John Witherspoon

Scottish-born American religious leader and educator

• Born: February 15, 1723
• Birthplace: Gifford, Scotland
• Died: November 15, 1794
• Place of death: At his home, Tusculum, near Princeton, New Jersey

A leading pastor in the Church of Scotland, Witherspoon, as president of the College of New Jersey, led its development into a major center of education for the arts and sciences and for the preparation of Presbyterian ministers. As a Second Continental Congress delegate, he championed American independence and signed the Declaration of Independence.

Early Life

John Witherspoon was born to the Reverend James Witherspoon, pastor of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) at Gifford, and Anna Walker Witherspoon. He completed the course of study at nearby Haddington grammar school at age thirteen, then entered the University of Edinburgh to study for the ministry. The curriculum emphasized classics and mathematics and included philosophy and natural philosophy (natural science). He received a master of arts at age sixteen, then spent four more years at the university as a divinity student.

In 1743, he was awarded a doctor of theology degree (also referred to as doctor of divinity), then was licensed to preach, and was ordained in 1745. His first parish was at Beith in Ayrshire. He entered fully into parish life, participating in sports as well as pastoral duties and scholarly pursuits, and in 1748 married a local woman, Elizabeth Montgomery. They would have ten children, of whom five lived to adulthood.

Witherspoon was born into the world of the Scottish Enlightenment, a time of progress and intellectual activity. The industrial and agricultural revolutions promoted a new prosperity, though the vast number of impoverished tenant farmers benefited little. It was an era of rationalism and empiricism, emphasizing the human capacity to understand the universe through reasoning and experience, and Scottish universities were highly regarded.

During this period, controversy developed in the Scottish church. The landowning and urban upper-class Moderates blended Christianity with new ideas such as Deism, which saw God as the distant power behind the forces of nature, one that was not concerned with human affairs. The ordinary people of the Popular or Evangelical party guarded traditional Calvinist principles such as original sin, strict adherence to Scripture, and careful regulation of behavior. The Moderate landowners had patronage rights, including selection of pastors: Rural Popular congregations objected, for Presbyterian polity gave congregations the duty of selecting their own pastors. Witherspoon sided with the Popular party.

Life’s Work

Emerging as the Popular champion, John Witherspoon in 1753 anonymously published a satire entitled Ecclesiastical Characteristics: Or, The Arcana of Church Policy—Being a Humble Attempt to Open up the Mystery of Moderation. The creed of the Moderates, he said, began as follows:

I believe in the beauty and comely proportions of Dame Nature, and in almighty Fate, her only parent and guardian; for it hath been most graciously obliged (blessed be its name) to make us all very good. I believe that the universe is a huge machine, wound up from everlasting by necessity… that I myself am a glorious little piece of clockwork… that those things vulgarly called sins, are only errors in the judgment.

His authorship became known, and he was compared to the great satirists of the day. Increasingly he participated in the higher bodies of the Church of Scotland —presbyteries, synods, and the general assembly. Famous by this time, he was called in 1757 to the pastorate of the Laigh Kirk (Low Church) in nearby Paisley, despite some concern in the presbytery over his writings, including an essay against Christians patronizing the theater. During more than ten years at Paisley, his reputation as cleric and writer increased; he was invited to churches in Rotterdam and Dublin but declined.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, the struggling young College of New Jersey at Princeton needed a new president. Chartered in 1746, the institution was established to provide educated leadership and pastors for Presbyterian churches in the Middle Colonies, where major Scottish immigration was taking place. The situation was complicated by a church controversy as disruptive as the one in Scotland. The Old Side upheld traditional Presbyterianism—orderly, biblical, and scholarly—whereas the New Side promoted revivalism, emotional conversion, and “enthusiasm.” Both sides, however, upheld the traditional Presbyterian insistence on an educated clergy able to read the Scriptures in the original languages. The College of New Jersey belonged to the New Side. The Old Side was trying to take over the college by getting its candidate into the president’s chair.

