Pastors and the American Revolution

Recently I decided to look into the part pastors played in leading up to, and through, the American Revolution.

Many of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were pastors. It seems pastors routinely preached against the tyranny of the King, especially the acts against religious freedom. Many Anglicans remained loyal to the king, as would be expected, but many did not. Even prayers were changed from praying for the health etc of the king to be prayers for Congress. Many of these pastors, of various denominations, stepped out of the pulpit and fought. They carried their Bible in one hand and a musket in the other.


http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html
http://www.newswithviews.com/Anghis/roger183.htm
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/revwar.html
http://www.christianheritagemins.org/articles/Preachers and Pulpits of the American Revolution.pdf


As I said, I just started digging a bit.

Any thoughts?

Does anyone have any books they'd recommend on this? I'd especially appreciate being able to read the applicable sermons.

 

Last night just before bed I found this. It's The Pulpit of the American Revolution. I downloaded it as an epub file for my iPhone. I saved it to my laptop first then did a drag and drop to my library.

http://archive.org/details/thepulpit00thoruoft


What treasures you have found!

I skimmed through this "Pulpit" and it made me sick to see what our Nation has become. God help us. :tear:

 

It would seem to me that in the 1960's the "separation of church and state" got redefined. America was started as a Christian nation, but with no expressly endorsed denomination. In fact the phrase isn't even part of our founding documents.

However, I am trying to stay focused on the role pastors played in American society in that era for now. One thing I am really wanting to see is the Scriptures and rationale for preaching against the king, and even joining the fight directly.