Reverend Lemuel Haynes Biographical Report
Reverend Lemuel Haynes is truly one individual of the black community who formed the basis for the recognition of the African-American community. He was among the first black American to climb to the ruling class, the first black to be ordained as a church minister and so also among the first blacks to attain high academic credentials. All these achievements by Lemuel Haynes a found to be unique mainly due to the fact that they were realized during the time when the blacks where victims of slavery in the American land. It should also be noted that apart from achievements in religion, education and military service, Lemuel Haynes is greatly praised by many for the role he played in the fight against slavery practices over the blacks.
Lemuel Haynes was truly a devoted human rights activist as he always fought for the recognition of the black as equal to the whites in all human aspects except skin color. Being a committed Christian, Reverend Lemuel Haynes formed one of the most outstanding critics of the discriminative evangelical missions by the whites. It is still worthy noting that Reverend Lemuel Haynes is praised as one of the major players in the political revolution that took place during his time. It is due to this that he is typically referred to as a true patriot of the black’s community in America both in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
This paper is written to discuss the findings of the research on the Reverend Lemuel Haynes’ achievements as a milestone towards the ultimate recognition of the black community in the American nation. The author in particular gives an account of Reverend Lemuel Haynes life and the prevailing factors which led to his remarkable achievements in the American historical revolutionary politics, religion and respect for human rights.
The early life of Reverend Lemuel Haynes
Lemuel Haynes was born on the 18th of July the year 1753 to a black father and a middle class mother in West Hartford. However, historical information clearly indicates that Lemuel was abandoned by his parents at the age only to be brought up by a white’s family in Massachusetts. Even with the little knowledge of his early childhood life, historical information has shown Lemuel was given by his parents to serve as a servant in Granville, Massachusetts for a term of twenty years.# The agreement that governed the handing over of Lemuel to the white dictated that apart from engaging in agricultural work, education was to be provided to him. It is such conditional servitude agreement which enabled Haynes gain access to education, a rare occasion for the blacks at that time.
Historical evidence still attributes Lemuel Haynes’ interest in the Christian faith to the fact that his master was a Calvinist believer and frequently allowed Haynes to accompany them to church. The influence of the Christian teaching particularly on the Day of Judgment led to Haynes’ acceptance of the Christian faith at the age of twenty. This act led to his beginning to preach the good news to others. His knowledge on how to read and write coupled with his religious conviction that slavery is cruel and immoral made him to start writing antislavery essays at his early twenties. It is however to be understood that the expiry of his indenture term at the age of twenty one was marked with beginning of the Americans war of independence. This made him a freeman upon which he decided to join the minutemen military squad of Granville in 1774.
It is here to be noted that not much is known about Lemuel Haynes and his family involvements. It has however been clearly established that Haynes got married in the year 1783 to what historians refer to as a white lady of respect and honor. It has also been claimed that the couple had ten children. However, little is known about existence of the family. This shows that Haynes led a complete life, constantly challenging the norms of the society at the time by marriage a white lady of respect and honor.
Lemuel Haynes in military service and its influence in his revolutionary activities
The year 1774 was marked with Lemuel Haynes recruitment into the minutemen colonial army of Granville. Upon his joining of the militia group, Lemuel underwent military training. Historical evidence shows that the 1775 wars at Roxbury marked the first military involvement for Haynes. It is also clearly evident that the successful ending of the Roxbury war made Haynes to accept an offer for joining the military team as a volunteer in the Ticonderoga region recapturing mission.# It was not until the end of the American war for independence that Lemuel Haynes terminated his military involvement and went back to Granville.
The involvement of Lemuel Haynes in the military operations during the American war for independence is cited as the reason behind his completed response to the religious and political structures and practices in the American society. It was during his military missions that Lemuel evidently witnessed the eminent mistreatment imposed to the black slaves in the military. It is in fact due to this reason that he started writing short essays on antislavery. Such reaction could also be clearly explained by the fact that Haynes had a strong conviction on the need for fairness and just treatment to all in the community owing to is strong religious beliefs. The involvement of Lemuel was thus a major turning point to his view of the future of the black American community.
Lemuel Haynes as a Calvinist believer and later a pastor
Lemuel indulgence into the Christian faith can be evidently claimed to have been an influence from the master he had served since his childhood. It is evidently clear that it was as a result of following his master for church service that Haynes came to know and later appreciate Christianity. This is basically by the fact that his decision to become a Christian was triggered by a summon during one of the Sundays which involved the day of judgment and its implication to man as the only being who will be subjected to the judgment. Another reason why such acceptance of Christian could be attributed to his master is the fact Haynes ended up becoming a strong believer of the same congregation as was his master. It is however to be noted all this was before he had joined the military.
