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American Presbyterians
Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture. Throughout US History, Presbyterians have played a prominent role in society. From originally arriving in the new world in the early 1640's, they formed the first Presbytery in 1706 under Rev. Francis Makemie in Philadelphia. Presbyterians largely came from Scotland or Ulster (Northern Ireland today) to the middle colonies, most commonly Pennsylvania. Princeton University was established in 1746 by Presbyterians (Particularly Jonathan Dickinson and Aaron Burr Sr.) to rigorously educate clergymen in alignment to the theology pioneered by William Tennent, and later went on to produce the " Princeton Theologians" such as Charles Hodge. Under the influence of Scottish theologians like Samuel Rutherford, Presbyterians largely believed in the idea that "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God", as stated first by John ...
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William Tennent
William Tennent (1673 – May 6, 1746) was an early Scottish American Presbyterian minister and educator in British North America. Early life Tennent was born in Mid Calder, Linlithgowshire, Scotland, in 1673. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1695 and was ordained probably in the Church of Scotland in 1706. He moved to Ulster as chaplain to the Hamiltons, who had considerable land and influence and worshipped in Vinecash Presbyterian Church, Co Armagh where a "blue plaque" to commemorate him was unveiled in 2025. He migrated to the Thirteen Colonies in 1718, arriving in the colony of Pennsylvania at the urging of his wife's cousin James Logan, a Scots-Irish Quaker and close friend of William Penn. In 1726 he was called to a pastorate at the Neshaminy-Warwick Presbyterian Church in present-day Warminster, where he stayed for the remainder of his life. The Log College In 1727 Tennent established a religious school in a log cabin that became famous as the ...
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George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with George as its king. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-elector of Electorate of Hanover, Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the first monarch of the House of Hanover who was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover. George was born during the reign of his paternal grandfather, George II of Great Britain, King George II, as the first son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Following his father's death in 1751, Prince George became heir apparent and Prince of Wales. He succeeded to the throne on George II's death in 1760. Th ...
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American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war. However, Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war in the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris two years later, in 1783, in which the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and ...
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American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American Revolutionary War, which was launched on April 19, 1775, in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Leaders of the American Revolution were Founding Fathers of the United States, colonial separatist leaders who, as British subjects, initially Olive Branch Petition, sought incremental levels of autonomy but came to embrace the cause of full independence and the necessity of prevailing in the Revolutionary War to obtain it. The Second Continental Congress, which represented the colonies and convened in present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia, formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief in June 1775, and unanimously adopted the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence ...
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Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots (also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or Whigs) were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who opposed the Kingdom of Great Britain's control and governance during the colonial era and supported and helped launch the American Revolution that ultimately established American independence. Patriot politicians led colonial opposition to British policies regarding the American colonies, eventually building support for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. After the American Revolutionary War began the year before, in 1775, many patriots assimilated into the Continental Army, which was commanded by George Washington and which ultimately secured victory against the British Army, leading the British to end their involvement in the war and acknowledge the sovereign independence of the colonies, reflected in the Treaty of Paris, which led to the establishment of the Un ...
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Tyrant
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means. The original Greek term meant an absolute sovereign who came to power without constitutional right, yet the word had a neutral connotation during the Archaic and early Classical periods. However, Greek philosopher Plato saw ''tyrannos'' as a negative form of government, and on account of the decisive influence of philosophy on politics, deemed tyranny the "fourth and worst disorder of a state."Plato, ''The Republic'' Book VIII The philosophers Plato and Aristotle defined a tyrant as a person who rules without law, using extreme and cruel methods against both his own people and others. The ''Encyclopédie'' defined the term as a usurper of sovereign power who makes "his subjects the victims of his passions and unjust ...
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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the nation's first United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president of the United States, vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and Natural law, natural rights, and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. Jefferson was born into the Colony of Virginia's planter class, dependent on slavery in the colonial history of the United States, slave labor. During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia in the Second Continental Congress, which unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. ...
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Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a Committee of Five, drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence; and the first United States Postmaster General, postmaster general. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Franklin became a successful Early American publishers and printers, newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' at age 23. He became wealthy publishing this and ''Poor Richard's Almanack'', which he wrote under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767, he was associated with the ''Pennsylvania Chronicle'', a newspaper known for it ...
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Jonathan Mayhew
Jonathan Mayhew (October 8, 1720 – July 9, 1766) was a noted American Congregational minister at Old West Church, Boston, Massachusetts. Early life Mayhew was born at Martha's Vineyard, being fifth in descent from Thomas Mayhew (1592–1682), an early settler and the grantee (1641) of Martha's Vineyard and adjacent islands. Thomas Mayhew, Jr. (1622–1657), his son John (d. 1689) and John's son, Experience Mayhew (1673–1758), were active missionaries among the Indians of Marthas Vineyard and the vicinity. Mayhew graduated from Harvard College in 1744 and in 1749 received the degree of D.D. from the University of Aberdeen. Theological views So liberal were his theological views that when he was to be ordained minister of the West Church in Boston in 1747, only two ministers attended the first council called for the ordination, and it was necessary to summon a second council. Mayhew's preaching made his church essentially the first Unitarian Congregational church in Ne ...
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Lex, Rex
''Lex, Rex'' is a book by the Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford. The book, written in English, was published in 1644 with the subtitle "The Law and the Prince". Published in response to Bishop John Maxwell's "Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas", it was intended to be a comprehensive defence of the Scottish Presbyterian ideal in politics. The book defends the rule of law and the lawfulness of defensive wars (including pre-emptive wars) and advocates limited government and constitutionalism in politics and the "Two Kingdoms" theory of Church-State relations (which advocated distinct realms of church and state but opposed religious toleration). Rutherford's ''Lex, Rex'' utilizes arguments from Scripture, Natural Law and Scottish law, and along with the sixteenth century '' Vindiciae contra tyrannos'', it attacked royal absolutism and emphasized the importance of the covenant and the rule of law (by which Rutherford included Divine Law and Natural Law as well as positiv ...
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John Knox
John Knox ( – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lothian, Knox is believed to have been educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish Church. He was caught up in the and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal David Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent Mary of Guise. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled to England on his release in 1549. While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he rose in the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. He exerted a reforming influence on the text of the ''Book of Common Prayer''. In England, he met and married hi ...
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