Samuel Seabury

And I'm sure you know, too, that there's a lot of scholarship that members of the Anglican Church, later it's going to be the Protestant Episcopal Church, tended to be loyalists.

And so in Westchester, we have the minister who is in charge, Samuel Seabury, the Anglican rector of the Westchester Anglican community leading up to the Revolutionary War.

He is going to write anonymously letters from a Westchester farmer.

So one of those pamphlets that is, in his case, arguing you should stay loyal to the crown.

But really, every single family I can think of had people split on both sides.

And I think this is why the fissure that developed there is so profound.

And for any of our Hamilton listeners, their alarm bells were going off as they heard Samuel Seabury's name and now know the origin of that one number in the musical in Act One.

The farmer refuted that that was a pamphlet exchange relating to a so-called Westchester farmer who's actually the Reverend Samuel Seabury.

And the best spokespeople for the English cause, for the British cause in North America during the war are Church of England clergy people.

We think of Samuel Seabury from Hamilton, right? You know, he's kind of the butt of a joke in Hamilton, but he and others like him played a legitimate role there and kind of saying war is not the right answer here.

That's the public role.

The other role that I think we often forget is the pastoral role.

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On a daily basis, I am not often thinking of the Anglican Communion, but having that operating system going on, that software running in the background of the idea that I'm rooted, not only in this church, you know, that Samuel Seabury started in the American Revolution, that it goes deeper and wider than that.

Like, that gives me a sense of stability because it's like, "Oh, I'm tied to this global effort or this global thing instead of just some random American experiment."

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And so if I'm hearing about, you know, some sort of greater Anglican conversation or conflict, then it will arise, or if I'm visiting Kate in Germany then it might arise.

But my operating system on a daily basis, I am not often thinking of the Anglican Communion.

But similar to what you said, Matthew, about, um, your faith opening up and going wider and deeper, I think that having that operating system going on, that software running in the background of the idea that I'm rooted, that my faith is rooted not only in this church, you know, that Samuel Seabury started in the American Revolution or whatever you wanna call it, that it goes deeper and wider than that, like that gives me a sense of stability, a broader sense of stability that I probably don't often mentally tie to my participation in the Anglican Communion, but it's there because it's like, oh, I'm tied to this global effort or this global thing instead of just some random American experiment.

How would you answer that, Matthew, other than the fact that you're employed by an institution that is an Anglican Communion serving institution? [laughs] So we know you got a little bit of a vested interest, plus you're a priest and all that, but...

Casey mentioned religion as being part of it.

You've got guys like Samuel Seabury and Joseph Boucher, these Anglican priests, and to them, right, the head of their church is the king.

They are honor-bound and bound by religion to support the Crown.

You've got merchants who were tied to the imperial economy.

Fast-forward to after the Revolutionary War, the Church of England is practically ruined in this country because it's considered, you know, Tory and loyal to the Crown.

Men like Samuel Seabury right here in Connecticut down the street from where we're sitting right now.

About 200 yards from here, they elected the first bishop of the newly formed Protestant Episcopal Church.

Hey, folks, John Harris here.