After the end of the American war for independence, Haynes return to Granville where he resumed his servant duties. This gave him the chance to gain access to education and attend church services. It is due to the education that he acquired during this time that made him a respectable member of the community due to his mastery in Greek and Latin scholar requirements. This coupled with his string religious faith enabled him to win a chance for joining theological studies under the Calvinism church ministry in 1780. He was also offered the opportunity of preaching the gospel in the church of Granville, the first African ever to be given such a responsibility in the white men dominated church. It has evidently been claimed that Haynes was one of the most knowledgeable and highly respected members of the church particularly in understanding an interpreting the bible. This led to his ordination as a minister in the church in 1785 upon his completion of the theological studies.
It is here to be noted that Haynes’ ministerial involvement was limited in terms of the number of stations he served. This is because he was ordained in Litchfield before moving to Torrington to serve as a minister. He however resigned from this station owing to eminent mistreatment by the church members due to his race. He was the later transferred to Rutland in Vermont. It is in Rutland where Haynes spend most of his ministerial time as he served there for over thirty years. Historical information has evidently shown that Haynes’ stay in Rutland and his struggles for the realization a slavery free America were highly appreciated. It is also to be understood that religious beliefs in the nation had greatly compromised by social practices in the nations.# It was due to this that Haynes is highly praised for his call to have a religious community which is highly guided by biblical teachings.
It is worth noting here that due to his excellent preaching ability coupled with his clear understanding of the bible and his knowledge of reading and writing, Haynes gained demand from the New England. Still, it was a common notion during that time that only the learned professional blacks can be regarded as viable of becoming a member of the ruling class. Such achievements by Lemuel were so great and extra ordinary that in the recent past many analysts equated it to the rise of a black man into the heights social or political status of the American nation.
The demand and respect that Haynes received particularly from the New England community is however to be seen as the beginning of his hard struggle to bring sanity both in the religious practices and in the political revolution process of the nation. It is here to be noted that despite the many claims by the missionaries, the early role of the church was an evident prevention to the liberation of the blacks. The so they termed as civilization of the blacks meant the conversion of the blacks to adhere to the ways of the whites thus losing their cultural identity in the society. This was basically marked by the introduction of capitalism in the community. This was evidently meant to break the family identity characteristic of the African culture. As argued by Haynes, religion was seen as the best tool for ensuring oppressive civilization to the people as any complains could be easily addressed by citing biblical provisions on respect to the laws.
Still to be noted is the fact that Lemuel Haynes was greatly against the concept of theological innovation in the church. For him, the idea of unifying the protestant church into one umbrella was a negation of the freedom of the people to lead a God guided life. It has been evidently claimed that such a move for having a unified church could highly result into further discrimination of the blacks. This was because of the fact that the church and its concept of liberation had greatly failed to realize freedom and thus equality among the different members of the community. This could also been attributed to lack of viable possibility of realizing a compromise of practices and ideologies of the different congregations.# It was Haynes’ concept that there should be spiritual liberty in the human community.
Among the achievements that Haynes made include his 1818 involvement was the advocate of the boom brothers who had been sentenced to death citing their involvement in murdering of an insane. It is however by the power of pray that the insane man returned home just a few days before the execution was conducted. Even with the many struggles to oversee the rule of the law as defined in the holy bible, Haynes remained a member of the south Granville congregational church ideal his death in the year 1833.
Lemuel Haynes as a writer
Owing to his ability to read and write, Lemuel made many writing all of which were in condemnation of the slavery and the discriminative governance that was evidently present in the community. Historical evidence has shown that Haynes started to write and distribute antislavery essay since his early twenties. It is in fact due to this spreading inciting information to the blacks that the community witnessed many riots from the blacks seeking for their recognition just like other human beings. Haynes particularly claimed that all are equal and thus should be treated with respect and honor. It is also evident from his letters that he struggled for fair treatment of the blacks by abolishing slavery. It is in this that he raised concerns that blacks are human beings with feeling and emotions just as the white are and thus should not be mistreated. It is in fact his incitement to the citizens of the nation particularly the blacks that could be seen as the foundation of later social movements in the quest for having recognition of the black community by our constitution.# It has allows been claimed that it is only when a problem affecting our human community has been identified and loudly condemned that a lasting solution can be sort. It is thus based on this argument Lemuel Haynes identified slavery and poor political structures in the American nation as well as evangelical liberation as some eminent social problems affecting the society. It is thus through his writing against such practices that made the people not only understand them as a problem but also made them more informed of the available solutions to the problem.
