The Religious Legacy of the American Revolution

During the height of the American Revolution, in January 1779, a formerly enslaved man named Gloster Dalton joined dozens of fellow exiles from the First Parish Church in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to form the nation’s first Universalist congregation—the Independent Church of Christ. Coming just two-and-a-half years after the Declaration of Independence and amid a stale-mated war with England, their move to institutionalize liberal Protestantism became one of the most significant developments in American religious history.

There are few records documenting the life of Dalton. He was likely freed in the early 1740s by John Ellery of the Cape Ann region of Massachusetts. Unlike most Africans in America, who understandably sided with the British after offers of freedom for military service, Dalton supported the Patriots. In 1782, he appeared on a roll of taxpayers in Gloucester who funded a soldier for the Continental Army, and that same year Dalton also helped house exchange prisoners and billed the town more than anyone else, £33. Dalton married a Black woman named Phillis Freeman in 1787, and he finally became a landowner in 1805. He passed away in 1813 at around the age of 90, having witnessed the massive growth and maturation of the American colonies, the American Revolution, and the establishment of the new nation.

One of the main principles that both Universalists and leaders of the American Revolution fought for was the separation of church and state, with Dalton’s Independent Church of Christ playing a leading role in that fight in Massachusetts. Article 3 of the Massachusetts Constitution noted that the General Court would have the power to require towns or religious societies “to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality.” The inclusion of Article 3 sparked fierce opposition from advocates of the separation of church and state, including those in Dalton’s congregation. The Independent Church of Christ had been forced to pay taxes but refused to do so. Their property was then seized and given for the support of the First Parish Church, leading to a lawsuit to recover that property in 1783.

The lawsuit lasted until 1786 and became an important step toward disestablishment in Massachusetts. While dissenting sects were able to exempt themselves from taxes through an application process, the Independent Church of Christ couldn’t do so because their church had not drawn up articles of faith. One member of the church, likely Epes Sargent, placed the church’s case before the public in a 1785 pamphlet that addressed these issues. The pamphlet stated that “we did not in our agreement associate for the belief of any particular tenets, or peculiar doctrines, because we conceived that all conviction must arise from evidence rationally applied to the understanding; and we could not suppose that the same evidence would strike every mind in the society with the same force.” The church ended up winning its lawsuit and the ability for members to direct their taxes to support the church of their choice.

The story of Gloster Dalton and his Independent Church of Christ show us that the religious legacy of the American Revolution and principles such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion remain foundational to the American democratic experiment, an experiment that appears to be crumbling before our eyes but is not yet dead. As we confront the challenge of fascism in the United States during the leadup to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which will undoubtedly be accompanied by uncritical and unbridled patriotism and Christian nationalism, we would do well to reflect on what Dalton saw in Universalism in particular and liberal religion more broadly. Dalton saw an egalitarian faith that argued all human beings would achieve salvation. He saw an anti-tyrannical faith that rejected the notion of God as a punishing deity and instead embraced more positive views of the divine. And he saw a faith that provided opportunities for women such as Judith Sargent Murray, wife of his church’s minister, to publish and share her ideas in the church and in the broader society.

We would also do well to remember both the challenges to Gloster Dalton’s Universalist faith waged by the majority of people in revolutionary America, as well as the persistence Universalists demonstrated in defending their ideals and standing up to those who would silence them. Universalists were widely labelled as infidels, even though they claimed a Christian identity. Universalists were similarly charged with efforts to undermine the new American nation. With the foundation of a republic being the morality of its citizens, critics such as Timothy Dwight argued Universalism was a subversive religion because it absolved people of moral responsibility for their sins if they could not look to a future state of punishment.

But America’s earliest religious liberals rejected these arguments and stayed true to their faith. They turned traditional arguments on their head, noting that fear of eternal damnation did not seem to have the desired effect in society that its supporters claimed it did. And they persisted in their belief that God was essentially loving and more interested in human flourishing than human punishment, eternal violence, and damnation. Their persistence, and that of the Unitarians in Massachusetts and Connecticut, soon led to the end of religious establishments in both states by 1833, as well as a strengthening of the principle of freedom of conscience.

That principle is under severe attack in the contemporary United States, and we must brace for even further assaults on civil liberties as authorities attempt to whitewash the history of this country and promote celebratory histories that ignore the stories of religious nonconformists like Gloster Dalton. But the good news is that none of this is new. While assaults on America’s democratic norms have rarely been as brazen as they are right now, they have nonetheless been happening since the inception of the nation, with the usual targets being women and racial minorities. By leaning into our communities, drawing inspiration from the history and principles of our liberal religious tradition, and resolving to act in our individual spheres, we can finally push this nation to live up to its founding ideals and become a country worth celebrating a 250th anniversary.