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Lyman Beecher Born: October 12, 1775 (New Haven, Connecticut to David and Esther Beecher) Died: January 10, 1863 (Brooklyn, New York) Occupation: Minister Important time period: 1806-1850

I graduated from Yale University in 1797 and the next year I spent further education at Yale Divinity School. Here I was mentored by the president of Yale, Timothy Dwight. Dwight greatly influenced my religious beliefs and taught me of the concept of revivalism. Later, I began my religious career in Long Island, where I was ordained as a pastor of the Presbyterian Church of East Hampton.

I first gained popular recognition in 1806, after I gave a sermon expressing my concern for the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. In 1810, I began to preach about Calvinism and Unitarianism. Soon after, I accepted to be the head of the Congregational Church of Litchfield, Connecticut. Here I influenced large groups of people in and out of my own congregation. My revivals were highly supported and the moral reforms that I taught, especially temperance, became exceptionally admired. I continued to defend orthodoxy by protesting Unitarianism. Sixteen years later, I was called to Hanover Street Church of Boston where I became a pastor, but still upholding all my beliefs and teachings.

In 1832, I became the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati. I was also elected the first president of Lane Theological Seminary. My goal here was to educate ministers who would then try to Christianize the West. However I accepted the position at a bad time, issues, mainly slavery, threatened to separate the Presbyterian Church. And in 1834, students of mine debated slavery and many of the wanted to abolish slavery altogether. I did agree with the antislavery cause, but, I greatly opposed abolition, instead I believed that slavery should gradually emancipated. Which later was a small spark to the explosion of the Civil War.

Bibliography:

Cook, Lee S.. "Lyman Beecher papers, 1816-1825 | Litchfield Historical Society." //The Litchfield Historical Society//. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. [].

"Lyman Beecher." //Hall of North and South Americans//. Evisum Inc.TM, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. []