Howe conference, and the chaotic state of affairs in Pennsylvania cemented Duché’s disaffection from the Revolution and convinced him to take the next step, to resign as chaplain to Congress. On October 17, he sent a letter to inform John Hancock of his decision. In that letter, Duché told Hancock that due to “the state of his health, and his parochial duties” he could not continue his service to Congress. 74 This letter was less than forthcoming since the reasons for his resignation went much deeper. Duché was angry with the direction that Congress was taking his beloved country and the manner in which they were doing it. “These are not the men that America has chosen to represent her,” he wrote later, “most of them were chosen by a little, low faction.” 75 Again Duché’s position as a member of the proprietary gentry appears overshadowing the validity of his overall point regarding the change from a more experienced and measured political leadership to one inexperienced and radical. Nevertheless, the process of disaffection for Duché was complete and from the moment of his resignation, Duché stood opposed to the Congress and the Revolution they were now advancing. Jacob Duché had become a disaffected nonrevolutionary. The Congress itself, not knowing Duché’s real sentiments, voted that thanks be given for “the devout and acceptable manner in which he discharged his duty as chaplain” and that “150 dollars be presented to him, as an acknowledgement from the house for his services.” Duché thanked the Congress for their kindness and promptly returned the money, requesting that it be used to “the relief of the widows and children of such of the Pennsylvania officers, as have fallen in battle in the services of their country.” 76 Duché’s service to Congress behind him, Duché settled back into his traditional duties as rector of the churches and trustee of the college. The political and military situation, however, would not go away. In December, with fears of an impending British attack on the city, Congress re-

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tired to Baltimore and named General Israel Putnam of Connecticut as military governor of Pennsylvania. Prices sky rocketed, citizens fled the city, and the newspapers stopped publication. Left behind were citizens in despair, many afraid to speak or think. Putnam ordered the fortification of a line of defense against attack and compelled Associators and citizens to complete them. All able bodied men were asked to take up arms. Benjamin Rush recorded that Philadelphia had become “a dark and silent wilderness of houses.” 77 His duties at the college and the church continued despite the chaos all around. At the college, Duché met in the coming months with men like James Hamilton, Andrew Allen, Samuel Powel, and Edward Shippen to discuss repairs on the school building, the problem of accepting paper money, and the need for a master for the boys’ charity school. 78 At the church, Duché’s time was occupied with the settling of the John Kearsley estate and its endowment of a hospital, a collection for the poor, and the inability to pay salaries because of uncollected pew rents. 79 As the year 1777 approached, the most critical year of his life, Duché thought he had removed himself from the political arena forever and was poised to settle down into his position as spiritual leader of his congregations and family. Although politics and the men who devoted themselves to its pursuits was always an interest to Duché, it was never his first love. His real passions were God, the church, and family. Political choices he had already made, however, were about to force him back into the political arena for one final act, an act that would prove personally disastrous. The act was simple enough, a letter written to make one more political overture to end the ongoing “fraternal slaughter.” This final political act, this infamous letter, would bring unimagined disruption and heartache to Jacob Duché and everyone and everything he held dear. The disaffected, non-revolutionary Anglican minister was now willing to let the Revolution go, but the Revolution would not yet let go of him. NOTES 1. Vestry Minutes, September 21, 1775; September 23, 1775; September 25, 1775; Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 178; Pennsylvania Gazette, September 27, 1775. 2. Correspondence and Other Records, 4.4.0.7, October 30, 1775, Archives of Christ Church; Wardens and Vestry of Christ Church to Bishop Terrick, General Correspondence, 8:70-71, Lambeth Palace Library. There is also a letter at Christ Church from the clergy to the bishop recommending Duché for the position of rector. 3. Vestry Minutes, October 30, 1775; Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 180. 4. Vestry Minutes, October 30, 1775; Jacob Duché to Bishop Terrick, October 31, 1775, General Correspondence, 8:74-75, Lambeth Palace Library; Bishop Terrick to the Wardens and Vestry of Christ Church, January 8, 1776, General Correspondence, 8:7475, Lambeth Palace Library. 5. Tappert, Journals, 2:712-13. 6. Vestry Minutes, November 2, 1775; December 11, 1775; January 4, 1776; January 16, 1776; “Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials,” Archives of Christ Church.

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7. Journals of the Continental Congress, October 23, 1775 3:302-3. 8. John J. Reardon, Peyton Randolph, 1721-1775: One Who Presided (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1981), xi. 9. Ibid., 28, 38, 52, 70. 10. Ibid., 67. 11. Jacob Duché to George Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 12. Reardon, 68; Randolph Funeral Sermon, Historical Report, Peyton Randolph House, 136. 13. John Zubly’s Diary, October 24, 1775, Letters of Delegates; Watson, Annals, 199. 14. Josiah Bartlett to Mary Bartlett, October 25, 1775, Letters of Delegates. 15. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 743-44. For more information on the division that independence caused in Pennsylvania see Anne M. Ousterhout, A State Divided: Opposition in Pennsylvania to the American Revolution (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 1987); and John B. Frantz and William Pencak, eds. Beyond Philadelphia: The American Revolution in the Pennsylvania Hinterland (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University, 1998). 16. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 156; Hawke, In the Midst of a Revolution, 102. 17. Hawke, In the Midst of a Revolution, 103-7. 18. Ibid. 19. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 746. 20. Hawke, In the Midst of a Revolution, 24. 21. Ibid., 25-26. 22. Ibid., 17. 23. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 89. 24. Pennsylvania Gazette, May 8, 1776. The newspaper recorded the following results of the vote: Samuel Howell 941, Andrew Allen, 923, George Clymer, 923, Alexander Wilcox, 921, Thomas Willing, 911, Frederick Kuhl, 904, Owen Biddle, 903, Daniel Roberdeau, 890. 25. Hawke, In the Midst of a Revolution, 56, 108. 26. Ibid., 33. 27. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 89; Pennsylvania Gazette, May 22, 1776. 28. Hawke, In the Midst of a Revolution, 113-14. 29. Montross, Reluctant Rebels, 150. 30. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 751. 31. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania, 301; Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 217; Kelley, Pennsylvania, 754; Pennsylvania Gazette, May 22, 1776. 32. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 89, 91; Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 234; Kelley, Pennsylvania, 760; William A. Pencak, Jews and Gentiles in Early America, 16541800 (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2005), 216. 33. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 91. 34. “The Book of Common Prayer,” Justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1662/Baskerville.htm. 35. Edgar L. Pennington, “The Anglican Clergy of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 63 (1939), 429. It is interesting that in Pennsylvania before the Revolution only Anglican ministers and naturalized immigrants had to take an oath of allegiance. 36. William A. Pencak, “From Anglicans to Episcopalians: The Revolutionary War Years, 1775-1790,” 7. 37. Vestry Minutes, April 8, 1776, 334; Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 507-63. 38. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 188. 39. Jacob Duché to George Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 40. Vestry Minutes, July 4, 1776; Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 181. The vestry present included Colonel Duché, Thomas Cuthbert, Robert Whyte, Charles

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Stedman, Edmund Physick, James Biddle, Peter Dehaven, James Reynolds, and Gerardus Clarkson. Both Stedman and Physick opposed independence. Several vestry members opposed to independence did not attend the meeting: James Humphreys, Joseph Swift, Alexander Wilcox, and Edward Shippen. Supporters of independence who did not attend included Samuel Powel and Richard Willing. 41. Duché to Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 42. Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 148. 43. Bell, The Imperial Origins of the King’s Church in Early America, 1607-1783. Bell, A War of Religion. 44. Rhoden, Revolutionary Anglicanism, 1. 45. William A. Pencak, ed., Pennsylvania’s Revolution, 97. 46. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 91. 47. Pennsylvania Gazette, July 10, 1776. 48. Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:253. 49. Brobeck, “Revolutionary Change in Colonial Philadelphia,” 432. 50. John Hancock to Jacob Duché, July 8, 1776, Letters of Delegates; Journals of the Continental Congress, July 9, 1776, 5:530; Pennsylvania Gazette, July 17, 1776. 51. Jacob Duché to George Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 52. Note, Journals of the Continental Congress, 25:551-552. 53. Pennsylvania Gazette, February 14, 1778; Copy of Prayer in Congress, July, 1776, Jacob Duché, Society Collection, HSP. Both of these sources contain almost the exact prayer recorded by Thomson in the Journals of the Continental Congress as the one Duché offered in 1774. The Gazette describes their prayer as “the form of prayer, made use of by the Rev. Mr. Duché, in the Congress, after Independence was declared.” The Gazette printed this prayer in the aftermath of the Duché letter to Washington for the purpose of demonstrating his change of heart. The copy of the prayer housed in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania lists the prayer as a “copy of the Duché’s prayer before Congress, July, 1776. 54. Abraham Clark to James Caldwell, August 2, 1776, Letters of Delegates, 4. 55. Thomas Jefferson to John Payne, August 5, 1776, Letters of Delegates, 4. 56. Gegenheimer, “Artist in Exile,” 4. 57. Jacob Duché to the Committee of Safety, July 11, 1776, Case 9, Box b, A.L.S., American Clergy, Gratz Mss., HSP. It cannot be determined whether the request for exemption was successful. 58. Pennsylvania Gazette, July 17, 1776. 59. Journals of the Continental Congress, July 10, 1776-October 17, 1776. 60. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 91. 61. Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun, 241. 62. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 89. 63. Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:253-55. 64. Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:256-58; Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 148. 65. The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Chapter 9. 66. Journals of the Continental Congress, 5:765-66. 67. Jacob Duché to George Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 68. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 769. For more information on the Constitution of 1776 see Selsam, The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. 69. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 91. 70. Pennsylvania Gazette, October 16, 1776. 71. Doerflinger, “Philadelphia Merchants,” 225. 72. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 774. 73. Judith Van Buskirk, Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), 1-7. 74. Journals of the Continental Congress, 6:886.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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75. Jacob Duché to George Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 76. Journals of the Continental Congress, 6:887, 6:911; John Hancock to Jacob Duché, October 28, 1776, Letters of Delegates. 77. Kelley, Pennsylvania, 780-81. 78. Trustee Minutes, October 31, 1776, March 3, 1777, March 14, 1777. 79. Vestry Minutes, November 7, 1776, January 6, 1777, January 21, 1777, March 10, 1777.

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SEVEN

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The Letter

For Jacob Duché the year 1777 began with a fleeting hope: that he could return to his old life as a minister, teacher, and college trustee. In his mind his days as a political figure, as the spiritual mentor of revolutionaries, were over. The Revolution had taken a decidedly radical turn, one that he did not anticipate and could not support. What would become of the movement that he had helped start, he did not know. What he was about to find out, however, is that the radicals who had engineered independence and in the process jeopardized the very liberties they had vowed to protect, were firmly in control of the Revolution. The realities of radical rule would be impossible to escape, even for a minister, especially one who had taken so decided a part in the early years of the Revolution. Worse yet, the British were about to launch a massive assault on the middle colonies which would end with British troops occupying Philadelphia and then arresting Duché as punishment for his earlier revolutionary activities. Again, the Revolution would force the Anglican minister to make difficult personal, spiritual, and political choices, the last of which—writing the fateful letter to Washington—would destroy his reputation and career in America. 1 At the churches, the normal work of ministry went on but not unaffected by the ongoing military and political situations. In 1777, the year of the British invasion, baptisms continued to occur on a regular basis even through the end of the year. 2 Duché performed twenty-five marriages in the first nine months of that year, but none after the British occupation. 3 There were a total of 216 burials in the year 1777, a record number for the churches no doubt affected by the fact that the war had come to Pennsylvania. 4 At the annual election of the vestry, Jacob Duché, Sr., was once again elected. 5 One of the most pressing concerns for the vestry was the issue of pew rents, more specifically the failure of those who owed them 117

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to pay and the resultant loss of income to the churches. 6 The vestry called a special meeting of all pew holders on April 14 to deal with this issue. The primary need for resources was to pay the salaries of the three ministers. Duché, the rector, was making L300 per year, while his assistants, Thomas Coombe and William White were making L350 and L150 per year respectively. 7 Why Coombe as an assistant was making more than the rector is not clear, but Duché’s acceptance of this situation suggests the influence of the unselfish spirit of his mentor Richard Peters. 8 The college was also affected by the Revolution. On June 28, Duché attended a meeting of the board of trustees. Those present included James Hamilton, Dr. Phineas Bond, Dr. William Shippen, Edward Shippen, Samuel Powel, and William White—an interesting mix of revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries. The major discussion of the evening was property issues. The trustees would not meet again until September of 1778, some fifteen months later. The reason for this suspension of activities was “the state of public affairs.” The political situation had become quite precarious for the old guard of the Pennsylvania elite. In fact, most of the non-revolutionaries at this meeting would be arrested by some government or quasi-government authority within the next several months. 9 Pennsylvania was, in point of fact, devolving even more deeply into a nasty civil war. Many of the more prestigious and conservative members of society simply did not agree with the Revolution at all. Others disagreed with the direction that the Revolution had recently taken. Conservatism was a strong political force in the commonwealth because of its prosperity, the influence of Quakers, and the presence of a large nonEnglish speaking population. 10 Prominent Pennsylvanians like John Dickinson, James Wilson, and Robert Morris joined others outside the province like Edward Rutledge, John Jay, and George Reed to express their reservations about independence. 11 Indeed, many of the men who were prominent in the Revolution before independence, and in the later drafting and adoption of the constitution of 1787, did not support the concept of independence, at least not when it was first put forward. Then too, the actions of active loyalists, or Tories, who aggressively opposed the Revolution drew suspicion on other more passive non-revolutionaries and gave the radicals legitimate reason to take aggressive measures. At least four loyalist clubs were meeting in the city in 1776. In September of 1777, loyalists aided General Howe in the capture of stores of ammunition at York, Lancaster, and Carlisle. Loyalists aided the British in the capture of Philadelphia. The Allen brothers and Joseph Galloway entered Philadelphia with William Howe and Samuel Shoemaker and assisted Howe with the policing of the city during the British occupation. During the occupation, nearly a thousand Philadelphians joined the British army and loyalist troops foraged around southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, at one point capturing a few continental soldiers. 12

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Some Anglican ministers even participated in these activities. Reverend Jonathan Odell of Bristol fled to British lines and acted as an intermediary between Benedict Arnold and John Andre and Rev. David Batwell of York helped to plan the conspiracy to capture the revolutionary arsenals in 1777. 13 The presence of so many active loyalists within a state with a radical minority barely in control of the government led, not surprisingly, to a series of abuses. When the British military threatened Philadelphia in December of 1776 and again in 1777, the new radical dominated assembly elected in 1776 appeared powerless to defend Pennsylvania. The new government simply could not obtain credit or supplies necessary for such a defense, nor could it put together the administrative staff necessary to move men and supplies in response to the requests of Congress. Indeed, the removal of moderate revolutionaries and others from power that occurred, largely as a result of the mandated oath of loyalty to the Pennsylvania constitution, left few experienced people in government creating administrative chaos at almost every level at a most inopportune time. Instead of trying to find a way to work with the moderates, the radicals chose to view them as obstructionists and enemies. The primary action they took was to attack all non-revolutionaries by passing a new “test act.” Under this new law, those who did not take the oath of loyalty could not “vote, sue in court, buy or sell real estate, or possess guns.” Those who opposed the new Pennsylvania constitution could, however, pay taxes, while radicals exempted themselves from taxation. The fears of the moderates, and Duché, had become reality. Rather than securing liberty, the Revolution now threatened it. 14 The new test act was just the beginning of the attack on the nonrevolutionaries and revolutionaries who opposed the new constitution. Radical officials seized coaches of wealthy citizens for public use and forced some citizens to quarter American soldiers in their homes. Duché’s friend James Allen had his carriage overturned and his driver beaten while he and his family were riding in it. The government even searched private homes without properly executed warrants. On July 4, the first anniversary of independence, the revolutionary government of Pennsylvania required Philadelphia residents to illuminate their houses in celebration of that controversial event. Angry mobs broke the windows of those who refused to participate in the celebration. During this first celebration of American independence, mobs escorted pacifistic Quakers through the streets to the beat of the drum of a mock Hessian band. Later that year, the radical government executed two Englishmen who had tried to bribe river pilots, a deserter of a Pennsylvania regiment, and several others. 15 As the British approached the city, the radical government began rounding up anyone they suspected of sympathizing with the British and placing them in various makeshift jails throughout the city. Congress had

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already begun to panic when it resolved that those who displayed “a disposition inimical to the cause of America” be arrested. 16 This resolve listed a number of prominent Quakers and encouraged the government of Pennsylvania to add names to this list. On August 31, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania placed additional names on the “inimical” arrest list which ultimately grew to include some 200 citizens. In the early days of September, the Pennsylvania government sent deputies to make arrests and search the homes of those on the list. Those who would not swear (or affirm) to be “faithful and bear true allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as a free and independent state” were taken to the Masonic Lodge where they were held without a public hearing while the details of their deportation were worked out. 17 The only crime for most of these men was falling under suspicion of the radical government because they were non-revolutionaries. Those arrested included prominent Quakers and members of the old proprietary gentry, many of whom were associates or even close personal friends of Duché. Those arrested from the Duché circle included James Allen, James Hamilton, John Penn, Benjamin Chew, Edward Shippen, Samuel Shoemaker, Miers Fisher, Phineas Bond, Provost William Smith, and one of Duché’s own assistant ministers, Thomas Coombe. 18 The arrest of his fellow Anglican ministers, Smith and Coombe, was particularly disconcerting to Duché. Smith was placed on an island in the Schuylkill where he remained for some time. 19 Duché’s primary concern, though, was the arrest of his assistant minister. At a vestry meeting on September 6, Duché reported that Coombe had been arrested, as the council stated, for evidencing “a disposition inimicable to the cause of America.” No hearing had been granted and Coombe was set to be deported to Virginia. The vestry appointed Duché and others to approach the council and request a hearing for Coombe. 20 Three days later the vestry met and approved a letter to the council which expressed that they were “alarmed and concerned” with the arrest of their assistant minister on the basis that the relation between ministers and people “in every Christian state” had always been deemed a “spiritual one.” In addition, they argued, no hearing had been granted to Coombe which was “an infringement on religious as well as civil liberty.” The letter concluded with this strong statement: “We do therefore as well for ourselves in the name and behalf of those respectable congregations earnestly request it of you as you regard the civil and religious rights of freemen, and the present condition of Pennsylvania from whence alone you derive your authority as a council, that Mr. Coombe be admitted as his undoubted birthright to an hearing . . .” 21 It is most likely that Duché delivered this letter to the council personally. The next day the council responded to the request of the church. In a letter signed by George Bryan, vice-president of the council, they replied that the case of Coombe was “wholly political” and that his connection to

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the congregation was no argument against his detention and, therefore, he would be sent away as planned. The terse reply from the council concluded with a veiled threat: the council “would be very sorry your corporation draw imputation on them by this application.” 22 Apparently in the world of revolutionary Pennsylvania politics requesting a hearing could jeopardize the legal charter under which a church existed and conducted business in the state of Pennsylvania. 23 A second event of the fall of 1777, further antagonized Duché. His brother-in-law and friend, Dr. John Morgan, was dismissed in his position as Physician-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Morgan’s dismissal was the result of a personal feud with Dr. William Shippen, the younger, that dated back several years to the establishment of the medical school at the College of Philadelphia. It seems that Morgan and Shippen discussed the idea of a medical school in 1765, but that Morgan acted independently of Shippen in bringing the idea before the board of trustees. When Morgan became founder of the school, Shippen was outraged. The bad blood between the two led to Shippen’s questioning of Morgan’s leadership as the army’s Physician-in-Chief at almost every turn which, along with the accusations of others, led to Morgan’s dismissal in January of 1777. Three months later Shippen was named as his replacement. This matter and the circumstances which unseated Morgan were highly personal and juvenile, as much of the inner workings of the military and political structures of the Revolution tended to be. Later, when the political situation settled down, a less radical political element vindicated Morgan. 24 The arrest of Coombe, coupled with the prompt and unprofessional dismissal of his brother-in-law as Physician in Chief of the Continental Army, provided hard evidence of what Duché had predicted, that independence would lead to political chaos, and that political chaos would jeapordize the liberty which he had risked so much to guard. One final event further infuriated Duché, the order of the council to take down the bells of Christ Church and St. Peter’s on the eve of the British occupation. Upon receipt of the order signed by Timothy Matlack, Duché went directly to Independence Hall to meet with John Hancock and several other congressmen to request that the action be delayed. Duché secured a delay but reported to the vestry on November 6 that the bells were taken down anyway. 25 Meanwhile on the military front, General Washington, anticipating a British attack on Philadelphia as part of their strategy to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies by controlling the middle colonies, took up a position at Chadd’s Ford along Brandywine Creek to the southwest of the city in early September. General Howe was in front of him and Philadelphia was at his back. The Battle of Brandywine on September 11 resulted in a British victory largely because General Cornwallis was able to move around to the north of Washington’s army along a

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route mapped out by local loyalists. Washington and his army were lucky to escape this trap and retreated safely to Chester. After news that the city lay open to attack reached Philadelphia, the American Congress fled to Lancaster, where it met for a day, and then journeyed further westward to York, placing the Susquehanna River in between them and British forces. On September 16, the two armies met again at Warren’s Tavern, just west of Paoli for another skirmish known as the Battle of the Clouds because rain made gunfire nearly impossible and forced both sides to retire from the field. Howe then headed toward Philadelphia. He entered the city without resistance on Friday, September 26. Most of the active patriots fled the city as Howe approached. Government records were taken to Easton, the Liberty Bell to Allentown. Back in the now occupied city, thousands of loyalists received Howe with “demonstrations of joy.” 26 As Howe approached the city, Duché found himself caught between his sense of duty to his congregation and his own personal safety. As the spiritual guide to the revolutionaries, Duché had offered prayers to open the sessions of the American Congress, preached intensely political sermons advocating taking up arms against British troops, omitted prayers for the king from his own liturgy after independence, and served as chaplain of the Congress. Thus, the minister had every reason to fear significant recrimination from British forces. Though he had withdrawn himself from the political arena eleven months prior to the occupation, as a disaffected, non-revolutionary he did not qualify as a loyalist and would not be treated as such by the British. No safe haven awaited him. Yet, with Provost Smith in exile, Coombe on parole, Peters deceased, and his only remaining assistant, William White, on his way to safer territory in Maryland, Duché felt obligated to stay and minister to the needs of his congregation. He was, after all, a minister. So at great personal risk, both to himself and his family, Duché chose to stay in Philadelphia, not to make a deal with the British or secure his position in England, but to face whatever stood before him as an Anglican rector committed to the work to which he was called, ministering to the men, women, and children of his congregations. The British occupation was by all accounts a brutal affair. British officers quartered themselves in private homes and soldiers occupied barracks and camp grounds to the south of the city. The British army set up temporary camp on Society Hill and overran the yard of St. Peter’s Church tearing down the fence that surrounded the yard in the process. They parked their artillery in the yard of the State House. British troops were all over Market and Chestnut Streets and Hessians and Scottish Highlanders were in the city as well. American soldiers wounded in battle were kept in the State House while the wounded British soldiers were kept in the Pennsylvania Hospital and the Bettering House. When these facilities overflowed the wounded of both sides were placed in the

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First, Second, and Third Presbyterian Churches, the Southwark Theater, and the sugar refinery. Most newspapers stopped publication, some reopened as loyalist publications. According to the British count, 240 stores were empty, 590 homes were abandoned, and most of the remaining 24,000 inhabitants were women and children. The British recruited about a thousand of those who stayed in the city into the British army. Adventurers looking to gain monetary advantage from the chaos occupied the stores of Whigs who had either abandoned the city or been arrested by the British occupiers. Shortages of essential and nonessential goods abounded. 27 Two days after the arrival of the British army, in the midst of utter and complete chaos, Jacob Duché conducted a church service. In the most prominent Anglican church in America, in a city now occupied by the British army, a minister who had openly supported resistance to the laws of the British Empire held a religious service. It was his choice but he perceived it as his duty. Whether he prayed for the king or not cannot be determined. What seems obvious is that in front of him that Sunday morning sat a rather complicated assortment of individuals. Included among the worshippers was the remainder of his congregation, those at least who had not been arrested, deported, or fled the city, very likely mostly women and children. Scattered throughout were undoubtedly a host of British officers for the historic Anglican church was the most likely destination for those who desired a similar service to those experienced in English churches. There is no record of what Duché said that morning or of the response of the crowd that gathered, but there is clear record of what transpired afterward. At the conclusion of the service, as Duché was leaving the church, he was met on the sidewalk by British troops. The troops arrested Duché on the spot and took him to jail “under the immediate command of Sir William Howe.” 28 Duché remained in prison overnight. On Monday he was released. How he procured his release is also unknown, but it is likely that some of his friends intervened since his congregations included individuals on all sides of the political spectrum. Whatever the circumstances of his release, during his imprisonment he was most likely interrogated by the British and made to answer for his actions in support of the Revolution. His interrogators most certainly attempted to impress on his mind that independence was a mistake and that the American cause was now hopeless, that his actions as a revolutionary were in disobedience to British religious and civil authorities, and that, as a result, even his life was now in jeopardy. What the British had no way of knowing was that Duché had always believed that independence was a mistake and that he had already concluded that the American cause was in grave danger. His friend Henry Melchior Muhlenberg suggested that Howe even threatened Duché with a court martial but released him on parole under the condition that he “journey to England, surrender to the

