Jonathan Blanchard | |
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| Born | January 19, 1811 Rockingham, Vermont, U.S. |
| Died | May 14, 1892(1892-05-14) (aged 81) Wheaton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Middlebury College Lane Seminary |
| Occupations | Abolitionist,College President,Editor |
| Political party | Liberty,Free Soil,Anti-Masonic |
| Spouse | Mary Avery Bent |
| Children | 12, includingCharles A. Blanchard |
Jonathan Blanchard (January 19, 1811 – May 14, 1892) was anAmerican pastor, educator, social reformer, andabolitionist. Born inVermont, Blanchard attendedMiddlebury College before accepting a teaching position inNew York. In 1834, he left to study atAndover Theological Seminary, but departed in 1836 after the college rejected agents from theAmerican Anti-Slavery Society. Blanchard joined the group as one ofTheodore Dwight Weld's "seventy" and preached in favor of abolition in southernPennsylvania.
Blanchard graduated fromLane Seminary in 1838 and was soon ordained to preach at Sixth Presbyterian Church inCincinnati, Ohio. There, he helped publish abolitionist newspaperThe Philanthropist and represented Ohio at the 1843 World Anti-Slavery Convention. In 1845, he was named president ofKnox College inIllinois, but was forced out thirteen years later. Blanchard is credited with foundingWheaton College in 1860, where he presided until 1882.
Following theCivil War, Blanchard focused on fighting secret societies through hisNational Christian Association (NCA). He was a leader in the resurrectedAnti-Masonic Party and once campaigned for itsPresidential nomination. Along with his sonCharles Albert, who succeeded him as Wheaton College president, he is the namesake of the college'sBlanchard Hall.
Jonathan Blanchard was born inRockingham, Vermont on January 19, 1811. He was the eleventh of fifteen children born to Polly (Lovell) and Jonathan Blanchard, Sr.[1] When he was three years old, he heard his brother discuss the recentBattle of Plattsburgh, an engagement of theWar of 1812. Blanchard later credited this encounter as an influential moment in the development of his pacifist views. As a child, Blanchard attended public schools and helped on the family farm. When he was fourteen, he took his first job teaching a school. Like his brothers, Blanchard opposed the consumption of alcohol. He published his first article advocatingtemperance in 1825.[2]
After preparatory studies at Chester Academy inChester, Vermont, Blanchard matriculated atMiddlebury College in 1828.[1] Upon graduation in 1831, he was namedpreceptor of Plattsburg Academy inPlattsburgh, New York. He taught for two years but found the work dissatisfying.[3] Blanchard first supportedabolitionism in 1834, believingslavery to be inconsistent with Biblical teachings.[2] He then enrolled at theAndover Theological Seminary inAndover, Massachusetts. While there, the school denounced theAmerican Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) and demanded that students rejectabolitionist views. Blanchard left the school in 1836 to join the society, which assigned him to preach in southernPennsylvania as one ofTheodore Dwight Weld's "seventy".[4] Blanchard was stoned in the streets by citizens inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1837. Nonetheless, he was considered one of the most effective agents of the AASS and is credited with convertingThaddeus Stevens to the abolitionist cause.[5]
The next year, Blanchard moved toCincinnati, Ohio, to attendLane Seminary, where he graduated in 1838. He assisted with the publication of abolitionist newspaperThe Philanthropist until it was forced to close in the aftermath of theCincinnati riots of 1836.[5] Blanchard was ordained in that city to preach at Sixth Presbyterian Church, aNew School congregation. The church provided Blanchard with an opportunity to spread abolitionist ideals without eschewing mainstream Christianity.[4]Calvin Ellis Stowe andLyman Beecher attended Blanchard's ordination; Blanchard's wife was a close friend of Beecher's daughterHarriet.[3]
After delivering a rousing commencement address atOberlin College in 1839, the school offered Blanchard a professorship, but he declined. In 1841, Blanchard founded thePresbyterian of the West, later known as theHerald and Presbyter, a radical Presbyterian weekly journal.[2] He represented the Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society as a delegate to the 1843 World Anti-Slavery Convention inLondon, England, and was elected its American vice president. In early October 1845, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Blanchard debated the morality of slavery with fellow Presbyterian minister Nathan Lewis Rice (December 29, 1807 - June 11, 1877). This debate was recorded in full, and later published asA Debate on Slavery Held in the City of Cincinnati (Cincinnati: William H. Moore & Co., 1846).[1] Blanchard's first opposition toFreemasonry came in 1845, when he condemned aCovington, Kentucky, lodge that refused aid to a widow of a long-time member. A mob of over fifty men attacked him over the article. The next Sunday, Blanchard preached against secret societies, a position that he would hold for the rest of his life.[2]
