Jacob Green’s Revolution. S. Scott Rohrer

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      JACOB GREEN’S REVOLUTION

      Jacob Green’s Revolution

      RADICAL RELIGION AND REFORM IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE

      S. SCOTTROHRER

      THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

      UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA

      Library of Congress

      Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Rohrer, S. Scott, 1957– , author.

      Jacob Green’s revolution : radical religion and reform in a revolutionary age / S. Scott Rohrer.

      pages cm

      Summary: “Examines the ways religion influenced reform during the American Revolution in New Jersey. Focuses on two pivotal figures: Jacob Green, a Presbyterian minister who advocated revolution, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler, an Anglican minister and a leading loyalist spokesman”—Provided by publisher.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-271-06421-5 (cloth : alk. paper)

      1. Green, Jacob, 1722–1790. 2. Presbyterian Church—

      New Jersey—Morris County—Clergy—Biography.

      3. New Jersey—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Biography. 4. Morris County (N.J.)—Biography.

      5. New Jersey—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—

      Religious aspects. 6. United States—History—

      Revolution, 1775–1783—Religious aspects.

      7. Calvinism—United States—History—18th century.

      8. Chandler, Thomas Bradbury, 1726–1790.

      I. Title.

      E263.N5R64 2014

      974.9'03092—dc23

      [B]

      2014011342

      Copyright © 2014

      The Pennsylvania State University

      All rights reserved

      Printed in the United States of America

      Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,

      University Park, PA 16802-1003

      The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the

      Association of American University Presses.

      It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press

      to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock

      satisfy the minimum requirements of American National

      Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of

      Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.

      This book is printed on paper that

      contains 30% post-consumer waste.

      To Jeff, David, and the Mountain Lakes gang—

      friends from the beginning

      Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

PART I: THE WORLDS OF JACOB GREEN AND THOMAS BRADBURY CHANDLER

1 Student

2 Pastor

3 Father

       4 Farmer-Miller-Physician-Teacher

       PART II: REVOLUTIONARY THINKERS AND THE TRIALS OF WAR

       5 Polemicist

       6 Revolutionary

       7 Politician

       8 Host

       PART III: REFORMERS ON THE HOME FRONT

       9 Crusader

       10 Dissenter

       11 Disciplinarian

       Epilogue

       Notes

       Index

Illustrations

      FIGURES

       1 Thomas Bradbury Chandler

       2 Hanover’s Presbyterian meetinghouse

       3 A Jacob Green sermon in Weston’s shorthand

       4 Weston’s manual

       5 The Greens’ parsonage

       6 Vision of Hell tract

       7 Observations tract

       8 Ashbel Green

      MAPS

       1 Hanover and Elizabeth Town

       2 Jacob Green’s New England

      TABLES

       1 May 1776 vote for Provincial Congress

       2 Winning candidates in Morris County

       3 Slaveholding in Hanover

       4 Jacob Green’s sermon texts

Preface

      The journey has been a winding one—marked, as rocker Neil Young might sing, by a few devilish turns along a twisted road.

      When I finished my previous book on Protestant migrations in America, I knew I wanted to return to my first love, the topic that led me to become a historian in the first place—the American Revolution. My initial idea was to study a Presbyterian community in the revolutionary