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archbishop or ecclesiastical court, and submit to their judgment or punishment.” 29 Duché’s imprisonment affected him deeply, but not in the way that many of his detractors and political enemies have suggested. The effect of the political and military events which independence had sent spiraling into motion, the infringements on liberty by the radical government of Pennsylvania, and the arrests of his friends and associates and especially Thomas Coombe, had convinced Duché that the Revolution had been taken over by a radical element that now threatened rather than protected American liberties. The flight of the radical government confirmed to him that they were cowards. The brutality of the British occupation and his own traumatic arrest outside of Christ Church, while it undoubtedly affected him personally, did not alter his viewpoint on the Revolution. The Anglican minister’s status as a disaffected, non-revolutionary had already been clearly established. Instead of changing his view on the Revolution, the British occupation and his arrest compelled him to return to the political arena, to once again attempt to use his position to forge a middle way, this time between the radicals who were in control of the Revolution and the British who, he thought, were about to wreak havoc on America. It was time, he concluded, to express the powerful sentiments raging within him. And so it was that Jacob Duché, the Anglican rector who was America’s first chaplain, returned to the political arena for one final act, an act that he thought would save America from inevitable destruction. He had believed now for more than a year that leadership of the revolutionary movement had fallen into the hands of men not qualified either by experience or character to successfully carry out the lofty responsibilities of the positions they now held and that, therefore, the cause of the Revolution was hopeless. He now decided to share his feelings with his longtime friend of over two decades, General George Washington, the only man in his eyes who could take the necessary steps to save his beloved country. In the ten days following his arrest, Duché crafted a long, detailed letter to the general explaining his own behavior as a religious leader drawn into political affairs, analyzing the current state of affairs, and suggesting a bold plan of action to bring the current crisis to a conclusion. By October 8, the letter was finished; a week later so too was Duché’s career in America. 30 Understanding the enormity of the letter and the controversy that would surround its suggestions, Duché began by asking Washington to hold its contents in the strictest confidence. “If this letter should find you in Council, or in the field,” he wrote, “I beg you to take the first opportunity of retiring, and weighing the important contents.” Immediately, Duché attempted to distance himself from the more radical elements within the revolutionary movement, especially when the war broke out. “You are perfectly acquainted with the part I formerly took in the present

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unhappy contest,” he wrote, “I was, indeed, among the first to bear my public testimony against having any recourse to threats, or indulging a thought of an armed opposition.” When war did come, Duché admittedly joined the fray, as his political sermons of 1775 attest, because “the Current . . . was too strong for my feeble efforts to resist.” Even though he wished a less violent solution to the problem of colonial/British relations, Duché wrote that he was willing to follow his countrymen down this path only as far as “virtue, and the righteousness of their cause, would permit me.” He confided to the general that he preached his two political sermons after he was “prevailed on among the rest of my clerical brethren of this city.” Afterward, he was “pressed to publish this sermon, and reluctantly consented.” He then reminded Washington that he had dedicated this published sermon to him “from a personal attachment of near twenty years standing, and a high respect for your character, in private as well as public life.” Duché explained to Washington, that he opposed independence from the start, a fact which even a cursory reading of his sermons reveals. “My sermon speaks for itself,” he wrote, “and wholly disclaims the idea of independency.” His opposition to the idea he made clear to his friends and members of Congress. Duché wrote that many of those men “expressed their warm approbation” of his viewpoint then. On omitting prayers to the king, Duché explained, “I persisted, to the very last moment, to use the prayers for my Sovereign, though threatened with insults from the violence of a party.” Duché explained that he supported the vestry’s decision to omit prayers for the king and keep the churches open, because otherwise the congregations might be dispersed. These were the alternatives available for an Anglican church functioning in a newly independent and politically radicalized America. Duché also informed Washington that he agreed without consulting with his friends or superiors in England since the pressing nature of the situation did not allow time for thoughtful deliberation, a clear complication of the lack of an American bishop. Duché then moved to a discussion of his role as chaplain to Congress. The decision to omit the prayers and his past actions supporting the Revolution, he wrote, caused the Congress to invite Duché to become their chaplain. Duché explained how this appointment took him by surprise and left him little time to deliberate on the wisdom of accepting or rejecting such a position. His motive for accepting the chaplaincy was the danger facing his congregation if he did not. He reasoned that independence was more of an expedient rather than a permanent principle. The idea that independence was a mere expedient quickly evaporated whenever Duché became aware of the failure of the conference with Howe on Staten Island. The actions of the American commissioners convinced Duché that “independence was the idol they had long wished to set up, and that, rather than sacrifice this, they would deluge their country with

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blood.” It was at this point, Duché explained, that he determined to resign his chaplaincy and remove himself from the political arena. Duché admitted to Washington that his behavior had exhibited apparent contradictions, but hoped that “this circumstantial account of my conduct . . . will be sufficient to justify my seeming inconsistencies in the part I have acted.” Duché then analyzed the current state of affairs and Washington’s important role in future events. Only Washington, Duché argued, had the stature and objectivity to intervene successfully on behalf of America. “All the world must be convinced that you are engaged in the service to our country,” he wrote, “from motives perfectly disinterested.” In Duché’s estimation, Washington “risked everything” in order to serve his country. Now he was asking Washington to take another risk, based on what he thought was a mutual discomfort with independence. Washington, Duché assumed, had no idea of “matters being carried to such a dangerous extremity.” Duché believed this because Washington’s closest friends, with whom the minister was intimately acquainted, “shuddered at the thought of a separation from the mother country.” Washington’s intervention was necessary because Congress, in Duché’s mind, had been taken over by men who did not possess the qualifications or the character needed to successfully contend with the tasks before them. “The most respectable characters,” he wrote, “have withdrawn themselves, and are succeeded by a great majority of illiberal and violent men.” The current Congress is devoid of great names and great men. Duché wrote, “You have no longer a [Peyton] Randolph, a [Richard] Bland, or a [Carter] Braxton, men whose names will ever be revered . . . and whose truly glorious and virtuous sentiments I have frequently heard with rapture from their own lips.” “What a sad contrast” between these men and the new members whose “friends can never mingle with your own.” Only [Benjamin] Harrison remains, and he is “disgusted with the unworthy associates.” Some of the members from Pennsylvania, Duché exclaimed, were “so obscure their names were never before in my ears” while “others have only been distinguished for the weakness of their understandings, and the violence of their tempers.” The situation was no better among the New England delegates among whom Duché could not find “a gentleman, you could wish to associate with . . . unless the unqualified Hancock can pretend such a position.” The colleagues of the pretender Hancock, Duché attacked as “bankrupts, attorneys, and men of desperate fortunes.” “These are not the men you engaged to serve,” Duché argued, “these are not the men America has chosen to represent her.” Instead, they were chosen “by a little, low faction.” Congress no longer had the respect of the people and their power rested only on Washington’s support. “Long before they left Philadelphia,” he concluded, “their dignity and consequence were gone.”

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The army was also in a sad state according to Duché. Without Washington, the army too would crumble as its “existence depends upon you.” Duché pointed out facts that were well known to the astute observer of the American military condition. There were no leaders capable of succeeding Washington. His death would lead to the dispersal of the army. Even under his able command, the troops frequently abandon the cause in the moment of greatest need. The troops serving under Washington were “undisciplined men and officers” many of which were taken “from the lowest of the people, without principle, without courage.” On top of all this, the “little navy” that has been compiled to assist Washington is almost completely destroyed. Duché also discounted the hope of a foreign solution. “Believe me,” Duché wrote of the idea of French intervention on behalf of America, “it was a fiction from the first.” Duché provided direct evidence for this belief as he explained the details of a meeting he had early in 1776 with a French gentleman who engaged Congress in a commercial contract. According to the Frenchman, he “hoped the Americans would never think of independency” because “independency can never be supported, unless France should declare war against England.” That, he said, will never happen because of France’s economic dependence on England. Duché then went on to give a detailed appraisal of Franklin’s errors in assuming that the party in the French government who supported Duke de Choiseul, an advocate of intervention, could overcome those who supported Duke de Maurepas, an advocate of nonintervention. Duché wrote with confidence that Franklin was mistaken, for in the minister’s view, Choiseul had not a chance of success in maneuvering the French government to intervene. Duché believed that English capitulation was as absurd as the dream of French intervention. “From your friends in England you have nothing to expect,” he wrote, “their numbers have diminished to a cipher; the spirit of the whole nation is in activity; a few sounding names among the nobility, though perpetually ringing in your ears, are without character, without influence.” The resolve of the British government and people to prosecute the war was sure. The current military situation was gloomy, Duché added. Your harbors are blocked, your cities occupied, “battle after battle is lost.” And worse, a British army “have possessed themselves of the Capital of America.” The contest, according to Duché, was from the start “unequal.” Now the question was do we continue to risk the “blood” of soldiers for a “fruitless” cause. If America continues this war, he argued, “Your army must perish for want of common necessaries, or thousands of innocent families must perish to support them; wherever they encamp, the country must be impoverished; wherever they march, the troops of Britain will pursue and must complete the destruction which America herself has begun.”

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Having made the case for the weakness of America’s political and military leaders, the false hope of French intervention or British withdrawal, and the hopelessness of the military situation, Duché then posed the great question that haunted his thoughts concerning his own participation in this tragic affair:

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Perhaps it may be said, it is better to die than to be made slaves. This, indeed is a splendid maxim in theory, and perhaps, in some instances, may be found experimentally true; but when there is the least probability of an happy accommodation, surely wisdom and humanity call for some sacrifices to be made, to prevent inevitable destruction. You well know there is but one invincible bar to such an accommodation; could this be removed, other obstacles might readily be removed.

Patrick Henry had asked famously whether one would choose liberty or death. Duché was asking Washington whether he would choose independence or death. So there it was, in light of this hopeless situation, there was only one course of action, one path to take, convince the Congress to rescind independence. Duché then proposed to Washington a four point plan of action. First, “present to Congress the indispensable necessity of rescinding the hasty and ill-advised declaration of independency.” Second, recommend an “immediate cessation of hostilities.” Third, appoint men, in or out of Congress, men who are “impartial” and “independent in their fortunes” to “confer with his Majesty’s Commissioners.” And fourth, encourage these men to propose a “constitutional plan” to present to the commissioners which has been carefully constructed and “well-digested.” Duché believed, relying on the validity of his inside information, that this plan would be received well both in England and America. It was a grand and sweeping proposal, one that rested on the reemergence of a moderate spirit, led by Washington, in Congress, in England, and in America. It was also not treasonous by any measure. Duché had advised Washington to work within the existing channels, to convince Congress of the need to rescind independence and then move forward from there. But what if Congress rebuffed Washington in his efforts to bring about a peaceful solution? In answering that question, Duché stepped into a world with much more dangerous consequences. If Congress did not agree with this plan and stood in opposition to Washington’s courageous leadership, then Duché proposed to Washington a more drastic plan of action. “You have an infallible recourse still left,” he wrote, “negotiate for your country at the head of your army.” This suggestion was momentous, tantamount to treason in many people’s minds. Mentioning it clearly weighed heavily on Duché for he concluded this thought with the following words:

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I love my country, I love you; but to the love of truth, the love of peace, and the love of God, I hope I should be enabled, if called upon to the trial, to sacrifice every other inferior love.

If this plan succeeds, Duché wrote hopefully, “I shall ever deem my success the highest temporal favor that Providence could grant me.” Now that he had taken the bold step of suggesting that Washington take matters into his own hands if necessary, Duché took some time to discuss his own state of mind in coming to these conclusions. “I have spoken freely,” he wrote, “of Congress and of the army: but what I have said is partly from my own knowledge, and partly from the information of some respectable members of the former, and some of the best officers of the latter.” Duché also assured Washington that he was not writing “under the eye of any British officer or person connected with the British army or ministry.” Duché may have been threatened with death by the British and he most certainly faced ecclesiastical punishment by Anglican authorities in England but he was adamant that British pressure did not affect or influence his thinking. Duché explained further that his long friendship with the general emboldened him to write the letter. More importantly, though, Duché approached the subject with a profound sense of duty, so much so that he could “not enjoy one moment’s peace till this letter was written.” Had Duché known the torment this letter would bring him, he might have thought differently about the momentary relief it brought. While the letter undoubtedly reflects the minister’s sentiments at the time, it also reveals some of the weaknesses in his understanding and reasoning. The minister’s argument for why he went along with the war was weak, placing more blame on others for the decision than himself. He also failed to accept responsibility for his poor decision to accept the chaplaincy to Congress after independence, something that he should have refused at the time which would have alleviated much confusion. The letter also demonstrates a rather naïve view of Washington and a lack of understanding of the political situations in England and France. Then too, his highly personal attacks against the radicals was not consistent with his own high standards of conduct and suggests more influence of class snobbery than Duché normally accepted in himself or others. The letter also makes obvious the full development of one particularly devastating weakness in Duché: his penchant for overestimating his own ability to forge a middle way. In short, the letter was a huge mistake that brought devastating consequences, an act that made many to now view the once moderate revolutionary as a radical counter-revolutionary. Nevertheless, the letter should be taken for what it was, a confidential letter to a friend expressing honest sentiments about a matter of great difficulty and importance. Above all else, it should be noted that it accurately reflects the minister’s position on independence before, during,

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and after the fateful event and that the actions suggested are geared to a negotiation for American rights and not an abject surrender or betrayal of American interests. The letter was delivered to Washington by Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Graeme and a personal friend of Duché. She was friends with Duché, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Peters, William Smith, Benjamin Rush, and Benjamin West. Her husband was Henry Hugh Ferguson who sailed into Philadelphia with General Howe as commissary of American prisoners during the occupation. Henry Ferguson asked his wife to deliver the letter while visiting with her at Germantown. 31 Washington, when he received the letter at his encampment near Kulpsville on October 15, was in no mood for further complications to his already precarious situation. After giving up Philadelphia to the British, he had suffered additional defeats at Paoli and Germantown. 32 With the war effort going badly, some of Washington’s own officers had expressed concern about his leadership suggesting that he might be replaced by General Horatio Gates. These concerns reached the ears of Congress while at York in an incident known as the Conway Cabal, a letter that was sent by Thomas Conway, on American officer, to Horatio Gates suggesting that Washington was a weak general. Washington also had his critics in Congress, some of which included Samuel Adams, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Rush, and John Adams. It is quite possible that Duché knew of these criticisms of Washington by advocates of independence and disagreed with them. His letter may have been at least partially directed at them. With deserters leaving the army, continental money almost worthless, and several recent military defeats calling his leadership into question by continental officers and influential members of Congress, Washington opened the letter that Duché sent. Elizabeth later recounted that the general read the letter carefully and then “rising from his seat, walked backwards and forwards upwards of an hour without speaking.” Benjamin West, the famous artist and friend of the Duché family, said later that Washington said the following to Mrs. Ferguson in response to the contents of the letter: Madam, I have always esteemed your character and endowments, and I am fully sensible of the noble principles by which you are actuated on this occasion; nor has any man in the whole continent more confidence in the integrity of his friend, than I have in the honour of Mr. Duchéy. But I am here entrusted by the people of America with sovereign authority. They have placed their lives and fortunes at my disposal, because they believe me to be an honest man. Were I, therefore, to desert their cause, and consign them to the British, what would be the consequence? To myself perpetual infamy; and to them endless calamity . . . No, Madam, the proposal of Mr. Duchéy, though conceived with the

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best intention, is not framed in wisdom. America and England must be separate states; but they may have common interests, for they are but one people . . . But, Madam, you are aware that I have many enemies; Congress may hear of your visit, and of this letter, and I should be suspected were I to conceal it from them. I respect you truly, as I have said; and I esteem the probity and motives of Mr. Duchéy, and therefore you are free to depart from the camp, but the letter will be transmitted without delay to Congress. 33

Washington did just as he said, forwarding the letter immediately to Congress. For Duché, Washington’s choice to protect himself and his own precarious position at the head of the army by revealing the contents of the confidential letter was devastating. In so doing he placed Duché in an untenable position. Worse yet, he sent along with the letter a letter of his own which contained a vicious accusation about the reasons Duché wrote the letter, “I cannot but suspect that the measure did not originate with him, and that he was induced to it by the hope of establishing his interest and peace more effectually with the enemy.” Congress received the letter on October 16 with Washington’s comment that “I should have returned it unopened, if I had any idea of the contents.” 34 The response to the Duché letter was devastating. The ebullience of a previous time was replaced by vitriol. His friend and brother-in-law, revolutionary Francis Hopkinson, seemed to anticipate what was about to happen when he wrote to Duché begging him to read the letter again and then make a public recantation. Your “fatal performance” has “wounded my soul,” Hopkinson wrote. The letter had caused Hopkinson to fear for his friend’s safety and for the safety of his family. 35 John Adams wrote to his wife, “Mr. Duché I am sorry to inform you has turned out an apostate and a traitor. Poor Man! I pitty his weakness, and detest his wickedness.” 36 Nathaniel Folsom called Duché a “Judas” and rejoined that his letter was “in everybody’s mouth in the streets.” 37 John Penn, the North Carolina delegate, said that Duché acted a part that “will forever disgrace him” and that he is “first of villains.” He then accused Howe of dictating the letter to Duché because “nothing is too dirty or mean for the British court.” 38 Henry Laurens called the letter a “very long, apologetic, expostulatory, censorious, rascally epistle from the IrRevd. Jacob Duché.” According to Laurens, Duché was “the worst character in the world.” Laurens sent his comments and a copy of one of Duchés prayers to a friend as a demonstration of the “rottenness of the priests heart.” 39 Laurens continued his diatribe in another letter where he wrote, 40 “Some things have happened which have induced me to send Duché’s letter to the president where if tis worth your trouble you may read a system of hattery and tampering rascality becoming the piety and honesty of a wretched Duché . . .” Laurens contrasted the letter with Duché’s prayers which asked God to “bless our general and our army, shield and give them victory in the day of battle—make them instru-

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ments in the establishment of liberty and independency.” “Alas, the frailty of human nature,” Laurens wrote, “I commiserate with the abject state of Duché!” William Williams wrote that the letter was written by the “great patriot, whig and reputedly very pious Mr. Duché” his actions spoke to the “more than infernal turpitude, baseness, and folly of the wretch.” 41 To defend himself from these attacks, Duché revised and published the letter in the Pennsylvania Ledger, a Tory newspaper. But the feeble, illconsidered attempt to bring clarity to his suggestions by publishing them in a Tory newspaper was ill-advised and of no avail. 42 The tide of public opinion had turned and Duché was now the outcast of the American Revolution. The hero had become the traitor, at least in the eyes of those who supported independence. Washington had cast Duché as a weak and fearful man who had changed his mind on the Revolution to secure favor with the enemy. The characterization stuck, both for contemporaries who had used Duché to advance the cause of the Revolution and now used him as a whipping boy to stoke emotions against the British and their treasonous schemes, and for historians who accepted this assessment of Duché without carefully reading the ample evidence within his own writings which demonstrates that the change of heart on independence never occurred. The strong reaction, however, is evidence of the importance of Duché as a spiritual leader of the Revolution and America’s first chaplain. For some, his letter gave the Congress an even “more painful shock than the one caused by Dr. Church’s treason in 1775.” Dr. Benjamin Church, the first surgeon general of the United States army, had passed information to General Thomas Gage in 1775 and was subsequently imprisoned. Even after his resignation of the chaplaincy, Duché was “still esteemed as the greatest mediator between Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” 43 For this spiritual mediator, the man who had stood by them in the critical moments of the first three years of the Revolution, to rail against the Congress was too much for them to bear. So great was the contrast between the letter and his prayers and sermons, at least to those who were not listening carefully, that it brought the indignation of Congress down upon Duché’s head. It is also important to consider the poor timing of the letter and whether or not it had any chance of success. Unfortunately for Duché, the letter arrived in the hands of Congress at the precise time of the news of the tremendous victory at Saratoga, news that emboldened Congress with new energy and unraveled two of Duché’s major premises, that the British would never give up and that the French would never form an alliance with America. Both of which would come true in the coming months and years. Not only did revolutionaries characterize Duché as weak, they also tagged him as a loyalist, a misinterpretation which most historians have

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accepted. 44 A careful reading of the Washington letter, in fact, reveals no expression of loyalty to the British whatsoever, Duché had become disaffected from the Revolution because of its radicalization around the concept of independence. Because of these fallacious characterizations of Duché, first by Washington and later by radicals in Congress, the minister’s position in America was undermined and unsustainable. In addition, Duché had the reality of his broken relationship with his superiors in England to consider, particularly a disgruntled Bishop of London. As a disaffected, non-revolutionary now condemned in America who had already been condemned by the British for his earlier activities as a moderate revolutionary, the minister literally found himself a man without a country. As a result of these factors, on December 9 Duché informed his vestry that upon a “consideration of the present state of affairs” and his own situation, he had decided go to England to explain his actions to the Bishop of London. Once he had removed the “prejudices” that the Bishop “has imbibed against him” he would “cheerfully return.” The vestry responded with a statement of their “satisfaction” with his ministry to the churches and their “sincere prayer for your welfare and speedy return.” Duché said in response, “my separation from the congregations you represent is very painful to me.” He vowed to make his “absence as short as possible” and as always to do everything he could to promote the “true interest of the united churches.” No resignation was offered and none was intended. 45 This was a temporary separation. Three days later, on December 12, 1777, Duché said goodbye to his wife Elizabeth, his son, and his two daughters, and sailed for England to begin his search for redemption. 46 Jacob Duché’s painful fifteen year exile from his beloved homeland had begun. NOTES 1. Nancy Rhoden called what Anglican ministers went through after independence a process of depoliticization. For some depoliticization saved the careers, for others, like Jacob Duché, the circumstances of Revolution made depoliticization unsustainable. 2. “Baptisms, 1763-1810,” Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 3. “Marriages, 1763-1835,” Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 4. “Burials, 1763-1831,” Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981. 5. Vestry Minutes, March 31, 1777, 345. 6. Ibid., April 7, 1777, 346. 7. Ibid., April 17, 1777, 348. 8. For more on Thomas Coombe see J. Walter High, “Thomas Coombe, Loyalist,” Pennsylvania History 62 (1995): 276-92. 9. Vestry Minutes, June 28, 1777, 2:106. 10. Doerflinger, “Philadelphia Merchants,” 225. 11. Montross, Reluctant Rebels, 130.

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12. Wilbur H. Siebert, The Loyalists of Pennsylvania (Columbus, Ohio: University of Columbus, 1920), 38-53. 13. Pencak, Pennsylvania’s Revolution, 107-17. 14. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 104-7. 15. Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:258. 16. Robert F. Oaks, “Philadelphians in Exile: The Problem of Loyalty During the American Revolution,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 96 (1972): 303. 17. Ibid., 304. 18. Brobeck, “Revolutionary Change in Colonial Philadelphia,” provides more information on this issue. 19. Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:258. 20. Vestry Minutes, September 6, 1777, 351. 21. Ibid., September 9, 1777, 352. 22. Ibid., September 10, 1777, 355. 23. Oberholtzer recounts that Coombe was not actually sent away but that he was allowed to remain in Philadelphia under parole. 24. Diaries of George Washington, 3:285; Penn, University Archives and Records Center, “Penn in the 18th Century,” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/ penn1700s.html. 25. Vestry Minutes, September 16, 1777, 356, November 6, 1777, 359; Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 194. Dorr notes that the bells were returned and hung at public expense in 1778. 26. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 96-97. 27. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 100; Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:265-68; Alfred J. Young, “Treason and its Punishment in Revolutionary Pennsylvania,” 303; Kelley, Life and Times, 69. Kelley’s estimate of a population of the 35,000 people in the city in 1777 suggests that as many as 10,000 inhabitants fled before the occupation. For more information on how the occupation affected the churches see Nelson W. Rightmyer, “Churches Under Enemy Occupation, Philadelphia, 1777-1778,” Church History 14 (1945). 28. John Hancock to Dorothy Hancock, October 8, 1777, Letters of Delegates; Tappert, Journals, 83; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 252. 29. Pencak, Pennsylvania’s Revolution, 105. 30. Jacob Duché to George Washington, October 8, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 31. Anne M. Ousterhout, The Most Learned Woman in America: A Life of Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004), 2015. Ousterhout recounts that Ferguson was friends with many of the Duché inner circle including Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin West, William Smith, and Richard Peters. 32. Klein, History of Pennsylvania, 97. 33. Ousterhout, The Most Learned Woman in America, 201-5. 34. George Washington to Congress, October 16, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. This letter was read in Congress on October 20 which is stated in the Journals of the Continental Congress, 9:822. 35. Francis Hopkinson to Jacob Duché, November 14, 1777, The Washington-Duché Letters. 36. John Adams to Abigail, October 25, 1777, Letters of Delegates. 37. Nathaniel Folsom to Josiah Bartlett, October 30, 1777, Letters of Delegates. 38. John Penn to Richard Caswell, October 20, 1777, Letters of Delegates. 39. Henry Laurens to Robert Howe, October 20, 1777, Letters of Delegates. 40. Henry Laurens to Robert Howe, October 25, 1777, Letters of Delegates. 41. William Williams to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., October 23, 1777, Letters of Delegates. 42. Pennsylvania Ledger, December 17, 1777. 43. Montross, Reluctant Rebels, 215; Burnett, The Continental Congress, 25.

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44. Lorenzo Sabine called Duché’s action “apostasy.” Edward D. Neill, Duché’s first chronicler wrote that he made “an error in judgment” and that he decided to stay in the city to “accept of such clemency as should be extended to him.” George Hastings, Duché’s second chronicler wrote that his “brief incarceration had evidently produced a remarkable change in his political views” and that he was “in the great crisis of his life a weakling and a coward.” William W. Sweet called Duché “the Benedict Arnold of the American Clergy.” Lynn Montross wrote that “never did an actor on the stage of history miss his cue more ineptly than this wretched soul who gave way to discouragement just as the gates of hell were being stormed.” Only Mary Beth Norton who said Duché had not changed between 1775 and 1777, Congress and Washington had changed, and Clark Garrett who agreed with Norton have suggested that Duché may have indeed remained consistent in his views. Sabine, The American Loyalists, 1:388-90; Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 58, 69; Hastings, “Jacob Duché,” 395, 400; William W. Sweet, “The Role of the Anglicans in the American Revolution,” Huntingdon Library Quarterly 11 (1947): 60; Montross, 215-16; Norton, The British-Americans, 24; Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 147. 45. Vestry Minutes, December 9, 1777, 360. 46. Gegenheimer, “Artist in Exile,” 5; Jefferys records that the New Jersey Gazette of December 24, 1777 reported that Cornwallis was on the same ship as Duché.

