The Social Utility of Wicked Self-Love: Calvinism, Capitalism, and Public Policy in Revolutionary New England

Abstract

Roger Sherman, at the center of every debate of national importance from the Stamp Act crisis through the adoption of Alexander Hamilton's financial programs, became embroiled in a less-known controversy in 1790. His clergyman, Jonathan Edwards Jr., son and namesake of America's great theological and philosophical virtuoso, had alienated much of his flock at the separatist White Haven parish in New Haven, Connecticut. Complaints about Edwards were legion. He preached metaphysical sermons, demanded strict standards for admission communion in his church, and refused share communion with members of New Haven Town's two other Congregational churches. He declared at a town meeting that a parishioner of his who believed in universal salvation was unfit for public office, and he spent most of his time preparing his father's manuscripts for publication, allegedly with an eye toward pecuniary gain. As young people abandoned White Haven, leading members of the congregation plotted his dismissal. Sherman, a partisan of Edwards since the latter's ordination in 1769, defended his minister as Sound in the Faith, & pious, and diligent in his Studies. Sherman wrote, published, and circulated a sermon supporting Edwards's position on communion. have heard many good preachers, Sherman wrote White Haven deacon David Austin, but I have found none that in all respects suit me better than Dr Edwards. Edwards, in turn, regarded Sherman as a model Christian, exemplary ... in the practice of virtue, and applauded his courage to appear openly on the Lord's side . . . avow and defend the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism. When Sherman died in 1793, Edwards knew his days at White Haven were numbered. Two years later, he was dismissed.'