More sloppy history from Tim Barton of Wallbuilders

In the video posted below, which appears to be a lecture at an Arkansas evangelical church called “The House,” Tim Barton of Wallbuilders claims that every founding father with an extant library had a copy of John Wise‘s sermons. And not only did they have a copy, but they drew heavily from these sermons in their push for independence from the British crown.

Watch:

I think I will crowdsource this one.

Did every founding father have a copy of John Wise in his library? I’ll start. As far as Mount Vernon is concerned, George Washington did not have a copy of Wise in his library. I also searched Thomas Jefferson’s 1789 catalog of books. John Wise is not in the catalog. The same is true for his 1783 catalog. Let me know what you find, or don’t find, in the comments. Experts on the founders are especially encouraged to participate! 🙂

Moreover, if a founding father had a copy of a book in his library, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he read it . It is also no guarantee that he built his political philosophy around its author.

Having said that, it is worth noting that Wise’s book A vindication of the government of New-England churches (1717) was republished in 1772. Unfortunately, Barton does not seem interested in digging more deeply into this fact.

Barton’s view of Wise may draw from John Fiske‘s Whig hagiography, Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America (1899) or Calvin Coolidge’s 1926 address on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which also seems to draw on Fiske. It is common practice for the Bartons–Tim and his faither David– to draw on such older books.

I would also encourage you to go to Founders Online and search the founders’ papers for the name John Wise. See what you find. I am guessing it won’t be much.