Background
Nathaniel Niles was born on April 3, 1741 in South Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. He was the son of Samuel and Sarah (Niles) Niles and the grandson of Samuel Niles. His parents were cousins german.
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ Library of Congress W027601 Errata note, p. 55. Norwich Conn.: Printed by Green & Spooner, M, DCC, LXXVIII. 1778. 55, 1 p.; 8°
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Businessman inventor politician theologian poet
Nathaniel Niles was born on April 3, 1741 in South Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. He was the son of Samuel and Sarah (Niles) Niles and the grandson of Samuel Niles. His parents were cousins german.
Like his father and grandfather, Nathaniel was sent to Harvard College but because of illness he left that institution after his first year. Later (1765), with his brother Samuel, he entered the College of New Jersey where he graduated in 1766. His many interests proved at first somewhat of a handicap; he could not decide upon his life work. For a time he studied medicine, then law, and finally turned to theology under the direction of Joseph Bellamy.
Though Niles preached in several New England towns, he was never ordained.
Meanwhile he was preaching frequently at Norwich and elsewhere. Several of his sermons he published.
He also found time for politics, serving in the Connecticut legislature for three sessions (1779 - 81). Toward the end of the Revolution he bought a large tract of land in Orange County, Vermont, and in 1782 or 1783, he abandoned his business career to move with several friends into the northern forest. They were the first settlers in what became the township of West Fairlee. The rest of his strenuous life Niles spent in Vermont, preaching frequently, attending the sick when physicians were not available, writing on theology, but devoting himself primarily to the management of his land and to politics. His position as the largest proprietor in the neighborhood, his undoubted intelligence, his positive and democratic ideas, his forceful and aggressive character, all contributed to his success in politics. From 1784 to 1814, when at the age of seventy-three he retired to his farm, he was almost always in office, on occasion filling two positions simultaneously. For eight terms he sat in the lower house of the Vermont legislature. From 1784 to 1787 he was a member of the supreme court of the state; hence his title of judge by which he was called thereafter. For many years he was a member of the Council, a popularly elected executive and legislative body. From 1791 to 1795 he sat in the federal House of Representatives.
In 1793 he was made trustee of Dartmouth College, a position he held until 1820. Characteristically he took his duties with the utmost seriousness. In temperament and in religious and political ideas he was in sharp contrast to President John Wheelock.
He early became convinced that the college was suffering under the latter's direction and he soon headed the opposition in the board of trustees. When matters came to a crisis in 1815, he joined with his Federalist fellow members to oust the president and to defend the institution against the state authority. Besides his sermons he published numerous theological articles. His one attempt at poetry, an ode called The American Hero, was written in celebration of the battle of Bunker Hill. Set to music it gained wide popularity during the Revolutionary War. Posterity will not regret that thereafter Niles turned his talents to other fields.
Despite weak health in his youth his physical and mental vigor was remarkable; even in extreme age he spent long hours renewing his knowledge of Latin.
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Unlike most New England clergymen Niles was a Jeffersonian Democrat. Leading his party in Vermont, he fought against slavery and against banks; he gave vigorous support to the second war with England and as vigorous condemnation of the Hartford Convention. His influence, however, was not widespread for the Federalist triumph in Vermont in 1794 kept the state Democrats out of national office for many years.
Shortly before the Revolution Niles settled in Norwich, Connecticut, where he married Nancy, the daughter of Elijah Lathrop, a prosperous trader and manufacturer.
He left nine children, five of them by his second wife, Elizabeth Watson of Plymouth, Massachussets, whom he married on November 22, 1787.