With the rise of the new liberalism in the American colonies no name is
more conspicuous than that of _Jonathan Mayhew_ (1721-66), whose
eloquence was of a more modern type than most of his day. He is credited
with having deeply moved many who became leaders in turn, whether as
ministers or laymen. After the interruption of normal development
inevitable during the War of Independence, things moved more rapidly.
The French Revolution evoked the warmest sympathy in the United States,
and its effect on religion there was largely to increase a sense of the
worth of man. 'Universalism,' the final restoration of all, became a
conspicuous doctrine with some. The need for practical measures to
uplift the general life here was a theme more to the mind of others. The
distinctly 'Unitarian' trend was from the first associated with this
eager attention to the higher culture. Harvard College, in the very
heart of New England, rapidly developed into a fruitful source of the
newer ideas, which were embodied in the lives of 'statesmen, merchants,
physicians, lawyers, and teachers'; and thus the community, in all its
more vigorous members, became charged with a fresh conception of life
and religion.
In the first decade of the nineteenth century we begin to trace
publications more or less distinctly Unitarian. One of these was the
_Monthly Anthology_, the pioneer among American literary magazines. One
of its two editors was the Rev. William Emerson, father of Ralph Waldo
Emerson. As the divergence of ideas grew more distinct debate began to
be fierce. The new magazine took a bold line, while many liberals were
still hesitating. In 1808 the trouble came to the surface. Harvard was
denounced by the orthodox party, in consequence of the appointment of a
liberal minister, Henry Ware, to a professorship involving pastoral care
of the students. An orthodox rival school was set up at Andover. A few
years later a pamphlet appeared giving letters alleged to have been sent
to England by Boston ministers reporting that a certain number were
Unitarians. The name was unwelcome at the time, especially because it
was associated with the 'humanitarianism' then becoming widely taught in
England. The implicated ministers, being charged with cowardly evasion,
replied with warmth; they were, in fact, mostly Arians, and thus their
views really were different from the English type. Moreover, again in
contrast with the English, they expressed strong dislike of controversy;
all they asked was to be left alone to proclaim the 'Simple
Christianity' in which they believed.
The upshot showed, however, that controversy was not to be avoided, and
during twenty years from 1815 onwards it raged more or less severely. An
epoch in this long and regrettable warfare was marked by a sermon
preached at Baltimore in 1819. The preacher was one of the most famous
men on the Unitarian roll, _William Ellery Channing_ (1780-1842).
Already eminent, he continued to hold a position unique in the religious
life of New England; his saintly character and his noble if simple
eloquence made him a leader in spite of himself. For a long time he had
maintained a mediating position--all through his life he resolutely
disclaimed sectarianism; but in 1819, after years of discussion, it was
obvious that, for good or evil, the old dogma and the new spirit lay far
apart. From that date liberals and conservatives in the old
Congregational system of New England were divided, and 'Unitarian
Christianity,' which was the subject of Channing's discourse, was a
recognized type in the land. In 1825 the American Unitarian Association
was founded. It was but a struggling society at first, not for lack of
sympathy with its principle, but because many Unitarians, like Channing,
so strongly disliked the notion of forming a new sect that they took
little interest in methods of propagandism common to most religious
bodies.