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Book Cover
E-book
Author Fischer, Kirsten, 1963- author.

Title American freethinker : Elihu Palmer and the struggle for religious freedom in the new nation / Kirsten Fischer
Published Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2021]
©2021

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Description 1 online resource (307 pages) : illustrations, map
Series Early American studies
Early American studies.
Contents Prologue. "A Religious Tornado" -- 1. Steady Habits Upended -- 2. A Liberal Education -- 3. "All is Alive" -- 4. Freelance Universalist -- 5. Palmer's Rubicon -- 6. Hard Fate -- 7. Fellowship -- 8. Sensitive Atoms -- 9. Specter of Infidelity -- 10. Controversy Among Freethinkers -- 11. Weaponizing Freethought -- 12. The Best Kind of Revolution -- Epilogue : Into the Future
Summary In this first biography of Elihu Palmer, Kirsten Fischer depicts a once notorious freethinker who countered Christianity with the idea of an interconnected universe infused with a divine life force. Denounced as "heretical," Palmer's speeches and writings shaped the contest over freedom of religion and of speech in the new United States
Analysis A Fourth of July Oration
American Enlightenment
Deistical Society
First Amendment
Freedom of speech
Prospect, or View of the Modern World
The Principles of Nature
The Temple of Reason
Vitalism
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Kirsten Fischer is Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota
In English
Print version record
Subject Palmer, Elihu, 1764-1806.
SUBJECT Palmer, Elihu, 1764-1806 fast
Subject Freethinkers -- United States
Deism -- United States
Freedom of religion -- United States -- History -- 18th century
Freedom of religion -- United States -- History -- 19th century
HISTORY / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies).
Deism
Freedom of religion
Freethinkers
United States
Genre/Form collective biographies.
Biographies
History
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780812297829
0812297822
Other Titles Elihu Palmer and the struggle for religious freedom in the new nation