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EIGHT

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Attainder

Jacob Duché left Philadelphia on December 12, 1777, to seek vindication. His plan was to explain his actions in support of revolutionary activities to the Bishop of London, his ecclesiastical superior in England for as an American, Anglican minister he lived in what was very much a transAtlantic world where everything he did had broader implications. After he explained himself to his British superiors, he believed that he would return to his beloved city, after some kind of peace arrangement securing America’s constitutional rights had been agreed to and the hostility toward him and his now famous letter had subsided. He was certain that this would occur within a few months or at least sometime within the next year. The vestry of the churches believed Duché would return shortly as well for the vestry minutes listed Duché as rector of the churches for the entirety of 1778. Both Duché and the vestry were wrong. Not only was there no peaceful resolution to the conflict over American rights, the vestry itself was about to undergo its own revolution. In 1779, in the first vestry election after the British army and a great number of loyalists departed the city, the congregations elected a large number of patriots to the vestry replacing loyalists and moderates. Indeed, fourteen of the twenty vestrymen were newly elected and all fourteen were patriots. This new vestry dominated by supporters of the Revolution would be less inclined to have any interest in the return of their departed rector. 1 Lacking a clear understanding of what was occurring and about to occur at home, Duché sailed to England on the Brilliant with General Lord Cornwallis whom he had contacted a week earlier to ask permission for his passage to England. The voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in the eighteenth century was at best unpredictable. To make the passage in December was downright dangerous. Not surprisingly, Duché’s December passage was horrible. The Brilliant was leaking from the beginning of 137

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the voyage. Not far off the American coast it encountered violent storms. In the middle of one particularly terrible night, the vessel struck another ship and was forced to divert to the island of Antigua in the West Indies. The ship, its crew, and Duché remained shipwrecked on the island for at least four months. In June of 1778, six months after he embarked from Philadelphia, Duché finally arrived in England. 2 By travelling to England during the war, Duché had associated himself with the thousands of loyalist claimants who fled to England during the American Revolution. Only about ten percent of these exiles were professionals like Duché. Almost half of the exiles were farmers. Another ten percent of exiles were artisans like his grandfather and still another ten percent were officeholders like his father. Most of the remaining twenty percent were either merchants or shopkeepers. A very small number of seamen and river pilots completed the contingent. These exiles held a variety of viewpoints on the Revolution and had differing reasons for leaving America. To suggest that they all were British loyalists simply because they went to England during the Revolution would be patently absurd. While many were undoubtedly loyalists, certainly some were not. Others, quite likely, did not know what they were just yet. 3 What is certain about Duché is that he was not a British loyalist and he knew it. The word loyal has a strong connotation. To be loyal to something demands consistency. One who is at one point disloyal cannot at another point be termed loyal. An individual cannot “become” loyal; one either is or is not loyal. Therefore, Jacob Duché could not suddenly become a loyalist—and erase his support for enforcement of a boycott of British goods and war against the British empire—because he wrote a letter suggesting that independence be rescinded and negotiation for American rights commenced. Instead, Duché became a non-revolutionary a year earlier after a process of disaffection because he opposed independence and the policies of the radical constitutionalists of Pennsylvania. In England, he joined other non-revolutionaries whose number included active loyalists, passive loyalists, neutrals, pacifists, anti-independents, and the disaffected. The news that greeted Duché upon his arrival in England was quite possibly worse than the horrific journey. It was also completely unexpected. In Duché’s absence the government of Pennsylvania had attainted the minister of high treason, a practice outlawed by the United States Constitution of 1787. The background on the infamous act of attainder of 1777 is revealing. During the American Revolution attainder was often used as a political weapon. Targeting non-revolutionaries began in a much more benign fashion than it ended. In the fall of 1775, Congress recommended that “provincial assemblies and committees of safety arrest and secure” anyone who presented a danger to the safety of their colony or the liberty of America. In Pennsylvania, this provision resulted in the arrest of only a few men including Dr. John Kearsley, Jr., a

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Tory and the son of Dr. John Kearsley the architect and benefactor of Christ Church. The younger Kearsley had protested the carting of a suspected loyalist by shooting off his gun. In 1775, he was accused of encouraging the British to invade Pennsylvania, arrested and sent to York where he died. 4 On January 2, 1776, Congress passed a resolution urging colonial assemblies and the radical committees they had sanctioned during the First Continental Congress to work to counteract Toryism. Ironically, the targets of this provision were primarily those who were accusing Congress of secretly plotting a declaration of independence. Just a few weeks before independence, Congress recommended that colonial legislatures enact punishments for anyone providing aid to the king. 5 Once Congress declared independence, the matter of combating Toryism shifted to the newly formed state governments. Pennsylvania passed several versions of treason laws before settling on the one that would remain the fundamental treason law of Pennsylvania until 1860, the infamous act of February, 1777. This new law, milder than most at that time, more specifically defined high treason as accepting a commission from the enemy, levying war, enlisting or persuading others to enlist in an enemy army, supplying the enemy, traitorous correspondence with the enemy, being part of a treasonous combination, and furnishing intelligence to the enemy. The punishment for high treason was disinheritance, death, and forfeiture of all property including the wife’s dowry. The 1777 law defined misprision of treason as speaking or writing in opposition to the public defense, attempting to convey intelligence to the enemy, attempting to incite resistance to the government or return to British rule, discouraging enlistment, disposing the people to favor the enemy, and opposing revolutionary measures. The punishment for those convicted of misprision of treason was imprisonment during the war and forfeiture of one-half of their estate. 6 Duché, although found guilty of high treason, arguably did not commit any of the seven treasonable offenses although as defined by this new act he was certainly guilty of misprision of treason. While very few citizens were prosecuted under this law during the year 1777, this changed dramatically with the British capture of Philadelphia. Seeing fellow Americans like Joseph Galloway ride into the city with the British troops and watching their friends and neighbors pack up to head to England evoked feelings of anger and hatred that would spill over in 1778 into a spirit brimming with vindictiveness. In Pennsylvania the anger exploded into a frenzied attempt to make the “traitors” pay in the way that would hurt them the most, the confiscation of their property. Congress had already suggested such a measure late in 1777. Their suggestion was that states seize the property of departed loyalists, sell them, and invest the proceeds in the continental loan office, a contrivance that never came to full fruition. 7

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On March 6, 1778, the Pennsylvania Assembly took strong action. On that date they passed a Confiscation Bill which named the thirteen most prominent “loyalists” and gave them forty days to surrender or stand attainted of high treason. Those who did not surrender themselves for trial would forfeit all property in Pennsylvania, lose their right to inherit or have heirs and, if captured, be hung. After the forty day period expired the act would become absolute and the confiscation process would begin. This original confiscation act attainted Joseph Galloway, the three sons of William Allen, several other well-known loyalists, and Jacob Duché. When Duché reached England in June of 1778, two months after the period of grace ended, he stood convicted of treason before he was even aware that he had been accused. 8 The whole notion of attainder, being convicted of a crime without a trial, is ominous in and of itself. It embodied the idea that “the legislature, or even the executive, could with safety assume the guilt of an untried individual, even when the offense involved was in its nature highly technical and, moreover, political.” Furthermore, these acts were often prepared in a haphazard way. Agents who sent the names of those who might potentially forfeit their property received a percentage of the proceeds gained from the sale of the estate. The reports these agents produced were often based on hearsay and assumption and did not require sworn testimony. Mistakes occurred frequently. Many innocent people had their lives destroyed by unproven accusations. Others who were more politically adept but often much less innocent went untouched. Pennsylvania issued ten such proclamations during the war that attainted a total of 500 persons. Nearly 400 of these were issued in 1778 during the hysteria surrounding the British occupation of Philadelphia. Only 113 of those attainted surrendered to authorities and of these only two were executed. Most of the rest, like Duché, had the attainder become absolute when they chose not to surrender. 9 In Duché’s case, and that of many others who were in England, no choice was involved. In June of 1778, the British evacuated Philadelphia as part of their response to the new American-French alliance, an alliance which Duché clearly failed to anticipate. After the British departed, the radicals returned to the city and seized the property of the attainted. 10 Duché’s beautiful three-story brick mansion across from St. Peter’s Church, including the coach house and stables, was seized in this first wave of confiscations. As a result, his wife and three young children were evicted from the premises. Duché’s former classmate and now radical politician, Thomas McKean, moved in. Two years later McKean purchased the property at auction for the impressive sum of L7750, probably inflated due to the war, with the provision that he would pay an annual rent of 32 bushels of wheat to the trustees of the university. 11 The news of the Act of Attainder and his family’s subsequent expulsion from their home hit Duché hard. “The first disagreeable intelligence

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that met me on my arrival in England,” he wrote to his brother-in-law Francis, “was that of an Act of Attainder passed against me and others by” the state of Pennsylvania. This information, he wrote, evoked intense and unfamiliar “emotions in my breast.” The knowledge of his family’s homelessness heightened the intensity of these emotions. “The cruel act of turning them out of my house,” he continued, and carting off of their furniture “before their faces” was almost more than the minister could bear. For the people who did this and who later auctioned off his possessions, Duché had no respect. “I have since learned,” he wrote, “that all this was done by some of the lowest and basest of the inhabitants, all of them foreigners, not one native inhabitant appearing but to express their indignation at the sale, not one sober, respectable citizen would purchase a single article.” 12 As a member of the elite, Duché was particularly offended that his property had been in effect redistributed without his consent to those not of his standing. The confiscation of the property and furnishings left Elizabeth and her three children in very trying circumstances. While Duché began to forge a career for himself as a preacher in Hampstead, England, his family spent two frustrating years trying to join him. Their first attempt to travel to England occurred in 1779. After getting approval from the state of Pennsylvania to pass into New York, the family boarded a ship for England which embarked on May 15. For the next eight days, the ship tried to set sail and then anchored repeatedly because of rough waters. The seasick prone Elizabeth became so ill “that she was not able to walk without support, and was fainting continually till at last” the ship’s doctor told her she must return to New York. Apparently, her condition had worsened to the point that her life would have been in jeopardy had she continued on the voyage. After several days of confinement to her bed in New York she decided to give up on going to England and instead returned with her children to Philadelphia. 13 The circumstances of his father’s absence and his mother’s illness forced Duché’s son Thomas, still a teenager, to take responsibility for the safety of his family. Writing to his uncle Francis on May 24, he asked him to intercede along with his uncle John Morgan and his grandfather to request permission for the family to return to Philadelphia. 14 Hopkinson complied with his nephew’s request and petitioned the government of Pennsylvania to allow the family to return. In his petition the still seething brother-in-law of Duché wrote on behalf of his sister, “Whilst the Weight of the Law falls heavy on her husband, pray that your Favour may be extended to her and her innocent children.” Pennsylvania granted Hopkinson’s request and the family returned to Philadelphia a few weeks later. 15 As his family was returning to Philadelphia unbeknown to him, the obviously lonely minister wrote to a friend, somewhat tragically in retrospect, that since he took no comfort from “Fellow-refugees” he was looking forward to being united with Mrs. Duché in the

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coming weeks. 16 Unfortunately, Duché would have to wait another year to be reunited with his family. In 1780, the family made a second attempt to sail for England. Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a very important person in the revolutionary movement, again intervened on their behalf by petitioning the state of Pennsylvania for permission for them to depart Philadelphia. In his petition, he reminded the Executive Council of the complications of the 1779 attempt and asked that once again his sister Elizabeth, her three children, and her maid servant be permitted to pass into New York. The council complied by granting a passport on April 15. Shortly thereafter the family left Philadelphia with two beds, one mattress, two chests, six trunks, one case of bottles, one barrel, and one keg. How this considerable property escaped confiscation is not known. 17 This voyage, although provoking another bout of seasickness for Elizabeth, accomplished its purpose and was also quite timely since the President of Pennsylvania, Joseph Reed, gave notice just a week after their departure that wives and children of the attainted should leave Philadelphia within ten days or face being placed in the workhouse. 18 In June of 1780, the family arrived safely in Hampstead, England. What it was like for the close-knit family to be reunited after thirty months of separation is impossible to comprehend. His happy domestic life had always been a refuge for Duché and he had taken his responsibilities as a husband and father very seriously. These days without his wife and children must have been some of the darkest of his life. Having them with him again must have made his exile much more bearable. Yet, being so far away from home and in a completely new environment was difficult for Elizabeth. While happy to be with her husband, Elizabeth faced the challenge of being separated from the rest of her friends and family. Elizabeth wrote to her sister Mary how jealous she was that during her sister’s recent illness she had the presence of her wonderful mother by her side. You do not know what it is like, she wrote, “to be absent from such a Mother sick and amongst Strangers.” The lack of communication from home also troubled Elizabeth. She was frustrated by the many “false accounts” about the health of her friends and relatives she received from others in England. Her letters home at this time carry two main themes: requests for more information and homesickness. 19 Elizabeth turned to her faith to weather the difficult season. To her sister Ann, Elizabeth wrote, “I have found the distresses I have suffered Heaven’s best gifts to me.” Suffering for Elizabeth had a spiritual purpose. “The benefits derived from suffering are innumerable, but the greatest of all is that it drives us immediately to God.” 20

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Figure 8.1. Jacob and Elizabeth Duché Jacob and Elizabeth Duché, painting by Thomas Spence Duché. Courtesy of the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection.

The children too had to adjust to their new surroundings. As is typical of most children, the adjustment for them was probably much less challenging. Thomas, as an aspiring painter, quickly latched on to the coattails of his father’s “good Friend” Benjamin West, the famous American painter who had made England his permanent home. Duché wrote that although he desired to see Thomas pursue one of the professions, “his passion for painting is irresistible” and “West feeds the flame with the

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Fuel of Applause.” Thomas even aspired, it seems, to someday return to America and distinguish himself as the painter of great figures of the Revolution. He wanted to paint “the great subjects of Councils, Senates, Heroes, Battles,” Duché wrote later. Within a short period of time, Thomas was producing art under the tutelage of West, some of which he sent home to his friends and family. 21 The girls also had to transition. The eldest daughter, Esther, wrote of her fascination with the dress in England. “I dress very much in the same style as Girls of my age, which does not differ much from a person of 80 years of age. I wear my Hair Frized” with “curls on each side and plaited very thick behind. I wear a gown and Petticoat tucked up the former with an enormous trail.” Esther commented, “no doubt I should appear very ridiculous in Philadelphia.” The differences of dress in England compared to America amazed Esther. “If you were here you would scarcely know how to distinguish the Maid from the Mistress.” As to her new life and reunited family she wrote, “We are very agreeably settled at present; for we live in a Beautiful Square and on the other side we are open to the fields.” 22 Duché, while connecting his son to West, was troubled by the lack of good, affordable education available for his daughters in the Lambeth section of London where the family resided for much of their exile. So he chose to educate Esther and Sophia at home. Displaying his bias for the practical education that served as the foundation of the College of Philadelphia, Duché wrote to Franklin that English education was too expensive for girls and “too much of the ornamental, and too little of the essentials, to meet my Ideas or Inclinations.” Instead of an expensive private school that taught only the pomp and frivolity of womanhood, his girls would learn the practical essentials of Christian motherhood and family life right at home, at the feet of their father and mother. 23 Even as the family adjusted to life in England, they still believed that they were on a temporary journey and that their real home was back in Philadelphia. 24 In 1783, with peace between America and Great Britain looming on the horizon, Duché began his first major effort to return to Pennsylvania by writing a series of letters to his prominent friends and family members. The first was to his father’s friend and associate Benjamin Franklin, who Duché himself had known from “infancy.” Duché congratulated Franklin on the preliminary articles of peace and expressed his desire to return to America once peace was concluded. “I address your excellency, as the Friend of my Father, and of my wife’s Father; and flatter myself that my own name is not so entirely blotted out from your Remembrance, but that these lines may remind you, that I had once the Happiness of enjoying your good Opinion, as well as that of all my Countrymen.” Explaining his political conduct during the Revolution, Duché made it clear that his primary concern was always his congregation. “To preserve their Affection and the same Unanimity, was the object I ever had in

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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view: And to this alone I can truly refer every Part of what has been my Political Conduct.” Of politics, a more humble Duché wrote that he now claimed to be “totally ignorant” admitting that he “never had the either Abilities or Influence to display, in that line.” Duché wrote that he never had even “the smallest inclination to deviate from that happy . . . Path of Life” that he had chosen as a youth but that he had been swept up by the torrent of a revolution. Duché made it clear that his notorious letter to Washington was nothing more than that, a letter that he had written expressing his views on the situation. He had never passed any intelligence to the British nor did he even have any communication with them. A letter, he wrote, “was the only Cause of Offense, which I ever gave to my Countrymen.” And he looked forward to giving Franklin a direct account of the circumstances surrounding the sending of the letter which were as yet unknown. As to carrying on a traitorous correspondence he wrote, “I never communicated the least intelligence nor had I ever the least Intercourse with the British Army, whilst I was in America.” Duché also described his life in England and pointed out that he had returned to the duties of his chosen profession and that he had avoided politics altogether. He cited as witnesses to this fact his good friends Lady Julianna Penn and Mr. Richard Penn. He pointed out that he was happily and comfortably settled at the Asylum for Orphan girls where he served as chaplain. “My salary and other Emoluments, with my Pension from Government, which they now talk of exchanging for a Church Living of equal Value, amounts in the whole to more than L300 per Annum.” But even this nice living, comparable to the one he had achieved in Pennsylvania, could not deter him from coming home. “This, with every Prospect of farther Perferment I would most cheerfully resign, could I have any Assurance of being reinstated in the good Opinion of my Countrymen, and particularly of being restored to my Congregations, for whom, as my First Love, I feel a most ardent Affection.” To this unambiguous statement of loyalty and intentions, he added several bold inquiries. Will the act of attainder be repealed after the conclusion of peace? Will I be reimbursed for the money that my house brought? Will Pennsylvania sanction my return if the vestry and “present Rector” reinstate me in the churches? And to answer an obvious question that Franklin might have about the feelings of his successor, William White, about such a reinstatement, Duché quoted what White himself said when he accepted the position after Duché’s departure, that if at any time “the late Rector should return to this country, I shall esteem it my duty, and it will be my Pleasure to resign it.” This was no doubt a presumptuous, bold, and naïve statement, but one that reflected where Duché’s thinking was at the time and how truly surprised he was that his exile was not as temporary as he had thought. 25 It seems likely that Duché received a favorable response to this letter from Franklin for two reasons. First, in a second letter to Franklin in

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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April, Duché wrote that he would be happy to have Franklin’s name supporting his “application” to be reinstated, that it would add “weight” and most likely assure the success of the petition, and that he would be comfortable with whatever method Franklin chose in lending his support to his return. Second, Duché sent a flurry of letters off in early April to friends and family members in America that reflect the same boldness and confidence of the two Franklin letters. In the second letter to Franklin, Duché also took the time to clarify his relationship with his congregation which Franklin, who rented a pew at Christ Church, must have at least tacitly questioned. Duché wrote that he left Philadelphia with the “full knowledge and Approbation” of his congregations with the idea that a “plan of Reconciliation” between England and America would be coming within a few months at which time he would return. Furthermore, those present at the vestry meeting signed an address to the Bishop of London in support of Duché. “I cannot, therefore, be said to have deserted my flock.” Instead, he wrote emphatically that the congregations “with their present good and friendly Rector, would immediately express their Desire of receiving me.” The matter, then, according to Duché, rested with the Pennsylvania legislature. Here, too, he was confident of success. Several of my “most intimate and valuable friends,” he wrote, “are at this time in office” and there is no doubt that they will “solicit Government in my Favour.” He even went as far as to name a few: Dickinson, Morris, and, of course, Washington. 26 The most detailed of the April letters Duché wrote to Francis Hopkinson, excerpts from which he included in his second letter to Franklin. Writing to Hopkinson, Duché was very specific about his motivation and intentions in writing the letter to Washington. According to Duché, the letter was written to get Washington to convince Congress “to rescind an Act, which I conceived (erroneous as any judgment has) the only bar to reconciliation” and not to persuade him “to give up the great cause of liberty, or treacherously surrender his army, but, as the head of them supporting, and supported by them, to negotiate for their . . . constitutional rights.” Duché argued that the letter would never have been made public had not Washington sent it to Congress which made copies of it, one of which ended up in Rivington’s New York Gazette, a loyalist newspaper. Imagine, Duché wrote, of “my astonishment and confusion when I heard in a few days that it was talked of throughout the whole American army, and that copies of it had been dispersed; and a very little time after hands saw it myself in the New York paper.” Duché did not blame Washington for the disclosure, however, realizing later that the general had no choice but to make the contents public. Duché concluded with a pledge similar to the one he made in his earlier letter to Franklin, but this time with even more conviction: he was willing to sacrifice friends, comfort, and risk ocean travel again to return to Pennsylvania. He would return,

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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though, only if the congregations and rector of the churches desired it. Finally, he asked, tell me the truth “no matter how painful it may be.” 27 Duché wrote a similar letter to the rector of Christ Church, William White. He thanked White for treating his family well after he left for England and congratulated him on his election as rector of the churches. He expressed his appreciation for the liberal way that White accepted the position of rector. White’s acceptance of the rectorship under the condition that if Duché returned he would turn over the position is further evidence that Duché was not considered a loyalist by all. Then Duché inquired of the prospects of his return. I am “ready to return to my first love,” he wrote, but only with the unanimous support of the rector and vestry. The decision to reinstate must be unanimous and without division. “I wish only to do good,” he wrote, “to be made an humble instrument, in the hands of God, of converting sinners, or confirming the faithful.” 28 The most interesting of the letters that Duché wrote to his “friends” in 1783 requesting their assistance was the one to George Washington. The letter was highly personal and self aggrandizing. Duché asked apologetically if Washington would “forgive what a weak judgment, but a very affectionate heart, once presumed to advise?” Duché explained that “circumstances” convinced him it was his “duty” to write the letter and that because of the minister’s own “ignorance” he failed to understand Washington’s responsibility to make the letter public. And then Duché tried to clarify his intentions: I cannot say a word in vindication of my conduct but this, that I had been for months before distressed with continual apprehension for you and all my friends without the British lines. I looked upon all as gone; or that nothing could save you, but rescinding the Declaration of Independence. Upon this ground alone I presumed to speak; not to advise an act of base treachery, my soul would have recoiled from the thought; not surrender your army, or betray the righteous cause of your country, but, at the head of the army, supporting and supported by them, to negotiate with Britain for our constitutional rights.

In his mind, his suggestion to Washington to negotiate directly with the British if necessary was not high treason, but a necessary action to secure the rights of the American people. Finally, Duché asked his old friend for mercy and help by making a very direct and impassioned plea: Can you then join with my country in pardoning this error of judgment? Will you yet honor me with your great interest and influence, by recommending, at least expressing your approbation of the repeal of an act, that keeps me in a state of banishment from my native country, from the arms of a dear aged father, and the embrace of a numerous circle of valuable and long-loved friends?

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The exiled minister desperately wanted “a line or two” from the general supporting his safe return to America. 29 The responses that Duché received to these “assistance” letters of 1783 were not favorable. One particular response that Duché received from his close friend Elizabeth Powel in early summer of 1783 gives some insight into just how complicated his return would be. It also demonstrates the manner in which Duché’s hopes of return were crushed. “But how shall I find language strong enough to enforce the sentiments of my Soul on your interesting subject,” Elizabeth wrote. “Think not of it,” she continued, “exert your good sense and Philosophy and endeavor to be happy in your present exile.” She added, “I too well know your Delicacy and Sensibility not to be certain that you would be wretched here, even were you to be permitted by the legislature to return.” A happy life is “a situation never to be attained for you in America, unless you can divest yourself” of your own sincere nature. Your father, she wrote, lives “under the delusion that you will be cordially received.” 30 Even the simple act of listing himself as rector of the churches in a book of sermons he published while in England “roused such a spirit of resentment with Persons you must unavoidably mix with.” Here was the most painful revelation: many in his congregations did not want him back. In fact, some even despised him. Even though his “connections” in Philadelphia, including Elizabeth Powel, ardently desired his return, the obstacles were too great. His return was simply never going to happen. 31 This letter and others like it crushed Duché’s hopes of a happy return to Philadelphia. After he received the Powel letter and others of a similar tone, Duché resigned himself to remain in permanent exile in England. To his sister-in-law Mary Morgan a downtrodden Duché wrote, “I do not wish my friends even to mention their Desire of my Return if my Congregations do not feel a Desire of my Presence and Labors among them. If my fellow-citizens, still consider one of the best-Friends to his Native Country as an enemy, it is the clearest of all proof to me, that it is to heaven’s will, that I should see them no more.” “My heart tells me,” he added, “that I have done my Duty.” 32 The minister now understood with great clarity that his exile was permanent and that the indignation that arose in response to his letter had not subsided. Duché thanked William White, his now permanent successor, for his candid reply and wrote that he planned never to return to America 33 while “the present vindictive spirit prevails.” 34 To his brother-in-law John Morgan, Duché wrote one last letter on the subject— one filled with disappointment, bitterness, and anger. He informed Morgan that he would never again ask permission to return and that he had written to his father encouraging him to dispose of his property and come to England. Duché then proceeded once again to attempt to vindicate himself. “As you know,” he wrote caustically, “in the most despotic countries, they do not hang people for thinking, provided their thoughts

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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are not made known.” To his friends who thought like him and escaped punishment, Duché was bitter. He wrote with disgust, “My only Astonishment is to find so many of my Friends, who thought as I did (though they did not venture to take so decided a Part) still permitted to breathe the air of America.” To his enemies, Duché was angry, writing, “Time will unravel all difficulties, and reveal the secret Acts and Strategees of Worldly Men.” 35 A few weeks later, Duché wrote to Joseph Stamper requesting that he forward the items he had been holding for him since his return to America was now “highly improbable.” 36 In September of 1783, Duché received the final confirmation that his exile was permanent. A brief response from Washington stating the following:

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Personal enmity I bear none to any man . . . So far, therefore, as your return to this country depends on my private voice, it would be given in favor of it with cheerfulness . . . But removed as I am from the people and policy of the State in which you formerly resided, and to whose determination your case must be submitted, it is my duty, whatever may be my inclination, to leave its decision to its constitutional judges.

