Boys: The Transformation of Gender in Eighteenth-Century Northampton, Massa-
Notes to Pages 369–71 ∑ππ
Hawley also wrote, ''I made the substance of almost all the foregoing reflections in writing, but not exactly in the same manner to Mr. Edwards and the brethren who adhered to him.'' Further, he a≈rmed, ''I have reason to believe that he [Edwards], from his great candor and charity, heartily forgave me and prayed for me.'' Hawley and Edwards may well have met in Northampton and talked of the matter between 1755 and 1758.
Hawley's original letter of apology to Edwards is not extant. Edwards' reply of November 18, 1754, is found in Works, 16: 646–54. The draft of Hawley's response to Edwards, January 21, 1755, is located in the Hawley Papers, New York Public Library. In it he contritely detailed instances where he thought he had done wrong in the controversy and professed regarding Edwards' letter to have ''received and read it without any the least resentment or uneasiness at you for the plainness and freedom you have been pleased to use in it.'' Earlier, between May 1751 and May 1752, the people of the First Church, Northampton, Massachusetts, sent Edwards ''Retractions'' (Edwards Collection, folder 46, Beinecke) in which they softened some of the harsh language of their earlier Remonstrance regarding his behavior concerning a proposed separate church and allegations that Edwards was interfering with their e√orts to settle a new pastor in their church. I am grateful to George Claghorn for his transcriptions of these documents.
In his later years Hawley was incapacitated by ''seasons of depression'' followed by ''periods of great exaltation.'' Nevertheless, during the time he was agonizing over his injustices toward his cousin, he was also making himself into one of Northampton's most respected citizens. A successful lawyer, he was for decades the town's representative in the General Court of Massachusetts, even after his public confession. In the years leading up to the Revolution, he was considered a western counterpart to Sam Adams as a leading figure in the cause of liberty. Trumbull, History of Northampton, 2: 534–49; Dexter, Biographical Sketches, 1: 709–12.
39. Winslow, Edwards, 242. Cf. Tracy's similar summary, Jonathan Edwards, Pastor, 186–87. See Trumbull, History of Northampton, for summaries of these men's careers. James F. Cooper, Tenacious of Their Liberties: The Congregationalists in Colonial Massachusetts (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), esp. 197–217, provides a nuanced exploration of the extent to which lay democratic interests might be found in the church controversies (including Northampton's) of the era of the awakening.
40. Tracy, Jonathan Edwards, Pastor, 186–87, 264. 41. Ibid., 188–94. The present analysis, see chapter 16, above, is similar on this point, adding that Timothy Edwards may be more important than Stoddard as a model for Edwards' old-fashioned paternalism.
42. Kenneth P. Minkema in ''Old Age and Religion in the Writings and Life of Jonathan Edwards, Church History 70 (December 2001): 674–704, presents a valuable analysis of communicant membership patterns to demonstrate that Edwards' congregation had a much lower percentage of young people under age twenty-five in 1750 (11.5 percent) than in 1740 (38 percent). Minkema argues that it is the alienation of the older people that cost Edwards his pastorate. Clearly it is the case that the older people had more reverence for Stoddard and Stoddardeanism. The statistics also confirm that the ''young folk's Bible'' case marked the end of Edwards' success in winning younger converts. Minkema points out that he never had great success in gaining converts among older people.
43. Ava Chamberlain's observations in ''Immaculate Ovum'' and ''Bad Books and Bad Boys: The Transformation of Gender in Eighteenth-Century Northampton, Massa-