John Joachim Zubly
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Reverend John Joachim Zubly (August 27, 1724 – July 23, 1781), born Hans Joachim Züblin, was a Swiss-born
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
pastor, planter, and statesman during the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. Although a delegate for
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to the Continental Congress in 1775, he resisted independence from Great Britain and became a Loyalist.


Early life and career

Zubly was born in St. Gall, Switzerland on August 27, 1724. He was ordained to the German eformedChurch ministry in London on 19 August 1744. Following that, he came to South Carolina, where his father David Zublin had settled near the Savannah River in 1735. He preached first at small congregations south of Savannah. In 1746 he married Anna Tobler, daughter of Appenzell Ausserrhoden governor and later New Windsor Township founder Johannes Tobler. He then spent 10 years as minister at the Wappetaw Church near Charleston, SC, an interesting congregation composed largely of descendants of a shipwreck that carried Congregationalists from New England. In 1756 he visited and preached to a congregation in
Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
. They were so impressed with him that he was later invited to their newly created pulpit. So in 1760 he moved to Savannah and became the first pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church there. Reverend Zubly's relationship to the Revolution reflects the confusion and conflict inherent in the shift of ideas during his time. Zubly's Calvinist religious beliefs made him an outspoken and influential supporter of the colonists' rights. By 1775, Zubly had come to view what he saw as the increasingly secular and godless resistance of the colonies with alarm. Many view his career as moving from a staunch defender of colonial rights, to an apologist for the monarchy, to a loyalist and opponent of republican government. However, it was his religious beliefs that remained constant, while the political environment shifted around him.


Start of the revolution

After the Stamp Act in 1765, some of his sermons began to be issued as pamphlets, most notably ''An Humble Enquiry Into the Nature of the Dependency of the American Colonies upon the Parliament of Great-Britain and the Right of Parliament to Lay Taxes on the said Colonies.'' His reasoning helped to clarify the differences and relationships between constitutions, legislatures, laws, and people. Bernard Bailyn credits him with making important contributions to the consideration of representative legislatures by identifying some of the issues involved. In the period leading up to the Revolution, he was not a member of the Georgia Assembly. But, he was frequently called on to open their sessions with prayer and a sermon. Georgia was not represented in the First Continental Congress of 1774, but in July 1775, they held a revolutionary congress in Savannah and Zubly was named as one of their delegates to the Second Continental Congress in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. In 1774 he published ''Great Britain's right to tax her colonies, placed in the clearest light, by a Swiss''.


The Continental Congress

John Zubly took his seat as a delegate in Philadelphia on September 15, 1775. Early in his time at the Congress he expressed his position by saying, "I came here with two views; one, to secure the rights of America; second, a reconciliation with Great Britain.". His distance from the sentiments of the Congress as a whole widened during debates over non-importation or trade embargoes. Georgia's development was so recent that she lacked even the limited manufacturing capabilities that existed in most of the other colonies, and it was the least self-sufficient of any. As the other delegates argued for unity and conformance with the majority views, he became increasingly outspoken. By October 12, as the debate continued he observed that "Trade is important.... Wisdom is better than weapons of war. We don't mean to oppose Great Britain, merely for diversion; if it is necessary, that we make war, and that we have the means of it." When pushed he declared that "A republican government is little better than government of devils." By mid-November Zubly was on his way back to Savannah. The Congress had accused him of disloyalty since he was still carrying on a correspondence with his friend, James Wright, the Royal Governor of Georgia. He resumed his pulpit, and still sought a reconciliation in which Britain would respect colonists' rights.


Exile and return

As the revolutionary fervor rose in Georgia, the
Council of Safety In the American Revolution, committees of correspondence, committees of inspection (also known as committees of observation), and committees of safety were different local committees of Patriots that became a shadow government; they took control ...
decided that his "going at large will... endanger the public safety". So on July 1, 1776
Archibald Bulloch Archibald Stobo Bulloch (January 1, 1730 – February 22, 1777) was a lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Georgia during the American Revolution. He was the first governor of Georgia. He was also a great-grandfather of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, ...
ordered his arrest, but Zubly was able to escape and find refuge with his family in South Carolina. Half his property was seized, and his library was thrown into the Savannah River by Georgians. When the British recaptured Savannah in 1778 he was able to return home. Beginning in August 1780, the Savannah newspaper ''The Royal Georgia Gazette'' published a series of nine essays written by Zubly, who used the pseudonym of Helvetius. In these essays, Zubly laid out his case for opposing the American Revolution. Zubly made the case that the revolutionists were violating both God's law and international law. He died in Savannah on July 23, 1781 before the end of the American Revolution. Though it is rumored that he is buried at Savannah's Colonial Cemetery, his grave has never been found.


References


Further reading

* McBride, Spencer W. ''Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America.'' Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016. *Kenneth Coleman; ''American Revolution in Georgia 1763-1789.'' 1958, University of Georgia Press, . *Randall Miller, editor. ''A Warm and Zealous Spirit: John J. Zubly and the American Revolution, A Selection of His Writings''; 1982, Mercer University Press, . *Jim Schmidt; "The Reverend John Joachim Zubly's 'The Law of Liberty' Sermon: Calvinist Opposition to the American Revolution", ''The Georgia Historical Quarterly'', Vol. LXXXII, No. 2, Summer, 1998. *Zubly, John J.; ''Revolutionary Tracts.'' A short reprint of some of his sermons and pamphlets; . *Hawes, Lilla Mills, ed. 1989
''The Journal of the Reverend John Joachim Zubly A.M., D.D. March 5, 1770 through June 22, 1781.''
''Georgia Historical Society Collections'', Volume XXI. Savannah: The Georgia Historical Society.


External links



at
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Rev. John J. Zubly
Biography of the Loyalist preacher
New Georgia Encyclopedia Biography of Zubly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zubly, John Joachim 1724 births 1781 deaths American people of Swiss-German descent Continental Congressmen from Georgia (U.S. state) 18th-century American politicians Loyalists in the American Revolution from Georgia (U.S. state) People from St. Gallen (city) Swiss emigrants to the United States