A Short History of Freethought Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 of 2

Chapter XX · EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES

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1. Perhaps the most signal of all the proofs of the change wrought in the opinion of the civilized world in the eighteenth century is the fact that at the time of the War of Independence the leading statesmen of the American colonies were deists. Such were Benjamin Franklin, the diplomatist of the Revolution; Thomas Paine, its prophet and inspirer; Washington, its commander; and Jefferson, its typical legislator. But for these four men the American Revolution probably could not have been accomplished in that age; and they thus represent in a peculiar degree the power of new ideas, in fit conditions, to transform societies, at least politically. On the other hand, the fashion in which their relation to the creeds of their time has been garbled, alike in American and English histories, proves how completely they were in advance of the average thought of their day; and also how effectively the mere institutional influence of creeds can arrest a nation’s mental development. It is still one of the stock doctrines of religious sociology in England and America that deism, miscalled atheism, wrought the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution; when as a matter of fact the same deism was at the head of affairs in the American.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · John Wesley in his Journal, dating May, 1737, speaks of having everywhere met many more “converts to infidelity” than “converts to Popery,” Note 2 · Such is the wording of the passage in the Autobiography in the Edinburgh edition of 1803, p. 25, which follows the French translation of the Note 3 · Only in 1784, however, appeared the first anti-Christian work published in America, Ethan Allen’s Reason the only Oracle of Man. As to its p Note 4 · Autobiography, Bettany’s ed. pp. 56, 65, 74, 77, etc. ↑Note 5 · Letter of March 9, 1790. Id. p. 636. ↑Note 6 · Cp. J. T. Morse’s Thomas Jefferson, pp. 339–40. ↑Note 7 · MS. cited by Dr. Conway, Life of Paine, ii, 310–11. ↑Note 8 · Memoirs of Jefferson, 1829, iv, 300–301. The date is 1817. These and other passages exhibiting Jefferson’s deism are cited in Rayner’s Sketc Note 9 · Memoirs of Jefferson, iv, 331. ↑Note 10 · Dr. Conway, Life of Paine, ii, 310. ↑Note 11 · Extract from Jefferson’s Journal under date February 1, 1800, in the Memoirs, iv, 512. Gouverneur Morris, whom Jefferson further cites as to Note 12 · Compare the testimony given by the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Albany, in 1831, as cited by R. D. Owen in his Discussion on the Authenticity of the Note 13 · So far as is known, Paine was the first writer to use the expression “the religion of Humanity.” See Conway’s Life of Paine, ii, 206. To Pai Note 14 · Cp. Conway’s Life of Paine, ii, 205–207. ↑Note 15 · A letter of Franklin to someone who had shown him a freethinking manuscript, advising against its publication (Bettany’s ed. p. 620), has be Note 16 · Conway, Life of Paine, ii, 254–55. ↑Note 17 · See Dr. Conway’s chapter, “The American Inquisition,” vol. ii, ch. xvi; also pp. 361–62, 374, 379. The falsity of the ordinary charges again Note 18 · Conway, ii, 371. ↑Note 19 · See the details in Conway’s Life, ii, 280–81, and note. He had also a scheme for a gunpowder motor (id. and i, 240), and various other remar Note 20 · Conway, ii, 362–71. ↑Note 21 · Testimonies quoted by R. D. Owen, as cited, pp. 231–32. ↑Note 22 · Conway, ii, 422. ↑Note 23 · 2. The rise of rationalism in the colonies must be traced in the main to the imported English literature of the eighteenth century; for the Note 24 · 3. Similarly prudent was Jefferson, who, like Franklin and Paine, extolled the Gospel Jesus and his teachings, but rejected the notion of su Note 25 · 4. Nothing in American culture-history more clearly proves the last proposition than the case of Thomas Paine, the virtual founder of modern Note 26 · 5. Its immediate effect was much greater in Britain, where his Rights of Man had already won him a vast popularity in the teeth of the most Note 27 · 6. The habit of reticence or dissimulation among American public men was only too surely confirmed by the treatment meted out to Paine. Few