In other words, good luck with your enemies in Pennsylvania, expect no help on this matter from me. 37 And so Jacob Duché and his family began to transition into a life of permanent exile in England. Even though he had never declared himself a loyalist and had no desire to spend his days in England, he was an exile nonetheless. His letter to Washington had resulted in a conviction of high treason. Attainder had robbed him of his chance for vindication. No trial had been held, no evidence presented, and no opportunity for defense given. Duché was convicted before he even knew he had been accused. America had concluded that Jacob Duché was a traitor and a loyalist. When the war ended he attempted to change this misinterpretation of his actions but to no avail. The end of the conflict between America and Great Britain had changed nothing. Duché was no longer welcome in America. England was his home now. NOTES 1. William A. Pencak, “From Anglicans to Episcopalians: The Revolutionary Years, 1775-1790,” in David R. Contosta, ed., This Far by Faith: Tradition and Change in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012), 11. 2. Jacob Duché to Francis Hopkinson, April 1783, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 3. Lemisch, “Jack Tar in the Streets,” 401; Norton, The British-Americans, 37. Norton’s work contains a chart which shows that of the 159 families who left Pennsylvania for England during the war, twenty of them left in 1778 the largest number except for 1783 when 36 left. For additional background on British Loyalists see Sabine, The

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American Loyalists; John W. High, Jr., “The Philadelphia Loyalists, 1763-1783,” (PhD diss., Temple University, 1975); and Siebert, The Loyalists of Pennsylvania. 4. Siebert, Loyalists of Pennsylvania, 23-24. 5. Young, “Treason and its Punishment,” 288. 6. Ibid., 290-94. 7. Ibid., 303-4 8. Ibid., 304; Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 260; Oberholtzer, Philadelphia, 1:282; Pennsylvania Gazette, April 22, 1778; Pennsylvania Packet, April 22, 1778. 9. Young, “Treason and its Punishment,” 305-6. 10. Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 261. 11. Pennsylvania Gazette, April 14, 1779, May 2, 1781; Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, From its Organization to the Termination of the Revolution (Harrisburg: Thomas Fenn and Co., 1832-1833), 25-26. 12. Jacob Duché to Francis Hopkinson, April, 1783, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. It is important to note that there is no evidence to verify his claim that the purchasers were all “foreigners” although it is reasonable to assume that those close to Duché, those in his class, and those in his congregations most likely did not participate. The implications of this statement, however, are important for he clearly felt as if the Revolution had been seized by a contingent of leaders who were not familiar to Pennsylvania politics. 13. Thomas Spence Duché to Francis Hopkinson, May 24, 1779, Box 2, Folder 17701779, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 14. Ibid. 15. Petition of Francis Hopkinson for leave to Mrs. Duché to return from New York to Philadelphia, June 7, 1779, Gratz Collection, HSP. 16. Jacob Duché to _____, July 3, 1779, Cadwalader Collection, HSP. 17. Francis Hopkinson to President of Executive Council of Pennsylvania, April 1, 1780, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS: Papers of the Continental Congress, Item #177, April 15, 1780, National Archives and Record Center. 18. Young, “Treason and its Punishment,” 311. 19. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Morgan, May 29, 1783, Am 12905, Redwood Collection, HSP. 20. Elizabeth Duché to Ann Coale, January 29, 1782, Am 12905, Redwood Collection, HSP. 21. Jacob Duché to Benjamin Franklin, April 22, 1783, “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,” Packard Humanities Institute, http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp; Thomas Duché to Mary Morgan, June 7, 1783, Redwood Collection, HSP. 22. Esther Duché to Mary Morgan, April 19, 1782, Am 12905, Redwood Collection, HSP. 23. Jacob Duché to Benjamin Franklin, April 22, 1783, “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,” Packard Humanities Institute. 24. For a surprisingly similar story of misinterpretation of loyalism and a valiant attempt to return to America see Mark Stern, David Franks. 25. Jacob Duché to Benjamin Franklin, January 28, 1783, “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,” Packard Humanities Institute. 26. Jacob Duché to Benjamin Franklin, April 22, 1783, “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,” Packard Humanities Institute. 27. Jacob Duché to Francis Hopkinson, April, 1783, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 28. Charles Higham, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” New Church Magazine 28, HSP, 396. 29. Jacob Duché to George Washington, April 2, 1783, The Washington-Duché Letters. 30. The position of Colonel Duché on the Revolution is impossible to discern from lack of evidence although it could be reasonably conjectured that his close relationship with his son caused him to view the Revolution similarly. Elizabeth’s letter suggests that the colonel was still thinking that his son was an accepted and respected figure in America. 31. Elizabeth Powel to Jacob Duché, 1783, Powel Papers, HSP.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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32. Jacob Duché to Mary Morgan, August 1, 1783, Redwood Collection, HSP. 33. It is interesting to note the difference between the experiences of Duché and his assistant minister Thomas Coombe who also went to England and left his parents behind. Coombe was an avowed loyalist, loved England, and made a successful career there, using his new position to help his parents in America but they never came to England to join him. Duché’s experience was almost the opposite, he despised England, wanted to return, and when the prospect of this was extinguished resigned to stay and bring his father to join him in exile. High, “Thomas Coombe,” 286-88. 34. Jacob Duché to William White, August 11, 1783, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 35. Jacob Duché to John Morgan, August 12, 1783, Gratz MSS, HSP. 36. Jacob Duché to Joseph Stamper, September 5, 1783, Gratz MSS, HSP. 37. George Washington to Jacob Duché, August 10, 1783, The Washington-Duché Letters, 38.

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NINE Exile

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Duché’s failed attempt to return to Philadelphia forced him and his family to settle into the reality of life in exile. America and “dear Philadelphia” were now only part of his past life. His present was in England as well as his indeterminable future. In July of 1784, the arrival of his father brought some respite to the pain of permanent exile. Colonel Duché also found it difficult to leave America. Before he left Philadelphia, an emotional Jacob Duché, Sr., wrote to William White of his feelings about leaving the churches: As I am now going to leave my native country, and the beloved City that gave me Birth. I cannot without some feelings of affection give up my Esteem for those few who have paid any degree of respect to me or my Offspring. For alone Forty Years I have cheerfully and faithfully Served the United churches without fee or reward, and am happy that I cannot accuse myself of having been remiss in any of my Services to them, either by my labor or my Purse. I heartily and Sincerely wish them great Happiness, Unanimity and brotherly love till Time Shall be no more. As a small token of my tender regards for the needy members of both Churches, I herein send you my benevolence to be distributed among such as you may be pleased to select and in so doing, you will greatly oblige Your Friend and Very Humble Servant. 1

This brief letter reflects the similarity between father and son on many levels: love for the church, desire for unity, commitment to service, and concern for the needy. On August 2, 1784, Jacob Duché wrote to White of his father’s safe arrival in England. With a note of the bitterness that would plague him for the next several years, Duché wrote that his father arrived “in perfect health” and does not wish to return to Philadelphia. 2 When Colonel Duché arrived in England in 1784, his son was already well established as a minister. From 1778 until 1782, Duché resided at 153

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Queen Street in Hampstead. During those years he preached frequently at the Bow Church in Cheapside, one of the most important churches in London, where his still great oratorical skills earned him a “considerable reputation as a popular preacher.” 3 In 1779, he published a collection of sermons from his days in Philadelphia titled Discourses on Various Subjects. 4 Duché also served as one of the directors of the Humane Society, a charitable organization whose mission was to rescue those who had attempted suicide by jumping into the river. In 1782, Duché preached a sermon in two different churches to benefit the society. 5 In 1782, Duché, along with his wife and children who had joined him in Hampstead in 1780, moved to Lambeth, a district of London, to take a position as chaplain of an asylum for orphan girls. 6 The stated purpose of this institution was “to preserve the friendless and deserted girls from those dangers and misfortunes to which their distressed situation exposes them” by “implanting in their tender minds the principles of religion and virtue.” A typical day for these orphan girls included seven hours of school, regular prayers, and playtimes. The asylum was quite an operation. The 150 girls required lots of supervision and instruction. The asylum employed, in addition to the chaplain, a collector, a writing master, an organist, a matron to oversee the servants, a school mistress, two assistants for the school mistress, a cook, two house maids, a nurse, and a messenger. 7 As the asylum’s chaplain, Duché had responsibility for this entire organization. He read prayers and preached a sermon twice every Sunday and on the first Sunday evening of the month he was responsible to catechize the children. He read prayers to the whole “family” every morning and was responsible to superintend the conduct of all members of the organization. He also had the responsibility “to promote by every means in his power the benefit of the charity” through fund-raising. Duché was also the secretary of the board that oversaw the charity which required him to attend meetings, take minutes, receive contributions, and handle admission inquiries. Duché and his family were given spacious apartments connected to the asylum “in order that the children may have the more immediate benefit of his instruction and example” and “that such ladies and gentlemen as shall at any time visit this Charity may be induced by a proper reception and representation to become contributors.” Samuel Shoemaker, a frequent visitor to the asylum, witnessed that the exiled minister seemed “comfortably situated.” 8 Like at his churches in Philadelphia, Duché’s work at the orphanage kept him very busy and, as was typically the case whenever Duché preached anywhere, overflowing crowds began to attend services at the chapel which no doubt advanced the cause of the charity significantly. 9 Duché’s income from his work was significant as well, totaling L300 annually. 10 The acceptance of this position at the asylum made sense on several levels. Duché needed a steady income to sustain himself and his family in

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the manner to which they were accustomed, an issue which plagued the large majority of exiles living in England. The asylum’s mission fit well with the Duchés interest in charitable work. The asylum provided an outlet for two of Duché’s great passions: education and religion. Here with these 150 orphans, Duché had opportunity to be part of the educational and spiritual development of young minds. The asylum also provided him the opportunity to utilize his greatest talent, his preaching skills, on a regular basis. Finally, helping these abandoned young girls was therapy for the loss and isolation he was feeling as an exile. During the asylum years, Duché was extremely busy, but still invested considerable time in other endeavors. One of these was to facilitate the establishment of Anglican bishops in America, work that led ultimately to the appointment of William White as the first Anglican bishop of Pennsylvania, an appointment that Duché himself might have received had it not been for his political activities. As assistant minister of Christ Church, a position that White had held since 1772, White chose at first to take a backseat to the more prominent political activities of Duché. In 1775, when Duché preached his two political sermons supporting the troops, White refused to preach a similar sermon to a battalion of troops because he objected to “the making of the ministry instrumental to the war.” 11 When the British approached Philadelphia, White vacated the city with his family for a safer residence in Maryland. 12 White did not return to the city until the British departed, by that time Duché was gone and Coombe was about to leave for England. 13 White then stepped to the forefront as a leader in the churches, accepting the rectorship the next year. He also stepped forward in the political arena, becoming the chaplain to the Continental Congress, the position that Duché had vacated in 1776. 14 Apparently, White had changed his mind about opposing the mixing of politics and religion. In a letter to White dated August 11, 1783, Duché wrote at length on the issue of the organization of the Episcopal Church in America in light of the permanent separation with England. Apparently, White had broached the subject in a previous letter. In August of 1782, White had published “The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered,” in which he laid out a plan for the creation of an American Episcopal Church. White argued that the connection between the American church and authorities in England had been dissolved by the American Revolution but noted that he still desired to retain as much of the practices of the mother church as possible. The American church would be a voluntary association, not established, organized from the “bottom up” and governed by the laity. Under this plan, each church would choose a representative to go to a state convention where delegates would be chosen to attend a national convention. White also suggested that the elected delegates assemble and include in their proposals “a general approbation of episcopacy, and a declaration of an intention to

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procure the succession as soon as conveniently may be; but in the mean time to carry the plan into effect without waiting for the succession.” If the word bishop proved too controversial, the head of the church could be called president or overseer. In addition to these dramatic reforms, White “modified the Book of Common Prayer” and discarded the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds as well as the doctrine that Christ descended into hell. 15 Duché wrote to White that he had read the pamphlet and that he generally agreed with the proposals therein, but then cautioned White as to timing.

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But I cannot conceive, that any such Necessity at present exists. The venerable old Doctrine of Apostolic Succession need not yet be given up. The Episcopal Clergy have only to [wait] with Patience; and they may have, if they are unanimous—a Church in each State with a Bishop at its Head, chosen by themselves, and regularly consecrated . . . [not] taking any Oaths of Supremacy etc. and unconnected with any Civil or Ecclesiastical Government but their own. 16

To that end, Duché proposed that the clergy of each state along with their lay deputies choose a bishop who would preside over conventions, approve alterations in discipline and liturgy, and do everything else a bishop would do except “ordain and confirm” which he believed would come in time. Forging a middle path between complete separation of the English and American churches and complete control by the Church of England, Duché suggested the via media, the middle way that he so often supported. Along with this middle way, Duché offered a staunch warning to White. Go slow, be patient, work within the existing system and pursue the plan suggested, that is “unless Mobs and Associations should still be sufficient to exercise an illegal Power,” a pointed reference to his own experience. Duché even added his own plan of church governance. Each state would be independent of other states. If, for the sake of uniformity, the states chose to work together in an annual synod, there should be “no Archbishop or Patriarch.” Instead, the first duly consecrated bishop, the one who received his orders in England, would preside. 17 How much influence Duché had on White’s thinking is not clear, but it could be assumed from events that it was considerable. On May 24, 1784, an Episcopal Convention for the purpose of taking steps to organize the Episcopal Church in America was held in Christ Church, Philadelphia. At this convention, fundamental principles of an ecclesiastical constitution were agreed upon. The convention, the founding meeting of the diocese of Pennsylvania, adopted a program that disestablished the Anglican church in America, adopted the liturgy of the old church for the new one wherever possible, and gave bishops, priests, and deacons responsibility for church governance, an area where before only bishops

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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had authority. 18 Duché, obviously playing a critical role as intermediary, wrote to White in August, 1784, that he had forwarded “the printed Account of your proceedings with respect to an Ecclesiastical Constitution” and I will have his and “the Bishops sentiments, as soon as I can collect them.” 19 In December, Duché wrote to White that Samuel Seabury had been appointed bishop of Connecticut. Sensing the possible tension that could exist between the loyalist Seabury and White, Duché encouraged White to receive Seabury warmly. Duché wrote that Seabury is “a scholar, a Gentleman, and . . . a real Christian.” Duché further suggested that White call a convention of states to receive Seabury. Again, Duché voiced no opposition to the idea of an organized Episcopal Church in America, as long as its bishops were consecrated in England. 20 In May of 1785, the first convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania met at Christ Church. This convention formed an association of clergymen and congregations and chose White as the organization’s president. Later that summer, the first general convention of the church was held at Christ Church. Seven of the thirteen states participated and White again was chosen president. 21 The plan of governance this national convention adopted was remarkably similar to the one Duché had proposed to White two years earlier. Under this plan, each state could select its own bishop but was not required to do so and bishops in each state would not have authority outside their own state. The convention also adopted much less hostile language toward possible changes in the liturgy of the mother church. Their proposal did, however, include removal of the Nicene and Athanasian creeds from the liturgy as well as a revision of the Apostles creed, reforms that Anglican authorities in England objected to. The church leaders in England also objected to the selection of bishops by the laity. 22 Obviously facilitating the relationship between the English church authorities and the newly developing church in America, Duché wrote to White a few months after the convention that he had delivered the “packages” to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He then expressed his concern for the spiritual welfare of the church in America and the possibility of it moving away from “the long received Doctrines of the Church of England.” 23 In a revealing letter in March of that year, Duché expressed more insight into the issue of the American church. He informed White that he approved of his changes to the liturgy—while he did not specify he most likely was referring to the changes to the creeds and the Book of Common Prayer—and that he would speak to church authorities in England on his behalf if asked. He also shared a piece of inside information, that the Archbishop has made a decision on the issue of White’s consecration as bishop. 24 The third annual convention of the American church which met in July of 1786 made some significant compromises. Delegates restored the

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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Nicene creed and accepted the idea that after choosing their own bishops they would send them to England for consecration, a concession that undoubtedly pleased Duché. On September 14, the delegates from Pennsylvania met at Christ Church and chose White as the bishop of the diocese of Pennsylvania and approved L350 of church funds for White to travel to England for consecration. 25 Just a few weeks before the Pennsylvania convention chose White, in August of 1786, smelling the events about to unfold, Duché expressed some additional concerns to White. While he approved of much of the changes in the liturgy, he questioned the necessity of some of them. He also alluded to the fact that reports in England were that White and Smith were coming to England for consecration. He admonished White not to come to England until he was sure of success. Duché was clearly concerned about the American clergy trying to force the hand of the Archbishop and other leaders of the church in England. His concerns notwithstanding, Duché expressed his unaltered support for White’s future appointment. He wrote, “in point of Character, Qualifications, I think, you should be the fairest and best of any other.” 26 He did not offer the same to Smith who, in his opinion expressed in a previous letter, “sadly had fallen off.” 27 White must have agreed with Duché since, in 1786, he convinced Maryland delegates that their choice of William Smith as their bishop was a mistake, mainly because Smith had been “obnoxiously drunk” at the convention of 1784. 28 Despite Duché’s warnings, in October of 1786, White sailed for England to seek consecration. 29 Demonstrating the extent of the Duché family’s access to inside information from high ranking officials in the church, Thomas wrote to White that he was sorry for the complications that had arisen in his consecration. 30 Nonetheless, White was consecrated bishop of Pennsylvania at Lambeth on February 4, 1787. 31 His old mentor and confidant Jacob Duché was one of the few people present, quite possibly due to the critical role he had fulfilled as mediator between White and church authorities in England. White wrote of this extraordinary event: The consecration was performed in the chapel of the palace of the archbishop, in the presence of his family and his household and very few others among whom was my old friend the Rev. Mr. Duché . . . it was a great satisfaction to me that he was there; the recollection of the benefit which I had received from his instructions early in life, and a tender sense of the attentions which he had shown me almost from my infancy, together with the impression left by the harmony which had subsisted between us in the discharge of our joint pastoral duty in Philadelphia . . . 32

After spending several months in England, and Sundays at the orphan asylum with his old friend, White returned to America. A few weeks after his return, White ordained his first deacon, Joseph Clarkson. 33 The

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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Episcopal system was now complete. Duché had no doubt played a critical advisory role in the process, acting as an intermediary between church authorities in England and America to forge a middle way, facilitating the admission of his protégé to an honor that once was one of his own ambitions. He undoubtedly took great satisfaction that White and future American bishops would be consecrated according to the manner which he recommended. Demonstrating humility, though, Duché never took any credit for the compromises achieved. Instead, he simply sent White a letter of congratulations addressed to “my good Bishop.” His son Thomas followed with a warm letter addressed to my “dear and worthy bishop.” 34 In addition to his significant work on the bishop issue, while at the orphan asylum Duché experienced a revitalization of his faith as a result of his encounter with the works of Emmanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg was a scientist and mystic who had died in London in 1772. In 1783, eleven years after Swedenborg’s death, those interested in his mystical teachings met at a London coffeehouse to discuss the exploration and promotion of his ideas. In that same year, an Anglican clergyman, John Clowes, proclaimed the coming of Swedenborg’s “New Jerusalem” from his pulpit at St. John’s Church in Manchester, England. The “New Jerusalem” was Swedenborg’s millennial concept of the conjunction between good and truth in the spiritual church that would connect the heavenly and earthly realms. Swedenborg’s followers then organized the Theosophical Society to translate, study, and publish the new theology. Swedenborg’s teachings emphasized the virtue of benevolence and Christian service. He also argued that man was fallen but not destroyed and that he could choose of his own free will to reconnect with God. Swedenborg also held to a number of rather extraordinary ideas including the concept of heavenly marriages, that man must remain good for the rest of his life to inherit eternal life, and that adulterers cannot go to heaven.” 35 This theology that combined the fallen nature, free will, and mysticism with a sense of practicality reminded Duché of the teachings of William Law and was remarkably consistent with his own theological perspective. More importantly, the teachings of Swedenborg invigorated his spirituality, while allowing him to continue working within the Anglican church. Swedenborg, like the puritans of an earlier time, argued that his teachings should invigorate existing denominations rather than create new ones. It is not certain if Duché embraced Swedenborg’s theology in its totality. What is certain is that he became deeply enamored with the theologian, that he was a key figure in the spreading of his ideas, and that he chose to do this within the confines of the Anglican church. It also seems evident that Swedenborg’s ideas did not alter Duché’s theology since he approved the publication of a new edition of his own Discourses in 1790, years after he became involved in Swedenborg’s teachings. The new edition, like the old one, contained the essence of the now exiled

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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minister’s theology which was unchanged as the result of Swedenborg’s ideas. It is not certain when Duché first became interested in Swedenborg, but by 1785 he was fully immersed in the mystic’s works. The introduction to Swedenborg most likely came from his son Thomas or from his future son-in-law William Hill. Thomas associated with the artists who frequented the studio of Benjamin West, many of whom were mystics. There is no evidence that Duché met Clowes, or any other follower of Swedenborg before 1785, except for William Hill who would become a prominent leader in the Swedenborgian movement in the 1790’s. Duché spent the years between 1779 and1782 as an occasional preacher at the Bow Church in Cheapside. Hill’s father had a business establishment in the shadow of that church. 36 The first mention of Duché’s interest in Swedenborg comes from a letter written by his wife Elizabeth in 1785. To her mother, Elizabeth wrote that her husband and his father were now engaged in reading Swedenborg’s works and that Jacob was “much pleased with them.” It was her husband’s opinion that Swedenborg was “divinely inspired.” In the same letter, Elizabeth mentioned the spiritual turn that Thomas had taken, suggesting a relationship between the father’s interest in Swedenborg and the son’s newfound spirituality. Elizabeth sent her mother a copy of Swendenborg’s works and asked for her thoughts on his theology. 37 Later that year, Elizabeth wrote again to her mother and asked for her opinion of Swedenborg. This second letter gives a glimpse into Duché’s involvement in the Swedenborgian movement. She wrote, “Mr. Duché is just returned from Manchester” where he has met with the Swedenborg congregation, some who have had “manifestations” similar to that of Swedenborg himself. Elizabeth continued, my husband “has been anxious for his flock, but is more so now than ever, he cannot think or speak of anything but goodness and truth, and makes use of every opportunity both in and out of his Pulpit. . . .” Then Elizabeth related a story revealing the depth of Duché’s passion for theological conversation. “The other day we had a very large Company to Dine with us, and he was so earnestly engaged in recommending to them spiritual meat, that he paid no attention to the meat before him, either for himself or others.” 38 The Duchés passion for Swedenborg continued into the following year as Elizabeth wrote again that the number of the New Jerusalem church increased daily and that Mr. Duché “speaks more . . . to their consciences than ever and they cannot bear to be awakened from their pleasing sensual dreams.” But the people still came to hear Duché preach, as Elizabeth wrote, there are more coming to hear him than our chapel will hold . . . I often wish you to hear him preach, for I am sure you would enter into the

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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spirit of all he says . . . He never delivers anything but what is given him from above, and feels himself nothing more than as a conveying instrument in the hands of the Lord.