The trustees foiled the attempt by inviting Witherspoon to fill the vacancy. The position carried with it the pastorate of the Princeton village church. It was hoped that the eminent Scot could both end the Old Side-New Side rivalry and build up the college. Witherspoon was seriously interested in the new challenge. His wife, Elizabeth, however, became physically ill at the thought of leaving family and friends to relocate across the sea. Witherspoon would not think of forcing a move against his wife’s will, though some associates maintained that she had no right to hinder the obvious call of God. In April, he declined the offer. However, by August, Elizabeth was in better health and spirits. Having heard young Benjamin Rush of New Jersey, a recent graduate of the college and currently a medical student in Edinburgh, give glowing descriptions of his country and the future possibilities of his alma mater, she reconsidered and consented to the change. Early in 1768, Witherspoon accepted the new position.

The next months were spent in preparation, especially in acquiring books for the college library. In May, 1768, John and Elizabeth Witherspoon set sail with five children. Reaching Philadelphia after a twelve-week voyage, they proceeded to Princeton by carriage. The students welcomed the new president by illuminating Nassau Hall, the college building, by placing candles in every window, creating a glow visible miles away.

Witherspoon set the college on the road to preeminence. With great energy and amazing success, he undertook the triple task of raising funds, increasing enrollments, and adding faculty. He himself was professor of divinity. He found and encouraged at Princeton a curriculum already innovative in its emphasis on English in addition to classical studies and on oratory, history, geography, and science. To promote the last two subjects, he secured for the college a “terrestrial globe” and the “orrery,” an invention of David Rittenhouse of Philadelphia that demonstrated by clockwork the motions of the heavenly bodies. Witherspoon himself introduced the study of French. Graduate degrees were added. A strong religious emphasis included required morning and evening prayers and two chapel services on Sunday. There was no athletic program; sports were tacitly disapproved.

Presbyterian affairs also claimed Witherspoon’s attention. He was in demand as a preacher, though perhaps more for his Christian character and the content of his sermons than for his oratorical skill. Some contemporaries found him a dull speaker and hard to understand because of his strong Scottish accent. What he did not become much involved in was the Old Side-New Side controversy. As one authority puts it, Witherspoon assumed the conflict to be at an end and acted accordingly. His character and leadership made him acceptable to both sides.

Witherspoon found himself admiring the spirit of Americans. Increasingly, he sympathized with them in disputes with the British. Princeton students demonstrated against British policy; after hearing of the Boston Tea Party, they held their own version by throwing the college supply of tea onto a campus bonfire and burning the governor of Massachusetts in effigy with a tea canister around his neck. The president seems to have taken no action against them.

Witherspoon published the essay “Thoughts on American Liberty,” advocating formation of a plan of union for the common defense of the colonies. Attending the First Continental Congress as an observer, he began notable friendships with men such as George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison. He was elected to the New Jersey Provincial Congress, which met in June, 1776, and which deposed and imprisoned Governor William Franklin. The same body elected new delegates to the Second Continental Congress; Witherspoon was among them. On July 4, that Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Witherspoon was the only clergyman among the signers. Back in Princeton, the students once again illuminated Nassau Hall. British publications described Witherspoon as a major instigator of rebellion. On Long Island, British troops burned Witherspoon and Washington in effigy.

During the revolution, the College of New Jersey suffered severely. In late 1776, it was closed because the British occupied Princeton. After the British were driven out at the Battle of Princeton, American troops occupied Nassau Hall for nearly two years, causing even worse destruction.

Recovering from the death of his son James, who had been killed in the Battle of Germantown, Witherspoon, back in Congress, became active in the Committee of Correspondence whose mission was to obtain French aid for the colonies. Success came in 1778, when a treaty with France was signed. Witherspoon’s contribution to this committee has been considered his greatest service to the Continental Congress.

By 1783, his political work had ended, and Witherspoon was once again a full-time college president. The College of New Jersey had reopened with a few students in the fall of 1778. Both the college and its president, like much of the United States, were in dire financial straits. Fund-raising campaigns netted very little. Tragedy struck once more; the Witherspoons’ daughter Frances died in 1784.

