John Witherspoon of Princeton — patriot
By: William Myers
John Witherspoon (1723-1794), Presbyterian minister, president of Princeton University (originally The College of New Jersey) and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was one of the most influential of our nation’s founders.
Evaluating the legacy of the Revolutionary generation, Witherspoon’s contemporaries were certain that his name would be renowned after others had been forgotten. Instead, other patriots who were not remotely as active, devoted and significant in the cause of the American republic have become mythical figures, while Witherspoon is remembered simply as a signer of the Declaration when he is remembered at all.
When Samuel Finley, the president of The College of New Jersey, died in 1766, the trustees elected Witherspoon as his replacement. Witherspoon was not an educator. He was known primarily as the author of "Ecclesiastical Characteristics," a popular satire of Enlightenment skeptics and moderate Presbyterian liberals. To the trustees, the satire was reminiscent of similar struggles between their conservative "New Light" movement and its opponents, the "Old Light" liberals.
The vicious rivalry between the Old and New Light movements had ended with unification in 1758, but a new schism had formed between the synods of New York (New Light) and Philadelphia (Old Light). The college, facing a financial crisis and possible dissolution, became an object of contention. Without a president, its influence was waning, and the Old Light clergy, led by Francis Alison, sought to take control. As an outsider, Witherspoon was seen as a unifying force. Also, his Scottish Evangelical origins were compatible with New Light beliefs.
American Colonists, among them Witherspoon, considered themselves Britons. Prior to the Revolution, they had traced their liberty in the way we do to 1776 to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which had established Protestant dominion of the English throne through the accession of Prince William III of Orange-Nassau, who accepted a constitutional monarchy and a bill of rights. Many Colonists had fought in defense of Britain in Europe and America. Witherspoon, for instance, had raised a militia company to defend England during the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. (Though he never participated in battle, he was taken captive.)
When Witherspoon immigrated to America in 1768, the rights of the Colonists as British subjects were diminishing. In New Jersey, it was feared that the recently chartered Queen’s College (Rutgers University, 1766) would install a bishop as a means to assert royal authority. Witherspoon had opposed similar measures in Scotland a factor in his election as college president.
A ‘natural revolutionary’
Princeton’s trustees recognized Witherspoon as a natural revolutionary. As president of the college, Witherspoon produced more patriots for the American Revolution and the new republic than any other institution in the Colonies. The college had been founded to provide Presbyterian congregations with educated ministers but, under Witherspoon, it turned out statesmen and soldiers, as well. In 1774 Witherspoon assured John Adams his students were "all Sons of Liberty."
Witherspoon’s ideas regarding personal virtue, civic responsibility and freedom were well suited to revolutionary Americans. He preached the right of the people to resist oppressive rule and professed the Christian belief in Original Sin as it relates to the inherent fallibility of man and governments. He also professed freedom of religious belief that religious faith originates with personal conscience rather than church authority.
During the Revolutionary War, a series of character sketches of the principal American patriots was circulated in England. The Reverend John Vardill assessed Witherspoon as "An Able- indefatigable- Cunning- well informed Person- Great talents + address- a Zealot, a Republican, but prone to the love of Power + Riches." As for his supposed love of wealth, Witherspoon rejected an offer by a wealthy relative to be designated sole heir if he stayed in Scotland. John Adams, however, commented that Witherspoon was among those wealthy clergymen who "thought a part of Christ’s Kingdom was of this world."
As the trustees of The College of New Jersey met in Nassau Hall on April 17, 1776, Witherspoon was uncharacteristically absent. Unknown to those present, he had organized a joint meeting of New Jersey’s County Committees to be held in New Brunswick at 10 o’clock the following morning. The purpose of the meeting was to promote independence from Great Britain.
An account of the proceedings is preserved by Elias Boudinot, who happened to be passing through New Brunswick at 11 and learned of the gathering. Witherspoon delivered a speech of an hour and a half, using every effort of persuasion in favor of independence. Boudinot himself opposed the idea, as did the many of those in attendance. Two men asked Boudinot to warn Witherspoon that if he did not desist from his call for independence, they could not guarantee his safety.
‘Truly inexpressible moment’
Witherspoon was elected as a New Jersey delegate to the Second Continental Congress, the body that would determine independence. Witherspoon wrote, "I look upon the cause of America at present to be a matter of truly inexpressible moment. The State of the human race through a great part of the globe, for ages to come, depends upon it." Witherspoon’s arguments from this crucial period are preserved in several pieces, most significantly, "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men," a sermon delivered at Nassau Hall on May 17, 1776. Witherspoon expressed a belief that an independent America would ultimately benefit Great Britain one idea among many that Witherspoon had in common with the erudite Horace Walpole.
Witherspoon’s sermons were delivered in a low deliberate tone, devoid of ostentation. Those in the congregation who were not attentive had difficulty hearing him; his Scottish accent was also difficult for some to understand. His students, however, loved it: When greeted by his characteristic "How do ye do, lads?" they answered "Brawly, sir, brawly." He pronounced his name "Wutherspoon."
Joining Congress in Philadelphia on July 1, 1776, Witherspoon was among the most persuasive opponents to reconciliation with Great Britain. John Adams was in the midst of his arguments in favor of independence as Witherspoon and another New Jersey delegate, Francis Hopkinson, joined the debates. Following an adjournment for the night, news arrived of British warships amassing in New York Harbor.
The following morning Congress resumed its discussions. Responding to the question whether the Colonies were ripe for independence, Witherspoon responded that the Colonies were "not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it." This story, told by Witherspoon himself several years after the event, was recorded by his student, Ashbel Green. The question may have been posed rhetorically by John Adams, rather than spoken by an opponent of the measure, as it is generally supposed; the phrase was common in Adams’ contemporary writings on the subject.