Elizabeth also noted that not just her husband but Thomas and their oldest daughter “Hetty” had also embraced the Swedenborg teachings. 39 Beyond visiting the Swedenborg congregation in Manchester and introducing his teachings into his Sunday sermons, Duché also held study groups in his apartments at the asylum. There were at least two study groups of the Theosophical Society existing at that time, one under the direction of John Clowes in Manchester, and one under Duché’s direction at the asylum. The group met on Sunday evenings. These meetings undoubtedly reminded Duché of those extraordinary days in Philadelphia when, along with Carl Magnus Wrangel, he promoted serious theological conversations among “awakened” believers of various denominations. 40 Some additional insight into Duché’s adoption of Swedenborg’s ideas comes from the minister himself in a series of letters he wrote to his friend Miers Fisher, the prominent Philadelphia lawyer and Quaker who was exiled to Virginia during the American Revolution but returned afterward to become a respected officeholder and politician. Demonstrating his interest in the mystical side of Swedenborg’s doctrine, Duché wrote, “you will find, that every state of mind is immediately represented in the spiritual world by a correspondent . . . appearance, by which it is made known to our own and other spirits.” According to Duché’s interpretation of Swedenborg, this working within the spiritual world was evidenced in our external circumstances: the books we read, the gestures we made, our tone of voice, our interests and pursuits, even the furniture of our houses. The more you read Swedenborg’s works, he wrote, “the more you will see the beauty and consistency of his doctrine.” Duché related that Swedenborg’s theology had a deeply personal impact on his life. It helped him to do good, not evil. Here was Duché once again exploring the depth of religious experience, remaining within but going beyond the religious tradition of the Anglican church, and seeing in the circumstances that surrounded everyday life a deeper spiritual meaning with a very practical result, doing good rather than evil. 41 Five years later, Duché was still passionate about Swedenborg as he wrote an extensive passage to Fisher recounting the effect of Swedenborg’s mysticism on his own life experience, religious and political, and how he now had hope of a better future where truth and love would prevail and those who had spoken it, or written it, would be vindicated. 42 These two significant events, Duché’s mediation of the creation of an American Episcopal Church and his infatuation with Swedenborg, along with his work at the asylum, restored to the minister a sense of purpose that enabled him to endure the pain of exile and adjust to the reality of

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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life in England. This life included an intimate circle of good friends, continued health problems, and devastating family tragedy. Although Duché did associate with native Philadelphians, many of whom were political exiles, most of these associations probably developed after 1783. As late as 1784, Thomas B. Chandler, a loyalist exile, testified that although he had known Duché in America, he had not seen him yet in England. 43 Much of the background of Duché’s London relationships comes from Samuel Shoemaker’s diary. Shoemaker was a Quaker and former mayor of Philadelphia who as a loyalist acted as the civilian administrator of the city during the British occupation. Shoemaker left the city when the British evacuated. Between 1784 and 1786, Shoemaker developed a close relationship with the Duché family. 44 One of the first and most important relationships that Duché formed in England was a renewal of an old one, his friendship with Benjamin West. Once his son Thomas arrived in London, Duché arranged for West to instruct his son in the art of painting. Duché and Thomas frequented West’s home along with artists such as John Trumbull, Gilbert Stuart, Robert Fulton, Charles Willson Peale, and Samuel F.B. Morse. 45 In 1784, Shoemaker recorded that he spent an hour with Duché at his home, viewed the paintings that Thomas was working on, including one of Betsy Hurly (Allen), and then walked with Thomas to visit Benjamin West. 46 On another occasion Shoemaker and Thomas went to West’s home for dinner. 47 Once when crossing Westminster Bridge, Shoemaker was surprised when Duché, the Colonel, and Thomas called to him from a coach as the three travelled to West’s house. It is not clear whether the coach belonged to West or Duché. If it belonged to West this is proof of a very close relationship between the families. If it belonged to Duché it is evidence of the affluence that the arrival of Colonel Duché brought to the exile family. 48 The activities at the Duché home during their period of exile varied. On one occasion, Shoemaker and the Duchés witnessed the king, the Prince of Wales, and the members of the nobility ride by on their way to review troops. 49 Shoemaker’s visits often included dinner after which the men would “smoke our pipes” and enjoy pleasant conversation. 50 The Duché family was remarkably hospitable considering their responsibilities at the asylum. The food that Elizabeth served was good and reminded Shoemaker of home. One evening Shoemaker dined with the Duchés and enjoyed “some boiled Indian Corn and Squashes which I have not seen at any other table in this country, the corn was raised in Ben West’s Garden and I thought it as sweet as is common in America.” 51 Shoemaker wrote to his wife of a particular moment of kindness at a breakfast “where we were entertained with choice Buckwheat Cakes made of the meal thou sent me, which I presented to Parson Duché’s wife as there is no one in our house who knew anything about the cakes or

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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how to make them.” A week later Shoemaker breakfasted at the Duchés again feasting on “excellent buckwheat cakes.” 52 Shoemaker also referenced Duché’s involvement in testifying for exiles who were seeking financial reimbursement from the English government to repay them for the loss of their property in America. The commissioners appointed by the government to deal with this matter began hearing claims at Lincoln’s Inn Fields after the conclusion of the war. Many exiles testified repeatedly on behalf of their friends and neighbors. 53 On February 21, 1785, Shoemaker recorded that he and Duché went to testify to the commissioners on behalf of Matthias Aspdin. On another occasion Shoemaker accompanied Duché to testify before the commission on behalf of a man who was unable to go through his examination. Shoemaker’s involvement was at Duché’s request. This suggests that Duché was not only willing to assist with these hearings but might have been taking somewhat of a leadership role in organizing witnesses to testify on behalf of claimants. 54 Besides Shoemaker, the Duchés often entertained “a tribe” of “literary and religious” American friends. 55 These friends included Samuel Seabury, a strong loyalist and the future bishop of Connecticut whose portrait Thomas painted, 56 young Joseph Swift the son of Joseph Swift of Philadelphia, Andrew Allen and his family, Dr. Charles Inglis, who later became Bishop of Nova Scotia, former Governor John Penn, and Lady Julianna Penn. 57 Allen, Seabury, and Inglis were all part of or closely related to a contingent of conservative authors, either Anglican clergymen or government officials, who cautioned the American public in 1774 about the danger of the developing revolutionary movement, a movement that Duché had facilitated. 58 The evidence suggests that Duché thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and fellowship of these good friends. But more than anything else, Duché enjoyed his family. Duché’s wife Elizabeth—he called her Betsy—and their three children, Thomas, Hetty, and Sophia, were the center of his life. Together this little family of exiles forged a bond unbreakable by distance, attainder, or exile. Elizabeth’s letter to her sister Ann sheds light on the family relationship. She wrote that her daughter Hetty made handkerchiefs and “often talks of her Godmother and wishes very much to be with you” and “she is of great Use and Comfort to me as my companion, nurse, and housekeeper.” Thomas, she wrote, was taller than his father and becoming deeply religious. He is “dutiful, affectionate, and industrious.” Sophia, she added, was “tolerable hansome and to her great disadvantage has what is called an old head upon young shoulders for which she is much admired and I fear will be too proud.” 59 Tragedy repeatedly disrupted but never dismantled the Duché family. While alone in exile, Duché’s stepmother passed away. In 1784, Elizabeth’s closest sister, Mary Morgan, died. Only two months after Mary’s

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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death was the family able to receive news of the details of their loved ones’ passing. 60 In 1788, after a long illness, Colonel Duché passed away. Duché wrote to his cousin, Andrew Doz, how on a Sunday evening his father had passed into “the world of spirits” surrounded by his whole family in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. 61 Duché recounted to Doz how much he appreciated having his father with him in England for the past four years even though the colonel had spent the last year mostly confined to his chambers. The passing of Colonel Duché had a significant impact on the family. The Colonel left L3000 to his son, L500 to each of his granddaughters, and the rest of his estate to Thomas. To avoid the incursion of the act of attainder on his bequeathed assets, the Colonel left none of his property in America to his attainted son, only possessions that he had secured in England. 62 With the inheritance of his children secured—at least he thought it was secured—Duché resigned his chaplaincy at the asylum on January 1, 1789, and retired to Sloane Street in Chelsea just outside of London, a very fashionable area of the city. 63 The act of attainder, however, and the other complications of exile would prove to be a significant stumbling block to a prosperous and peaceful retirement. The blow to the family that was most difficult to handle came in 1790, when Duché’s only son Thomas died after a lifetime of sickness and a recent long bout with tuberculosis. Duché wrote to Miers Fisher a week after his son’s passing that “when I wrote to you last by Capt. Sutton, my dear son was laboring under tho’ seemingly getting better of, a severe Cold and Fever—which ended soon after in a Confirmed and rapid decay of his Lung.” He followed with the crushing news of his son’s deteriorating physical condition, news Duché could hardly bring himself to write. “He died in my Arms on the 31st of March, and I refer you to our dear Mother for the particulars of his Death.” With his typical courtesy, Duché apologized for the shortness of his letter. 64 To another friend Duché wrote that after a prolonged illness his son “went off triumphantly to his Native Heaven.” 65 Two months later Duché wrote of the pain from which he was suffering: “I have gone through such a scene of affliction, as your mind may better conceive that I can express.” 66 Finally, reminiscing later that year we find a suggestion of healing: “The departed Angel has left behind him a sweet Odor of virtuous remembrance, which will always refresh and comfort the hearts of all that knew him.” 67

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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Figure 9.1. Jacob and son Thomas Spence Duché Jacob and son Thomas Spence Duché, painting by Thomas Spence Duché. Courtesy of the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection.

The death of Thomas triggered further complications for the exiled family mainly because Colonel Duché had left his property in America to Thomas just two years previous. In that short period of time and with his health deteriorating, the unwed Thomas had not recovered this property. The fact that attainder prohibited Duché from inheriting any property in Pennsylvania made it impossible for him to recover any of Thomas’ inheritance; therefore, much of the family’s hard-earned resources were in jeopardy. For the next several years Duché spent significant time and effort fighting for what he thought was his and his daughter’s rightful inheritance. This was not the first time that the attainder had created inheritance complications. Inheritance issues had plagued Duché throughout his exile. As early as August of 1786, Duché wrote to his cousin of how John Duffield, a relative of his stepmother, had disputed land left to him by his

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-10 20:30:39.

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stepmother in 1778. 68 In December of that year, Duché wrote to Miers Fisher on the subject of Duffield and his mother’s property:

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My religion, as well as my present temporal situation here set me far above the worldly loss I shall be thought to sustain . . . and if there be anything wrong in the transaction, it shall not lay at my door, but with those, who have taken advantage of Mistakes in a Conveyance, an Act of Attainder, or other worldly circumstances to deprive me and my Family of what must appear to all the world to be my Mother’s . . . deliberate intention. 69

Later, Duché was not so gracious when he wrote that Duffield held a property “that will consume him and his children if he and they do not repent and restore in time.” 70 Receiving the proceeds from his father’s estate was no less complicated. At first when Duché resigned his chaplaincy and moved to Sloane Street, he believed his financial future and that of his family was secure. Even though his would not be a life of luxury, he and his family would survive. Life in England had taught Duché a valuable lesson, the ability to “live within my means.” His father’s goodness had made his retirement possible. 71 Quickly, however, as the complications of receiving Thomas’s portion of the inheritance became obvious, Duché came to a different conclusion. He wrote that he might either move to France, stay in England, or someday return to Pennsylvania if permitted “where I can live upon the little Pittance of the Remainder of my dear Father’s Estate, which has escaped the general ruin in which it was involved.” 72 Now, without the income from the asylum, Duché and his family were living on what was left of his father’s inheritance to him and the small annuity of L100 he received from the government each year. This government annuity had been reduced from L150 around the time Duché became chaplain at the asylum suggesting that the position there was at least in some way an attempt by British authorities to compensate him for his loss of property in America. 73 The death of Duché’s son Thomas created financial chaos out of an already confused situation. Thomas left all of his property in England to his father, but his property in America—which was considerable due to his inheritance from his grandfather—he had to leave to his sisters. Duché wrote repeatedly to his attorney and friend Miers Fisher trying to clear up the complications of this issue on behalf of his daughters. 74 Not until 1791, did Duché see any hope of resolution to this matter. He wrote that now there is “some prospect of a final settlement of my children’s property” and asked Fisher for “a speedy remittance of what may appear to be their due.” A few months later it seems as if the family’s financial condition had not yet improved as Duché wrote that they were surviving on the “little pittance from government” and what was left of his father’s estate in England “comfortably with prudence.” 75 The deaths of his

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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father and his son had turned the family’s fortunes once again for the worse. His life in exile had turned out to be very different from the one he had experienced in America. Now, with nowhere else to turn, Duché once again considered the prospect of returning to America.

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NOTES 1. Jacob Duché, Sr., to William White, June 8, 1784, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 2. Jacob Duché to William White, June 8, 1784, MDHS. 3. Higham, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 459. 4. Duché, Discourses on Various Subjects (London: J. Phillips and T. Cadell, 1779). 5. Higham, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 392-93. The sermon was titled “A Sermon preached at St. Dunstan’s in the West, on Sunday, April 29, and at St. Mary Abbott’s, Kensington, on Sunday, July 25, 1781, for the Benefit of the Humane Society, Instituted for the Recovery of Persons apparently Dead by Drowning.” It was printed in London by James Phillips and the author was listed as Jacob Duché, M.A., Rector of Christ Church and St. Peter’s in Philadelphia. 6. An Account of the Institution and Proceedings of the Guardians of the Asylum or House of Refuge situate in the Parish of Lambeth, in the County of Surry for the Reception of Orphan Girls, 1782, HSP. 7. Ibid. 8. Samuel Shoemaker Diary, June 23, 1784, Samuel and Rebecca Shoemaker Diaries and Letters, 1780-1786, HSP. 9. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, February 22, 1786, Redwood Collection, HSP. 10. An Account of the Institution and Proceedings of the Guardians of the Asylum. 11. Julia S. Ward, The Life and Times of Bishop William White (Charleston, South Carolina: BibloBazaar, LLC, 2009), 30. Also see Bird Wilson, Memoir of the Life of the Right Reverend William White, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: James Kay, Jun. and Brother, 1839), 56. Bird notes that White found out about his appointment as chaplain to Congress on his way to Maryland and then headed directly to York where the Congress was gathering. William A. Pencak who is writing a soon to be released biography of White says that he was “a wholehearted revolutionary once he made up his mind.” 12. Jefferys, “St. Peter’s Church,” 252. 13. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 191. 14. Ibid., 194. 15. Pencak, “From Anglicans to Episcopalians,” 19-22; Gough, “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles,” 564-92. 16. Jacob Duché to William White, August 11, 1783, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS 17. Ibid. 18. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 200; Pencak, “From Anglicans to Episcopalians,” 22-23. 19. Jacob Duché to William White, August 2, 1784, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. One reason to assume that Duché was influential with British religious authorities is that one of the many British subscribers of his just published book of sermons was the Archbishop of Canterbury. 20. Jacob Duché to William White, December 1, 1784, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS; For more on Seabury see Bruce E. Steiner, Samuel Seabury, 1729-1796: A Study in the High Church Tradition (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1971). 21. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 203-4.

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22. Pencak, “From Anglicans to Episcopalians,” 27. 23. Jacob Duché to William White, January 30, 1786, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 24. Jacob Duché to William White, March 25, 1786, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 25. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 204. 26. Jacob Duché to William White, August 12, 1786, MDHS. 27. Jacob Duché to William White, March 25, 1786, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 28. Pencak, “From Anglicans to Episcopalians,” 28. 29. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 205. 30. Thomas Duché to William White, February, 1787, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 31. Dorr, Historical Account of Christ Church, 211. 32. Ibid., 189-90. 33. Ibid., 212. 34. Jacob Duché to William White, July 20, 1787, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS; Thomas Duché to William White, July 27, 1787, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 35. Garrett, “Spiritual Odyssey,” 151-52; The Swedenborg Digital Library, “A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (Revised)– Adapted from Samuel Warren,” accessed July 15, 2011, accessed May 1, 2012, www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org. 36. Charles Higham, “Rev. Jacob Duché and the Rev. William Hill,” New Church Magazine 28, 541-45, HSP. 37. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, February 7, 1785, Redwood Collection, HSP. 38. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, July 16, 1785, Redwood Collection, HSP. 39. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, February 22, 1786, Redwood Collection, HSP. 40. Al Gabay, “The Reverend Jacob Duché and the Advent of the New Church in England,” The New Philosophy 109 (2006): 381. 41. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, August, 1786, Fisher Family Papers, HSP; Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, December 6, 1786, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. Fisher is also famous for writing the anti-semitic letter Haym Solomon or having someone write it on his behalf. See Pencak, Jews and Gentiles. 42. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, August 18, 1791, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 43. Norton, The British-Americans, 70. 44. Ibid. 45. Gegenheimer, “Artist in Exile,” 7. 46. Shoemaker Diary, March 5, 1784, HSP. 47. Ibid., November 12, 1784, HSP. 48. Ibid., November 22, 1784, HSP. 49. Ibid., May 25, 1784, HSP. 50. Ibid., September 13, 1784, HSP. 51. Ibid., October 4, 1784, HSP. 52. Ibid., January 27, 1785, February 3, 1785, HSP. Mary Beth Norton has noted that most of the exiles were uncomfortable in England because they could only achieve the status of minor gentry. They simply were not as important in England as in America. 53. Norton, The British-Americans, 196. 54. Shoemaker Diary, February 21, 1785, September 14, 1784, HSP. 55. Jacob Duché to William White, February 12, 1784, Box 2, Folder 1780-1784, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 56. Jacob Duché to ______, May 5, 1785, Redwood Collection, HSP; Norton. 57. Shoemaker Diary, December 13, 1784, February 8, 1785, February 23, 1785, May 31, 1785; Jacob Duché to Andrew Doz, July 2, 1788, Fisher Family Papers, HSP.

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58. Norton, The British-Americans, 16-17. 59. Elizabeth Duché to Ann Coale, May 29, 1784, Redwood Collection, HSP. 60. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, May 6, 1785, Redwood Collection, HSP; Jacob Duché to Mary Hopkinson, May 15, 1785, Redwood Collection, HSP. 61. Jacob Duché to Andrew Doz, October 1, 1788, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 62. Ibid. 63. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, January 10, 1789, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. This letter notes the annual income for Duché while at the asylum to be L300. 64. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, April 7, 1790, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 65. Jacob Duché to Dr. Samuel Stringer Coale, April 7, 1790, Redwood Collection, HSP. 66. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, July 4, 1790, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 67. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, October 16, 1790, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 68. Jacob Duché to Andrew Doz, August 6, 1786, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 69. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, December 6, 1786, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 70. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, February 2, 1790, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 71. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, January 10, 1789, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 72. Jacob Duché to William White, March 10, 1789, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 73. Norton, The British-Americans, 54; Hugh Edward Egerton, ed., The Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists, 1783-1785 (New York: Arno Press, 1969), 199-201. The minister testified before the commission in 1784 that his living in America totaled L600 per year and included a salary of L300, a glebe of L100, and surplice fees of L200. Thus, once he left the asylum and the L300 salary there, the L100 living that remained was not at all comparable to what he enjoyed in America. 74. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, April 7, 1790, October 16, 1790, January 4, 1790, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 75. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, May 3, 1791, Fisher Family Papers, HSP.

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TEN

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Jacob Duché’s long exile in England came to an end only after painstaking effort which demonstrated that the minister always viewed America as his home. To achieve his goal, Duché had to make repeated attempts to win the favor and mercy of authorities in America. He had to solicit the support of his friends and former friends. It was a humiliating process, especially as he saw one exile after another granted permission to return while he waited for the indignation against him and his letter to finally subside. After the disappointment of his 1783 attempt to return to America, Duché had tried to accept the reality of permanent exile in England, even bringing his aged father to live with him and the rest of his family on the other side of the ocean. At the time, Duché assumed with great bitterness that he would live out his days far from his native land. But in 1786, his thoughts once again turned to America. The impetus for this new hope was the transformation occurring in the national and state governments back home. The Revolution had brought to the forefront a new, radical group of political leaders who supported independence and systematically pushed aside the old guard of conservative and moderate leaders. In Pennsylvania, the new radical leaders made independence from Great Britain the litmus test for loyalty to the American cause. Those who spoke against independence, before or after its realization, were designated traitors. Test acts and oaths of loyalty after independence made it illegal for anyone who chose to continue thinking about this issue to vote or hold office. The radicals had drawn the line in the sand and it rested on support for independence. Moderates, therefore, were forced either to keep their mouths shut or to go underground. Those who felt they could not make this choice reluctantly left the country.

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In 1786, however, the political tide had begun to turn. In national politics, the great weakness of the confederacy, its inability to provide a sound economic system for the country, and Shays’ rebellion combined to convince many that a change was necessary. This change would ultimately lead to the reemergence of the conservative-moderate element in American politics and to the writing of a new and much more conservative national constitution. 1 Many of these conservative-moderate leaders were old friends and colleagues of Jacob Duché. By 1786 in Pennsylvania, a second revolution, which had begun with the election of moderate John Dickinson as President of the state in 1782, was well underway. The election of the compromiser Benjamin Franklin to this same position in 1786 sealed the fate of the radical contingent. Within a year the test acts were repealed, the university was re-chartered, and the Pennsylvania delegation to the Continental Congress was reconstituted to include men who supported the writing of a new national constitution. Duché followed these developments closely and understood the opportunity they provided to him. In August of 1786, Duché wrote an interesting letter of inquiry to his cousin Andrew Doz. Duché analyzed the political situation in Philadelphia and projected that the city will rebound “after being properly humbled” and that it will then “rise with new luster and receive the blessings promised to National Repentance and Reformation.” Duché then asked Doz to solicit his friends as to the prospect of the minister’s return to America. Specifically, he wished Doz to make inquiries with Francis Hopkinson, Miers Fisher, and William White. From these members of the Duché inner circle he wanted to know if “all differences in Opinion is forgiven and forgotten on both sides.” He also asked Doz to get Franklin’s opinion on the matter. 2 This 1786 overture, however, did not produce the desired result and the minister made no further attempts for the next several years. Once again, Duché tried to resign himself to the idea that he would never return home. At this juncture, however, he still held out hope for what he acknowledged to be the unlikely prospect that the people themselves would call for his return. He held bitterness as well finding it particularly ironic that many of those who believed and thought as he did were still permitted “to breathe the air of America.” 3 In 1789, Duché tried again to get permission to return. The factors involved in this attempt included several new developments. First, his father’s death made life in England even more unbearable. He may have also seen his father’s death as an opportunity for him to receive some sympathy from Pennsylvania authorities. Second, the Revolution in France had caused him concern about the future stability of Europe. Third, and most importantly, the newly ratified constitution of 1787 which eliminated ex post facto laws and bills of attainder had brought a much more conservative element into power in America, an element that included many of his oldest and dearest friends, many of whom, like him, were reluctant about independence.

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Duché began his initiative to return with another letter to George Washington, his old friend and correspondent who had recently been elected as the first President of the United States. Duché wrote to Washington that America had experienced the “good Providence of God, and in none more so than in the Establishment of a Constitution, that promises Peace, Liberty and Comfort to all; and which in its essential Features has so near a Resemblance to that under which we were all born and educated, that the Mother may readily be known by the Child . . . of full Age—settled for herself in the world.” Duché wrote that he had long waited such a development since he believed it “would make every State open their Arms to the Return of all their exiled Citizens and suffer them to reside among them, either as British Subjects, if their Circumstances make it necessary to remain so, or as Fellow-Citizens of the United States, on their taking the usual Oath of Allegiance.” Duché noted that several states had already opened their doors to the exiles and that “many persons have returned, and are again comfortably settled among their Relations and Friends.” Unfortunately this was not the case in Pennsylvania. “The State of Pennsylvania had not yet done this,” he wrote, “and many natives of this State, who took a decided part against the Revolution, are at present excluded from a Return to America. . . .” Duché then made a more direct inquiry. He wondered if the matter might come before Washington and the new government and that if “myself and Family, among others, should be disposed to return to Philadelphia early next Spring,” might the refugees be “honoured with your Countenance and Protection.” He reminded Washington of the hospitality that he and Betsy had shown to Washington’s wife Martha on a day at their “Apartments in Germantown in the year 1776.” This courtesy probably occurred in December when many were fleeing Philadelphia to escape the chaos that had ensued because of the fear of British attack. Duché ended with “the most sincere good wishes and Prayers for the support and blessings of heaven to my country and countrymen, under your excellent” leadership. 4 Clearly, Washington’s support was the critical component for any potentiality of a successful return. But Duché was not content to rest everything on Washington, and for good reason. After writing to Washington, he wrote several other letters to his friends. In March he wrote a letter to William White. He told White that he was now living in a “snug little box” and was seeking permission to return to Pennsylvania. 5 The same day, Duché wrote to Miers Fisher that he was either going to move to France or America for health reasons. “My wishes,” he wrote, “would certainly lead me to dear Pennsylvania.” Then he asked Fisher to “let me hear your sentiments and the disposition of my countrymen in Pennsylvania with respect to the Return of their old Fellow Citizen.” 6 In August, Duché wrote again to Fisher of his physical need for a drier climate in winter and summer and that he was seeking the assistance of Francis

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Hopkinson and Benjamin Rush in securing permission for his return. “The Revolution that has taken place suddenly in France will probably soon be confined,” he wrote, “but not perhaps without producing further commotion in Europe.” This commotion, Duché thought, presented an opportunity for America. “If your government should open its Arms on this occasion,” he wrote, many exiles would probably return. 7 He also wrote to White of his concern regarding the Revolution in France and the possibility that those who had been “attainted” might be permitted to return. He concluded that this might bring significant “wealth” back to America. 8 Duché’s family also got involved in this attempt to secure permission to return. On June 5, Thomas expressed the sentiments of the family on the issue of returning to America in a letter to Miers Fisher: “I am happy to hear that by the incorporations of the City of Philadelphia, the restoration of the Charter of the College, the Abolition of the obnoxious Test laws . . . things are returning” to normal and that “moderation and harmony are about to be restored. . . .” The new constitutions were a critical aspect of this hope on whose “efficiency very much will depend.” 9 It was Elizabeth Duché, however, who most clearly demonstrated the mixed emotions that all of this talk of return brought to the exiles. During a trip to Bristol, she remarked that even though Bath is a beautiful city, she would choose “to live at Bristol for it is more like our dear Philadelphia.” Both cities, in her modest opinion, were far better than London. But return had its drawbacks for Elizabeth and she was very honest about them. She and her family had made a life for themselves in England. They had developed relationships and built a home there. “I feel as if between two powerful magnets,” she wrote, having established strong friendships in America and England and feeling a “strong attachment to friends in both countries.” 10 For the next several years Duché continued relentlessly to push friends in America to help him secure permission to return and to establish favorable conditions under which his return could safely occur. We will not return to America, he wrote to Fisher, “till we can set [our] Feet on [the] shores of Pennsylvania as much as Citizens, as free, as fully entitled to every privilege and immunity as we do now in England.” 11 To White he wrote that he had not received a reply from Washington as yet and that much depended on this. Otherwise, he wrote, there would be no escape from the “fogs and damps of this Island” which had left him sick with rheumatism all winter. 12 In June he sent a letter to White by the hand of John Penn and Andrew Allen, returning exiles who had received pardons. Again he mentioned his desire to return to “dear Philadelphia.” 13 To Fisher he wrote of his health issues and the departure of Penn and Allen. And again to White he wrote, “I cannot find myself free to settle in my Native Country without the Sanction of the Government of that Country and particularly that State in which I was born.” 14

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With the granting of pardons to Andrew Allen and others like him, the issue for Duché became acquiring a pardon of his own. Allen, like Duché, had been included in the notorious March 6 Act of Attainder. Allen was included because he had returned to Philadelphia with General Howe in the fall of 1777. 15 In contrast, Duché had written a private letter. Early in 1793, Duché wrote to White that he would like a pardon before he returned. If no pardon was forthcoming he would call himself a British subject and stay only for twelve months to get his affairs in order. 16 In lieu of a pardon, Duché’s return would be governed by the Fifth Article, a provision inserted into the Treaty of Paris to allow exiles to return safely to America on a temporary basis to get their affairs in order and recover lost property. 17 Duché expressed his intention to return with or without a pardon in a letter to Miers Fisher.

