Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
1966
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
History
First Advisor
Richard D. Miles
Abstract
This inquiry began then, with an attempt to understand Jonathan Boucher, the Tory of Tories, the adversary of Locke and egalitarian principles, the spokesman for Filmer in America, and the divine rights advocate. The whole complex of Boucher's life has been examined, with particular emphasis on the pre-Revolutionary years of crisis in Virginia and Maryland between 1765 and 1775, together with the milieu of the two colonies, in order to discover what factors may have contributed to Boucher's High Tory role, if, indeed, he was a High Tory. And it has been an effort to understand all of the circumstances that caused Boucher to fail so dismally in halting the progress of rebellion. The intellectual biography of Boucher is the account of a thoroughly Americanized cleric, planter, and would-be patriot caught up in a bewildering collapse of civil and religious authority in Maryland. Torn by loyalty to Church and State of England and by his love for America, Boucher's courage, integrity, and principles forced him into the life of an exile.
Recommended Citation
Zimmer, Anne Young, "Jonathan Boucher: Moderate Loyalist and Public Man" (1966). Wayne State University Dissertations. 816.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/816