134 Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America

In Colonial America, clergymen stood as thought leaders in their local communities. They stood at the head of their congregations and many community members looked to them for knowledge and insight about the world around them.

So what happened to these trusted, educated men during the American Revolution? How did they choose their political allegiances? And what work did they undertake to aid or hinder the revolutionary cause?

Spencer McBride, an editor at the Joseph Smith Papers documentary editing project, joins us to explore some of the ways politics and religion intersected during the American Revolution with details from his book, Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/134

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
• William and Mary Quarterly
• Episode 105: Josh Piker, How Historians Publish History (Behind-the-Scenes of the WMQ)

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 045: Spencer McBride, Joseph Smith and the Founding of Mormonism
• Episode 112: Mary Beth Norton, The Tea Crisis of 1773
• Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life & Ideas of Thomas Jefferson
• Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances
• Episode 129: John Bell, The Road to Concord
• Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History

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