Folly of Revolution

In this penetrating biography of Thomas Bradbury Chandler, S. Scott Rohrer takes readers deep into the intellectual world of a leading loyalist who defended monarchy, rejected rebellion and democracy, and opposed the American Revolution.Talented, hardworking, and erudite, this Anglican minister from New Jersey possessed one of the Church of England’s most outstanding minds. Chandler was an Anglican leader in the 1760s and a key strategist in the effort to strengthen the American church in the years preceding the Revolution. He headed the campaign to create an Anglican bishopric in America—a cause that helped inflame tensions with American radicals unhappy with British policies. And, in the 1770s, his writings provided some of the most trenchant criticisms of the American revolutionary movement, raising fundamental questions about obedience, subordination, and rebellion that undercut Whig assertions about republicanism and popular control. Working from Chandler’s library catalog and other primary sources, Rohrer digs into Chandler’s political and religious beliefs, exploring their origins and the events in British history that shaped them.An intriguing and thoughtful reappraisal of a consequential figure in early American history, this biography will captivate students, scholars, and lay readers interested in politics and religion in Revolutionary-era America.

“An intriguing contribution to a thriving literature on religion and the American Revolution, as well as on the diversity of political sentiments present in the colonial and Revolutionary eras. The Folly of Revolution reflects a creative reading of the influences on a significant religious figure, Anglican Thomas Bradbury Chandler, and in many places, it presents insightful new readings of well-known sources.”—Katherine Carté, author of Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America, “Thoroughly researched, The Folly of Revolution makes Thomas Bradbury Chandler and the intellectual world of this prominent loyalist more understandable. Rohrer complicates our understanding of the uses of English history by loyalists, and this study of Chandler is unique in recognizing the significance of non-juror arguments from the Glorious Revolution as foundational to his thinking about the right to rebellion.”—Nancy L. Rhoden, author of Revolutionary Anglicanism: The Colonial Church of England Clergy During the American Revolution, “Opens a wide field for further research in the work of one of the greatest minds of the period.”—Richard Mammana, Medium.com

S. Scott Rohrer is a social historian and the author of several books, including Jacob Green’s Revolution: Radical Religion and Reform in a Revolutionary Age, also published by Penn State University Press. His website can be found at scottrohrer.net.