Americas Founding

Roger Sherman: the intellectual history of Ideas He Brought to the Founding of The United States of America

Dennis Rees

HIST 711 (B02): Development of Western Freedoms

July 4, 2021

Our thesis is: some men, recognized as ‘Founders’ of the United States, were influenced more than incidentally by Protestant Christian Theology in their work to establish a Covenant or Constitution for the United States. One such man was Roger Sherman who was specifically influenced by the doctrines of reformed theology. We will examine the nexus between the nation’s founding, reformed theology, New Light Puritan Congregationalist beliefs and the life lived by Roger Sherman who profoundly influenced our nation’s genesis, adding the greatest chapter thus far to Western Civilization.^[1]

What influence did a group of religious and political philosophers as early as Aristotle and Polybius, have on one of the United States’ most underrated founding fathers, Roger Sherman? Julian Boyd in his 1932 article “Roger Sherman: A Portrait of a Cordwainer Statesman” in New England Quarterly states “He was an inveterate reader, admired Milton and Vattel, and knew the Bible well enough to discuss theological subjects with the leading divines of New England.”^[2] Sherman is the only founding father to have been involved in every event of importance to the evolution of American government. He served in both Continental Congresses. He is the only individual to have signed all four founding documents upon which the structure of the republic rests: The Articles of Association, The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The Constitution of the United States of America.^[3] Finally and importantly, in 1811 Yale University President Timothy Dwight said of Sherman, he was “profoundly versed in theology, he held firmly to the doctrines of the reformation. Few men understood them so well; and few were equally able to defend them.”^[4]

A survey of thought history presents a writer with a great many options about the best approach to take given the subject and his or her specific ideas. Does one start from the Subject and work backward in time? Does one start with the idea and trace it from beginning forward to the subject? Does one begin with the originators of ideas in general and trace the ‘genealogy’ of the idea through all those who ascribed allegiance to it?  We have determined to attempt the intermediate track. In this survey we will select only a few of the main Christian thoughts or ideas of Mr. Sherman that contributed substantially to his work in the founding of the United States of America and try to find the source of such ideas in history and bring them forward through likely vectors to Roger Sherman.  Mr. Sherman certainly had many profound thoughts and ideas that came into play in his work that are either secular or political in nature outside the scope of this work. The ideas we wish to highlight are those of mixed government, God’s law supremacy, the resistance theory, Reformed theology, and the influence of Greco-Roman rhetoric.

In the first sentence of the second above paragraph, you will find reference to Aristotle and Polybius, and might wonder just how they may figure into the ‘nexus between the nation’s founding, reformed theology, New Light Puritan Congregationalist beliefs and the life lived by Roger Sherman.’ After all, didn’t it take well into the 16^th century and beyond for reformed theology to begin to show up in the writings of Calvin, Luther, Melanchthon, Knox, and others? The nexus is the fact that Aristotle and Polybius were acknowledged by the above thinkers as advocates for ‘mixed government’[5] as well as engaging in the highest forms of Greco-Roman rhetoric.  What does Greco-Roman rhetoric have to do with this topic? Ben Witherington III states in his essay,  “Almost Thou Persuadest Me…”: The Importance of Greco-Roman Rhetoric For The Understanding of the Text and Context of the NT” in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society,[6] “The pattern for studying the [New Testament] NT in terms of Greco-Roman rhetoric was set for the Western Church by Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, along with his treatise on elocution, and Augustine was followed in this by Calvin and Luther, and then Melanchthon, who produced full-scale commentaries on the NT analyzing it in terms of its Greco-Roman rhetoric, and who even wrote a handbook on classical rhetoric using the NT to illustrate said usage. In short, even in the Protestant tradition, and even in the Reformed and Lutheran traditions, there is a very long precedent for analyzing the NT in this way.” So, the direct lineage of both ‘mixed government’ and important context for understanding and interpreting the NT come from Aristotle, Polybius, and other ancients before the Reformation. Followers of early Christianity, particularly the more Gentile portions, were led by several rather remarkably gifted and indeed well-educated persons, persons like Paul, Apollos, Luke, and others. Their leadership was primarily in the form of sermons delivered in Greek and following a strict tradition of Greco-Roman rhetoric.[7]

