Massachusetts Governor Caleb Strong urged New Englanders to fast. Touching on his region’s roots in English history he denounced the war “against the nation from which we are descended, and which for many generations has been the bulwark of the religion we profess.”[1]
Congregationalist clergyman Elijah Parish preached, “proclaim an honourable neutrality; let the southern Heroes fight their own battles and guard…against the just vengeance of their lacerated slaves…Break those chains, under which you have sullenly murmured, during the long, long reign of democracy;….and once more breathe that free, commercial air of New England which you fathers always enjoyed…Protest did I say, protest? Forbid this war to proceed in New-England”[2]
Congregationalist churches in New England were not the only ones to protest. John Gardiner, an Episcopal priest from Boston preached “…[either] cut the connexion” [with the South] “or so far alter the national constitution, as to ensure yourselves a due share in the government.” He added “…this portion of the disunited states should take care of itself…The time has arrived when common prudence is pusillanimity, and moderation has ceased to be a virtue.”[3]
How New Englanders Reacted to War with Britain (continued)
Look for it Monday, June 30
[1] James M. Banner, Jr. To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts 1789-1815, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf) 306-7.
[2] Banner, To the Hartford Convention, 307.
[3] Banner, To the Hartford Convention, 307.