On politics, Haynes was evidently found to condemn the government’s reluctance in addressing the issue of oppression of the blacks and the slavery practice in the nation. It is in fact due to these concerns raised by Haynes that elementary education was made available to most of the blacks in the community. It is also to be recognized that the struggle to realize independence for the American nation had been successful and now what remained was the ensuring of equality and just distribution of resources. It is due to this that Haynes constantly wrote and talked against slavery perceiving it to be cruel, immoral and against the will of God. It is morally inhuman for any government which claims responsibility over its citizens to allow for the discrimination of given quarters of the society. It is therefore by Haynes expression of the need for equitable justice in our nation that many civil rights movements were realized. It is indeed due to this writings that the American nation witnessed many social movements particularly by the blacks.# It is this which led to the later abolition of slavery in the American nation. Many riots by the blacks for example lead to the government’s respect of fact that every many in the community should gain access to education. It is this appreciation that saw the provision of elementary education to the blacks.
With the respect that Haynes had from the whites coupled with his respectful scholar skills of writing, he was able to engage the black community in fighting against the oppressive regime of the whites. It has been claimed that Haynes wrote of his political ideologies even before his ministerial engagement. Such could best be attributed to the fact that he had evidently been a victim of oppression under the indenture servitude in Granville since the age of five months when he was abandoned by his parents. Working as a farmer for 20 years without pay marked a great impact into is life in regard to the inhuman acts which the white posed on the blacks. It is however to be noted that Haynes still found better life compared to the other blacks in the community who were being subjected to slavery practices of the whites. This can be evidently claimed from the military operations during the American war for independence. Black slaves were forced to fight in the war. It was also clear that eminent mistreatment of the blacks was witnessed during the war. Blacks were supposed to be on the front line to confront the opponents with the whites acting as spectators in the war. This clearly showed that the death of blacks in the war had no human loss to the whites. Still to be noted here is the fact that many of the blacks were executed by the militia leadership citing military disobedience during war.
It is the desire of every man to be respected and treated with fairness in the society. It is however a mark of extra ordinary abilities in the human person to stand up for the rights of others in the community. It is owing to this that Haynes has and will continue to be regarded and respected as the most profound driver of both the political revolutions and evangelical liberation reforms of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was through him that the blacks were able to gain access to elementary education. His actions and responses to the religious and political sectors of our nation are highly hailed as the foundation of the justice and fairness we currently have in the modern society.
Lemuel Haynes was truly a devoted human rights activist as he always fought for the recognition of the black as equal to the whites in all human aspects except skin color. Being a committed Christian, Reverend Lemuel Haynes formed one of the most outstanding critics of the discriminative evangelical missions by the whites. It is still worthy noting that Reverend Lemuel Haynes is praised as one of the major players in the political revolution that took place during his time. It is due to this that he is typically referred to as a true patriot of the black’s community in America both in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
This paper is written to discuss the findings of the research on the Reverend Lemuel Haynes’ achievements as a milestone towards the ultimate recognition of the black community in the American nation. The author in particular gives an account of Reverend Lemuel Haynes life and the prevailing factors which led to his remarkable achievements in the American historical revolutionary politics, religion and respect for human rights.
The early life of Reverend Lemuel Haynes
Lemuel Haynes was born on the 18th of July the year 1753 to a black father and a middle class mother in West Hartford. However, historical information clearly indicates that Lemuel was abandoned by his parents at the age only to be brought up by a white’s family in Massachusetts. Even with the little knowledge of his early childhood life, historical information has shown Lemuel was given by his parents to serve as a servant in Granville, Massachusetts for a term of twenty years.# The agreement that governed the handing over of Lemuel to the white dictated that apart from engaging in agricultural work, education was to be provided to him. It is such conditional servitude agreement which enabled Haynes gain access to education, a rare occasion for the blacks at that time.
Historical evidence still attributes Lemuel Haynes’ interest in the Christian faith to the fact that his master was a Calvinist believer and frequently allowed Haynes to accompany them to church. The influence of the Christian teaching particularly on the Day of Judgment led to Haynes’ acceptance of the Christian faith at the age of twenty. This act led to his beginning to preach the good news to others. His knowledge on how to read and write coupled with his religious conviction that slavery is cruel and immoral made him to start writing antislavery essays at his early twenties. It is however to be understood that the expiry of his indenture term at the age of twenty one was marked with beginning of the Americans war of independence. This made him a freeman upon which he decided to join the minutemen military squad of Granville in 1774.