Carl J. Richards, in his book The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment, posits “Thomas Aquinas, a follower of Aristotle in politics as well as metaphysics and ethics, revived the idea. John Calvin expressed a similar preference for mixed government, reiterating the widespread belief in the instability of the simple systems.”[8] Calvin also believed that the Golden rule was the best expression of Natural Law and should be held above the law of man. He states “For if it has pleased him to appoint kings over kingdoms, and senates or burgomasters over free states, whatever be the form which he has appointed in the places in which we live, our duty is to obey and submit.[9]

John Knox, a Scottish Reformed Clergyman, studied in Geneva under Calvin. To the ideas we have discussed so far, of Greco-Roman rhetoric, mixed government, and being subject to God’s law, all espoused by Calvin, Knox adds resistance theory. Knox states, “Christians ought not to obey the wicked commandments of Godless magistrates because it is not permitted to magistrates to ordain or appoint anything contrary to God’s law or the law of nature.”[10] Calvin quietly agreed with Knox saying sometimes God raised up “open avengers from among his servants” and armed them “with his command to punish the wicked government and deliver his people…”[11] So we are coming to a full bag of ideas and thoughts to ponder for Roger Sherman.

Coming together in Calvin are most all the thoughts and ideas that seem to play great part in the lineage of Sherman’s beliefs. Sherman writes in his own hand a Confession of Faith^[12] which is key to understanding his beliefs. This is the crystallization of his faith in God. His thoughts with respect to religion are all spelled out in this document. His Calvinist Reformed views shine through in this “Declaration of Faith” and one can see these thoughts at work in his previous and continuing political, social, and family life.

Sherman knows, through his reading and study, listening to sermons at church, having discussions with the leading politicians and divines of the day, that there was a Greco-Roman rhetorical influence on the New Testament along with extensive discussion of mixed government forms handed down by the ancients to the reformers. The reformers agreed with these ancients about the mixed government (including checks and balances) then added the supremacy of God’s law, as well as the Reformed Religious tenets, and in addition, approval of resistance to rulers who rule against God’s or natures law. Armed with this and his personal Confession of Faith he is ready to serve the country in highly important and critical debates that would encapsulate the documents founding our Nation. How did these ideas make their way to Sherman in a way that became his personal ethos in life and works? We need a path here that transmits these ideas to Sherman in the context of his life. Just such a pathway exists and can be traced by examining the establishment of the Colonies in America leading to Sherman’s life story.

As we know, Puritans (Separatists/Brownists) in England in the late 16^th century were suffering great persecution due to their Calvinist beliefs. They did not agree with a lot of the dogma inherent in either the Catholic or Anglican faith. Due to a change in the Monarch and a more aggressive approach to repression of Puritan’s that carried penalties up to and including incarceration, the most devout of the Faith relocated with some difficulty to The Low Country on the Continent, settling finally in Leyden. Among their number were Reverend John Robinson, Elder William Brewster, and Deacon Samuel Fuller. In a complicated and lengthy history of over twelve years, many of these Puritans were finally relocated in Plymouth Colony on the shores of Cape Cod. For the next ten years, Elder Brewster did double duty as the Ruling Elder and giving sermons at least twice each Sunday in the absence of their Minister who was back in Leyden tending the congregants who did not make the trip to Plymouth[13]. These Pilgrims brought an inventory of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs that they instituted in every aspect of life in the new world. They first wrote (some believe written by Brewster) and signed The Mayflower Compact which provided the basics of how society would function with one another. They established a church that was predicated on Calvinist Congregationalist principles, governed on the basis of a mixed government consisting of the one (Minister Head of the Church) the few (the Elder and Deacons) and the Many (the whole congregation) all subscribing to the covenant of the church.[14] They did likewise with the Temporal Administration consisting of the Governor, Selectmen or advisors, and the Freemen to vote on all important matters including the annual election of officers. Does this all start to sound familiar? From these beginnings in Plymouth, through the leadership of Elder Brewster and Deacon Fuller, other churches and Governments were set up throughout New England and over time became ‘the New England Way’.

