A Gradual Disentangling: Part I
Church and State Relations in Massachusetts 1750–1833
In a much-quoted letter to Hezekiah Niles John Adams claimed, “the [American] Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. . ..” Usually historians end the quotation here, thereby substantially altering Adams’s meaning. The rest of the paragraph, however, uncovers the full context.
The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people, a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. While the king, and all in authority under him, were believed to govern in justice and mercy according to the laws and constitution derived to them from the God of nature, and transmitted to them by their ancestors, they thought themselves bound to pray for the king and queen and all the royal family, and all in authority under them, as ministers ordained of God for their good. But when they saw those powers renouncing all the principles of authority, and bent upon the destruction of all the securities of their lives, liberties, and properties, they thought it their duty to pray for the Continental Congress and all the thirteen state congresses, etc.[1]
The truncated version eliminates all references to religion and hides what Adams views as one of the most fundamental…
