“The Torrent Bore Down All before Them”: Boston's Church Communities and Public Discourse during the Revolutionary Era

     My poster will depict my recent dissertation research which focuses on Boston’s churches during the revolutionary era.  This work draws upon church records, sermons, and the writings of ministers, church members, and other individuals to argue that Boston-area churches played a vital role in the politics leading to – and present during – the American Revolution.  Many of these churches consisted of religious dissenters who drew upon their traditional fears of the Anglican Church and Stuart tyranny to form impassioned political communities actively working to support resistance to British imperial policies.  In contrast, the city’s Anglican churches worked to support the imperial government.  Boston’s churches were influential centers of public discourse which provided breeding grounds for political ideas and were important tools for spreading those notions and facilitating political actions.  In addition, these churches’ positions as centers of political discourse enabled them to sanctified resistance to British policies and ultimately revolution.  They created in indelible link between religious and political spheres that shaped revolutionary thought and influenced the manner in which political resistance manifested itself.

     The prominent role of Boston’s churches in the political discourse of the revolutionary era sheds light upon the nature of the American Revolution and the vital role of religion in what has often been viewed as a purely secular event.  Boston’s churches were deeply involved in the politics of the day and contributed in important ways to the development and ultimate success of the revolutionary movement.  By examining all the church communities of one particularly important city this research provides a necessary understanding of this critical contribution.  It was not just ministers and religious ideology which contributed to the revolutionary movement – entire church communities were involved and important to the political life of their institutions.  And their influence reached well beyond their doors.  These church communities spread political ideology, encouraged political participation, provided religious sanction for political actions, organized resistance, and supported their congregations through difficult times.  For all these reasons, Boston’s churches were important to political developments during the revolutionary era.

     In approaching churches as centers of public discourse, my research follows in the footsteps of Jurgen Habermas’ The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society and the many works that sprang from his proposal that a new kind of “public sphere” developed in the eighteenth century which allowed for a free discussion and exchange of ideas.  Several historians have demonstrated how ideas were exchanged in taverns, coffeehouses, within freemasonry, and in many other settings – ultimately manifesting themselves in political action.  Similarly, my research demonstrates that churches were more than places where people went to worship and establishes the important political discourse that developed as a result of the activities and exchange of ideas which took place within these institutions.  These churches were part of the vibrant public sphere in the city and must be considered when studying the resistance movement in order to understand it more completely.