One of the great joys of traveling to places that we visit to see other things is learning about their other histories, those that we are not necessarily there to see. I am in Salem, Mass. to learn about witches and evidence and about a repressive society and what teenage girls will do when there’s little distraction and not very good weather. In my quest to learn about all of these, I pass by Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church and discover that it was established in 1733 when it was a congregation of the Church of England. If it was around in 1733 and exists in the present, that probably means it was around during the American Revolution. On whose side were parishioners on?
A sign sort of slides over those war years, informing that the British governor called the place his parish “just before” the Revolutionary War, but there’s no mention of which side worshippers were on during. The church’s website indicates that it was the focus of anti-British sentiment. Vegetables were thrown.
Some quick research indicates that opinions may have shifted up to and during the war years. Maybe whose side everyone was on wasn’t publicly articulated. “Though slow to accept the Revolutionary movement, the pro-British activities of a displaced elite gave meaning to republican rhetoric and infused republican ideas with an inexorable logic. The removal of two members of a displaced economic elite from the [colonial Massachusetts] Assembly initiated the process of change in Salem.” Richard J. Morris, Social Change, Republican Rhetoric, and the American Revolution: The Case of Salem, Massachusetts 31(2) Journal of Social History 420, 428 (Winter 1997).
Money, the economy, and rebellion were intertwined even then. I clearly have much to learn about the American Revolution. But I love going on a walk to learn about witches and finding out about this nation’s origins instead.
—Lori Tripoli
Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.