It is here to be noted that not much is known about Lemuel Haynes and his family involvements. It has however been clearly established that Haynes got married in the year 1783 to what historians refer to as a white lady of respect and honor. It has also been claimed that the couple had ten children. However, little is known about existence of the family. This shows that Haynes led a complete life, constantly challenging the norms of the society at the time by marriage a white lady of respect and honor.
Lemuel Haynes in military service and its influence in his revolutionary activities
The year 1774 was marked with Lemuel Haynes recruitment into the minutemen colonial army of Granville. Upon his joining of the militia group, Lemuel underwent military training. Historical evidence shows that the 1775 wars at Roxbury marked the first military involvement for Haynes. It is also clearly evident that the successful ending of the Roxbury war made Haynes to accept an offer for joining the military team as a volunteer in the Ticonderoga region recapturing mission.# It was not until the end of the American war for independence that Lemuel Haynes terminated his military involvement and went back to Granville.
The involvement of Lemuel Haynes in the military operations during the American war for independence is cited as the reason behind his completed response to the religious and political structures and practices in the American society. It was during his military missions that Lemuel evidently witnessed the eminent mistreatment imposed to the black slaves in the military. It is in fact due to this reason that he started writing short essays on antislavery. Such reaction could also be clearly explained by the fact that Haynes had a strong conviction on the need for fairness and just treatment to all in the community owing to is strong religious beliefs. The involvement of Lemuel was thus a major turning point to his view of the future of the black American community.
Lemuel Haynes as a Calvinist believer and later a pastor
Lemuel indulgence into the Christian faith can be evidently claimed to have been an influence from the master he had served since his childhood. It is evidently clear that it was as a result of following his master for church service that Haynes came to know and later appreciate Christianity. This is basically by the fact that his decision to become a Christian was triggered by a summon during one of the Sundays which involved the day of judgment and its implication to man as the only being who will be subjected to the judgment. Another reason why such acceptance of Christian could be attributed to his master is the fact Haynes ended up becoming a strong believer of the same congregation as was his master. It is however to be noted all this was before he had joined the military.
After the end of the American war for independence, Haynes return to Granville where he resumed his servant duties. This gave him the chance to gain access to education and attend church services. It is due to the education that he acquired during this time that made him a respectable member of the community due to his mastery in Greek and Latin scholar requirements. This coupled with his string religious faith enabled him to win a chance for joining theological studies under the Calvinism church ministry in 1780. He was also offered the opportunity of preaching the gospel in the church of Granville, the first African ever to be given such a responsibility in the white men dominated church. It has evidently been claimed that Haynes was one of the most knowledgeable and highly respected members of the church particularly in understanding an interpreting the bible. This led to his ordination as a minister in the church in 1785 upon his completion of the theological studies.
It is here to be noted that Haynes’ ministerial involvement was limited in terms of the number of stations he served. This is because he was ordained in Litchfield before moving to Torrington to serve as a minister. He however resigned from this station owing to eminent mistreatment by the church members due to his race. He was the later transferred to Rutland in Vermont. It is in Rutland where Haynes spend most of his ministerial time as he served there for over thirty years. Historical information has evidently shown that Haynes’ stay in Rutland and his struggles for the realization a slavery free America were highly appreciated. It is also to be understood that religious beliefs in the nation had greatly compromised by social practices in the nations.# It was due to this that Haynes is highly praised for his call to have a religious community which is highly guided by biblical teachings.
It is worth noting here that due to his excellent preaching ability coupled with his clear understanding of the bible and his knowledge of reading and writing, Haynes gained demand from the New England. Still, it was a common notion during that time that only the learned professional blacks can be regarded as viable of becoming a member of the ruling class. Such achievements by Lemuel were so great and extra ordinary that in the recent past many analysts equated it to the rise of a black man into the heights social or political status of the American nation.
The demand and respect that Haynes received particularly from the New England community is however to be seen as the beginning of his hard struggle to bring sanity both in the religious practices and in the political revolution process of the nation. It is here to be noted that despite the many claims by the missionaries, the early role of the church was an evident prevention to the liberation of the blacks. The so they termed as civilization of the blacks meant the conversion of the blacks to adhere to the ways of the whites thus losing their cultural identity in the society. This was basically marked by the introduction of capitalism in the community. This was evidently meant to break the family identity characteristic of the African culture. As argued by Haynes, religion was seen as the best tool for ensuring oppressive civilization to the people as any complains could be easily addressed by citing biblical provisions on respect to the laws.