Witherspoon was the only clergyman and college president to sign the Declaration of Independence; he was also the only signer to have a family member killed in the Revolutionary War. His oldest son, James, served as an aide-de-camp to General Francis Nash at the Battle of Germantown. A cannonball that mortally wounded the general and disemboweled his horse struck James in the head and killed him. Another son, David, was wounded at Sullivan’s Island; a third, John, was captured at sea and taken to England. John’s release was secured by Benjamin Franklin.
Witherspoon’s country retreat in the hills above Princeton was named "Tusculum," after the mountain villa of Cicero near Rome. Just as Cicero’s villa was within sight of the city of Rome, Tusculum overlooked Princeton. Statesmen of the Late Roman Republic, particularly Cicero, served as an ideal among the founders. Tusculum was not specifically targeted by the British but Witherspoon’s papers were burned and much of his library dispersed.
‘That damned rebel Parson’
During the Battle of Assunpink Creek, the evening of Jan. 2, 1777, the Reverend John Rosbrugh was murdered by Hessians after giving himself up as a prisoner. They may have mistaken him for Witherspoon. This incident was one of the worst atrocities of the war. The following day, when the British entered Princeton in pursuit of Washington’s victorious army, they boasted of having killed that "damned rebel Parson."
Benjamin Rush wrote of Witherspoon: "His influence was less than might have been expected from his abilities and knowledge, owing in part to his ecclesiastical character." Yet his influence can be traced through every branch of government.
Witherspoon was a man of his times, not an original philosopher, and many of his opinions are indistinguishable from those of other patriots. Witherspoon can be detected throughout the Federalist Papers, primarily in the writings of James Madison, who had been his student and protegebut these ideas and the language expressing them originate from earlier sources, such as John Locke (1632-1704) and Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755).
The influence of Witherspoon on the federal Constitution is certainly underestimated. Although he was not himself a delegate to the Convention of 1787, he ratified the constitution for the State of New Jersey and urged others to do so. Through James Madison, the architect of the federal Constitution, many of the ideas expressed there can be traced to Witherspoon ‘s curriculum. Witherspoon’s influence may also extend to Washington’s 1797 Farewell Address, specifically the idea that religious morality is essential to the survival of nations. Witherspoon promoted setting aside days of fast and thanksgiving, later to be declared a national holiday.
Although slavery was regarded as an evil by Witherspoon, he kept slaves at Tusculum. When his predecessor Samuel Finley died, his slaves were sold in public auction at the President’s House. Witherspoon’s slaves were freed in his Last Will. He was actively opposed to slavery.
Although he can be accused of hypocrisy for owning slaves, Witherspoon did not share the white supremacist views of abolitionists such as Jefferson. Native Americans and Africans, both free and enslaved, were enrolled at the college by Witherspoon. While debating the Articles of Confederation, Witherspoon recognized the difficulty of establishing a lasting Union with southern pro-slavery colonies. He anticipated the possibility of war between North and South over the issue of slavery; coincidentally, among his students was "Light Horse" Harry Lee, the father of General Robert E. Lee.
The road to Tusculum
On the road from Princeton to Tusculum, Witherspoon rode on horseback and never in a carriage, even in the foulest weather. He even rode this way to Philadelphia or Baltimore, rather than taking the stagecoaches. He damaged an eye during a fall; his other eye was injured during a 1784 college fundraising trip to England. As a result, Witherspoon was blind the last two years of his life. As an elderly widower, he had married a woman only 24 years of age. Though an acquaintance likened the union to a "dead body chained to a live one," she bore him two daughters.
As for physical appearance, Witherspoon’s so-called Museum Portrait by Charles Willson Peale was called the best likeness by those who knew him. This portrait, now at Independence National Park in Philadelphia, was painted in 1783. A half-length version, also by Peale, is now in Nassau Hall. Ashbel Green’s description is reflected in both portraits: "In person Dr. Witherspoon was of the middle size. He was fleshy, with some tendency to corpulence. His limbs were well-proportioned, and his complexion was fair. His eyes were strongly indicative of intelligence. His eye-brows were large, hanging down the ends next to his temples; occasioned, probably, by a habit he had contracted of pulling them, when he was under excitement."
Witherspoon’s Scottish humor is preserved in numerous anecdotes. When Doctor Charles Nesbit (1736-1804) of Dickinson College, a notorious wit, was visiting the President’s House, he vowed to turn the laughs on Witherspoon. During dinner, Witherspoon lit his pipe in the fireplace and banged his head on the mantle. "Oh, how my head rings," he cried. Nesbit asked, "Do you know the reason?" "Why, no, sir," Witherspoon replied. "Because it is empty," Nesbit joked. "Why, Doctor Nesbit, would your head not ring if you were to knock it in that way?" Witherspoon asked. "Oh, no, sir," Nesbit said. "And do you know the reason?" Witherspoon retorted: "It’s because it is cracked."
One reason why Witherspoon has been neglected by history is the fact he himself had little regard for posterity. He destroyed many of his personal papers. His largest work, "Essays on Moral Philosophy," was never intended for publication. The last edition of his complete works, though far from complete, was produced 200 years ago. Many of his extant letters have never been published and numerous articles never reprinted.
Even so, in more recent times, there has been an increasing body of scholarly work on Witherspoon, all of which arrives at a common conclusion that John Witherspoon deserves to be remembered as one of America’s greatest patriots.
He lies buried in Princeton Cemetery.
William Myers of Highland Park, writer and translator, is a 10th-generation descendent of Henry Greenland, Princeton’s first European settler.