John Witherspoon

L. Gordon Tait

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.1: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Colonial Period, 1604-1783.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Scott Slawinski (Western Michigan University)

Dates

Born 15 Feb 1723
Died 15 Nov 1794
Activity 1743-1794

Places

Born in Scotland
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Clergyman
Educationalist
Essayist
Philosopher
Politician
Preacher
Rhetorician/ Orator

Resources

Witherspoon's Works

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Born in a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) manse in Gifford, near Edinburgh, in 1723, John Witherspoon was educated at Haddington Grammar School, entered the University of Edinburgh in 1736, and graduated in Arts (1739) and Divinity (1743). He was ordained and installed in 1745 as a minister of the Church of Scotland parish in Beith, where he remained until 1758, when he was called to the Laigh (Low) Kirk in Paisley. He remained there until 1768 when with his wife and five children he sailed to America to take up residence and a new position in Princeton, New Jersey. From 1768 until his death in 1794, he was president and head professor of the small College of New Jersey (For a full account of Witherspoon's life and work as a college president and his participation in political affairs,…

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1492 words

Citation: Tait, L. Gordon. "John Witherspoon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4776, accessed 26 November 2024.]