Stephen Colwell: A sample of Early American Christian Fervor
Not much is known about Stephen Colwell, a man who, while living during the turbulent years of 1800-1871, happened to be a prolific writer. As an author of a handful of publications, Colwell wrote on the behalf of Protestant Christians, and their place within American society. His many pamphlets and books spoke heavily of the Christian influence in America’s foundation, as well as the place for the faithful in American politics. Through and through Colwell saw America as a Christian nation, one divinely inspired, guided and ultimately chosen to be a truly Christian nation.1
Stephen Colwell has been relatively obscured by history. This mysterious figure was born in Virginia, but later settled in Pennsylvania where he earned a legal education at Jefferson College. A legal career was not the desired career for Colwell, in turn he settled for a career in business, ultimately becoming a successful iron manufacturer. He had the air of an early American “everyman” where he was not only a lucrative entrepreneur but a scholar of economics, politics and religion. He became an Orthodox Presbyterian church leader as well as a politician of the Whig party. He later became involved in early American railroads, and served on the Sanitary Commission of the Union Army during the Civil War, before his death in 1871.
Colwell published a book in 1854 titled The Position of Christianity in the United States, in its relations to our political institutions and specially with reference to religious instruction in public schools. Colwell’s book, with a title typical in length of many publications of the era, covered the importance that Christianity played in the foundation of the American political institution.2
Colwell wrote of the belief that victory in the American Revolution was a war fought by those who explicitly appealed to God for justice. While God did not blatantly interfere on the behalf of the Americans fighting in the war, he did pass down the knowledge to defeat the superior British forces. Americans almost universally praised God, and his favor was show in the victory over the English rule. A victory in war allowed for the creation of a nation in which citizens could freely trust in God.
Colwell lived during a phase early on in the rise of modern society, and he saw Christianity as the single greatest driving force for the modern age in which he lived. It was an age in which the founding of a modern nation, like the United States of America, could come to fruition. No single religious following was demanded of American citizens, but rather an acknowledgement that Christianity was the major basis for those enjoying the political freedom afforded to Americans. It was on these Christian people to administer the laws of America, but no church or over-arching authority should rule America. The Constitution according to Colwell represents an oath to a supreme God, and no provisions of the Constitution are to be enjoyed without the granting of these rights by God. Christianity is the seal placed upon the Constitution of the United States, and thus it is the highest obligation of the American people.
Colwell’s exhaustive book on the subject of Christianity in American politics was not his only work on the subject. Two years prior he had published Politics for American Christians : a word upon our example as a nation, our labour, our trade, elections, education, and congressional legislation. His major argument in his earlier work saw Christians as the most important proponents of true American politics. While Christians should not overly concern themselves with petty matters of this earth, Christianity offered the necessary moral fortitude to steer forth the nation of God.
His views are not unusual for the era of American history in which he lived. 1800, the year in which Colwell was born, began an era of rampant religious change in America. America was mired in religious revival the year that Colwell was born, one of the most fruitful times for evangelical Christianity. The Second Great Awakening of Colwell’s early life saw the rise of new Christian denominations, like the Baptists and Methodists and was an era in which the Presbyterian church split over denominational squabbles.
The Constitution of the United States had been ratified just years earlier, and Colwell served in a generation of Americans not far removed from the country’s origins. This time was an experimental one for the United States, but Christianity did serve a tremendous purpose in holding Americans to the provisions of the United States Constitution. While this is just a small sampling of his works, and others on the subject, they are commonplace ideas among those written at the time.
Stephen Colwell, The Position of Christianity in the United States, in its relations with our political institutions, and specially with reference to religion in public schools (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854), 9.
Colwell, The Position of Christianity, 12.
Bibliography:
Colwell, Stephen. The Position of Christianity in the United States, in its relations with our political institutions, and specially with reference to religion in public schools. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854. Accessed October 5, 2021.https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Monographs&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=8&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tPosition=8&docId=GALE%7CCY0101287643&docType=Monograph&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=SBN-2005b&prodId=SABN&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCY0101287643&searchId=R1&userGroupName=vic_liberty&inPS=true-1926 (liberty.edu)
Colwell, Stephen. Politics for American Christians : a word upon our example as a nation, our labour, our trade, elections, education, and congressional legislation. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852. Accessed October 5, 2021. https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Monographs&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=8&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tPosition=6&docId=GALE%7CCY0101287507&docType=Monograph&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=SBN-2005b&prodId=SABN&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCY0101287507&searchId=R1&userGroupName=vic_liberty&inPS=true