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One of leading figures of his day, Roger Sherman was a member of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence and an influential delegate at the Constitutional Convention. As a Representative and Senator in the new republic, he had a hand in determining the proper scope of the national government's power as well as drafting the Bill of Rights. In Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic, Mark David Hall explores
Sherman's political theory and shows how it informed his many contributions to America's founding. A close examination of Sherman's religious beliefs provides insight into how those beliefs
informed his political actions. Hall shows that Sherman, like many founders, was influenced by Calvinist political thought, a tradition that played a role in the founding generation's opposition to Great Britain, and led them to develop political institutions designed to prevent corruption, promote virtue, and protect rights. Contrary to oft-repeated assertions that the founders advocated a strictly secular policy, Hall argues persuasively that most founders believed Christianity should play an
important role in the new American republic.
One of leading figures of his day, Roger Sherman was a member of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence and an influential delegate at the Constitutional Convention. As a Representative and Senator in the new republic, he had a hand in determining the proper scope of the national government's power as well as drafting the Bill of Rights. In Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic, Mark David Hall explores
Sherman's political theory and shows how it informed his many contributions to America's founding. A close examination of Sherman's religious beliefs provides insight into how those beliefs
informed his political actions. Hall shows that Sherman, like many founders, was influenced by Calvinist political thought, a tradition that played a role in the founding generation's opposition to Great Britain, and led them to develop political institutions designed to prevent corruption, promote virtue, and protect rights. Contrary to oft-repeated assertions that the founders advocated a strictly secular policy, Hall argues persuasively that most founders believed Christianity should play an
important role in the new American republic.
Chapter 1: The Old Puritan and a New Nation
Chapter 2: Reformed Political Theory in the American Founding
Chapter 3: Connecticut Politics and American Independence
Chapter 4: Achieving Independence
Chapter 5: ''An Eel by the Tail''
Chapter 6: Roger Sherman and the New National Government
Chapter 7: ''Philosophy may mislead you. Ask experience''
Notes
Appendix
Index
Mark David Hall is Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Politics at George Fox University.
"We have a book on Roger Sherman that religious and revolutionary
historians should find useful." -- Robert E. Crazy, Montclair State
University, Journal of Church and State
"It is one of the many virtues of Mark David Hall s succinct, lucid
monograph that he makes a convincing case for Sherman s
significance without falling prey to the whining tone of special
pleading that so often taints books examining neglected Founding
Fathers...Hall has written
an admirable introduction to Roger Sherman's life, political
career, and role as a thinking politician...[An] excellent
book."--Church History and Religious Culture
"Dr. Mark Hall offers a compelling Calvinist narrative to the
formation of the American order in his recent political biography,
Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic... Hall's
political biography of Roger Sherman is an excellent and heartily
welcomed addition to this woefully neglected field of research."
--Alan R. Crippen II, John Jay Institute
"As is, we have a book on Roger Sherman that religious and
revolutionary historians should find useful." --Journal of Church
and State
"A great book about a great but little known American. Professor
Hall gracefully explains how one of the Founding Era's best
politicians fully integrated his religious faith into a life of
pragmatic and effective public service. Why can't more histories be
this enjoyable to read?"--William R. Casto, Paul Whitfield Horn
University Professor of Law, Texas Tech University
"Hardly the 'simple cobbler from Connecticut' portrayed on Broadway
in 1776, Roger Sherman emerges from Professor Hall's excellent
volume as deeply immersed in both Reformed theology and the
practical politics of nation-building. Sherman's contributions to
the American founding have been overlooked for too long, and
Professor Hall has done a great service to remind us not only of
the importance of Sherman himself but also of the Protestant
Reformed
tradition that he represented."--Donald L. Drakeman, author of
Church, State, and Original Intent
"While most debates about the constitutional intent of our Founding
Fathers focus on Madison, Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson, Mark
David Hall expands our intellectual horizons with this detailed
examination of the life and thought of Roger Sherman, the most
important of the 'forgotten founders.' But Hall's research is more
than just a biography of one man; he uses the person of Roger
Sherman to reveal the deep-seated culture of Calvinism that
influenced
the original structure of our nation's government. This book is a
must-read for anyone engaged in legal debates about the nature of
the U.S. Constitution."--Anthony Gill, author of The Political
Origins
of Religious Liberty
"The best life of Connecticut's foremost Founding Father ever
written." --The American Conservative
"In this thoughtful, compelling book, Mark David Hall not only
demonstrates that Roger Sherman was one of the most influential
Founding Fathers, but he also convincingly locates Sherman's
politics in the Reformed Christian tradition. Sherman deserves
recognition as an indispensable leader of the new American nation,
and every student and scholar of the Revolutionary period would
profit greatly from reading Hall's treatment of this distinguished
Connecticut
Patriot."--Thomas S. Kidd, author of Patrick Henry: First Among
Patriots
"Elegantly written, carefully researched, and downright
persuasive...Hall so brilliantly and strenuously challenges the
consensus view that we should look forward to this book being
banned from public schools across the country...it is a book worth
reading."--Library of Law and Liberty
"This slim volume should find its way onto many syllabi. Clearly
and engagingly written, itis perfect for undergraduates, who also
respond enthusastically to the 'forgotten founder' trope. This fine
study is recommended not only for students but also for scholars
who believe they can understand the founding as a purely secular
event." --The Journal of American History
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