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From some circumstances I have heard here, I am led to think that a Pardon should be obtained, before I return to Philadelphia. This as in other cases might be secured thro the Recommendation of any of my good Old Friends to the Governor . . . I have a Confidence in their good Disposition to substitute this mode of application instead of a personal one, which as a British subject I might feel irksome to make. I call myself a British subject for under that Character I mean to return. Under that character too, I might, according to the Treaty of Peace remain 12 months to settle my affairs. But in case I should recover my health, I may be disposed to remain longer and I should wish to be restored to as many Privileges, particularly with respect to the acquisition of property, as may be consistent under the existing laws of Pennsylvania, with the allegiance I owe to Great Britain. 18

It is interesting to note that the first and only statement of Duché’s allegiance to Great Britain came as he was about to leave for America, a measure taken to protect himself when he arrived in the city where under old laws he could be hanged. Apparently, health considerations pushed Duché to leave earlier than he had expected. John Coombe, the son of Rev. Thomas Coombe, wrote to his grandfather on February 19, “The bad state of Mr. Duché’s health obliging him to quit this country so soon, affords an earlier opportunity for writing than we should have otherwise perhaps have had.” 19 Duché struggled with his health throughout his exile, frequently leaving the city of London for the country in order to get away from the stagnant air of the city. Trips to Bath, Bristol and other therapeutic locations were commonplace for Duché. 20 As time passed the English climate and Duché’s frail constitution caused his health to deteriorate significantly. He wrote before leaving England that he had become “quite an old man, nervous and rheumatic, though warm and affectionate in spirit.” 21 On March 6, Duché wrote one final letter from England informing William White that he was leaving on Sunday and that he would be aboard the Pigeon. Duché

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made two final requests of White, for prayer for the voyage which neither he nor Elizabeth looked forward to, and to make a final request of his friends for a pardon. 22 The fear of the dangerous voyage as well as the concern that he might be greeted unfavorably by the government of Pennsylvania plagued even his final week in exile. John R. Coombe summarized these concerns in a letter that recounted the good result of the voyage. “I am glad to hear Mr. Duché and his family have arrived safe in Philadelphia for he was under some apprehensions before leaving England of meeting with a French ship in his passage. I understand he has met with a kind reception in America. I suppose Philadelphia has become quite a city of fashion by this time.” 23 After fifteen painful years in exile, Jacob Duché was finally home. When he arrived in Philadelphia it quickly became clear that he would be received as an old friend and that, most importantly, he was no longer attainted of treason. Just a few weeks after he sailed from England, Governor Thomas Mifflin granted the attainted minister a pardon. The March 22 minutes records the following:

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In compliance with a respectable recommendation the Governor, this day granted a pardon to Jacob Duché the Younger who was attainted of High Treason under an Act of the General Assembly passed on the sixth day of March one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight . . . 24

While it is not known who recommended the pardon, the two most likely candidates were William White or George Washington. William White kindly received the Duché family into his home during their period of transition to their new life in Philadelphia. A few weeks after his return, Duché visited with George Washington and the President “treated him with great courtesy.” White wrote of this fascinating event, “During their [the Duchés] being with me, there took place the interesting incident of his visit to President Washington; who had been apprized of and assented to it, and manifested a generous sensibility on observing on the limbs of Mr. Duché, the effects of a slight stroke of paralysis sustained by him in England.” 25 What was said between the two men or if the infamous letter of 1777 was discussed is not known. Not long after the Duché family returned to Philadelphia, the yellow fever epidemic hit the city causing many inhabitants to flee. The event must have brought back memories for the Duché family of the times during the Revolution that the city was vacated by many of its inhabitants because of the fear of approaching British troops. As in 1777 before the British occupation, Duché chose to stay in the city and witness the horrors, and probably, though no evidence exists to support this, minister to the needs of those who were suffering along with White and the other Episcopal priests who we know did. 26

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The only other activity that we know that Duché participated in after his return to Philadelphia was his attempt to get elected as a Director of the Bank of Pennsylvania. Whether he participated in Swedenborgian associations in the city or won or lost this election is not known. What we do know is that he was back in Philadelphia, and for good or bad, that was better for him than any other place in the world. 27 The Duché family’s happy retirement in Philadelphia was short-lived. The family matriarch, Elizabeth, was killed in a freak household accident in 1797. 28 While opening a sash window, the sand-bag on the window fell on the back of her head with such force that she survived only a few hours. Elizabeth had been a wonderful mother and wife and was by all accounts an extraordinary person. She had cared for others her entire life, even in her last years. Her mother told Benjamin Rush that her daughter never went to bed “without checking on the comfort of her mother.” 29 Whether it was caring for her elderly mother or writing a note to thank a friend for a bag of “horse mint,” Elizabeth quietly lived out the sermons that her husband preached before thousands in England and America. 30 No stranger to trials of her own, she had endured the two year separation from her husband and the death of her son. She was a resourceful woman. She overcame her seasickness by taking off her spectacles before she ate so she could not see the food that nauseated her. 31 Late in life she lost so much of her hearing that she needed an ear-trumpet to carry on a conversation. Perhaps one story about Elizabeth more than any other demonstrates her depth of character. 32 Benjamin Rush recounted of Elizabeth, that she had once told him that “she would rather make a cup of caudle to please the palate of a sick person than discover a Georgium Sidius,” the Latin name in honor of King George III for William Herschel’s newly discovered planet of Uranus in 1781. 33 A few months before his wife’s tragic accident, Duché’s own health had deteriorated to the point that he had signed over a power of attorney to his attorney Raymond Keen. 34 Late in life, he was plagued with palsy, the effects of the stroke he had in England, rheumatism, and diabetes. Combined with these physical ailments, the loss of his dear wife Betsy was too much to bear. He only lived six months after her death. During that time, Duché suffered from bouts of hysteria during which he “sometimes laughed and cried alternately all day.” 35 On the morning of January 3, 1798 the feeble and broken former minister of Christ Church died. The Pennsylvania Gazette recorded the following: Died, in the morning of the 3d instant, the Rev. Jacob Duché. He was a good man and a good Christian; exemplary in his morals, mild and affectionate in his dispositions, and of universal benevolence. While disease and extreme infirmity clouded the latter years of a life, in its commencement unusually brilliant, they did not disturb that cheerfulness, resignation and equanimity, founded on the basis of unaffected

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Chapter 10 religion, which he possessed in an uncommon degree. ‘Blessed are they who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours.” 36

His two surviving daughters, without either of their parents present, were married within a year. Duché’s oldest daughter Esther married the Reverend William Hill, the follower of Swedenborg, on August 7, 1798. Hill died in 1804 at the age of 42. Esther remained in Philadelphia and continued in the Swedenborg movement until 1815 when she began travelling throughout Europe. She ended up in England where she assisted in the management of a children’s school until her death in 1835. 37 On May 23, 1799, Elizabeth married John Henry who became famous during the War of 1812 for uncovering a British plot to separate the New England states from the Union and was given a $50,000 reward by President James Madison. 38 Elizabeth Blois Henry, the daughter of Elizabeth and John, was baptized privately in Christ Church on July 26, 1804. 39 She may have been the only grandchild of Jacob Duché to survive into adulthood.

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NOTES 1. Woody Holton, Unruly Americans (New York: Hill and Wang, 2007). Holton demonstrates how the constitution was written by a group of leaders troubled by the excesses of democracy who wanted specifically to shore up the credit system by strengthening the creditor’s ability to collect debts and the ability of government to collect federal taxes, but that other Americans viewed the same situation very differently. For an alternative view see Terry Bouton, Taming Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). 2. Jacob Duché to Andrew Doz, August 6, 1786, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 3. Jacob Duché to Andrew Doz, August 12, 1788, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 4. Jacob Duché to George Washington, 1789, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 5. Jacob Duché to William White, March 10, 1789, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 6. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, March 10, 1789, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 7. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, August 6, 1789, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 8. Jacob Duché to William White, August 6, 1789, Box 2, Folder 1785-1789, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 9. Thomas Duché to Miers Fisher, June 5, 1789, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 10. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, December 3, 1789, Redwood Collection, HSP. 11. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, February 2, 1790, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 12. Jacob Duché to William White, February 1, 1792, Box 2, Folder 1790-1799, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 13. Jacob Duché to William White, June 10, 1792, Box 2, Folder 1790-1799, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 14. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, June 10, 1792, Fisher Family Papers, HSP. 15. Edward F. DeLancey, “Chief Justice William Allen,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 1 (1877): 209. 16. Jacob Duché to William White, January 1, 1793, Box 2, Folder 1790-1799, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 17. Norton, The British-Americans, 178. 18. Jacob Duché to Miers Fisher, January 1, 1793, Fisher Family Papers, HSP.

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19. John R. Coombe to Thomas Coombe, Sr., February 19, 1793, Coombe Papers, HSP. 20. Elizabeth Duché to Mary Hopkinson, December 3, 1789, Redwood Collection, HSP. 21. Jacob Duché to William White, June 10, 1792, Hanks-Smith Papers, MDHS. 22. Jacob Duché to William White, March 6, 1793, Box 2, Folder 1790-1799, HanksSmith Papers, MDHS. 23. John R. Coombe to Thomas Coombe, July 24, 1793, Coombe Papers, HSP. 24. Samuel Hazard, ed., Pennsylvania Archives (Philadelphia: Joseph Severns and Co., 1852), Series 9, Volume 1, Executive Minutes of Governor Thomas Mifflin, 17921794, 531. 25. Ward, Life and Times of Bishop White, 35; Higham, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 465-66; Corner, Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, 240. 26. Esther Duché to Jane Hopkinson, September 26, 1793, Redwood Collection, HSP. 27. Colonial Clergy, June 14, 1793, Gratz MSS, HSP; Jacob Duché, June 14, 1793, Autograph Collection, HSP. 28. Neill, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 93. 29. Corner, “Autobiography of Benjamin Rush,” 238. 30. Elizabeth Duché to My Dear Madam, November 30, 1795, Gratz MSS, HSP. 31. Corner, “Autobiography of Benjamin Rush,” 270. 32. Higham, “Rev. Jacob Duché,” 466. Higham’s reference is to Elizabeth’s obituary printed on June, 1797 in the Gentleman’s Magazine. 33. Corner, “Autobiography of Benjamin Rush,” 270. 34. Jacob Duché, January 4, 1797, Stauffer Collection, HSP. 35. Corner, “Autobiography of Benjamin Rush,” 240. 36. Pennsylvania Gazette, January 10, 1798. 37. Higham, “The Rev. Jacob Duché and the Rev. William Hill,” New Church Magazine 28, 541-45, HSP. 38. Dictionary of American Biography. 39. “Baptisms, 1763-1810,” Archives of Christ Church, Philadelphia (microfilm publication), Philadelphia, 1981.

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ELEVEN

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Conclusion

The American Revolution was a complicated event. It was a civil war within the British Empire and in Pennsylvania it was a civil war within a civil war. It was complex, unpredictable, and divisive. It made heroes out of some and villains out of others. On one level it was optimistic, bold, and visionary. On another level it was reactionary, nasty, and vindictive. And it was constantly changing. It varied according to issues of person, time, and place. Who you were, where you were, and at one point in time you were, mattered greatly. It was caused by British policies, fueled by internal dissensions, ideology, colonial irresponsibility, and economic grievances, and intensified by religion and emotion. Jacob Duché—the moderate Anglican minister from Philadelphia—found himself in the middle of it all. The renowned orator affected the Revolution as the minister of one of the most influential churches in America and a mentor to revolutionaries. In turn, the Revolution affected him as a BritishAmerican, a Pennsylvanian, an Anglican, and a man. In the end, his response to this extraordinary event turned his life upside down. The Revolution forced everyone in America to answer one fundamental question: do you support the Revolution? Those who answered yes were revolutionaries. It was not, however, one simple choice since the revolutionary agenda, both its tactics and its goals, changed significantly over time. In 1774, revolutionaries supported enforcement of a boycott of British goods designed to convince the British to repeal the Coercive Acts. In 1775, they supported armed resistance intended to restore constitutional rights. In 1776, they supported prosecution of a war whose purpose was to achieve a permanent separation from Great Britain. Thus, the fundamental question was actually three different questions that had to be answered at three distinct times. Radical revolutionaries tended to advance and accept this progression in the Revolution while moderate 181

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revolutionaries argued for a more cautious approach and sometimes found it difficult or impossible to continue to support the Revolution as it changed. It is conceivable, then, that in this fluid situation one might be a revolutionary at one point but not at another. As a cautious supporter of the enforcement of the boycotts and armed resistance, but not independence, Jacob Duché was a moderate revolutionary in 1774 and 1775, but not in 1776. Those who did not support the Revolution at a given time, like Duché after 1775, are best described as non-revolutionaries. Within this large group there was tremendous diversity. Loyalists opposed the Revolution from its start in 1774, but different loyalists expressed their opposition in different ways: active loyalists proclaimed their loyalty to Great Britain from the beginning and took action to support the British in some way while passive loyalists proclaimed their loyalty but did not take significant action. Neutrals tried to not take a side—some refused to risk choosing the wrong side, others saw no value in supporting either side, still others simply could not make up their minds. Pacifists refused to support the Revolution because they opposed war. Anti-independents became non-revolutionaries because they opposed independence. The disaffected opposed the Revolution because of something the revolutionaries did that offended them rather than out of loyalty to England. Jacob Duché became a non-revolutionary in 1776 after undergoing a process of disaffection brought about by independence and the activities of Pennsylvania’s radical constitutionalists. These groups, revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries, as well as their subgroups, were permeable rather than rigid. As Judith Van Buskirk has recognized, people with different viewpoints on the Revolution mixed together frequently, sometimes in ways that are quite surprising. 1 Individuals with opposing viewpoints of the Revolution attended church, led civic organizations, worked, lived, and socialized together. Then too, some of the sub-groups within the non-revolutionaries were so close that it was nearly impossible to tell them apart. A neutral, for instance, could easily be mistaken to be a passive loyalist by contemporaries and historians. This co-existence of opposing viewpoints in close proximity to each other was a reality for Jacob Duché, and at times a great complication. Wherever the minister went he could find those who agreed and disagreed with his views—in his family, among his colleagues, in his neighborhood, on the board of trustees of the College of Philadelphia, and especially in his wildly diverse congregation—but with whom he had to continue to work and live. This permeability also existed within individuals. While those at the extreme—active loyalists and radical revolutionaries—tended to hold their positions over time, those in the middle often adjusted their position as the Revolution changed. Some pacifist and anti-independent revolutionaries became neutral non-revolutionaries, some moderate revolution-

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aries became disaffected, and some neutrals, like William White, became revolutionaries. Others held their positions and tolerated the changes in the Revolution even though they opposed them in principle. It was normal for those in the middle, like Jacob Duché, to hold a variety of positions on the Revolution, sometimes because the individual changed, sometimes because the Revolution changed, and sometimes—if you lived in a place like Philadelphia—because the place where you lived experienced significant change. Thus, Jacob Duché could accurately be described as a moderate revolutionary, disaffected, anti-independent, and even a pacifist, depending on the time and stage of the Revolution. Ironically, the one designation for which Duché did not qualify, that of loyalist, is the one most often used to describe him. Since Lorenzo Sabine adopted the word, historians have used the term “loyalist” to describe almost all non-revolutionaries, those who were actually loyal to the British Empire throughout the Revolution and those who were not. As a revolutionary in 1774 and 1775, Duché falls into a group of individuals who ended as non-revolutionaries even though they supported the Revolution at first. Duché, and others like him, are best described as revolutionaries who became non-revolutionaries rather than as loyalists. The work of Janice Potter on the ideology of a more narrowly defined group of individuals who actually were loyal to the British throughout the Revolution is helpful as a point of comparison. According to Potter, loyalist ideology included the belief that man was evil rather than good, that reason not passion was the source of man’s freedom, that government policy must promote the public good rather than self-interest and personal ambition, that deference and respect for authority were an important check on the evils of democratic tyranny, and that controlling freedom is more important than maximizing it. Loyalists also argued that America and Britain were linked in three critical areas: by the British constitution, cultural and family ties, and trade. Based on this ideology and their view of the British-American relationship, loyalists concluded that the revolutionaries were conspiring to destroy this important relationship in the name of freedom and self-interest, and that they were, therefore, far more dangerous to the liberty of Americans than the British. 2 As a moderate who held mostly conservative principles, Duché agreed with most of the loyalist ideology and their view of the BritishAmerican relationship with two major exceptions. First, the minister’s view of the divine origins of civil liberty led him to accept the idea that the many could resist the tyranny of the few or the one. Second, as a revolutionary in 1774 and 1775, Duché did not accept the conclusion of the loyalists that the revolutionaries were more dangerous than the British. During that phase of the Revolution, the greater threat for Duché was the British government. After independence, however, because of the changes that the Revolution had brought, Duché began to view some of the revolutionaries as more dangerous than the British. At no point did

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Duché—before, during or after the Revolution—adopt a full-blown loyalist viewpoint. Determining who was and was not a revolutionary, was even more complicated for individuals living in Pennsylvania, a region that underwent an intense internal Revolution simultaneous to the larger Revolution within the British Empire. For those living in Philadelphia, which changed hands several times during the war, the situation was particularly tenuous. The presence of the Continental Congress in the city, the invasion and evacuation of a British army, and the ongoing struggle for control of the state between proprietary elites and radical constitutionalists, made the city a hotbed for controversy. Indeed, for anyone in the middle and especially those trying to avoid taking a side, Philadelphia was an uncomfortable place to live. Every decision was of greater importance, every idea had greater consequences, and every action raised greater alarm because it happened in this important revolutionary city. A large part of what thrust Jacob Duché into the political spotlight was that he was at critical moments of the Revolution in the critical place, Philadelphia. The internal Revolution in Pennsylvania made a difficult situation even worse, especially for those who opposed it. The radical constitutionalists seized the opportunity provided by the disruption created by the larger Revolution to overthrow the old, aristocratic power structures that allowed the elite to control the colony and gain advantages for themselves in the process. In so doing, Pennsylvania radicals initiated the creation of a more democratic system of government by removing property qualifications as requirements for political participation. At the same time, however, they endeavored to protect their accomplishment by systematically eliminating their old enemies from participation. In the process, the radicals made their “democratic” Revolution decidedly nondemocratic. As a wealthy member of the Philadelphia elite, an Anglican, a moderate, and an anti-independent, and because he chose to become chaplain to the independent Congress and then later write a letter expressing his opposition to independence and to that body, Jacob Duché became a target of the radical constitutionalists, some of whom were members of his own congregation. As a moderate and one of the elite, Duché’ had both an ideological and personal investment in the failure of the radical constitutionalists. This made it difficult if not impossible for him to find a middle way and led him in frustration to a harsh and angry disparagement of radical leaders, a path unusual and inconsistent for the otherwise benevolent minister. This choice brought a vindictive reprisal with drastic consequences for the minister and his family. Duché’s experience, however, was by no means the template for all those who opposed the radical constitutionalists. Many others of the same class and ideology, found a way to lose the battle over Pennsylvania—and even much of their privilege and position—but still survive to reestablish their

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careers in post-revolutionary America, a reality that haunted an embittered Duché later in life. In addition to the complications of being a resident of Philadelphia during the Revolution, another factor that made it almost impossible for Duché to avoid becoming a major figure in the Revolution was that he was a minister in the king’s church. As ministers in a church connected to the British government, each Anglican minister was required to take two oaths: one to the king and another to uphold the liturgy of the church, a form of worship which contained mandatory prayers for the king. These oaths made the loyalty of these ministers to the Revolution suspect. Anglican ministers’ loyalty was suspect for other reasons too. First, although the Anglican church was not established in the middle colonies, it did attract many of the most wealthy members of colonial society. In the midst of a Revolution that espoused popular sovereignty and egalitarianism, attacks on privilege were commonplace, and many viewed the Anglican church as privileged. Second, the unwillingness of church leaders in England to consecrate a bishop in America left ministers at times on their own to deal with complex issues. When those same ministers requested the appointment of an American bishop it raised suspicions among dissenters in America of a conspiracy to establish the Church of England in America. While many Anglican ministers were loyalists, as Nancy Rhoden has shown, many were also revolutionaries and almost as many were neutrals. 3 But here lies the problem for Anglican ministers: neutrality was not a viable option for them since to the radicals it was equivalent to loyalism. Radicals in Congress took advantage of this vulnerability by wisely targeting colonial ministers with requests to support fast days, open their churches for special sermons on these days, to omit prayers for the king from religious services, and other tactics designed in part to force these influential colonial figures to take a position on the Revolution, a tactic that placed Anglican ministers in a difficult position since complying with these requests could violate a sacred oath. Since only the Anglican ministers had to take the oaths—they were not required of other colonial ministers or Anglican laity—the Revolution quite possibly put them in a more difficult situation than any other Americans. In Pennsylvania, the Anglican church was not established, as it was in the south, nor persecuted, as it was in New England. But because many in its congregations were members of the proprietary gentry, the colonial elite that governed the colony along with the Quakers, it did have an air of privilege that drew suspicion. Some assumed because of this privilege and the association with the Church of England that Christ Church and St. Peter’s were loyalist churches, but this was not the case. Significant numbers of revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries attended these churches. Anglican ministers, vestrymen, and members of the congregations held a variety of political viewpoints on the Revolution. At Christ Church, Jacob Duché delivered sermons to radical independents, radical

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constitutionalists, moderates, anti-independents, neutrals, the disaffected, passive loyalists, active loyalists, and others who defy categorization. 4 At times these groups organized into factions seeking to force the ministers and church leaders to take political action. Managing these factions while maintaining oaths to king and liturgy was impossible, especially considering the fluid nature of the Revolution. Because the Anglican church was not established in Pennsylvania and there was no cohesive ecclesiastical structure for the church in America, a unified response to the Revolution by the ministers of these churches was impossible. In New England, Anglican ministers tended to be loyalists while in the South they tended to be patriots, but the response of the Anglican ministers of Pennsylvania defies simplistic explanation. While those on the frontier tended more toward loyalism, only two ministers were active loyalists while most of others were passive loyalists. In the city of Philadelphia, the ministers all began as moderate revolutionaries and then became non-revolutionaries after independence, except for one who began as a neutral and ironically became the only Anglican minister in the city to end up as a revolutionary. For most of the ministers who transitioned from revolutionary to non-revolutionary, omitting prayers for the king from the liturgy after independence was the point at which they broke ranks with the revolutionaries. As an Anglican minister who agreed to omit prayers for the king but then became a non-revolutionary anyway, Jacob Duché is somewhat of an anomaly within this group. Then too, the strong support for the Revolution given by Philadelphia’s Anglican ministers during its early stages should not be underestimated. This support provided legitimacy for the Revolution and most likely helped to disorient and divide loyalists in the city subsequently making it more difficult for them to develop a unified and cohesive response to the Revolution and become in the process a formidable opposition to it. Rhoden’s concept of the depoliticization of Anglican ministers also has relevance for the life of Jacob Duché. Rhoden argued, quite forcefully, that the Revolution forced or persuaded most Anglican ministers to withdraw from politics at some point. This process of depoliticization, for Duché, actually occurred in three phases. His first withdrawal from politics began toward the end of 1775 as radicalism and the movement toward independence overtook the Revolution and swept the moderates out of leadership. Independence itself forced him to return to politics first to answer the question of omitting prayers for the king from the liturgy and second to decide whether to become chaplain to Congress. The second withdrawal occurred in the fall of 1776 when the minister resigned his chaplaincy, but this too, like the first withdrawal, was interrupted by events, specifically the British occupation of Philadelphia which compelled Duché to write the letter to Washington. The third withdrawal began after Washington made the letter public which led to Duché’s

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departure for England. Once he left America, Duché was effectively depoliticized. The Revolution also had meaning for Jacob Duché on a very personal level. The Revolution challenged him as an Anglican, a member of the colonial elite, and as a Christian. As a member of Philadelphia’s proprietary gentry, Duché had much to lose and not much to gain from a permanent separation from the British Empire, and nothing at all to gain from the internal Revolution in Pennsylvania. As an Anglican, Duché believed deeply in the concept of via media or the middle way which led him to become a political mediator in the first place. As a Christian, a theology based on divine benevolence and free will led him first to the idea that man had personal responsibility for good and evil, and second to the idea of political liberty, but a liberty tempered by the responsibility of virtue. These religious ideas served as the underpinnings of his revolutionary prayers and sermons as well as his letter to Washington, the same theology at once used to justify and condemn rebellion, and which ultimately led him to separate entirely from the revolutionary movement. The Revolution and all the confusion it entailed brought out the best and worst in people including Jacob Duché. As a moderate political mediator for the revolutionaries, Jacob Duché acted courageously and according to principle on most occasions. Several of these instances are worth noting. Each placed the Anglican minister in great personal peril. Jacob Duché prayed to open the First Continental Congress and in so doing brought legitimacy to the proceedings and unified the delegates at the crucial inception stage of the Revolution. He preached political sermons to political leaders and soldiers lending his support for armed resistance of the British Empire that deftly used religion and emotion to stir revolutionary sentiment against the king who he had vowed to defend. He further violated his oaths as an Anglican minister by omitting prayers for the king from the liturgy after independence because he thought it the only way to keep his churches open and his congregations from disbanding. Finally, though he had participated in the rebellion and therefore had every reason to flee, he stayed in Philadelphia to minister to his congregation even as a British army approached the city. But the Revolution also elicited behaviors in Duché that were inconsistent and even contradictory. The two most blatant of these were his decision to accept the chaplaincy after independence and his letter to Washington. As a consistent anti-independent from the start, the acceptance of the chaplaincy created confusion about Duché that made his later actions hard to interpret. In retrospect, even he agreed that he should have declined. This was his first major political overreach. His letter to Washington, his second major political overreach, was ill-conceived, naïve, disparaging of his enemies, and just wrong on a number of key points. It lacked everything Duché loved: moderation, singularity, and the fundamental graces. The letter’s weaknesses overshadowed the

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courage it took to write it, the blatant honesty it contained, and its consistency. Though terribly misguided, the letter was a true reflection of the minister’s feelings at the time as well as a courageous attempt to bring a resolution to the conflict that was tearing the minister’s beloved world apart. Most importantly, taken together, the decision to become chaplain and the weaknesses in the letter confused a most important point, that Duché’s position on independence had actually never changed. The American Revolution both exalted and debased the man who delivered the most famous prayer of the Revolution and authored its most infamous letter. It exalted him to prominence as America’s first chaplain, the spiritual mediator to the men he called “Christian Patriots,” the same men who were leading a Revolution against the very authority to which he as an Anglican minister was responsible. It debased him by attainting him of treason, confiscating his significant property, and forcing him and his family into a long and painful exile in England. In the process it wrecked some of his closest friendships and destroyed his career in America. But the tragedy the Revolution brought on Duché at the same time presented opportunities to put his sermons into action, to demonstrate the personal responsibility necessary to overcome his extraordinary circumstances, and to continue to live as a Christian. By clinging tenaciously to his family, his faith, and his church, the exiled Anglican minister survived the Revolution. No doubt the Revolution had affected Jacob Duché as he had affected it, but it had not defined him. By preaching, shepherding those in need, and acting as a via media between British and American Anglicans after the Revolution, the man who revolutionaries at first championed as America’s first chaplain and a national hero, but later characterized as a traitor, continued to do the work of ministry to which he had been called long before the Revolution disrupted his pristine life in America. NOTES 1. Judith L. Van Buskirk, Generous Enemies. 2. Janice Potter, The Liberty We Seek. 3. Nancy Rhoden, Revolutionary Anglicanism. 4. The congregation of Christ Church included the following: James Humphreys (active loyalist), Edmund Physick (passive loyalist), Benjamin Chew (neutral), Edward Shippen (pacifist), John Penn (anti-independent), William Adcock (radical constitutionalist), James Wilson (radical independent), and Robert Morris (moderate revolutionary). Tench Coxe is an example of an individual who defied categorization.

