May 17, 2006
John Witherspoon and Contemporary Scotland.
William Storrar
Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton
Minutes of the 33rd Meeting of the 64th Year
President Haynes called to order the thirty-third and final meeting of the 64th year of the Old Guard at 10:15 AM. in The Carl Fields Center with 90 members in attendance. John Marks led the singing of the invocation and John Frederick read the minutes of the previous meeting, including a concise summary of Professor Lynn White’s talk on that occasion entitled, “China, Taiwan and Us.”
Announcements by the president included a report on the new officers for the coming year: Joe Giordmaine, President; George Hansen, Vice President; Al Kaemmerlen, Secretary; and Charles Stenard, Membership Chair, with the rest of the Committee Chairs and the Officers remaining largely intact. Reminding us that the next meeting will be on September 13, 2006 at 10:15 AM. in The Carl Fields Center, he further announced that the speaker will be Dr. Alan Mann, Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, on the topic of “The Scars of Human Evolution.”
Jim Harford introduced his guest, Harold Erdman. Visitors introduced by their respective husbands included Susan Spencer, Mary Giordmaine, Mary Beth Clark, Naomi Rose, and Alene Jass.
Tom Gillespie then introduced the speaker, William Storrar, newly appointed director of the Center of Theological Inquiry here in Princeton. A native Scot, Dr. Storrar is a three-time graduate of Edinburgh University, the Ph.D. being among his degrees. He is a minister of the Church of Scotland and has come to his new post from a professorship in practical theology at New College, the theological faculty of the University of Edinburgh. His announced topic was “John Witherspoon and Contemporary Scotland.”
I confess that I was lured by that topic into expecting a presentation of the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment, through the sixth president of the then College of New Jersey, upon the formation of the American Constitution. Witherspoon, appointed in 1767, was, like our speaker, Scottish born and educated, and, as you may recall, one of New Jersey’s representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was also a mentor of James Madison during the young Virginian’s student years at the College, and the influence of his political ideas is evident in our Constitution as principally written by Madison.
But I for one was delightfully misled by my assumptions. Rather than discussing the influence of Scotland upon our American political development, Dr. Storrar made a fascinating case for the influence of the American democratic experiment upon contemporary Scotland’s body politic. Specifically, he noted the ways in which the American experience had influenced the recent debate in Scotland that led in 1999 to the re-establishment of a distinct Scottish Parliament. As is most everything in Scotland, this debate was deeply rooted in its national history.
Henry VIII’s dream of uniting England and Scotland under one crown was realized upon the death of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, who left no child to inherit her throne. The issue was resolved by crowning James VI of Scotland as James I of England and Scotland, the House of Tudor thus passing to the House of Stuart. But a truly united kingdom, with but one Monarch and one parliament, was not realized until 1707 when, under enormous pressure from the Crown, the Scottish Parliament voted itself out of existence and transferred all political authority to the new British Parliament at Westminster. Thus was formed what we commonly call today the UK.
But you do not need to be in Scotland long before realizing that this action of some three hundred years ago has been a thorn in Scottish flesh from day one. It comes as no surprise then that the continuing issue of Scottish nationalism surfaced with a vengeance in the final decade of the last century. It was this fierce debate, according to Will Storrar, that was decisively influenced by the return to Scotland of John Witherspoon through the influence and example of the American political tradition. Our speaker named three specific aspects of this influence.
The first was the key idea of the sovereignty of the people in establishing their own political future. According to Arthur Herman, in his delightful book How the Scots Invented the Modern World, this concept of popular sovereignty was introduced into the European political tradition in 1579 by George Buchanan, a leading Scottish humanist and supporter of John Knox, by his book, The Law of Government Among the Scots. Four hundred and twenty years later the idea found its way home again from its implementation in the United States.
The second was the model of a constitutional convention that brought together various political parties, unions, and other organizations was used to draw up a proposal for the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament for domestic affairs. This, our speaker contended, was patterned after the American experiment in Philadelphia.