Later in 1845, he accepted the presidency ofKnox College inGalesburg, Illinois. The school had recently been opened by anti-slavery social reformers who sought a Christianutopia.[4] The school was deeply in debt but, thanks to donations byCharles E. Phelps andJ. P. Williston, Blanchard was able to secure financial stability.[2] TheOld Main building, now recognized as aNational Historic Landmark, was constructed during his tenure. When SenatorStephen A. Douglas assisted with the passage of theFugitive Slave Act of 1850, Blanchard harshly criticized him in a newspaper article. He would do the same after Douglas' support for theKansas–Nebraska Act. The two met inKnoxville, Illinois, on October 13, 1854 to publicly debate the issues. In 1855, Blanchard went on a lecture circuit ofKentucky with fellow abolitionistsCassius Marcellus Clay andJohn Gregg Fee.[1]
Shortly after his arrival to Galesburg, Blanchard became associated with theCongregational church, leaving the Presbyterian church because of their uncertain stance on slavery. College founderGeorge Washington Gale was instead a devout Presbyterian. Uncertainties surrounding the school's ties to either church led to controversy among the faculty. Furthermore, Blanchard supported theLiberty Party (later theFree Soil Party), a political threat to Gale'sWhig Party.[6] Blanchard served as a presidentialelector for the Free Soilers in 1848.[7] In 1857, the Knox College board of trust requested that both Blanchard and Gale resign their positions, and both agreed. However, the decision proved controversial, as local civic leaders such asEdward Beecher protested the ruling. A school committee then re-admitted Blanchard as president, who served until the board electedHarvey Curtis the next year.[6]
Blanchard lectured in the region for the next two years. In 1860, Blanchard was named president of the Illinois Institute, a small college inWheaton, Illinois, founded a few years earlier byWesleyans. When Warren L. Wheaton donated his farmland to the college later that year, Blanchard renamed the school after him and it became known asWheaton College.[8][9] Under Blanchard's leadership, the school was remodeled afterOberlin College, a school that was open to all students and that taught both a classic curriculum and radical social ideals. Blanchard would allow African-American students at Wheaton College to board in his house. Hisanti-Masonry views prohibited the founding offraternities or sororities on campus.[10] Blanchard believed that morality and Christian beliefs were innately experienced by man; this put him in line with mostScottish Common Sense Realists.[8] Blanchard saw Wheaton College "as an 'arsenal' and 'drill camp' for the hosts of righteousness in the moral warfare of the world . . . a means of training social activists . . . ."[11] In 1861, Jonathan Blanchard organizedCollege Church in Wheaton. The church first met on the campus of Wheaton College as "The First Church of Christ in Wheaton." Blanchard wanted the church to be known for its opposition to slavery, secret societies, and alcohol use.[12]
After a spell of poor health, Blanchard traveled with his son to theMontana Territory in 1864, ostensibly to explore on behalf of theAmerican Missionary Association. While there, he recommended that the society found theFirst Congregational Churches of Denver andSalt Lake City.[13]
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After theCivil War, during which theslaves were liberated, Blanchard turned his attention to fighting secret societies like the Freemasons. He co-founded the NCA in 1868 and edited its newspaper, theChristian Cynosure, until his death.[8] In 1872, the NCA reorganized theAnti-Masonic Party, which had been dormant since its merge with theWhig Party in 1840.[1] The platform of the anti-Masonic Party was very brief, and espoused Christianity, temperance, the abolition of secret societies, and a direct vote for President and Vice-President of the United States instead of an electoral college.[14]
In1884, Blanchard unsuccessfully sought the candidacy of theAmerican Prohibition Party, the successor of the Anti-Masonic Party, forPresident of the United States.[1] Jonathan Blanchard's son,Charles A. Blanchard, succeeded him as college president in 1882 and served Wheaton in that capacity until his death in 1925.[9]
Blanchard married Mary Avery Bent on September 17, 1838. Bent left her family home ofMiddlebury, Vermont in 1835 for Pennsylvania, where she became principal of the Girls' High School in Harrisburg. She met Blanchard in that city when he was with the AASS. They had twelve children: Jonathan Edwards (died an infant), Mary Avery, William Walter (died an infant), Catherine Lucretia, Charles Albert, Williston (died a child), Nora Emily, Sonora Caroline, Julia Waters, Cyrus Louis, and Geraldine Cecilia.[15] Blanchard died suddenly at his home in Wheaton on May 14, 1892. He had suffered throughinfluenza the previous week.[16] He was buried in Wheaton Cemetery. Wheaton's most recognizable and oldest building isBlanchard Hall, a limestone tower built as the Central College Building in 1853 and, subsequently, named in honor of the college's first two presidents.
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| Preceded by | President ofKnox College 1845–1858 | Succeeded by |
| New institution | President ofWheaton College 1860–1882 | Succeeded by |
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