Roger, thanks. Rhys Isaac apparently would extend that on into at least
the 1770s, when there was an instance of a preacher being horsewhipped by a
"gentleman" sheriff, which presumably led to revulsion on the part of
many. He states, "The confrontation between evangelicalism and the
traditional order in Virginia had begun with the Hanover Awakening in the 1740s, but
it entered into its fiercest and most bitter phase as he New Light Separate
Baptists moved into the longer-settled parts of Virginia in the years
after 1765." (162)
Virginia passed Jefferson's "Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom"
in 1784, which had been introduced in 1779. Perhaps all that indicates a
lessening of the persecution during the 1780's, but I haven't read enough
recently to have a feel for it.
--Warren
In a message dated 11/9/2010 10:26:20 A.M. Mountain Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
My sense, including from detailed readings of the Virginia Gazettes of
the colonial period, was that such "vicious persecution" took place
earlier, 1740-1760s.
Roger Mellen
On 11/9/10 9:18 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Jon, in your response to Paul Finkelman, you say "not sure I would
> characterize *1780s* as a period of 'vicious persecution' of any
denomination in
> VA." Does your uncertainty have to do with your sense of the degree of
> the persecution that does seem to have existed? More than one
religious
> historian has maintained that it was the treatment of Baptists and
others by
> both government authorities and general population that helped produce
our
> national position on religious tolerance and freedom. Similarly, Thomas
> Jefferson's concept of separation of church and state seems to have
been
> influenced by his perception of ill treatment of such folk as the
Baptists.
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/9/2010 9:05:49 A.M. Mountain Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> When described in detail, the oaths taken by 18th-c VA officeholders
were
> typically described as "the Oaths appointed to be taken by Act of
> Parliament* followed by a statement about "repeat[ing] and subscrib[ing
--
> i.e., signing] the Test"**
>
> {Language quoted from William Nelson's assumption of governorship in
> October
> 1770 in Van Horne ed Nelson Correspondence 37-38n}
>
> *Act I George I stat 2 cap XIII - oath of allegiance to George I and
> succession of his Protestant heirs
> ** The Test was a repudiation of transubstantion required by the Test
Act
> of
> 1673
>
> At the beginning of a general assembly session and when new burgesses
> entered the Assembly from by-elections, the journals refer more
succinctly
> to the oaths....
>
> George Washington signed a Test Act Oath about May 22, 1754 - the
document
> is extant, or at least preserved by published photographs......
>
> And in 1777 VA adopted its own (secular) Test Act requiring "free male
> inhabitants of this state above a certain age to give assurance of
> allegiance to the same [i.e. to the commonwealth]." - Hening Statutes
9:
> 281-83.
>
> PS to original query : not sure I would characterize *1780s* as a
period of
> " vicious persecution" of any denomination in VA
>
> Jon Kukla
> ________________
> www.JonKukla.com<http://www.jonkukla.com/>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Henry Wiencek
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> According to the "Industrial and historical sketch of Fairfax County,
>> Virginia," (1907), in colonial times all county officials were
>> required to take the "Test Oath" denying belief in the
>> Transubstantiation of the Eucharist, a clause no Roman Catholic could
>> swear to.
>>
>> Henry Wiencek
>>
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