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Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND REFERENCES Baumann, Roland M. Dissertations on Pennsylvania History, 1886-1976: A Bibliography. Harrisburg: Historical and Museum Commission, 1978. American Council of Learned Societies. Concise Dictionary of American Biography. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Cengage Gale, 1997. Drake, Francis. Dictionary of American Biography. 23 vols. Boston: Hougton, Osgood, and Company, 1879. Stephen, Leslie, and Lee, Sidney, eds. Dictionary of National Biography. 63 vols. London: Smith, Elder, and Company , 1885-1901. Evans, Charles. American Bibliography. 14 vols. Chicago: Peter Smith Publishers, Inc., 1981. Hamer, Philip M., ed. A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961. Manross, William Wilson. The Fulham Papers in the Lambeth Palace Library, American Colonial Section, Calendar and Indexes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.

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MANUSCRIPTS ARCHIVES OF CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, 1719-1749 Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, 1750-1762 Baptisms, 1763-1810 Marriages, 1763-1835 Burials, 1763-1831 Book of Common Prayer Correspondence and Other Records Rectors Vestry Minutes

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, PHILADELPHIA An Account of the Institution and Proceedings . . . of the Asylum . . . Autograph Collection Balch Papers Christ Church Hospital Papers Connarroe Papers Coombe Papers Cadwalader Collection 189

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Deeds D.S. Descendants of Anthony Duché of Philadelphia Dreer Collection Dr. William Smith Manuscripts The Duché Family Etting Papers Fisher Family Papers Gratz Collection Hopkinson Papers Howell Collection [Josephine R.] Jacobs Papers Logan Papers Powell Family Papers Penn Papers Penn Papers Private Correspondence Peters Papers Redwood Collection Samuel and Rebecca Shoemaker Diaries and Letters, 1780-1786 Shippen Papers Society Collection Stauffer Collection Wallace Collection [H.E.] Washington-Duché Letters

LAMBETH PALACE LIBRARY SPG Letters General Correspondence Manuscripts/Seckers Cabinet Ordination Papers, 1749-1775 Papers of the Bishop of London

LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA Smith Papers

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON D.C. Diaries of George Washington Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 Papers of George Washington

MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BALTIMORE Hanks-Smith Papers Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Redwood Collection, Typescripts Smith Papers

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NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEW YORK Digital Gallery Balch’s Loyalist Letters Loyalist Transcripts

PENNSYLVANIA STATE ARCHIVES, HARRISBURG Basic Documents of Pennsylvania, Including Proprietary Charters and Deeds, Indian Deeds, and State Constitutions, 1681-1873.

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PEYTON RANDOLPH HOUSE Randolph Funeral Sermon, Historical Report

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYVLANIA, PHILADELPHIA Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Minute Books PRINTED PRIMARY SOURCES CORRESPONDENCE, DIARIES, AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS Armes, Ethel, ed. Nancy Shippen Her Jounral Book. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1935. Balch, T.W., ed. Willing Letters and Papers. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane, and Scott, 1922. Burnett, Edmund C. Letters of Members of the Continental Congress. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute, 1923. Butterfield, L.H., ed. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961. Butterfield, L.H., ed. Letters of Benjamin Rush. 2 vols. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1951. Chase, Philander C. The Papers of George Washington. 4 vols. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Clark, Elmer T., ed. The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury. 3 vols. London: Epworth Press, 1958. Corner, George W., ed. The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush: His “Travels Through Life” together with his Common Place Book for 1789-1813. London: Oxford University Press, 1948. “Diary of James Allen, Esq., of Philadelphia.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 9 (1885): 176-96, 278-96, 424-41. “Extracts from the Journal of Miss Sarah Eve.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8 (1881): 26-27. Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Ben Franklin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964. Hopkinson, Francis. Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of Francis Hopkinson. Philadelphia, T. Dobson, 1792. Labaree, Leonard W., ed. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 37 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960. Packard Humanities Institute. “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.” Franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp. Smith, Albert H., ed.. The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1970. Smith, Paul H., ed. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789. 25 vols. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976- 2000. Tappert, Theodore G. and Doberstein, John W. eds. The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. 3 vols. Philadelphia: The Muhlenberg Press, 1942-1958. The Washington-Duché Letters. New York: Private, 1890. Wale, William, ed. George Whitefield Journals. London: Ye Olde St. Bride’s Presse, 1905.

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CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLETS, SERMONS, AND WRITINGS Alison, Francis and Ewing, John. An Address of Thanks to the Wardens of Christ Church. Philadelphia, 1764. An Address of the People call’d Quakers. Philadelphia: John Alderson, 1764. Cummings, Archibald. Faith absolutely necessary, but not sufficient to salvation without good works. Philadelphia: Andrew and William Bradford, 1740. Duché, Jacob. The American Vine. Philadelphia: James Humphreys, Jr., 1775. Duché, Jacob. Caspipina’s Letters. London: Bath, 1777. Duché, Jacob. Discourses on Various Subjects. London: J. Phillips and T. Cadell, 1779. Duché, Jacob. The Duty of Standing Fast in our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties. Philadelphia: James Humphreys, Jr., 1775. Duché, Jacob. Human Life a Pilgrimmage. Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1771. Duché, Jacob. The Life and Death of the Righteous. Philadelphia: Franklin and Hall, 1763. Duché, Jacob. Pennsylvania: A Poem. Philadelphia: Franklin and Hall, 1771. Duché, Jacob. A Sermon Preached at St. Dunstan’s . . . and at St. Abbott’s . . . London: James Phillips, 1781. Four Dissertations on the Reciprocal Advantages of a Perpetual Union Between Great Britain and Her Colonies. Philadelphia: College of Philadelphia, 1766. Smith, William. Discourses on Public Occasions in America. London: A. Millar, 1762. Smith, William. Eulogium. London: T. Cadell, 1792. Smith, William. A Sermon on the Present Situation of American Affairs. Philadelphia: James Humphrey, Jr., 1775. Williamson, Hugh. The Plain Dealer. Philadelphia: Andrew Stuart, 1764.

COLLECTIONS OF MINUTES, RECORDS, AND DOCUMENTS Barratt, Norris S. Outline of the History of Old St. Paul’s Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: The Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, 1917.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Bronson, William W. The Inscriptions in St. Peter’s Church Yard, Philadelphia. Camden, New Jersey, 1879. Egerton, Hugh E., ed. The Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists, 1783-1785. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Force, Peter, ed. American Archives. Series IV and V. 9 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904-1937. Ford, Worthington C., ed. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1785. Washington D.C.: 1904-1937. Gillette, A.J. Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1851. Hazard, Samuel, ed. Pennsylvania Archives. Philadelphia: Joseph Severns and Co., 1852. Hildeburn, Charles R. Baptisms and Burials From the Records of Christ Church, Philadelphia, 1709-1760. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1982. Hogan, Edmund, ed. The Pennsylvania State Trials: Containing the Impeachment, Trial, and Acquittal of Francis Hopkinson, and John Nicholson, Esquires. Philadelphia: Francis Bailey, 1794. Lesley, J.P. comp. Early Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . . . from 1744 to 1838. Philadelphia: McCalla and Stavely, 1884. Macdonald, William, ed. Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1899. Minutes and Letters of the Coetus of the German Reformed Congregation in Pennsylvania, 1747- 1792. Philadelphia: Reformed Church Publication Board, 1903. Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, 1683-1790. 16 vols. Philadelphia: T. Fenn; J. Stevens, 1838-1853. Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, From its Organization to the Termination of the Revolution. Harrisburg: Thomas Fenn and Co., 1832-1833. Montgomery, William. “Pew Renters of Christ Church, St. Peter’s, and St. James from 1776 to 1815, Compiled from Existing Records.” August 1948, typescript. American Philosophical Society Library. Proceedings of the Convention of the Province . . . January 23, 1775, and Continuing by Adjournment to the 28th. Philadelphia: William and Thomas Bradford, 1775. Perry, William S., ed. Historical Collections Relating to the American Colonial Church. 5 vols. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1969. Records of the Presbyterian Church. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1904. University of Pennsylvania. Biographical Catalogue of the Matriculates of the College, together with Lists of the Members of the College Faculty, and the Trustees, Officers, and Recipients of Honorary Degrees, 1749-1893. Philadelphia: Society of the Alumni, 1894.

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Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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SECONDARY WORKS

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PUBLISHED MATERIAL Abernathy, Thomas. Western Lands and the American Revolution. New York: Russell and Russell, 1937. Alexander, Jon K. “The Philadelphia Numbers Game: An Analysis of Philadelphia’s Eighteenth-Century Population.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 98 (1974): 314-24. Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Background of the American Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1931. Bailyn, Bernard, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967. Bailyn, Bernard. The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1974. Baldwin, Alice M. The New England Clergy and the American Revolution. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1928. Beard, Charles A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution. New York: Macmillan Company, 1913. Beckerdite, Luke and Hunter, Robert. “Earth Transformed: Early Southern Pottery at MESPA and Old Salem.” Magazine Antiques January (2007). Bell, James B. A War of Religion. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. Bell, James B. The Imperial Origins of the King’s Church, 1607-1783. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004. Benton, William A. Whig-Loyalism: An Aspect of Political Ideology in the American Revolutionary Era. Rutherford, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1969. Bernstein, Leonard. “The Working People of Philadelphia from Colonial Times to the General Strike of 1835.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 74 (1950): 322-39. Bonomi, Patricia U. Under the Cope of Heaven. USA: Oxford University Press, 1980. Bouton, Terry. Taming Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Breen, T.H. American Insurgents, American Patriots. New York: Hill and Wang, 2010. Bridenbaugh, Carl. Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic Faiths, Ideas, Personalities, and Politics, 1689-1775. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952. Brobeck, Stephen J. “Revolutionary Change in Colonial Philadelphia: The Brief Life of the Proprietary Gentry.” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 33 (1976): 410-34. Bronner, Edwin B. William Penn’s “Holy Experiment”: The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978. Bronner, Edwin B. “Village into Town, 1701-1765.” In Philadelphia – A 300 Year History, edited by Russell F. Weigley. London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1982. Brown, Robert E. Middle Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1955. Brown, Wallace. The Good-Americans: The Loyalists in the American Revolution. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1969. Brown, Wallace. The King’s Friends: The Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants. Providence, RI: Brown University Press, 1966. Brunhouse, Robert L. The Counter-Revolution in Pennsylvania, 1776-1790. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1942. Burnett, Edmund C. The Continental Congress. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941. Butler, Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990. Butler, Jon. The Huguenots in America: A Refugee People in a New World Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. Calam, John. Parsons and Pedagogues: the SPG Adventure in American Education. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Calhoon, Robert M. Political Moderation in America’s First Two Centuries. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Calhoon, Robert M. The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1760-1781. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc., 1973. Calhoon, Robert M. The Loyalist Perception and Other Essays. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989. Coleman, John M. Thomas McKean: Forgotten Leader of the Revolution. Rockaway, NJ: American Faculty Press, 1975. Coulter, Milton J. Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986. Davidson, Philip. Propaganda and the American Revolution, 1763-1783. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941. Davies, Horton. Worship and Theology in England: From Watts and Wesley to Maurice, 1690-1850. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1961. Davis, Derek H. Religion and the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Davis, Richard Beale. Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1978. DeLancey, Edward F. “Chief Justice William Allen.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 1 (1877): 202-11. Dellape, Kevin J. “Jacob Duché: Whig Loyalist?” Pennsylvania History 62 (1995): 293305. Doerflinger, Thomas M. “Philadelphia Merchants and the Logic of Moderation, 17601775.” William and Mary Quarterly Third Series, 40 (1983): 197-226. Doll, Peter M. Revolution, Religion and National Identity: Imperial Anglicanism in British North America, 1745-1795. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000. Dorr, Benjamin. Historical Account of Christ Church, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: R.S.H. George, 1841. Dunn, Mary Maples, and Dunn, Richard S. “The Founding, 1681-1701.” In Philadelphia–A 300 Year History, edited by Russell F. Weigley. London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1982. Edwards, David L. Christian England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980-1984. Elbert, Russell. The History of Quakerism. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942. Eustace, Nicole. Passion is the Gale. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. Farris, John T. Old Churches and Meeting-Houses in and around Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Washington Square Press, 1926. Frantz, John B. “’Prepare Thyself . . . to Meet the Lord thy God!’ Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution.” Pennsylvania Heritage (June, 1976): 28-32. Frantz, John B., and Pencak, William, eds. Beyond Philadelphia: The American Revolution in the Pennsylvania Hinterland. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University, 1998. Gabay, Al. “The Reverend Jacob Duché and the Advent of the New Church in England.” The New Philosophy: Journal of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. 109 (2006): 381-94. Garrett, Clarke. “The Spiritual Odyssey of Jacob Duché.” Society 119 (1975): 143-55. Gegenheimer, Albert F. “Artist in Exile: The Story of Thomas Spence Duché.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 79 (2000): 3-26. Gegenheimer, Albert F. William Smith, Educator and Churchman, 1727-1803. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1943. Gillingham, Harold E. “Pottery, China, and Glass Making in Philadelphia.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 54 (1930). Good, James I. History of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1725-1792. Reading: Daniel Miller, 1899. Gordon, Ann D. The College of Philadelphia, 1749-1779: Impact of an Institution. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1990.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Gough, Deborah M. Christ Church, Philadelphia: The Nation’s Church in a Changing City. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. Gough, Deborah M. “The Colonial Church: Founding the Church, 1697-1775.” In This Far by Faith: Tradition and Change in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, edited by David R. Contosta. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2012. Gruber, Ira. The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972. Hacker, Louis M. Triumph of American Capitalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. Hastings, George E. “Jacob Duché, First Chaplain of Congress.” South Atlantic Quarterly 31 (1932): 384-400. Hastings, George E. The Life and Works of Francis Hopkinson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926. Hawke, David F. In the Midst of a Revolution. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961. Heimert, Alan. Religion and the American Mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966. High, J. Walter. “Thomas Coombe, Loyalist.” Pennsylvania History 62 (1995): 276-92. Higham, Charles. “Rev. Jacob Duché.” New Church Magazine 15, HSP. Higham, Charles. “Rev. Jacob Duché and the Rev. William Hill.” New Church Magazine 28, HSP, 541-45. Holifield, E. Brooks. Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of the Puritans to the Civil War. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. Holme, Thomas. A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania in America. Ithaca, New York: Historic Urban Plans, 1965. Holmes, David L. Brief History of the Episcopal Church. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993. Hudson, Winthrop S. Religion in America. New York: Scribner, 1973. Illick, Joseph E., Jr. Colonial Pennsylvania: A History. New York: Charles Scibner’s Sons, 1976. Ireland, Owen S. Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics: Ratifying the Constitution in Pennsylvania. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995. Jackson, Joseph. Encyclopedia of Philadelphia. Harrisburg: The National Historical Association, 1931-1933. Jasanoff, Maya. Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Jasanoff, Maya. “The Other Side of Revolution: Loyalists in the British Empire.” William and Mary Quarterly 65:2 (2008). Jefferys, C.P.B. “St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia, 1753-1783.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 48 (1924): 39-65, 181-92, 251-69, 354-71. Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1940. Jordan, John W. Colonial Families of Philadelphia. 2 vols. New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911. Keith, Charles P. Provincial Counsellors of Pennsylvania, 1733-1776. Trenton: W.S. Sharp Printing Company, 1883. Kelley, Joseph J., Jr. Life and Times in Colonial Philadelphia. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books, 1973. Kelley, Joseph J., Jr. Pennsylvania: The Colonial Years, 1681-1776. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1980. Klett, Guy S. Presbyterians in Colonial Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1937. Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. Klein, Philip S. and Hogenboom, Ari. A History of Pennsylvania. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1980.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Klein, Randolph S. Portrait of an Early American Family: The Shippens of Pennsylvania Across Five Generations. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975. Labaree, Leonard W. Conservatism in Early American History. New York: New York University Press, 1948. Lemisch, Jesse. “Jack Tar in the Streets: Merchant Seamen in the Politics of Revolutionary America.” William and Mary Quarterly Third Series, 25 (1968): 371-407. Lemay, J.A. Leo. Ebenezer Kinnersley. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1964. Lincoln, Charles H. The Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania, 1760-1776. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1901. Lippincott, Horace M. The University of Pennsylvania, Franklin’s College. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1919. Lively, Bruce. “William Smith, the College and Academy of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Politics, 1753-1758.” Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 38 (1969): 237-58. Mancke, Elizabeth and Shammas, Carole, eds. The Creation of the British Atlantic World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 Maxson, Charles H. The Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1920. May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978. McAllister, James L., Jr. “Francis Alison and John Witherspoon: Political Philosophers and Revolutionaries.” Pennsylvania History 54 (1976): 33-60. Montgomery, Thomas H. A History of the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs and Company, 1900. Montross, Lynn. The Reluctant Rebels: The Story of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1950. Morgan, Edmund S. The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953. Myers, James P., The Ordeal of Thomas Barton: Anglican Missionary in the Pennsylvania Backcountry, 1755-1780. Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2010. Namier, Sir Lewis. England in the Age of the American Revolution. London: Macmillan, 1930. Nash, Gary B. “Poverty and Poor Relief in Pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia.” William and Mary Quarterly Third Series 33 (1976): 3-30. Nash, Gary B. “The Population of Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 99 (1975): 362-68. Neill, Edward D. “Rev. Jacob Duché, The First Chaplain of Congress.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2 (1878): 58-73. Nelson, William H. The American Tory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961. Nevin, Alfred. History of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: W.S. Fortescue, 1888. Norton, Mary Beth. The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England, 1774-1789. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1972. Oaks, Robert F. “Philadelphians in Exile: The Problem of Loyalty During the American Revolution.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 96 (1972): 298-325. Oberholtzer, Ellis P. Philadelphia: A History of the City and its People. Philadelphia: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. Olson, Alison. “The Pamphlet War over the Paxton Boys.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 123 (1999): 31-55. Ousterhout, Anne M. A State Divided: Opposition in Pennsylvania to the American Revolution. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 1987. Ousterhout, Anne M. The Most Learned Woman in America: A Life of Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004. Panichas, George A. ed. The Essential Russell Kirk. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2007.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Perry, William S. History of the American Episcopal Church. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1885. Pears, Thomas C., Jr. “Francis Alison.” Pennsylvania History 29 (1951): 213-15. Pencak, William A. America’s Burke: The Mind of Thomas Hutchinson. Washington: University Press of America, 1982. Pencak, William A. “From Anglicans to Episcopalians: The Revolutionary Years, 17751790,” In This Far by Faith: Tradition and Change in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, edited by David R. Contosta. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2012. Pencak, William A. Jews and Gentiles in Early America, 1654-1800. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2005. Pencak, William A. Pennsylvania’s Revolution. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010. Pennington, Edgar L. “The Anglican Clergy of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 63 (1939): 401-31. Pestana, Carla G. Protestant Empire: Religion and the Making of the British Atlantic World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. Potter, Janice. The Liberty We Seek: Loyalist Ideology in Colonial New York and Massachusetts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983. Rackove, Jack N. The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. Ramsey, David. The History of the American Revolution. Philadelphia: R. Aitken & Son, 1789. Reardon, John J. Peyton Randolph, 1721-1775: One Who Presided. Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1981. Rhoden, Nancy L. Revolutionary Anglicanism: The Colonial Church of England During the American Revolution. New York: New York University Press, 1999. Riforgiato, Leonard R. Missionary of Moderation: Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and the Lutheran Church in English America. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1980. Rightmyer, Nelson W. “Churches Under Enemy Occupation, Philadelphia, 17771778.” Church History 14 (1945): 33-60. Russell, Elbert. The History of Quakerism. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942. Ryerson, Richard A. The Revolution is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia, 1765-1776. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978. Sabine, Lorenzo. The American Loyalists, or Biographical Sketches of Adherents to the British Crown in the War of the Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1847. Secor, Robert et. al. eds. Pennsylvania: 1776. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975. Selsam, J. Paul. The Pennslvania Constitution of 1776. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936. Shelling, Richard I. “Benjamin Franklin and the Dr. Bray Associates.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 111 (October 1, 1987): 465-500. Siebert, Wilbur H. The Loyalists of Pennsylvania. Columbus, OH: The University at Columbus, 1920. Smith, Horace W. Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith. Philadelphia: Ferguson Brothers and Company, 1878. Smith, Page. John Adams. Vol 1. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1962. Steiner, Bruce E. Samuel Seabury, 1729-1796: A Study in the High Church Tradition. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1971. Stern, Mark. David Franks: Colonial Merchant. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010. Strong, Rowan. Anglicanism and the British Empire c. 1700-1850. USA: Oxford University Press, 2007. Souder, Casper, Jr. Carpenter’s Hall: The Meeting Place of the First Continental Congress. Philadelphia: King and Baird Printers, 1865. Sweet, William S. “The Role of the Clergy in the American Revolution.” Huntingdon Library Quarterly 11 (1947): 60.

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Thayer, Theodore. “Town into City, 1746-1765.” In Philadelphia – A 300 Year History, edited by Russell F. Weigley. London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1982. Tinkcom, Harry M. “The Revolutionary City, 1765-1783.” In Philadelphia – A 300 Year edited by Russell F. Weigley. London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1982. Tolles, Frederick B. Meeting House and Counting House: The Quaker Merchants of Colonial Philadelphia, 1682-1763. New York: W.W. Norton, 1963. Tolles, Frederick B. “The Culture of Early Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 81 (1957): 119-37. Torbet, Robert G. A Social History of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, 1707-1940. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1944. Treese, Lorett. The Storm Gathering: The Penn Family and the American Revolution. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992. Tyler, Moses C. The Literary History of the American Revolution. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897. Van Buskirk, Judith. Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. Van Tyne, Claude H. American Loyalist: Jared Ingersoll. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1920. Wallace, Paul A.W. The Muhlenbergs of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1950. Warden, G.B. “The Proprietary Group in Pennsylvania, 1754-1764.” The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 21 (1964): 367-89. Ward, Julia S. The Life and Times of Bishop White. Charleston, South Carolina: BibloBazaar, LLC, 2009. Watson, John F. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, in the Olden Time. Philadelphia: Edwin S. Stuart, 1891. Weems, Mason. A history of the life and death, virtues and exploits, of General George Washington. Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1800. Wellenreuther, Hermann, ed. The Revolution of the People: Thoughts and Documents on the Revolutionary Process in North America, 1774-1776. Gottinghem: University of Gottinghem, 2006. Wells, William V. The Life and Public Service of Samuel Adams. Vol. 2, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1865. Westcott, Thompson. Historic Mansions of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1877. Wilson, Bird. Memoir of the Life of the Right Reverend William White, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: James Kay, Jun. and Brother, 1839. Wood, Gordon S. Creation of the American Republic. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969. Woolverton, John F. Colonial Anglicanism in North America. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1984. Wright, Louis B. The Cultural Life of the American Colonies, 1607-1763. New York: Harper and Row, 1957. Wright, Robert E. “Thomas Willing (1731-1821): Philadelphia Financier and Forgotten Founding Father,” Pennsylvania History 63 (1996): 525-60. Young, Henry J. “Treason and its Punishment in Revolutionary Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 90 (1966): 287-313.

