This book - Centro de Estudos Anglicanos

WEEMS, MASON LOCKE 315Mason (“Parson”) Weems, a notable Episcopal priest and writer, was born inMaryland in 1759. Little is known about his early life, and despite studyingmedicine in London and in Edinburgh, he was never a practicing physician. Hisrelatively brief ministerial career, however, represents an important episode in thereorganization of the Episcopal Church after the American Revolution.Because there was a pressing need for clergy in Maryland, Weems and EdwardGantt Jr. were chosen in 1782 by a convention of clergy and laity, and they weresent to England to seek ordination by an English bishop. Although ongoing hostilitiesbetween Britain and America forced Weems to spend several months inFrance and the Netherlands, he eventually reached England after the peace treatybetween the two nations had been signed. In England, he was temporarily stymiedby the law that compelled ordinands to swear an oath of allegiance to the king.With the passage of the Enabling Act in August 1784, however, Parliament allowedEnglish bishops to ordain candidates to the diaconate and priesthood withoutrequiring the loyalty oath. As a result, Weems and Gantt were the first twoAmericans to become Anglican clergy in the postrevolutionary period. They wereordained to the diaconate on September 5, 1784, by the bishop of Chester and tothe priesthood a week later by the archbishop of Canterbury.Weems served as a rector in Maryland for the next eight years, but he quit theparish ministry in 1792 and thereafter devoted himself to the writing, production,and sale of books. His most famous work is a fictionalized biography of GeorgeWashington, which first appeared in 1800. By the time of his death in 1825, thisbiography had gone through 29 editions. In the fifth edition, published in 1806,he also included the memorable but apocryphal story of young George and thecherry tree. Weems wrote several other books, including biographies of BenjaminFranklin, William Penn, and Francis Marion, and he composed a series of pamphletsdecrying such contemporary vices as drunkenness, adultery, gambling, anddueling. Designed to edify as well as to instruct, his works were widely read, andthey conveyed the idea that the vitality of the young republic depended upon itsinhabitants’ moral health. Only a virtuous people, capable of self-restraint, Weemssuggested, would be able to realize a true and lasting freedom.BibliographyA. The Philanthropist; or, A Good Twelve Cents Worth of Political Love Powder, for theFair Daughters and Patriotic Sons of Virginia, 10th ed. (Philadelphia, 1799); AHistory of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington(Philadelphia, 1800); The Drunkard’s Looking-Glass: Reflecting a Faithful Likenessof the Drunkard, 2nd ed. ([Philadelphia], 1813); Life of General Francis Marion,3rd ed. (Baltimore, 1815); God’s Revenge against Adultery, 3rd ed.(Philadelphia, 1818); God’s Revenge against Dueling, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia, 1821);The Bad Wife’s Looking Glass, 2nd ed. (Charleston, S.C., 1823).B. ANB 22, 890–91; BB, 49–52, 55–56; DAB 19, 604–5; DCA, 1240; EDC, 550; HEC,83, 88, 108–9; Sydney G. Fisher, “The Legendary and Myth-Making Process inHistories of the American Revolution,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical