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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

RICHARD HENRY LEE TO JOHN ADAMS. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799) [1853]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 8.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

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RICHARD HENRY LEE TO JOHN ADAMS.

New York, 24 October, 1785.

Dear Sir,—

Having yesterday written a long letter to you, I have now only to request your attention to the following business, which is of very great importance to those whom it concerns, and who form a considerable portion of the citizens of these States. The representatives of those professing the church of England system of religion, having been lately assembled at Philadelphia, where lay and clerical deputies from seven States were convened in general convention, for the purpose, among other things, of preserving and maintaining a succession of divines in their church, in a manner which they judge consonant to the gospel, and no way interfering with the religious or civil rights of others, have sent an address to the archbishops and bishops of England, proposing a plan for the consecration of American bishops. It is imagined that, before any thing is done in this business by the bishops of England, they will consult the King and ministry, who, it is apprehended, may now, as heretofore, suppose that any step of the kind being taken in England might be considered here as an officious intermeddling with our affairs that would give offence on this side the water. Should this be the case, the church of England members in congress have the greatest reliance on your liberal regard for the religious rights of all men, that you will remove mistaken scruples from the mind of administration, by representing how perfectly consonant it is with our revolution principles professed throughout all the States, that every denomination of Christians has a right to pursue its own religious modes, interfering not with others; that, instead of giving offence, it must give content, by evidencing a friendly disposition to accommodate the people here who are members of the church in question. In proof of this, congress did lately show their attention to the accommodation of this class of Christians, by communicating to the different executives your information from the Danish minister of that King’s willingness to facilitate the business of ordination for our church. And the assembly of Virginia hath incorporated this society, under which act of incorporation the convention was held in that State, that sent both lay and clerical deputies to the general convention lately held in Philadelphia.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Richard Henry Lee.