Elihu Palmer
Elihu Palmer (1764-1806) was an American deist philosopher who rejected orthodox Christianity and formed the deistical New York Theistical Society.
One of the Bibles Thomas Jefferson cut from to create his own version of the Gospels turned to the Book of Matthew with four sections missing; image courtesy the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History.
Elihu Palmer (1764-1806) was an American deist philosopher. He was trained as a Presbyterian minister, but ultimately rejected orthodox Christianity and formed the deistical New York Theistical Society. In 1801, Palmer published his major work, Principles of Nature; or, a Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery Among the Human Species, and sent a copy to Thomas Jefferson in 1802.1 No reply from Jefferson has been found. Jefferson's copy of this work is held at the Library of Congress.2
- Jefferson Library Staff, 2008
Further Sources
- 18th Century Online Encyclopedia: Enlightenment and Revolution, s.v. "Palmer, Elihu" (by Jason Horn).
- French, Roderick S. "Elihu Palmer, Radical Deist, Radical Republican: A Reconsideration of American Free Thought." Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, vol. 8 (1979): 90-91.
- Palmer, Elihu. Principles of Nature; or, a Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery Among the Human Species. London: J. Cahuac, 1819.
- Walters, Kerry. The American Deists: Voices of Reason and Dissent in the Early Republic. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992.
Footnotes
- Palmer to Jefferson, September 1, 1802, in PTJ, 38:333, 38:333n. Transcription and editorial note available at Founders Online.
- Sowerby, 2:24-25.