WHO WERE THE EVANGELICALS - CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL IDENTITY IN THE UNITARIAN CONTROVERSY IN BOSTON, 1804-1833

The story of the Unitarian Controversy is a familiar one. This interne cine quarrel within American Congregationalism in the early nineteenth century led to religious disestablishment in Massachusetts in 1833. L iberals advocated an Enlightenment-influenced moralism in religion whi ch eventuated in a de-emphasis on theology and ideological inclusivity ; the conservatives advocated the evangelical extension of ideological ly homogeneous and pure church communities. The conservative Congregat ionalism that came to define itself in opposition to Unitarianism repr esented one visible emanation of the movement that would become known as the Second Great Awakening. What were the social, economic, and cul tural correlates of membership in either religious faction? Using anec dotal evidence as well as data taken from church records, city directo ries, and tax records, this essay argues that the two groups represent ed crystallizations of two different cultural outlooks based on prior experience. Unitarians were not only more well-to-do and socially powe rful; they were arsa more likely to have been involved in long-distanc e market and intellectual relations. Evangelical Congregationalists, i n contrast, were often lesser property owners who had migrated more re cently to the urban milieu and who continued to hold to an ethic of pe rsonal responsibility based on tangible local relationships.