Most of the immigrants to the New World after 1630 in the region of Plymouth came also as persecuted Puritans. They followed, more or less, the Plymouth prescription on their arrival. In fact, Plymouth was so kind to provide their doctor who was also their Deacon, Samuel Fuller to instruct them on Church Administration and to minister to the sick among them.[15] Over the next 150 years, the New England Way grew from that first 50 Puritans from the Mayflower to over 2.5 million persons, a majority of whom were Calvinist Protestants living under some form of mixed government.

Roger Sherman was born in Massachusetts 1721. His father, William, was a farmer and cobbler and belonged to the Congregationalist church. He passed away in 1741.  At this time Roger moved to New Milford, CT. where he busied himself in various pursuits including, cobbler, surveyor, and mercantile owner. A reader of note and self-taught mathematician he began publishing an almanac in 1750 which lasted until 1761 when he became too busy with political office to continue publishing. He was elected to several 6-month terms in the Connecticut General Assembly beginning in 1755 after having passed the Bar and been admitted to practice law. Sherman guided his two younger brothers in their pursuit of a Degree from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) launching their careers as Congregational Ministers.[16]

The epistemology of Freedom and Liberty under mixed government in the mind of Roger Sherman has deep roots. Assessment of the influencers and their thinking is an inventory of some of the greatest intellects the world has produced. We may again mention Aristotle, Polybius, Paul, Apollos, Luke, Augustine, Luther, while Mark D. Hall mentions Calvin, Knox, Rutherford, [Brewster], Winthrop, Edwards, Hooker, and others.[17] All the men mentioned by Hall played a part in shaping the final politicoreligious thinking of Sherman. The reformed creed, Faith in God, belief in the Bible, knowledge that Christ died on the Cross to cleanse our sins, adherence to God’s law, Virtue, Love, Hope, became hallmarks of Sherman’s thinking and speaking.  Sherman relied on this mental foundation in every important act and action on behalf of his fledgling nation. These are the overarching and abiding tenets driving Sherman’s critical and underappreciated work on our behalf. Just in reading the index of Collected Works of Roger Sherman, one is overwhelmed at the breadth and depth of Sherman’s participation in the work of our founding.[18] Our focus on the correspondence and other writings of Roger Sherman uncovers central values attributed to him by his contemporaries. We also discover how Sherman capitalized on these ideas and extended them in a practical view of what the people wanted and needed in a government.

A life-long member of the Presbyterian Church in Connecticut, Sherman acts as advisor, Deacon, and Member of the local church wherever he resides. He is noted to have listened to over 2000 sermons of various pastors. He is known as a mainstay of the congregation in any matter he entertains. His council extends even in his absence when he defends Pastor Edwards Jr. as he is pressed by the congregation to resign or be fired. Sherman urges caution and close examination of the covenant between a congregation and its’ Pastor.[19] Sherman’s defense of Dr. Edwards in a letter to his Son-in-law Simeon Baldwin of February 4, 1790, shows Sherman’s capabilities as a political operative in that he uses his persuasion to not only keep the “Society” united while also supporting Edwards in the strongest terms.

Sherman writes a Sermon regarding the examination one must make of himself before receiving the Lords Supper. None can be confused about his beliefs having read this sermon. Mr. Sherman demonstrates a true and complete understanding of the Bible teachings regarding this matter and affirms his robust faith in the Lord throughout.[20] This demonstrates once again, the Calvinist, Protestant, Reformed thinking demonstrated time and again by Mr. Sherman in this and all public and private venues.

