Francis Alison
Encyclopedia
Francis Alison was a leading minister in the Synod of Philadelphia during The Old Side-New Side Controversy
The Old Side-New Side Controversy
The Old Side-New Side Controversy occurred within the Presbyterian Church in Colonial America and was part of the wider theological controversy surrounding the First Great Awakening. The Old and New Side Presbyterians existed as separate churches from 1741 until 1758. The name of Old Side-New...


Early life and education

Alison was born in Ireland and studied at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

. It appears he arrived in the United States in 1734 or 1735 in order to help the fledgling Presbyterian Church as a minister. He would be ordained a full-fledged minister in 1737 and served the New London congregation.

Career

Alison always stood out as a great intellect and was frequently employed as a teacher both within and without the church. John Dickinson of Delaware, who wrote the Farmer’s Letters, hired Alison to tutor his children. His teaching grew from there by adding pupils and he apparently ran an academy in Thunder Hill, near the village of New London, [Pennsylvania].

Alison led attempts to start a seminary or school in the Synod, but his early attempts at this failed. He did run an academy while in New London. According to his letters to Ezra Stiles
Ezra Stiles
Ezra Stiles was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian and author. He was president of Yale College .-Early life:...

, President of Harvard, he started this school about 1743. His teaching position at this school was funded by the Synod. He was allowed an assistant. Alison left the New London school in 1752 in order to run a grammar school in Philadelphia and at the behest of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

 aid with the College of Philadelphia. He was the vice-provost in 1755. The University of Glasgow made him a Doctor of Divinity in 1756.

Controversy

Francis Alison was at the center of much of the Old Side – New Side Controversy in the early Presbyterian Church, which was part of the Great Awakening. Alison was against the practices of the Great Awakening going so far as to help his presbytery pen a pamphlet entitled the Querists. This pamphlet was an attack on the doctrine of George Whitefield
George Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...

, a leading revivalist. Alison was part of the cause of the division in that he came to Synod seeking a judgment against Alexander Craighead
Alexander Craighead
Alexander Craighead was a Scots-Irish American preacher.He was born in Donegal, Ulster, Ireland around 1700, and came to North America with his father, the Reverend Thomas Craighead. He preached at the Middle Octorara Church, along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, during the 1730s, but...

, a New Side adherent. Alison had complained that Craighead had preached in Alison’s church without permission. Craighead refused to let Donegal Presbytery put him on trial for the offense. Alison came to Synod seeking a trial against Craighead. This never occurred as the New Side would not allow it. This led to the Protest of 1741, which Alison signed. As a result of the Protest, Gilbert Tennent
Gilbert Tennent
Gilbert Tennent was a religious leader. Gilbert was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening of religious feeling in Colonial America, along with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield...

 and his New Side friends left the Synod and formed their own. Alison did dissent from the ruling of the Synod of 1742. Alison wished the Synod would have revisited the whole affair, but he was in the minority. Alison continued with the Old Side Synod of Philadelphia after the Presbytery of New York left in 1746.

Upon the reunion of the two sides in 1758, which created the new Synod of New York and Philadelphia, Alison preached the opening sermon entitled “Peace and Union” from Ephesians 4:4-7. In the ensuing years, Alison always took the Old Side interpretation of theology; however, he remained a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Legacy

Alison is best known for his work in the church. His work led to the founding of the first Widows Fund in the church. He was known as the best Latin scholar in America. He taught many people who would go on to productive careers in the church. Foremost among them are Dr. John Ewing, Dr. James Latta, and Matthew Wilson. What is often overlooked is his influence on the founding of America. Three of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

 studied under Alison: Governor Thomas McKean
Thomas McKean
Thomas McKean was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolution he was a delegate to the Continental Congress where he signed the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of...

, George Read (signer)
George Read (signer)
George Read was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware, and a member of the...

, and James Smith (delegate). Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson was a Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress throughout its existence.-Biography:...

 who served as Secretary of the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

also was a pupil of Alison. Alison was in England when news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence arrived in England. He was far too old to participate, but all knew his sympathies lie with freedom. Upon his death, he freed his slaves.
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