---
title: 'Presbyterian Presidential Correspondence'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2020-03-02
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2020-presbyterian-presidential-correspondence
---

# Presbyterian Presidential Correspondence

Did you ever write a letter to the White House? At Log College Press, we are developing a growing body of [correspondence](/topics/correspondence) between American Presbyterian ministers and U.S. Presidents.

- [**John Ewing**](/authors/john-ewing), [**Ashbel Green**](/authors/ashbel-green) and [**William Marshall**](/authors/william-marshall) to **George Washington** - These were among the signers of a 1797 joint letter of appreciation to Washington.
- [**Samuel Miller**](/authors/samuel-miller) to **George Washington** - We have letters from Miller to Washington from 1793 and 1795. Miller would later preach a 1799 sermon on the occasion of Washington’s death (not yet available at LCP).
- [**Samuel Miller**](/authors/samuel-miller) to **Thomas Jefferson** - We have seven letters from Miller to Jefferson from 1800 to 1808. Miller was once an enthusiastic supporter of Jefferson, but the two men experienced a breach in their relationship when Jefferson declined Miller’s request to recommend a national day of fasting and prayer. More can be read about this in Mark A. Beliles, *The Selected Religious Letters and Papers of Thomas Jefferson* (2014).
- [**Samuel Miller**](/authors/samuel-miller) to **James Madison** - We have two letters from Miller to Madison dated 1822 and 1835.
- [**William McWhir**](/authors/william-mcwhir) to **George Washington** - McWhir was for ten years principal of an academy at Alexandria, Virginia, of which George Washington was a trustee, and whose stepchildren he taught. Two letters from McWhir to Washington are available to read here.
- [**William Linn**](/authors/william-linn) to **Thomas Jefferson** - William Linn, along with [John Mitchell Mason](/authors/john-mitchell-mason), was deeply concerned about the prospect of Jefferson becoming President during the election of 1800. We have one 1798 letter from Linn to Jefferson.
- [**Hugh Henry Brackenridge**](/authors/hugh-henry-brackenridge) to **Thomas Jefferson** - Brackenridge was a Presbyterian jurist, novelist and scholar who corresponded with Jefferson. Two letters of his are included here from 1801 and 1813.
- [**Ezra Stiles Ely**](/authors/ezra-stiles-ely) to **Andrew Jackson** - Ely was an admirer and a confidant of the Presbyterian Jackson, and advised him during the Peggy Eaton affair. We have four letter from Ely to Jackson from 1825 to 1830.
- [**Phineas Densmore Gurley**](/authors/phineas-densmore-gurley) to **Abraham Lincoln** - Gurley was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, where Lincoln regularly attended (but was not a member). We have twelve letters from Gurley to Lincoln from 1861 to 1865. Gurley would later attend Lincoln’s deathbed and preach his funeral sermon.
- [**Stuart Robinson**](/authors/stuart-robinson) to **Abraham Lincoln** - Robinson wrote to Lincoln twice in 1864 and 1865 concerning the suppression of his newspaper during wartime.
- [**William Jennings Bryan, Sr.**](/authors/william-jennings-bryan-sr) to **Woodrow Wilson** - Bryan served as Secretary of State under Wilson; both men were ordained Presbyterian ruling elders. We have his 1915 letter of resignation to Wilson.

We hope to continue to build on this material which provides a fascinating insight to our understanding of early American Presbyterian [church-state](/topics/church-and-state) relationships, not only in principle but in practice.