So, we can see that the propagation of the Calvinist Reformed tradition by William Brewster and Samuel Fuller at the beginning of the migration of Puritans to the New World, along with ideas propelled by Calvin of mixed government in both the church and temporal administration, bounded by a covenant with the governed, resulted in cementing the ‘New England Way.’ For the next 160 or so years this ‘Way’ was taught in all the Congregational churches of New England including all attended by Roger Sherman. Sherman always exhibited the ability to synthesize new ideas from his inventory of knowledge as discussed throughout. A series of letters back and forth between Sherman and John Adams in July 1789 regarding specifics of Executive power under the Constitution, Sherman debates Adams about the similarity or not of the President’s role according to the Constitution and the role of the British Monarch.[21] Sherman demonstrates here his belief that the power of the ‘negative’ or veto is in perfect harmony with the balance of power required by this form of government. He highlights the fact of the potential for congress to override the negative and therefore this check has a balance in the veto as well as check and balance in the override. Adams propounds at length about this being unnecessary and weakens the Executive unduly. This debate again demonstrates Sherman’s intricate thinking regarding very key and fine points of harmonizing the roles in government of the United States. Again, Sherman proves his abilities in the Connecticut Compromise, dealing with numbers of Senators and Representatives in congress. His negotiation of this point prevented a stalemate between large and small states during the creation of the United States Constitution. This was the last of the great hurdles before the signing of the Constitution.

All who knew Roger Sherman respected his plainspoken wisdom. They appreciated his ability to clearly and quickly make an argument that was invariably relevant to the discussion. John Adams writes in his diary on September 15, 1775, that Sherman has a “clear head and sound judgment”.[22] Later in 1777 Adams again says of Sherman, “an old Puritan as honest as an angel and as firm in the cause of American Independence as Mount Atlas.”[23] His Connecticut colleague William Williams observed “Mr. Sherman from his early acquaintance, his good sense, judgment, steadiness, and inflexible integrity, has acquired much respect and is an exceedingly valuable member.”[24] Patrick Henry remarked that Sherman and George Mason “were the greatest statesmen that he ever knew.” Thomas Jefferson similarly praises Sherman as “a man who never said a foolish thing in his life.”[25] These and other similar recommendations are trademarks of Sherman throughout his life. If one can garner such praise from such an august group of gentlemen, it seems a life well lived serving his family, congregation, society, while contributing ideas to the national forum that shaped the founding of The United States of America.

So, what of our thesis? In these pages I believe we have established the nexus between the nation’s founding, reformed theology, New Light Puritan Congregationalist beliefs and the life lived by Roger Sherman. We know that the reformed theologians, Calvin, Melanchthon, Knox, had studied and knew thoroughly the ancient ideas of mixed government espoused by Aristotle, Polybius, and others, as well as the Greco-Roman rhetorical influence on the writing of the New Testament. We established the connection from the thinking of Calvin and the other reformed theologians to the Pilgrims’ Elder William Brewster, and Deacon Samuel Fuller, Winthrop, Hooker, and others who brought these ideas to, and implemented them in New England. With them, they created religious and temporal institutions underpinned by the ‘New England Way’. We know that Roger Sherman was raised in a Puritanical Congregational Religion and followed it closely for the rest of his life, while exhibiting its tenets in all aspects of his public and private affairs.  We know that Sherman read widely and studied math, ancient philosophy, law, religion, statecraft, and all manner of interesting topics to his great benefit throughout his life. He listened to and studied over 2000 sermons in the reformed Calvinist tradition. We also know from those closest to him in his work, that he personified the attributes we impute to him in our thesis. Finally, we believe Sherman had a clear understanding that Freedom is a gift from God while liberty is granted by the Polity.

Although we have concentrated on Roger Sherman in this essay, we believe that many other ‘Founding Fathers’ fit comfortably within this same thesis. We would mention John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, Patrick Henry, John Dickinson, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Gouverneur Morris, Elias Boudinot, John Witherspoon, and others who may or may not have been as religiously devout as Sherman, were certainly knowledgeable of and influenced by these same thoughts and ideas.[26]  

Bibliography

Boyd, Julian P.  “Roger Sherman: Portrait of a Cordwainer Statesman.” The New England Quarterly 5, no. 2 (1932): 227.

