Celebrating Rev. John Witherspoon
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #22
June 29, 2026
Celebrating Rev. John Witherspoon
This past Sunday, the Community Church of Glen Rock celebrated our nation’s 250th anniversary. We celebrated by using period music, and a liturgy from this time period. Our music director, Janet, spent a great deal of time researching period church music, and I obtained a Reformed Church liturgy from that time period. To be in character, I borrowed a period outfit from the Glen Rock Historical and Preservation Society. The outfit was that of a Revolutionary War Captain. I wore it even though I was portraying a minister, not an army officer. The character that I portrayed was Rev. John Witherspoon.
I had never heard of Rev. John Witherspoon until I saw the movie “1776” that was released in 1972. Witherspoon was a character in the movie and he caught my attention. He was a delegate from New Jersey as well as a member of the clergy. From what I read, he was the only member of the clergy who signed the declaration of Independence.
Rev. Witherspoon was a rather accomplished individual. He was a Presbyterian minister in Scotland when he received the call to minister here in New Jersey. He was president on the college of NJ which later became Princeton University. He also was the first president of the Presbyterian General Assembly in our colonies. Later on, he was named to be part of the delegation to the second Continental Congress.
New Jersey missed the first Continental Congress. Governor William Franklin, a son of Benjamin Franklin, was governor of New Jersey and was a fierce loyalist. He would appoint no one to represent his colony at the congress. Franklin was incarcerated by patriots and sent to be imprisoned in the colony of Connecticut. He was replaced by Robert Livingston who was a patriot and quickly assigned delegates to the Continental Congress. Rev. John Witherspoon, who was an ardent patriot, was part of this delegation. Ironically, he was one of eight signers of the Declaration of Independence who were not native born in our colonies. He and seven others were immigrants from other places in the British Empire.
What made Rev. John Witherspoon, who grew up in Scotland and was a minister there, come to the American colonies and become such a strong patriot? According to the Princeton University website, most Presbyterians at the time of the revolution, were Patriots and not loyalists. As an individual, he believed that both religious and civil liberties were inseparable. He also felt that excessive British taxes were acts of tyranny.
Like most of his generation, he had a mixed view of slavery. He claimed that it was wrong to force humans into slavery, yet he owned two slaves of his own. He also baptized a run-away slave and under his presidency at Princeton, many free black men were educated by him. Princeton became known as a black-friendly college under his leadership. In addition to these tasks, he served twice in the NJ legislature.
His work was not without a price. Because of his patriotic activities, Princeton College, then known as the College of New Jersey, was closed down by the British during the revolution. After the war, the survival of this institution was greatly in danger. His leadership is credited with the thriving of the future Princeton University.
On this, the cusp of our nation’s birthday, I celebrate our founding fathers. John Witherspoon is a lesser-known founding father, but one that I believe is worth reading about and imitating. He wasn’t perfect, but he has a life worth admiring.
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