Jeffry H. Morrison offers readers the first comprehensive look at the political thought and career of John Witherspoon - a Scottish Presbyterian minister and one of America's most influential and overlooked founding fathers. Witherspoon was an active member of the Continental Congress and was the only clergyman both to sign the Declaration of Independence and to ratify the federal Constitution. During his tenure as president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, Witherspoon became a mentor to James Madison and influenced many leaders and thinkers of the founding period. He was uniquely positioned at the crossroads of politics, religion, and education during the crucial first decades of the new republic. Morrison locates Witherspoon in the context of early American political thought and charts the various influences on his thinking. This impressive work of scholarship offers a broad treatment of Witherspoon's constitutionalism, including his contributions to the mediating institutions of religion and education, and to political institutions from the colonial through the early federal periods. This book will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in American political history and thought and in the relation of religion to American politics.

This book examines how Ronald Reagan's electrifying 1964 televised speech, "A Time For Choosing," ignited the conservative movement within the GOP. Ronald Reagan's televised speech, or what many conservatives today simply call "The Speech," was a call for action, telling Americans that now was "A Time for Choosing." "The Speech" catapulted Reagan into national politics, the California governorship, and ultimately the presidency. The themes of the speech, including anti-Communism, strong national defense, and the need to protect the average American from taxes and bureaucracy, ignited the conservative movement in the GOP, resulting over time in the sidelining of the more liberal, establishment wing of the Republican Party. The contributors in this edited volume show how Ronald Reagan's "coming out" speech on the national stage helped set the political agenda for the next three decades.

'In God We Trust?' The separation of church and state is a widely contested topic in the American political arena. Whether for or against, debaters frequently base their arguments in the Constitution and the principles of the American founding. However, Americans' perception of the founding has narrowed greatly over the years, focusing on a handful of eminent statesmen. By exploring the work of nine founding fathers, including often overlooked figures like John Carroll and George Mason, The Founders on God and Government provides a more complete picture of America's origins. The contributors, all noted scholars, examine the lives of individual founders and investigate the relationship between their religious beliefs and political thought. Bringing together original documents and analytical essays, this book is an excellent addition to the library of literature on the founding, and sheds new light on religion's contributions to American civic culture.

This book examines how Ronald Reagan's electrifying 1964 televised speech, "A Time For Choosing," ignited the conservative movement within the GOP. Ronald Reagan's televised speech, or what many conservatives today simply call "The Speech," was a call for action, telling Americans that now was "A Time for Choosing." "The Speech" catapulted Reagan into national politics, the California governorship, and ultimately the presidency. The themes of the speech, including anti-Communism, strong national defense, and the need to protect the average American from taxes and bureaucracy, ignited the conservative movement in the GOP, resulting over time in the sidelining of the more liberal, establishment wing of the Republican Party. The contributors in this edited volume show how Ronald Reagan's "coming out" speech on the national stage helped set the political agenda for the next three decades.

This interdisciplinary volume brings together essays on eleven of the founders of the American republic--Abigail Adams, Samuel Adams, Oliver Ellsworth, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Paine, Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Rush, Roger Sherman, and Mercy Otis Warren--many of whom are either little recognized today or little appreciated for their contributions. The essays focus on the thinking of these men and women on the proper role of religion in public life, including but not limited to the question of the separation of church and state. Their views represent a wide range of opinions, from complete isolation of church and state to tax-supported clergy.

These essays present a textured and nuanced view of the society that came to a consensus on how religion would fit in the public life of the new nation. They reveal that religion was more important in the lives and thinking of many of the founders than is often portrayed and that it took the interplay of disparate and contrasting views to frame the constitutional outline that eventually emerged.

"For more than a decade these three editors, separately and together, have led us to a more nuanced view of the central place of religion in the American founding era. Not only were the political views of famous founders like Adams, Jefferson, and Madison more dependent on religion than their modern secular caricature allows. But many other figures, from varying religious traditions, proved equally critical to forging the original American understanding of constitutional order, democratic liberty, and rule of law. This well-crafted volume introduces a dozen such founding figures and the sterling political accomplishments that they offered the young nation on the strength of their religious convictions." --John Witte, Jr., Emory University

"This excellent collection explores the rich diversity of the American mind at the Founding by attending to the spiritual, political, and intellectual convictions of a dozen men and women prominent in the events of that seminal period but relatively neglected by the historians. It fills a major gap left In the literature with its conventional fixation on the life and work of a handful of luminaries. In doing so, it takes seriously the role of religion in grounding devotion to Whig liberty and common law constitutionalism to form a popular consensus that has endured from 1776 until today. Highly readable and thoroughly sourced, this is a book for anyone interested in American history and politics." --Ellis Sandoz, Moyse Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Louisiana State University

"This collection of well-crafted essays probes the "religion and the founding" question from a fresh angle. Its concentration on the second rank of founders pays rich dividends, since this focus uncovers more variety on religious issues than appear when looking only at the "Big Six" of Washington-Franklin-John Adams-Madison-Hamilton-Jefferson. The pay off is to show not only how deep but also how various were the founders' religious commitments. Historians, but also those concerned about religion in contemporary American politics, should take note--the editors have done a very fine job." --Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame

"There is no book comparable to "The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life." It is a collection of eleven essays on the many neglected figures or, in some cases, the neglected church-state views of duly appreciated figures. The book's appeal goes beyond the realm of constitutional doctrine. In addition to constitutional lawyers, constitutional historians, historians of religion in America, and those who study American political thought will all welcome and value the book." --Gerard V. Bradley, University of Notre Dame Law School

George Washington is revered as the father of his country, a clever and skilled general, and a man of restrained principle--but not as a political thinker. This short introduction to Washington's political philosophy reveals him as a thoughtful public intellectual who was well equipped to lead the young United States.

Though Washington left little explicit writing on political philosophy, Jeffry Morrison examines his key writings, actions, education, and political and professional lives. He finds that Washington held closely to a trinity of foundational principles--classical republicanism, British liberalism, and Protestant Christianity--with greater fidelity than many of the other founding fathers. In unearthing Washington's ideological growth, Morrison reveals the intellectual heritage of his political thought and shows how these beliefs motivated him to action.

This insightful, concise story makes clearer the complexities of the revolutionary era and shows how the first president's political ideas shaped governmental institutions and instantiated the nation's foundational principles.

Jeffry H. Morrison offers readers the first comprehensive look at the political thought and career of John Witherspoon-a Scottish Presbyterian minister and one of America's most influential and overlooked founding fathers. Witherspoon was an active member of the Continental Congress and was the only clergyman both to sign the Declaration of Independence and to ratify the federal Constitution. During his tenure as president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, Witherspoon became a mentor to James Madison and influenced many leaders and thinkers of the founding period. He was uniquely positioned at the crossroads of politics, religion, and education during the crucial first decades of the new republic. Morrison locates Witherspoon in the context of early American political thought and charts the various influences on his thinking. This impressive work of scholarship offers a broad treatment of Witherspoon's constitutionalism, including his contributions to the mediating institutions of religion and education, and to political institutions from the colonial through the early federal periods. This book will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in American political history and thought and in the relation of religion to American politics.