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Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

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Christian Classics Ethereal Library. “William Law, Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration.” www.ccel.org/ccel/law. Clare College, Cambridge. “Clare College History.” www.clare.cam.ac.uk/about/history.html. Diaries of George Washington, George Washington Papers, 1741-1799, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html. Penn, University Archives and Records Center. “Penn in the 18th Century.” www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html. Saint Peter’s Church. “A Brief History of St. Peter’s Church.” www.stpetersphila.org/ Default.aspx?tabid=73. The Swedenborg Digital Library. “A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (Revised)–Adapted from Samuel Warren.” www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org. University of Pennsylvania Archives, Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Minute Books http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/upa/upa1/upa1_1online.htmls .

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UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS Alexander, Jon. “The Disturbance of the Spring: the Attitude of Selected American Clergy toward the Use of Violence against British, 1763-1776.” Temple University, 1970. Ebinger, Warren R. “The Role of the Clergy the American Revolution.” American, 1976. Fairbanks, Joseph H. Jr. “Richard Peters (c.1704-1776), Provincial Secretary of Pennsylvania.” Arizona, 1972. Friary, Donald. “The Architecture of the Anglican Church in the American Colonies: A Study of Religious, Social, and Cultural Expression.” Pennsylvania, 1971. Giamini, Robert L. Anthony Duché Sr.: potter and merchant of Philadelphia. Dm.785, 119, HSP. Gough, Deborah, M. “Pluralism, Politics, and Power Struggles: The Church of England in Colonial Pennsylvania, 1695-1789.” University of Pennsylvania, 1978. High, John W., Jr. “The Philadelphia Loyalists, 1763-1783.” Temple University, 1975. Ingersoll, Elixabeth A. “Francis Alison: American Philosophe.” University of Delaware, 1974. Riforgiato, Leonard R. “Missionary of Moderation: Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and the Lutheran Church in English America.” Pennsylvania State University, 1971.

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Index

Academy of Philadelphia, 18 Adams, John: critical of Washington, 130; on Duché, 79–80, 90, 92n27, 131; in First Continental Congress, 1, 74, 77, 79–80; on independence, 101; on Howe committee, 109–110 Adams, Samuel, 1, 74–76, 80, 99, 101, 110, 130 Alison, Francis, 18, 44, 48, 50 Allen, Andrew, 100, 107, 109, 112, 118, 140, 163, 174–175 Allen, Betsy, 162 Allen, James, 119, 120, 140 Allentown, 122 Allen, William, 21, 48, 81, 82, 140 American bishop, 18, 38, 44, 50, 65–66, 76 American Magazine and Monthly Chronicle, 24 American Philosophical Society, 12, 65, 99 American Revolution: affect on Duché, 181–188; beginning of, 81; causes of, xx, 14n11, 181; non-revolutionaries, xix, 181–188; revolutionaries, xix, 181–188; radicals, xv, 181. See also revolutionaries; non-revolutionaries Andre, John, 119 Anglicans: attempt to Anglicize Lutherans, 43, 44–45; convention of 1760, 38; in First Continental Congress, 1; leaders of Proprietary Party, 21; relation with Lutherans, 43; relation with Quakers, 43; relation with Presbyterians, 43; Revolution, 72–73, 75–76, 80, 84, 90, 100, 104, 118–119, 185–187. See also Church of England antinomianism, 46

anti-proprietary party. See Quaker Party Apostles creed, 28, 157 Archbishop of Canterbury, 29, 36, 44, 45, 48 Arminianism, 57, 58 Arnold, Benedict, 119 Associator committees, 80–81, 82, 102, 106 asylum, 154–155 Athanasian creed, 156, 157 attainder, 138–141, 165 Ayers, Captain, 72 Bank of Pennsylvania, 177 Baptists, 43, 75–76 Bartlett, Josiah, 98 Barton, the Reverend Thomas, 38 Bath, 175 Battle of the Clouds, 122 Bettering House, 122 Biddle, Edward, 74 Biddle, Owen, 100, 106, 107 Bingham, William, 77 Bishop of London: Duché request for holy orders, 26; ordained Duché as deacon, 26; role in American church, 29, 38, 96, 105–106; Revolution, 84, 90, 133. See also Richard Terrick; Church of England Blair, James, 58–59 Bland, Richard, 126 Bond, Dr. Phineas, 118, 120 Book of Common Prayer, 28, 29, 76, 77, 103, 156 Boston, 1, 72, 76, 83 Bow Church, 154, 160 Braddock, General Edward, 21 Brandywine, 121 Braxton, Carter, 126

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202

Index

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Bristol, 175 British East India Company, 72 British Empire: accomplishments, 23; administration of colonies, 51, 66, 71–72; class system, 25; Revolution, 84–89, 110, 175. See also transAtlantic world; non-revolutionaries; Jacob Duché Bryan, George, 110, 120 Bryzelius, 45 Bull, George, 58 Bunch of Grapes Inn, 73 Caldwell, James, 108 Calvinism, 41, 57–58 Cambridge University, 25 Cannon, James, 99, 106, 110–111 Carpenter’s Hall, 1, 74–80 “The Case of the Episcopal Church in the United States Considered”, 155 Caspipina ’ s Letters, 59–68, 69n10 Cassandra, 100 Cato, 100 Chadd’s Ford, 121 Chandler, Thomas B., 162 Cheapside, 154, 160 Checkley, John, 59 Chelsea, 164 Chester, 72 Chew, Benjamin, 10, 21, 48, 49, 77, 82, 120 Christ Church: baptism of Elizabeth Blois Henry, 178; baptism of Jacob Duché, 6; bells removed, 121; building, 7, 61; Colonel Duché, 153; on Duché return, 148; founding, 7; omitting prayers for the king, 105; political involvement, 50; problems of, 27, 41, 97; revivals, 46–48; Revolution, 73, 79, 83–84, 98, 100, 103–104, 111; vestry, 26–27, 82–83, 95–96, 104, 117, 133, 137. See also Richard Peters; William Smith; Jacob Duché; Thomas Coombe; William White Church, Dr. Benjamin, 132 Church of England: Duché ordained a deacon in, 26; controversies in, 30; origin of church, 28; role in

American church, 105–106; structure, 29. See also Book of Common Prayer City Tavern, 72, 74 Clare Hall. See Cambridge University Clark, Abraham, 108 Clarkson, Joseph, 158 classical education, 20 Clowes, John, 159, 160, 161 Clymer, George, 73, 100, 106, 109, 110 Coercive Acts, 1, 72–73, 80 College of Mirania, 19 College of Philadelphia: board of directors, 11, 82; founding, 18–19; interdenominational cooperation, 45; trustees, 48–49; Revolution, 83, 118, 121 Colloquium Biblicus, 47–48 committee of correspondence, 73, 81 committee of forty-three, 74 committee of inspection and observation. See Second One Hundred committee of nineteen, 72, 73 committee of safety, 82 committee of sixty-six, 82 committee on tarring and feathering, 72 Common Sense, 98 Confiscation Bill, 140 Congregationalists, 75–76 Continental Army, 75, 83, 121–122, 127 continental association, 80 Continental Congress: arrest of suspected loyalists, 120; call for, 73–74; diversity of, 75; Duché chaplain of, 107–96, 111; first, 1, 74–80; flight to Lancaster, 122; independence, 101, 102, 106–107; response to Duché letter, 131–132; second, 81, 82–83, 83, 89, 90–91; support for constitution of 1787, 172. See also John Adams; Peyton Randolph; Howe committee; George Washington; attainder Conway Cabal, 130 Conway, Thomas, 130 Coombe, John, 175

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Index

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Coombe, the Reverend Thomas, 42, 59, 106, 118, 120–122, 175 Cooper, Dr. Samuel, 79 Cornwallis, Lord Charles, 121, 137 Council of Safety, 108 Cummings, the Reverend Archibald, 7, 40, 46 Cushing, Thomas, 75 Deane, Silas, 79, 84, 90 Declaration of Independence, 75 deism, 20, 57, 68, 99, 102 Delaware River, 17, 22, 59 Delawares, 8, 21 Denny, William, 11, 23 Dickinson, John, 21, 72–73, 90, 103, 107, 109, 111, 118, 146, 172 dissenters, 30, 44, 65 Doz, Andrew, 164, 172 Duane, James, 75, 79 Duché, Anthony, 2, 4, 4–5, 5 Duché, Colonel Jacob. See also proprietary gentry: advancement of son’s career, 26; birth of son, 2; building of mansion for son, 36; building of St. Peter’s Church, 11, 26; community involvement, 11; conversion to Anglicanism, 5; death of, 164; in exile, 153–154, 162; marriage to Esther Duffield, 9; member of upper class, 9; military involvement, 11, 23; occupation, 9; property, 10; public offices, 10; relation to Benjamin Franklin, 11, 23, 24; revivals, 46–48; vestry of Christ Church, 11, 117 Duché, Elizabeth: death, 177; exile, 142–144, 162–166, 174; expecting, 76; expulsion from home, 140–141; Duché letter to, 25; marriage to Jacob, 36–37, 177; relation to George Washington, 36; on Swedenborg, 160–161; trip to England, 141–142 Duché, Elizabeth Sophia, 76, 163, 178 Duché, Esther, 142–144, 161, 178 Duché, Mary Spence, 2, 18 Duché, the Reverend Jacob : abilities, xiii, 35; accused of loyalism, 133, 135n44, 138, 166; affect of

203 Revolution on, xv, 138, 181–188; on an American bishop, 44; The American Vine, 89; Anglican convention, 38; anticonstitutionalist, 110; asylum for orphan girls, 145, 154–155, 164, 166; attempts to return from exile, 144–149; attainder, 138–141, 145, 165; beliefs, xiv, 22, 30, 41, 55–68; bells of church removed, 121; benevolent deity, 56, 59, 63; birth, 2; British occupation of Philadelphia, 122–124; chaplain to congress, 71, 107–108, 111, 125; College of Philadelphia, 28, 48–49, 61–62, 82, 111, 118; on Coombe arrest, 120–121; death, 177–178; defeated in election of First One Hundred, 90; de-politicization of, 186–187; disaffection of, xv, 98–103, 111, 133; Discourses on Various Subjects, 154, 159; The Duty of Standing Fast, 84–89; education at Cambridge University, 18; education at College of Philadelphia, xiii, 18–20, 25, 38; education at New London Academy, 18; election as rector, 95–96; elitism, 63, 99, 187; Episcopal church in America, 155–159; evangelical morality, 55, 57, 59; exile, 133, 142–144, 153–155, 161–163; family in America, xv, 25, 36–37, 76, 107, 108, 177–178; family in exile, 140–144, 153–155, 162–166; free will, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59; fundamental graces, 67–68; on government, 64–65, 87; health issues, 175, 177; Howe committee, 109–110; imputed righteousness, 56, 57, 58; imputed sinfulness, 55, 56; independence, 87–88, 90, 95, 98–105, 106–107, 121–124, 125–129; inheritance issues of, 164–166; on interdenominational cooperation, 43–48, 50, 66; on Jewish controversy, 102; letter to Washington, xiii, xiv, 124–133; loyalism, xvi, 166; loyalist claimant, 166, 169n73; mansion across from St. Peter’s Church, 36;

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204

Index

on Morgan dismissal, 121; ministry, 25, 41, 76, 82, 97, 117; omitting prayers for the king, 103–106; orator, xiii; ordinations, 26; pardon of, 176; Pennsylvania: A Poem, 21–23; personal responsibility, 55, 57, 58, 59, 88; political philosophy, 22, 49–51, 59–65, 84–88; prayers before Congress, xiii, xiv, 1–2, 71, 75–79, 83, 92n30, 114n53; preaching in England, 27; relation to Benjamin Franklin, 23, 24; relation to Henry Muhlenberg, 45; relation to Peyton Randolph, 97–98; relation to Richard Peters, 40, 41, 42, 95, 108; relation to William Smith, 24, 27, 42, 90; attempt to return from exile, 144–146, 171–174; return to Philadelphia, 175–178; sermons, 71; sin nature, 55; style, 36; on Swedenborg, 159–161, 177; tolerance, 65; trip to England for ordination, 39; trip to England in 1777-1778, 137–138; universal grace, 55, 56, 56–57, 58; via media, xiii, 108, 156, 159 Duché, Sophia Maria, 39 Duché, Thomas Spence: birth, 38; death, 164–167; exile, 141, 143–144, 159, 163, 174; illness, 108; painting, 143, 162; on Swedenborg, 160–161 Duffield, John, 165 Duffield, Esther, 10, 18, 144, 163, 165–166 Duke de Choiseul, 127 Duke de Maurepas, 127 Easton, 122 enlightenment, 20, 57, 63 Ephrata cloister, 59, 66 Episcopal church in America, 155–159 Episcopal Convention, 156, 157, 157–158 evangelicalism, xiii, 18, 27, 30, 41, 42, 47 Eve, Sarah, 36 Ewing, the Reverend John, 50 Ferguson, Elizabeth Graeme, 130 Ferguson, Henry Hugh, 130

Fifth Article, 174 First Battalion, 84 First One Hundred, 90 First Presbyterian Church, 18 Fisher, Miers, 120, 161, 172, 173 Folsom, Nathaniel, 131 Forrester, 100 Fort Duquesne, 21 France, 17, 20–21, 127, 172 Franklin and Hall, 21 Franklin, Deborah, 49 Franklin, Benjamin: attempt to overthrow proprietors, 49–51; College of Philadelphia, 18, 20, 62; on Duché return, 144–146, 172; on Howe committee, 109–110; relation to Colonel Duché, 10, 11, 23; relation to Reverend Duché, 24, 49; Paxton Boys, 49; political involvement of, 23; revolutionary activities, 82, 90, 101, 103, 106, 108, 110 French Huguenots, 2, 5 Fulton, Robert, 162 Galloway, Joseph, 49, 74, 75, 81, 118, 139–140 Gates, General Horatio, 130 Georgium Sidius, 177 German Reformed, 43, 50 Germans, 21, 43. See also Henry Melchior Muhlenberg; Lutherans; German Reformed; Paxton Boys Germantown, 107, 130, 173 Graeme, Dr. Thomas, 130 Great Awakening, 30, 46–48, 55–56, 57, 58 Grenville’s Reforms, 51 Grew, Theophilus, 20 Hamilton, James, 21, 38, 112, 118, 120 Hampstead, 142, 154 Hancock, John, 74, 97, 107, 111, 121, 126 Hand-in-Hand Fire Company, 12 Harrison, Benjamin, 126 Henry, Elizabeth Blois, 178 Henry, John, 178 Henry, Patrick, 1, 74, 128 Herschel, William, 177 Hessians, 98, 122

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Index the Hermitage, 19 high church, 30 Hill, William, 160, 178 Historiography: Pennsylvania’s “democratic” revolution, xv, 13n1; Anglicans and the Revolution, xvi, 13n2, 105–106, 181–188; loyalism, xvi–xviii, 13n4–14n10, 181–188; Sabine, Lorenzo, xvi, 181–188 Hopkinson, Elizabeth. See Elizabeth Duché Hopkinson, Francis: correspondence on Duché return, 146, 172; helps Duché family get to England, 140–142; brother-in-law of Duché, 36; classmate, 20; friend of Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson, 130; response to Duché letter, 131 Hopkinson, Joseph, 36 Hopkinson, Mary, 36, 47 Howe, Admiral Lord, 69n33 Howe Committee, 109–110 Howe, General William, 109–110, 118, 121–124, 130, 131 Howell, Samuel, 100 Humane Society, 154, 167n5 humanism, 63 “The Humble Address of William Moore”, 24 Hume, David, 63 Humphreys, Charles, 74, 103, 109 Humphreys, James, 104, 107 Independence Hall. See State House Inglis, Dr. Charles, 163 Jay, John, 75, 107, 118 Jefferson, Thomas, 97, 103, 108 Jenny, the Reverend Robert, 27, 30, 38, 39, 59 Jewish controversy, 102 Jockey Club, 12 Kearsley, Dr. John, 97, 112, 139 Kearsley, Jr., Dr. John, 138 Keen, Raymond, 177 Keith, George, 59 Kepele, Henry, 50 Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 20

205

Kuhl, Frederick, 100, 106 Kulpsville, 130 Lambeth, 144, 154, 158 Lancaster, 122 Latta, James, 20 Laurens, Henry, 131 Law, William, 40, 55–58, 159 Lee, Richard Henry, 74, 102, 130 Lexington and Concord, 82 liberty, 62–64, 84–89, 120. See also Jacob Duché; free will Liberty Bell, 122 Library Company, 11, 61 low church, 30 loyalist claimants, 138 loyalists. See American Revolution; non-revolutionaries; Jacob Duché Lutherans, 43, 50. See also Germans; Henry Muhlenberg Madison, James, 178 Magaw, Samuel, 19 Manchester, England, 159, 160, 161 Marshall, Christopher, 99–102 Masonic Lodge, 109, 120 Matlack, Timothy, 99–102, 106, 111, 121 Matteson, T.H., 2, 13n8, 78 McClenachan, the Reverend William, 27, 38–39, 39, 46 McKean, Thomas, 18, 111, 140 Meredith, Samuel, 110 Mifflin, Thomas, 72–74, 130, 176 Milton, 25 Moore, William, 24 Morgan, Evan, 24 Morgan, John, 20, 36, 121 Morgan, Mary, 36, 148, 163 Morris, Robert, 102, 110, 118, 146 Morris, Robert Hunter, 22 Morse, Samuel F. B., 162 Morton, John, 74, 103, 148 Muhlenberg, the Reverend Henry Melchior: relation with Anglicans, 43, 45, 50; revivals, 47; Revolution, 83, 102, 123 Myer, Hans George, 10 mysticism. See Emanuel Swedenborg; Richard Peters

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Index

Neill, the Reverend Hugh, 47, 48 New London Academy, 18 Nicene creed, 28, 156, 157 Nixon, John, 106, 110 non-importation, 51, 80 non-revolutionaries: antiindependence, 90, 98–103, 118, 138; disaffected, 138; loyalists, 75, 81, 118, 122, 138; neutrals, 81, 138; pacifists, 81, 138. See also American Revolution

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oath of loyalty, 102, 109, 110, 119 Odell, the Reverend Jonathan, 119 Old Swedes Church, 5 Paine, Thomas, 98, 99 Paoli, 122 Paxton Boys, 49 Payne, John, 108 Peale, Charles Wilson, 162 Pemberton, Israel, 10 Pennington, Edward, 73 Penn, John of North Carolina, 131 Penn, John of Pennsylvania, 48, 77, 82, 120, 163, 174 Penn, Julianna, 145, 163 Penn, Richard, 21, 48, 145 Pennsylvania, 3–4 Pennsylvania Assembly, 11, 20, 81, 83, 99–101 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 106, 108–110, 110 Pennsylvania Gazette, 90, 96, 100, 106, 110, 177 Pennsylvania Hospital, 61, 109, 122 Pennsylvania Ledger, 132 Pennsylvania Packet, 74 Pennsylvania rifleman, 83 Penn, Thomas, 21 Penn, William, 3, 4, 17, 60, 62 Peters, the Reverend Richard: becomes rector, 40; beliefs, 27, 30, 40, 59, 118; College of Philadelphia, 48, 82; death, 108; family controversy, 40; friends with Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson, 130; health issues, 41; on Duché, 35; opposition to Franklin, 23–24; Proprietary Party, 21;

revivals, 46–47; response to Revolution, 73, 83; secular career, 40 Philadelphia: background on, 8; British occupation of, 122–123, 184; churches, 43, 61, 66; classes, 9, 61, 63; defense of, 102; development, 60; economy, 8–9, 15n43, 109, 112; importance during Revolution, 184; location, 8; protest of Stamp Act, 51; tea party, 72; effect of war on, 109 Philadelphia Baptist Church, 20 Philadelphia committee of correspondence, 82 Philadelphia Corporation, 11, 12 Philadelphia County Regiment, 11 Philadelphia Dancing Assembly, 9, 12 Physick, Edmund, 104 Porter, the Reverend, 42 Powel, Elizabeth, 148 Powel, Samuel, 77, 79, 112, 118 Presbyterians: College of Philadelphia, 48; relation to Anglicans, 36, 44; revolutionary activities, 75–76, 123; support of Proprietary Party, 21; synod, 39. See also American bishop presbytery of Letterkenny, 18 Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, 18 proprietary gentry, 11–12, 16n66 Proprietary Party, 20, 21, 81, 101, 110 Provincial Conference, 73–74, 82, 102 Provincial Convention, 102 Puritans, 1. See also dissenters Putnam, Israel, 112 Quaker Party, 11, 20, 21, 23, 49–51 Quakers: accomplishments, 65; beliefs, 3; in First Continental Congress, 1; persecution of, 3, 119; relations with Anglicans, 43; response to Revolution, 73, 75, 90, 100, 101, 118 Randolph, Peyton, 71, 74, 76, 97–98, 99, 126 rationalism, 27, 30, 42, 59 Reed, George, 18, 118 Reed, Joseph, 72–73, 80, 142 regiment for Philadelphia County, 23 Republican Society, 110

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Index

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Revere, Paul, 72 revolutionaries, 72–74; moderate, 74–75, 81, 83, 98–103, 106–107, 118, 172; radical, 74–75, 81–83, 98–103, 106, 119–121. See also American Revolution Rhoads, Samuel, 74 Rittenhouse, David, 106 Rivington’s New York Gazette, 146 Roberdeau, Daniel, 100, 106 Robinson’s Tavern, 12 Roman Catholics, 43, 101 Ross, George, 74, 83, 106 Rush, Benjamin, 35, 42, 99–102, 109, 130, 174 Rutledge, Edward, 75, 109–110, 118 Saratoga, 132 Schlosser, George, 106 Scots-Irish, 49 Scottish Highlanders, 122 Seabury, the Reverend Samuel, 157, 163 Second One Hundred, 98, 99 Shawnees, 21 Shippen, Edward, 48, 104, 112, 118, 120 Shippen, William, 48, 118, 121 Shoemaker, Samuel, 118, 120, 154, 162–163 Society Hill, 38, 41 Society of Friends. See Quakers Sons of St. Tammany, 12 Southwark Theater, 123 smallpox, 109 Smith, William: arrest for libel, 24; arrest by radicals, 120, 122; beliefs, 27, 30, 42, 59; College of Philadelphia, 19, 20, 48, 62, 99; Episcopal bishop, 158; Proprietary Party, 21, 24, 50; relation to Duché, 42, 130; relation to Germans, 45; response to Stamp Act, 51; revolutionary activities, 72, 73, 84, 90, 100; A Sermon on the Present Situation of American Affairs, 84 Stamp Act, 51 Stamp Act Congress, 75 State House, 8, 21, 49, 61, 72–73, 102, 106, 122

207

Staten Island, 109 St. John’s Church, 159 St. Paul’s Church, 28, 39, 59 St. Peter’s Church, 7, 26, 38, 79, 122 St. Regale Fishing Company, 12 Stuart, Gilbert, 162 Sturgeon, the Reverend William, 27, 30, 38, 39, 40 Suffolk Resolves, 80 Supreme Executive Council, 120–121, 142 Swedenborg, Emanuel, 67, 159 Swedish Lutherans, 43. See also Carl Magnus Wrangel Swift, Joseph, 104, 163 Tea Act, 72 Terrick, Richard, 39 Theosophical Society, 161 Thirty-nine Articles, 28 Thomson, Charles, 18, 73 Thorndike, Herbert, 58 Tory, xvi, 83, 101, 109, 118. See also nonrevolutionaries Townshend Acts, 51 Townshend, Charles, 25 trans-Atlantic world, 22, 31n22, 46, 60, 66, 137 Treaty of Paris, 175 Trumbull, John, 162 tuberculosis, 164 University of Edinburgh, 18 Universalism, 41 Virgil, 25 Voltaire, 63 Ward, Samuel, 79 War of 1812, 178 Warren’s Tavern, 122 Washington , George: commander of continental army, 83, 121–122; Duché letter to, 124–133, 146; on Duché return from exile, 146, 147–148, 149, 173; in First Continental Congress, 1, 74, 79, 98; relation to Elizabeth Hopkinson, 36; sermon dedicated to, 90

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208

Wilcox (Wilcocks), Alexander, 100, 104 Williamson, Hugh, 19 Williams, William, 132 Willing, Richard, 104 Willing, Thomas, 48, 73, 77, 82, 100, 103, 107, 109 Wilson, James, 103, 110, 111, 118 Wilson, Matthew, 18 Wrangel, the Reverend Carl Magnus, 43, 45, 47, 49, 161 yellow fever, 17, 176 York, 122 Young, Thomas, 99 Zion Lutheran Church, 90

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Washington, Martha, 173 Wesley, the Reverend John, 58 West, Benjamin, 20, 130, 144, 160, 162 Whigs, xvi, 81, 90. See also revolutionaries Whitefield building, 19 Whitefield, the Reverend George, 27, 35, 46–47, 58 White, the Reverend William, 42; as assistant to Duché, 118; beliefs, 59; College of Philadelphia, 118; on Duché as preacher, 35; on Duché return, 145, 147, 172, 173, 174; Episcopal church founding, 155–159; response to Revolution, 106, 122

Index

Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.

About the Author

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Kevin Dellape is an adjunct instructor of history at Saint Francis University and the founder and director of Backyard Ministries, a Christian ministry to children who live in government housing projects. He was formely an adjunct instructor of history at Penn State Altoona, and the superintendent of Belleville Mennonite School. In 1996, he founded Great Commission Schools, an independent Christian school in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He is the author of two articles on Jacob Duché and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Messiah College and a Master of Arts degree from the Pennsylvania State University.

209 Dellape, Kevin J.. America's First Chaplain : The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché, Lehigh University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/detail.action?docID=1504568. Created from nottingham on 2021-04-11 21:46:33.