Finally, the American institution of the town meeting was employed throughout Scotland in what were called Scottish Forums where the proposal was debated and ordinary people had a voice in developing the new parliament which was finally approved in 1999.
It was a fascinating address, and judging by the spirited question and answer period that followed, it was well received by the membership. And for all that, the meeting ended on time.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas W. Gillespie
Announcements by the president included a report on the new officers for the coming year: Joe Giordmaine, President; George Hansen, Vice President; Al Kaemmerlen, Secretary; and Charles Stenard, Membership Chair, with the rest of the Committee Chairs and the Officers remaining largely intact. Reminding us that the next meeting will be on September 13, 2006 at 10:15 AM. in The Carl Fields Center, he further announced that the speaker will be Dr. Alan Mann, Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, on the topic of “The Scars of Human Evolution.”
Jim Harford introduced his guest, Harold Erdman. Visitors introduced by their respective husbands included Susan Spencer, Mary Giordmaine, Mary Beth Clark, Naomi Rose, and Alene Jass.
Tom Gillespie then introduced the speaker, William Storrar, newly appointed director of the Center of Theological Inquiry here in Princeton. A native Scot, Dr. Storrar is a three-time graduate of Edinburgh University, the Ph.D. being among his degrees. He is a minister of the Church of Scotland and has come to his new post from a professorship in practical theology at New College, the theological faculty of the University of Edinburgh. His announced topic was “John Witherspoon and Contemporary Scotland.”
I confess that I was lured by that topic into expecting a presentation of the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment, through the sixth president of the then College of New Jersey, upon the formation of the American Constitution. Witherspoon, appointed in 1767, was, like our speaker, Scottish born and educated, and, as you may recall, one of New Jersey’s representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was also a mentor of James Madison during the young Virginian’s student years at the College, and the influence of his political ideas is evident in our Constitution as principally written by Madison.
But I for one was delightfully misled by my assumptions. Rather than discussing the influence of Scotland upon our American political development, Dr. Storrar made a fascinating case for the influence of the American democratic experiment upon contemporary Scotland’s body politic. Specifically, he noted the ways in which the American experience had influenced the recent debate in Scotland that led in 1999 to the re-establishment of a distinct Scottish Parliament. As is most everything in Scotland, this debate was deeply rooted in its national history.
Henry VIII’s dream of uniting England and Scotland under one crown was realized upon the death of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, who left no child to inherit her throne. The issue was resolved by crowning James VI of Scotland as James I of England and Scotland, the House of Tudor thus passing to the House of Stuart. But a truly united kingdom, with but one Monarch and one parliament, was not realized until 1707 when, under enormous pressure from the Crown, the Scottish Parliament voted itself out of existence and transferred all political authority to the new British Parliament at Westminster. Thus was formed what we commonly call today the UK.
But you do not need to be in Scotland long before realizing that this action of some three hundred years ago has been a thorn in Scottish flesh from day one. It comes as no surprise then that the continuing issue of Scottish nationalism surfaced with a vengeance in the final decade of the last century. It was this fierce debate, according to Will Storrar, that was decisively influenced by the return to Scotland of John Witherspoon through the influence and example of the American political tradition. Our speaker named three specific aspects of this influence.
The first was the key idea of the sovereignty of the people in establishing their own political future. According to Arthur Herman, in his delightful book How the Scots Invented the Modern World, this concept of popular sovereignty was introduced into the European political tradition in 1579 by George Buchanan, a leading Scottish humanist and supporter of John Knox, by his book, The Law of Government Among the Scots. Four hundred and twenty years later the idea found its way home again from its implementation in the United States.
The second was the model of a constitutional convention that brought together various political parties, unions, and other organizations was used to draw up a proposal for the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament for domestic affairs. This, our speaker contended, was patterned after the American experiment in Philadelphia.
Finally, the American institution of the town meeting was employed throughout Scotland in what were called Scottish Forums where the proposal was debated and ordinary people had a voice in developing the new parliament which was finally approved in 1999.
It was a fascinating address, and judging by the spirited question and answer period that followed, it was well received by the membership. And for all that, the meeting ended on time.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas W. Gillespie