Promoting “the Cause of Liberty and Virtue”: William Smith’s Revolutionary War Sermon
The title page of Smith’s published sermon.
Posted on June 23, 2025
Promoting “the Cause of Liberty and Virtue”: William Smith’s Revolutionary War Sermon
250 years ago today—June 23, 1775—Reverend William Smith preached a sermon at the request of officers in the 3rd Battalion of Philadelphia’s Associators. On June 25, the officers thanked Smith and asked that the sermon be published, “as, in their Opinion, it will promote the Cause of Liberty and Virtue.” Writers and speakers like Smith who did not fight in the Revolutionary War still shaped it, speaking and publishing with hope that their ideas would shape public opinion.
In the sermon, Smith uses a passage from the book of Joshua as a metaphor for the conflict between America and Britain. He states that the passage deals with the tribes of Reuben and Gad, which settled across the Jordan River from Israel’s other tribes and were accused of trying to split from Israel when they erected their own altar. The tribes explained that their altar actually symbolized their closeness to the rest of Israel and their status as an equal part of the country.
Smith describes America as also seeking equality and the privileges of British subjects rather than independence. He argues, “we considered ourselves entitled to the privileges of our father’s house—‘to enjoy peace, liberty, and safety’; to be governed, like our brethren, by our own laws… These are the principles we inherited from Britons themselves.” He longs for a reconciliation between America and Britain but urges his audience to resist British oppression and defend their rights.
Smith’s sermon was preached to Philadelphians in person, but he hopes that the published version will reach farther, influencing Britain’s policies. “If it could find its way to… the hearts, of the Great, and… could in the least induce them to juster and more benevolent sentiments concerning their American brethren—he would account it among the happiest circumstances of his life.” The sermon may not have changed the minds of the great, but it did reach across the ocean. The book’s colophon states that this copy is part of the sermon’s third print run in London.
Learn more about Smith’s sermon (object ID 7146, property of Robert Nittolo) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database here.