JOHN WITHERSPOON

East Lothian, Scotland
February 5, 1723–November 15, 1794
Committee Commando

John Witherspoon came to New Jersey from Scotland to turn the underfunded and poorly attended College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) into a first-rate school. Subsequently, he was elected to the New Jersey state legislature and the Continental Congress. Witherspoon was different from most of the patriots who supported the American Revolution: he was a non-native. He adopted his new home and supported wholeheartedly its fight for independence—at a severe personal price. His son, Major James Witherspoon, died of wounds incurred at the October 1777 Battle of Germantown. That was a price John Witherspoon was willing to pay, albeit brokenheartedly.

Anti-British by Nature

John Witherspoon, a prominent evangelical Presbyterian minister, lived—and preached—in Scotland. Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton traveled from New Jersey in 1766 to invite Witherspoon to America as head professor and president at the Presbyterian College of New Jersey in Princeton. Initially, his wife Elizabeth was reluctant to travel overseas. She relented two years later, and the Witherspoons arrived in America soon thereafter.

It was not difficult for the colonists to win Witherspoon over to the cause of the patriots once he arrived in America. Since the Scottish and English were never bosom buddies, it was a foregone conclusion that he would adopt an anti-British stance. But he was not involved heavily in politics in his early years in New Jersey. He had to resurrect the college first.

Witherspoon made some significant changes at Princeton. He upgraded the physical facilities, revamped the curriculum, improved the quality of the faculty, and did whatever he could do to bring the college on par with Yale and Harvard.

FEDERAL FACTS

James Madison, Aaron Burr, the incendiary writer Philip Freneau (“The Poet of the American Revolution”), and Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the Scottish-born writer, lawyer, judge, and justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, were among Witherspoon’s students at Princeton.

Witherspoon had his critics in his early days at Princeton, especially when it came to politics. Some of them accused him of turning the college into a “seminary of sedition.”

Dealing with the criticism occupied his time for a while, but the growing interference by the British in American affairs and the concomitant influence of the Anglican Church bothered the staunch Presbyterian. He took the changes personally.

Witherspoon became heavily involved in the American fight for independence. He began working with the Committee of Correspondence and Safety in 1774. His dedication was recognized and he was elected to serve as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1776, along with Richard Stockton and Francis Hopkinson. The previous delegates, who had resisted independence, were kept home.

Witherspoon was a rarity among the delegates to the Second Continental Congress. He was a Presbyterian, whereas most of the delegates from the north were Congregationalists, and those from the south were Episcopalians (Anglicans). And he was the only active member of the clergy—and the only college president—to sign the Declaration of Independence. In that same year, Witherspoon attracted a lot more attention when one of his sermons, “The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men,” was published widely.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“I WILLINGLY EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITY OF DECLARING MY OPINION WITHOUT ANY HESITATION, THAT THE CAUSE IN WHICH AMERICA IS NOW IN ARMS, IS THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE, OF LIBERTY, AND OF HUMAN NATURE.”

—JOHN WITHERSPOON IN “THE DOMINION OF PROVIDENCE OVER THE PASSIONS OF MEN”

Chaplain and Champion

John Hancock appointed Witherspoon as the Congress’s chaplain. Committee after committee benefited from his participation. In his time in Congress, Witherspoon served on more than one hundred committees.

Witherspoon was a meticulous delegate. As a late arrival to the Congress, he made sure he had all the facts at hand before voting for independence.

And when delegates argued about whether or not the country was ready for independence, he was quick to insist that it was, so they would not have to do Parliament’s bidding.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“IT IS A WISE MAXIM TO AVOID THOSE THINGS WHICH OUR ENEMIES WISH US TO PRACTICE.”

—JOHN WITHERSPOON

On July 1, 1776, Adams presented an impassioned speech on behalf of independence, which he completed before the New Jersey contingent arrived. When Stockton, Hopkinson, and Witherspoon arrived, they demanded that he repeat the speech. Adams accommodated their request. It was only then that the New Jersey men said they were satisfied and ready for the question, which was then voted on in the affirmative.

Witherspoon’s Later Service

The British extracted a price for Witherspoon’s support of the Declaration of Independence. The British army set up camp at Princeton in November 1776. Witherspoon knew that damage to the school was a possibility. He closed the campus and sent the students away on November 1. His worst fears were realized. The British destroyed the main building on the campus, Nassau Hall, and Witherspoon’s personal notes and papers. Continental Army troops also did their share of damage. An artillery unit commanded by Alexander Hamilton fired a round through a window in the campus prayer hall and destroyed a portrait of King George II. Even British army commanders were concerned about the misconduct among their soldiers in the New Jersey campaign, although they blamed the Hessians. Congress assigned a committee to look into the matter on January 16, 1777. Witherspoon was one of the seven members.

Witherspoon assumed the responsibility of rebuilding Nassau Hall after the war. That created a great deal of financial difficulty for him and affected his personal life as well. He was unable to rebuild his life as quickly as he could restore the damaged campus.

By 1794 the aging Witherspoon’s health was deteriorating. He had lost sight in both eyes in separate accidents in the preceding two years. He died that year on his farm near Princeton. He never lost the belief that he had done the right thing by voting for American independence.