John Witherspoon of New Jersey - preacher, teacher, patriot

Focus on the Founders

John Witherspoon of New Jersey – preacher, teacher, patriot

John Witherspoon was born in Gifford, Scotland on February 15, 1723. He earned a Master of Arts from the University of Edinburgh in1739. He was captured and imprisoned in Scotland during the Highlander uprising in 1745–46. In 1764, Witherspoon was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in divinity by the University of St Andrews, and became a Presbyterian minister.  He married Elizabeth Montgomery with whom he had ten children (five surviving to adulthood).  

Reverend Witherspoon became widely recognized for his sermons and writings. He gained a reputation in the Church of Scotland as a leader of the left-wing “Popular Party,” and his works made him well-known in the American colonies. In 1766, Benjamin Rush was in Scotland to pursue medical studies. At the same time, Richard Stockton, Rush’s friend and future father-in-law was visiting Scotland. Both were graduates and trustees of the Presbyterian College of New Jersey in Princeton (now Princeton University).[1] On behalf of the Board of Trustees, they together convinced Witherspoon to accept a position as president and head professor at the College; and he and his family emigrated to the Colonies in 1768. He served as the College’s President from 1768-1794, and during that time became a major leader of the early Presbyterian Church in America.

Not long after his arrival in America, Witherspoon came to support the American Revolution, joining the New Jersey Committee of Correspondence and Safety in 1774. To the assertion that America was not ripe for independence he retorted: “In my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe, but rotting.” He later delivered a famous 1776 sermon "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men" which was subsequently published and credited for stoking the independence movement.

When the Continental Congress later met to sign their names to the Declaration of Independence, each member knew that by signing they risked being charged with high treason against the King - a crime that carried the penalty of death along with confiscation of all of the offender’s property and possessions.[2] At that crucial moment in American history, John Witherspoon rose to speak:

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table, which ensures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house. He that will not respond to its accents and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions is unworthy the name of freeman. For my own part, of property I have some, of reputation more. That reputation is staked, that property is pledged, on the issue of this contest; and although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country.”

All 55 members signed.[3]

Witherspoon was subsequently elected to the Continental Congress as part of the New Jersey delegation, where he was appointed congressional Chaplain and helped draft and then signed the Articles of Confederation (our first Constitution) which were adopted in 1777. He served in Congress from June 1777 until November 1784.  

Like many other founding fathers, John Witherspoon sacrificed much for the revolution.  His eldest son, James, a 1770 Princeton graduate, joined the Continental Army as an aide to General Francis Nash, and was killed at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.  In November 1777, as American forces neared Princeton, Witherspoon closed and evacuated the College of New Jersey. Although General Washington drove the British from the College’s main building, Nassau Hall, the Hall itself was badly damaged. Witherspoon, through great personal and financial difficulty, had the Hall reconstructed; and from June to November, 1783, when Princeton became the provisional capital of the United States, Nassau Hall served as the seat of government and home of the Congress of Confederation.  

In 1780, Witherspoon was elected to a one-year term in the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Somerset County. He took a leading part in drawing up the instructions for the American peace commissioners who concluded the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war in September 1783.

Witherspoon never led an army into battle, nor did he run for high national office after the war. Yet in his tenure at the College of New Jersey, he helped to educate a generation of leaders for the new nation. Some have called him the most influential professor in American history. His students included James Madison, Aaron Burr, and Henry and Charles Lee of Virginia. Ten of his students became cabinet officers, six were members of the Continental Congress, thirty-nine became Congressmen, and twenty-one sat in the Senate. His graduates also included three members of the Supreme Court and twelve governors. The limited-government philosophy of most of these men was due in large measure to Witherspoon’s influence. In his lectures on moral philosophy at the College, Witherspoon argued for the revolutionary right of resistance and recommended checks and balances within government wherein “faction” checked “faction” so that no person or group of persons could gain unlimited power. He believed that political independence and religious freedom go hand in hand. "It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man."[4]

At the age of 68, Witherspoon married a 24-year-old widow, with whom he had two more children. Two accidents left him blind the last two years of his life. He died in 1794, at the age of 71, on his Tusculum farm just outside Princeton. He is buried along Presidents Row in Princeton Cemetery. 
 
[1] Both were also Founding Fathers
[2] In addition, an offender’s family and future heirs could own no property.  
[3] Witherspoon was the only active cleric to sign the Declaration.
[4] From his sermon "Ministerial Character and Duty"