Bradford, William. Of Plimoth Plantation, Edited by Kenneth P. Minkema, Francis J. Bremer & Jeremy D. Bangs. Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2020.

Bremer, Francis J. One Small Candle. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Calvin, John. The Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846.

Dreisbach, Daniel L. Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Dreisbach, Daniel L., Mark David Hall, Jeffry H. Morrison, and Mark A. Noll. The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009. 

Dougherty, Keith L., and Jac C. Heckelman. “A Pivotal Voter from a Pivotal State: Roger Sherman at the Constitutional Convention.” The American Political Science Review 100, no. 2 (2006): 297-302.

Hall, Mark David. Roger Sherman, and the Creation of the American Republic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

_______________. “Did America Have a Christian Foundation?” The Heritage Foundation Report (June 7, 2011).

Hill, Matthew. “Roger Sherman and the Creation of the Republic.” Fides Et Historia 45, no. 2 (Summer, 2013): 149-50.

HOAR, GEORGE F. “The Connecticut Compromise.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 15 no. 2 (1903): 233–58.

Noll, Mark A. A History of Christianity in United States and Canada. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019.

Paltsits, Victor H. “Almanacs of Roger Sherman, 1750 TO 1761.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 18 (Oct 24, 1906): 213.

Patterson, Annabel. Milton’s Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Peabody, Andrew P. 1889. “Hopkinsianism.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 5 (3): 437–61.

Richards, Carl J.  The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Sherman, Roger. The Collected Works of Roger Sherman. Edited with Introduction by Mark David Hall, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2016.

Winship, Michael P. “THE LURE OF THE ATLANTIC.” In Hot Protestants: A History of Puritanism in England and America, 71-82. New Haven: London: Yale University Press, 2018.

Witherington III, Ben. “Almost Thou Persuadest Me…”: The Importance of Greco-Roman Rhetoric for the Understanding of the Text and Context of the NT.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58/1 (2015): 63–88.

[1] Daniel L. Dreisbach, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press, 2017), 52.

[2] Julian P. Boyd, “Roger Sherman: Portrait of a Cordwainer Statesman.” The New England Quarterly 5, no. 2 (1932): 227.

[3] Ibid. 228.

[4] Mark David Hall, Roger Sherman, and the Creation of the American Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 40.

[5] Carl Richards, Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2009), 7.

[6]Ben Witherington III “Almost Thou Persuadest Me…”: The Importance of Greco-Roman Rhetoric for the Understanding of the Text and Context of the NT” in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58/1 (2015) 63–88

[7] Ibid., 66

[8] Carl J. Richards, The Founders, and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), 127

[9] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846) Book IV Chapter XX Number 8, 657.

[10] Greaves, Richard L. “John Knox, the Reformed Tradition, and the Development of Resistance Theory.” The Journal of Modern History 48, no. 3 (1976): 1-36.

[11] Ibid., 7

[12] Roger Sherman, The Collected Works of Roger Sherman. Edited with Introduction by Mark David Hall, (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2016), 732.

[13] Francis J. Bremer, One Small Candle (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020),109-24.

[14] William Bradford, Of Plimoth Plantation, ed. Kenneth P. Minkema, Francis J. Bremer& Jeremy D. Bangs (Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2020), 1-22.

[15] Ibid., 13.

[16] Sherman, Collected Works, xvii

[17] Mark D. Hall, “Reformed Political Theory in the American Founding.” In Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 13.

[18] Sherman, Collected Works, 821-39.

[19] Ibid., 769.

[20] Ibid., 747.

[21] Sherman, Collected Works, 686-99.

[22] Sherman, Collected Works., 153.

[23] Ibid., xiv.

[24] Ibid., xiii-xiv.

[25] Ibid., xv.

[26] Dreisbach, Reading the Bible, 50-1