Despite horrendous postwar difficulties, college life resumed. Enrollment quickly recovered, and by 1786, a modicum of financial stability was achieved. It was a new era; the college had games and sports, dramatics, and social activities that would have been forbidden in its early days. The president seems not to have objected. A startling occurrence in 1783 was the arrival at Princeton of the entire Continental Congress, fleeing a mutiny of soldiers in Philadelphia. At the September commencement of the college, the whole Congress sat on the platform, together with General Washington. President Witherspoon could hardly have known any greater pride and satisfaction.

His last ecclesiastical assignment was an appointment in 1785 by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia as chairman of the committee to restructure the Presbyterian Church along national lines. The following year, he presented a plan similar to that of Scotland, with congregations grouped in presbyteries that in turn belonged to regional synods, and over all the general assembly, with each body electing representatives to the one above. When the general assembly met for the first time in Philadelphia in May, 1789, the moderator was Witherspoon, who preached the opening sermon.

His personal life was saddened by the death of his wife, Elizabeth, in October, 1789. She was known as a delightful and social person, an ideal helpmeet to her husband, a fond mother, and beloved of all who knew her. The bereaved husband found solace in committee work with the New Jersey assembly. In 1791, he married a much younger widow, Ann Dill, resulting in plenty of raised eyebrows.

In the next three years, Witherspoon gradually went blind and his general health deteriorated. He attended the Presbyterian general assembly in May, 1794, and conducted the college commencement in September. His mind was clear to the end, which came in November, 1794. He was buried in the Princeton graveyard, as his first wife had been.

Significance

John Witherspoon, a stocky man with brown hair, fair complexion, and striking blue eyes beneath bushy brows, had highly successful and influential careers in three fields: the Presbyterian ministry, higher education, and political activism. He was also a prolific writer whose publications include, besides the satire that made him famous, a vast number of sermons and essays on diverse topics from education to marriage to human liberty.

Contemporaries considered him a caring pastor, a devoted family man, and a man who loved a controversy. As a churchman, he was a leader in creating the national structure of the Presbyterian Church. Graduates of the College of New Jersey at Princeton during Witherspoon’s presidency went on to become leaders of church and state. He was a skillful administrator and beloved teacher. Politically, he was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress and several New Jersey bodies. He championed independence, and through his work for the committee on secret correspondence, he helped win the American Revolution.

Bibliography

Butterfield, Lyman H., ed. John Witherspoon Comes to America: A Documentary Account Based Largely on New Materials. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Library, 1953. This collection of correspondence between Witherspoon and numerous individuals involved in bringing him to Princeton gives the flavor of the negotiations, partly by retaining eighteenth century spelling and writing conventions.

Collins, Varnum Lansing. President Witherspoon. 1925. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1969. The most complete biography of Witherspoon, this book incorporates substantial passages from primary sources and provides extensive documentation.

McAllister, J. L. “John Witherspoon: Academic Advocate for American Freedom.” In Miscellany of American Christianity: Essays in Honor of H. Shelton Smith, edited by Stuart C. Henry. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1963. This article contains Witherspoon’s political, theological, and academic ideas, with some informative anecdotes.

Morrison, Jeffry H. John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005. A comprehensive examination of Witherspoon’s political thought and career, including his participation in the Continental Congress and his presidency of the college at Princeton. Morrison charts the influences on Witherspoon’s thinking and his influence on others.

Sloan, Douglas. The Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1971. Chapter 4, “The Scottish Enlightenment Comes to Princeton: John Witherspoon,” provides an intellectual history, showing Scottish influences on Witherspoon, his responses to American thought, and his handling of the college at Princeton. Excellent annotated bibliography.

Stohlman, Martha Lou Lemmon. John Witherspoon: Parson, Politician, Patriot. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976. This book is probably the best introduction to Witherspoon.

Tait, L. Gordon. The Piety of John Witherspoon: Pew, Pulpit, and Public Forum. Louisville, Ky.: Geneva Press, 2000. An account of Witherspoon’s thought, focusing on his piety and belief that the Christian faith should take practical form in the ministry, in politics, and in daily obedience and devotion.

Witherspoon, John. The Selected Writings of John Witherspoon. Edited by Thomas Miller. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. A collection of seven influential writings on diverse subjects. An extensive introduction explains Witherspoon’s ideas, the writers who influenced him, his reforms at Princeton, and his political activities.