John Witherspoon Biographical sketch John Witherspoon was a Scottish Presbyterian Pastor who participated in the Continental Congress. A firm Scotsman he feared the growing power of the english crown and church developing a very active political persona. John WItherspoon was born in 1723, and hailed from Gifford Scotland. Witherspoon married Elizabeth Montgomery and had ten children with her, five, however tragically died before adolescence.
Witherspoon was a staunch defender of Protestantism and Republicanism, which put him at odds with the Roman Catholic Jacobites who imprisoned after a military victory. This instilled a great distaste in the English within Witherspoon, a distaste that would become all the more bitter.
After becoming president of Princeton University Witherspoon supported his students who advocated the patriot cause. A great Orator and pastor Witherspoon began focusing on the British injustices in his sermons and lectures fanning the flames of rebellion in New Jersey and fellow Presbyterians. Witherspoon proved invaluable in inciting colonists to depose and imprison the Royal Governor of New Jersey with his inflammatory rhetoric.
Witherspoon was then appointed to be a part of the New Jersey delegation at the Continental…show more content… For his unwavering faith and sacrifice Witherspoon remained prominent in politics even after the War for Independence, he remained in Congress as a minister of foreign affairs and economy. He focused his attention on the Articles of Confederation participating in several rigorous debates. Witherspoon never involved himself in the great Federalist debate; he retired from private life in 1783 and returned to rebuild his college and it flourished until and after his death in
