was one of the leading spirits and the directing force of the
discussion. He led in the resistance to the Stamp Act and in other
ways he united his colony in solid resistance to the attempt to levy
taxes and imposts without their consent. In May, 1775, the General
Synod of the Presbyterian Church met in Philadelphia and issued its
famous "Pastoral Letter," which was sent broadcast throughout the
Colonies, urging the people to adhere to the resolutions of Congress,
and to make earnest prayer to God for guidance in all measures looking
to the defense of the country. This powerful letter was also sent to
the legislature in every colony. Adolphus in his "History of England
from the Accession of George III. to the Conclusion of Peace in 1783,"
published in London in 1802, declared that the Synod and their
circular was the chief cause which led the Colonies to determine on
resistance. There is no question that from the Scots Presbyterians and
their descendants came many of the leaders in the struggle for
independence, as Bancroft has well pointed out in the following words:
"The first voice publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection
with Great Britain came not from the Puritans of New England, nor the
Dutch of New York, nor the planters of Virginia, but from the
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians." Joseph Galloway (1730-1803), the
Loyalist, than whom, says Ford, "there could be no better informed
witness," "held that the underlying cause of the American Revolution
was the activity and influence of the Presbyterian interest," and
further, that "it was the Presbyterians who supplied the Colonial
resistance a lining without which it would have collapsed." And Joseph
Reed of Philadelphia, himself an Episcopalian, said: "The part taken
by the Presbyterians in the contest with the mother country was
indeed, at the time, often made a ground of reproach, and the
connection between their efforts for the security of religious liberty
and opposition to the oppressive measures of Parliament, was then