Episode 16 - Anglicanism and the Founding of America

You’ve heard the Puritan narrative of the history of America—the Pilgrims, the Mayflower Compact, the Great Awakening, all leading up to Independence and the Revolution. But are you ready for the Anglican version of the story?

In the early days of America, few outside New England would have even heard of the Mayflower Compact. But Anglicanism was not merely a regional denomination: it extended across all the colonies and provided a kind of common culture.

Building on Jared Lovell’s recent lecture at the Christianity and the Founding conference, Jared and C. Jay discuss the significant but somewhat forgotten role of Anglicans in the founding of the American nation.

George Washington was an Anglican. So was John Jay, our first Supreme Court Chief Justice. There were Anglicans among both Loyalists and Patriots.

But even more important for us to understand, here on the brink of our 250th national birthday, is the role of Anglicans in the conservative or rightwing side of our founding.

The Revolutionary War and its aftermath involved a compromise between conservative and liberal factions. Those two legacies, those two arguments for the Revolution, have persisted in American politics down to the present. You might be surprised to learn that much of the rhetoric and imagery that is so dear to us was inherited from the left wing of the Revolution.

But what if our War of Independence was not all about individual freedom-maxxing, but rather a secession movement of 13 separate communities that had rights as communities: to establish their own church, their own legal system, their own social hierarchies?

We live in a time of political and moral chaos. But maybe there are insights from the English traditionalists, including the Anglicans, that we as right wingers can lean on as we seek to counter the trajectory of the left.

One of the most fascinating and relevant episodes of Canterbury Trails, don’t miss C. Jay and Jared on the Anglican story of the American founding!

Watch Jared's lecture on "The Anglicans & the Founding of America": https://youtu.be/AALJJMQDZ8s?si=oFoT1uffIL8B6jMm

Image of Anglo-Saxon map by Hel-hama - Own work using:InkscapeSource: England and Wales at the time of the Treaty of Chippenham (AD 878). From the Atlas of European History, Earle W Dowe (d. 1946), G Bell and Sons, London, 1910 (see: File:England-878ad.jpg), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072