As Presbyterians, one of our major understandings is that we make decisions better in a group, usually in a deliberative body. All of the members of that body have equal voice and vote and need to be listened to.
While the Continental Congress of 1776 was not an ecclesiastical body, it is interesting to think of it as a similar deliberative body. There were 56 individuals that signed the Declaration of Independence. I know I can’t name more than a handful.
For American Presbyterians, the patron saint of the Declaration is John Witherspoon, the only active clergy member to sign the document. A few other Presbyterians of note might come to mind as well, like Benjamin Rush, Philip Livingston, and Richard Stockton. But by most lists, there were eight other Presbyterians that signed the Declaration of Independence at some point. (For example, George Taylor – another interesting figure – was a new appointment from Pennsylvania and had not taken his seat by July 4th but signed later.) In reading through many of the biographies it is clear that the signers were typically distinguished and public-minded individuals. In the years since a handful gained greater historical prominence.
And so, I want to take a moment on this Independence Day weekend to mention Abraham Clark. His is not a name that readily comes to mind when thinking about the signers – at least not to me – but he was also in the room for the process. He was in that same delegation from New Jersey as Witherspoon and Stockton but does not have their historical prominence.
Abraham, and his wife Sarah, were members of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Sarah’s father was a ruling elder in the church and the pastor was the Rev James Caldwell, a notable figure in advocating for Independence and supporting the colonial army. It is certain that Clark when to Philadelphia as an advocate for independence in part from Caldwell’s preaching.
Professionally, Abraham began as a surveyor as he had an aptitude for math. Along the way, he taught himself law so he could help with property disputes. He was noted as the “poor man’s counselor” for his willingness to give free legal advice to those that could not afford it and generally helping out with such cases. He became active in civic affairs serving as the as high sheriff of Essex County as well as the clerk in the colonial legislature. Additional legislative positions followed including election to the Continental Congress.
During the war, Abraham remained in the Congress but two of his sons were officers in the Continental Army and were captured with at least one held on a British prison ship. While Clark did not call attention to their connection to him, it was found out by the British and one son received particularly harsh treatment until diplomatic connections protested the treatment.
He was almost constantly active in the Continental Congress up to his death in 1794, including his participation in starting to construct the new Constitution.
While a faithful Presbyterian, he had limited involvement in church governance and only in the last few years of his life did he serve as a trustee of his church.
Such is the nature of deliberative bodies. Many are there, many contribute, but while many may be prominent at the time, in the years following only a few of the individuals are really remembered. In the most famous painting of the event, John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence in the US Capitol Rotunda, Abraham Clark is there, but barely. He is almost squeezed out by Paine and Hooper.
So on this day that we Americans remember the “Presbyterian Rebellion,” it is also worth remembering that a good deliberative body is made up of individuals, each with their own perspectives, knowledge and skills, each with voice and vote, and each one just as important and of equal worth to the others in the body.
Happy Presbyterian Rebellion Day!
Footnote: Material from William B. Miller, 1958, Presbyterian Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, v 36, n 3, p 139-179.