Still to be noted is the fact that Lemuel Haynes was greatly against the concept of theological innovation in the church. For him, the idea of unifying the protestant church into one umbrella was a negation of the freedom of the people to lead a God guided life. It has been evidently claimed that such a move for having a unified church could highly result into further discrimination of the blacks. This was because of the fact that the church and its concept of liberation had greatly failed to realize freedom and thus equality among the different members of the community. This could also been attributed to lack of viable possibility of realizing a compromise of practices and ideologies of the different congregations.# It was Haynes’ concept that there should be spiritual liberty in the human community.
Among the achievements that Haynes made include his 1818 involvement was the advocate of the boom brothers who had been sentenced to death citing their involvement in murdering of an insane. It is however by the power of pray that the insane man returned home just a few days before the execution was conducted. Even with the many struggles to oversee the rule of the law as defined in the holy bible, Haynes remained a member of the south Granville congregational church ideal his death in the year 1833.
Lemuel Haynes as a writer
Owing to his ability to read and write, Lemuel made many writing all of which were in condemnation of the slavery and the discriminative governance that was evidently present in the community. Historical evidence has shown that Haynes started to write and distribute antislavery essay since his early twenties. It is in fact due to this spreading inciting information to the blacks that the community witnessed many riots from the blacks seeking for their recognition just like other human beings. Haynes particularly claimed that all are equal and thus should be treated with respect and honor. It is also evident from his letters that he struggled for fair treatment of the blacks by abolishing slavery. It is in this that he raised concerns that blacks are human beings with feeling and emotions just as the white are and thus should not be mistreated. It is in fact his incitement to the citizens of the nation particularly the blacks that could be seen as the foundation of later social movements in the quest for having recognition of the black community by our constitution.# It has allows been claimed that it is only when a problem affecting our human community has been identified and loudly condemned that a lasting solution can be sort. It is thus based on this argument Lemuel Haynes identified slavery and poor political structures in the American nation as well as evangelical liberation as some eminent social problems affecting the society. It is thus through his writing against such practices that made the people not only understand them as a problem but also made them more informed of the available solutions to the problem.
On politics, Haynes was evidently found to condemn the government’s reluctance in addressing the issue of oppression of the blacks and the slavery practice in the nation. It is in fact due to these concerns raised by Haynes that elementary education was made available to most of the blacks in the community. It is also to be recognized that the struggle to realize independence for the American nation had been successful and now what remained was the ensuring of equality and just distribution of resources. It is due to this that Haynes constantly wrote and talked against slavery perceiving it to be cruel, immoral and against the will of God. It is morally inhuman for any government which claims responsibility over its citizens to allow for the discrimination of given quarters of the society. It is therefore by Haynes expression of the need for equitable justice in our nation that many civil rights movements were realized. It is indeed due to this writings that the American nation witnessed many social movements particularly by the blacks.# It is this which led to the later abolition of slavery in the American nation. Many riots by the blacks for example lead to the government’s respect of fact that every many in the community should gain access to education. It is this appreciation that saw the provision of elementary education to the blacks.
With the respect that Haynes had from the whites coupled with his respectful scholar skills of writing, he was able to engage the black community in fighting against the oppressive regime of the whites. It has been claimed that Haynes wrote of his political ideologies even before his ministerial engagement. Such could best be attributed to the fact that he had evidently been a victim of oppression under the indenture servitude in Granville since the age of five months when he was abandoned by his parents. Working as a farmer for 20 years without pay marked a great impact into is life in regard to the inhuman acts which the white posed on the blacks. It is however to be noted that Haynes still found better life compared to the other blacks in the community who were being subjected to slavery practices of the whites. This can be evidently claimed from the military operations during the American war for independence. Black slaves were forced to fight in the war. It was also clear that eminent mistreatment of the blacks was witnessed during the war. Blacks were supposed to be on the front line to confront the opponents with the whites acting as spectators in the war. This clearly showed that the death of blacks in the war had no human loss to the whites. Still to be noted here is the fact that many of the blacks were executed by the militia leadership citing military disobedience during war.
It is the desire of every man to be respected and treated with fairness in the society. It is however a mark of extra ordinary abilities in the human person to stand up for the rights of others in the community. It is owing to this that Haynes has and will continue to be regarded and respected as the most profound driver of both the political revolutions and evangelical liberation reforms of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was through him that the blacks were able to gain access to elementary education. His actions and responses to the religious and political sectors of our nation are highly hailed as the foundation of the justice and fairness we currently have in the modern society.
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