Browse the Joseph Bean sermon

Rev. Joseph Bean (1716-1784) was born in Cambridge and graduated from Harvard in 1748. He was ordained as the minister in Wrentham, Massachusetts in 1750. Bean had an earlier career but decided to become a minister after hearing evangelical itinerant George Whitefield preach. He remained the minister in Wrentham until his death in 1784.

In the leadup to the American Revolution, many Bostonians rejected the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765. This set off a wave of boycotts and protests against wealthy officials who tried to enforce it. Resistance to the Stamp Act (and pressure from merchants who lost money) led to its repeal by Parliament in 1766. To commemorate their success, Bean delivered a Thanksgiving sermon, a traditional form of community address used to express gratitude for divine deliverance.

Materials in this collection have been digitized and made available through our New England's Hidden Histories project.