Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805

The early political culture of the american republic was so deeply influenced by the religious consciousness of the New England preachers that it was often thorugh the political sermon that the political rhetoric of the period was formed, refined, and transmitted. Yet the centrality of religious concerns in the lives of eighteenth-century Americans is largely neglected. This has created a blind spot regarding the fundamental acts of the american founding.