Anglicans Quotes
Brant had an English style Missionary education and was an Anglican, belonging to the Church of England. During the American Revolution, he persuaded most of the Iroquois tribes to fight for the British against the revolutionary colonists. However, the Oneida tribe was not persuaded and joined the rebel side. A few New England Presbyterian missionaries had targeted the Oneida people, and when that tribe chose the “wrong” side, Brant believed that the reason was their different religious point of view. After the Revolution, Brant and his Iroquois followers were driven out of their American lands and escaped to Canada, while the Oneida were given complete title to their lands by George Washington.
This is a particularly interesting historical quotation because it succinctly gives a history of the various horrors of religious strife in British history—a history that was very well known to the American Founding Fathers and the general American Colonial population. This history was the major driver behind the public insistence for the Bill of Rights and the 1st Amendment which erected a wall of separation between church and state with government never favoring or abetting any particular religion.
This is a remarkable quotation. Here was a leading minister of the Established Church of England who is arguing that there should be no established church insofar as religious belief is concerned. Essentially this is what England has developed. The Anglican Church is still the established church but only for purposes of state cerimonies and the religion of the Royal Family. The establishment has nothing to do with lawmaking, or common religious belief or inhibition of the many other religions in England and there is complete freedom of conscience.
The Anglican Church of England like many others were originally threatened by the possibility of evolution. Darwin, himself a very religious man was castigated at the time. In modern days the mass of scientific evidence of evolution is overwhelming and most major religions have also learned that there is nothing inconsistent or threatening in this basic science. There are however some religious fundamentalists (mostly Christian and Muslim) who still reject this basic scientific notion, but this quotation represents most of the modern religious thinking.
Jefferson was the leader of the Republican faction of the nation against the Federalists who had passed the leadership from Washington to John Adams. Adams was somewhat pompous and strove for respect, titles, pomp and circumstance preferring “His Excellency” to “Mr President.” The Federalists strove for stability and order above all. Jefferson itemized the different subgroups and interest groups of the American population who supported the Federalist and a government that was close to the British system, It was a classic split with the wealthy, established, and conservative forces lined up against change and completing the transition to a radically new form of government. The respect the electorate had for Washington kept the Federalists in power for the first three Presidential Elections, but now Jefferson had Adams as the face of Federalism—a much easier target than George Washington. Despite all the power—religious, economic, financial, and governmental—all lined up against the Democratic Republicans, Jefferson over the next four years took his case to the people, who in 1800 voted against the Federalists so overwhelmingly, that the Federalist Party was wiped out in America and Jefferson and his followers dominated American politics for the next two Presidential elections.
