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Religious and Moral Impact in the
Naperville Lyceum
Carl Fletcher - Olivet Nazarene University
Jana Duckett - Morgan State University
Hanisha Besant - Regent University
Stephen D. Perry - Regent University
Cristi Eschler-Freudenrich - Oral Roberts University
Brooke Dunbar-Treadwell - Messiah University
Beryl Nyamwange – Independent Scholar
Jonathan Powers - Regent University
The lyceum movement provided a venue allowing revolutionary thought-
leaders in education, politics, and religion to impact early American
culture. The cultural fabric of early nineteenth century America was, in
part, influenced by the waves of change triggered by the Second Great
Awakening. The social consciousness was embedded with the seeds of
transformation for reform as movements such as abolitionism,
temperance, and women’s rights found fertile ground in the religious
fervor of the Second Great Awakening. A historical research of the
Proceedings of the Naperville Lyceum (1836-1843) document illustrates
how religious and moral transformation happening nationally impacted
conversations and debates, shaping the social consciousness at the local
level in the mid-1800s. The findings of this research feature the central
religious themes that emerged within the Naperville Lyceum proceedings
and how they fit into the wider national context of what was happening in
America during the Second Great Awakening.
Historians reference lyceum as a speaking circuit utilized
by prominent leaders including President Abraham Lincoln, Ralph
Carl Fletcher was a PhD student at Regent University and a faculty member at
Olivet Nazarene University when his life was cut short. This project that he had
begun is the second publication that was finished by several of his colleagues in
memoriam. This work is dedicated to those he left behind all too early.
Other Author Bios are provided as an appendix to this manuscript.
© All Authors above 2022 [CC BY 4.0]
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Waldo Emerson, and Frederick Douglass (Bode, 1956; Ewbank,
1956; Ray, 2002; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2010a; 2013; Wright, 2013).
Wright (2013) summarized the broad range within which the word
lyceum could be interpreted when he said, “the term lyceum was
shorthand for organizations and buildings that, at least initially,
hosted a range of discussion functions” (p. 3), and at times they
were known as antebellum debate clubs (Ray, 2004).
Lyceums of the nineteenth-century provided evening
entertainment to communities through lively debate (Spearman,
2009) as well as a vehicle for information exchange. Though
Lyceums were autonomous bodies and not chapters that belonged
to national associations or states (Ray, 2010b), traditional views
hold that speakers used lyceum platforms to influence the citizenry
on issues pertaining to reform (Alber, 1931). The popular topics of
discussion were often related to politics (Fletcher, et al., 2022) and
religion with preachers among those serving as speakers and
churches hosting lectures. Some speakers even railed against faith
(Caldwell, 1927). However, lyceums in the 1830s tended to refrain
from arousing controversy and maintained a non-partisan
disposition to stay true to their original intent, which was to
educate people (Wagner, 1954). The editor of the Boston Lyceum
periodical, Frederick S. Hill (1827), perhaps best expressed this
sentiment in stating:
With the controversies of church and state we shall have no
connection. We are deeply impressed with a sense that the
subject of Religion is of a nature too sacred to be spoken of
lightly; to us, it is as holy ground, and we would put off our
shoes when we approach and come near with humility and self-
abasement—to make it not sacrilege, is, at least, presumption.
(p. 3)
An examination of debate questions related to religion and
morality can help us better understand the religious issues in these
areas impressing upon the social consciousness of the time. The
Proceedings of the Naperville Lyceum (1836-1843) document serves
as the primary artifact for this historical research. The Proceedings
detailed the activities of an early Lyceum. It is a handwritten
document from a time when little evidence survives about the
community concerns of a frontier society. Thus, though the
Proceedings tells little more than the topics of discussion, it
provides a window into the interests and concerns of the people in
Naperville, Illinois (Fletcher et al., 2022). The Naperville Heritage
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Artifact Analysis
Society indicates that around 15 people attended the weekly
meetings that occurred from mid-fall to early spring (“Naperville
Lyceum,” 2012), but 28 people were named in the Proceedings as
having participated overall. These attendees certainly included
influential people in the community including Rev. J.H. Prentiss
who pastored the Lutheran Church (“Naperville Centennial,” 1931).
The artifact was analyzed for the purpose of determining
the extent to which religious topics were the focus of the Naperville
lyceum and what those topics were. Religious topics would include
issues that had a clear moral question at their root as well as those
that were about faith or God. Using this criteria, all listed debate
topics in The Proceedings were scanned for religious or moral
themes. Once those were gathered, they were broken into
categories of similar content, and those are analyzed and explained
for their significance in the times in which the debates occurred.
This historical study will also allude to how matters of
church and state impacted lyceum thought. Through the contextual
lens of the Second Great Awakening, this study will attempt to
look into the religious consciousness of the Naperville settlement
by analyzing the topics of interest to its Lyceum members. As the
oldest town in DuPage County in Illinois, early in the westward
expansion through the Midwest of the United States, Naperville
reflected the city’s founder Joseph Naper’s desire to build a town
with a spiritual heritage as well as a cultural and educational one.
The first church was established by 1833, just two years after the
town was settled (Fraser, 1982).
Lyceum Literature Overview
Lyceums provided a platform where the marketplace of
ideas could converge and affect the nation’s conscience in ways
that would lead to social change. Historically situated in the
aftermath of the American Revolution and the early beginning of
American social reconstruction, lyceums began during a time when
the nation sought to communicate a unique, independent identity,
distinct from British beginnings.
Lyceum proponents proudly traced the roots of the system
back to 4th century B.C. Greece, where Aristotle organized
evening lectures for young Athenian men on timely topics at the
Temple of Apollo Lyceum (Spearman, 2009, p. 208). Josiah
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Holbrook popularized the nineteenth-century lyceum movement in
Massachusetts (Spearman, 2009, p. 207). In October 1826, Holbrook
described a nationwide network of associations that would foster
learning among youth and adults.
Fueled by a desire to spread national democratic beliefs,
Josiah Holbrook initiated the “establishment of lyceums on the
grounds of promoting broad-based democracy” (Ray, 2005, p.18).
Holbrook’s vision for “mutual education societies” based on the
rhetoric of his 1826 letter featured in the
American Journal of
Education
signified two main focal points of Holbrook’s rhetorical
vision for lyceums, as “an inward focus on improving the
individual, situated within a communal structure, and an outward
focus on improving the product of economic and social activity”
(Ray, 2001, p. 53).
In Holbrook’s vision for lyceums, groups of individuals
would meet regularly in towns and villages throughout the country,
teaching each other from their own areas of expertise in fields like
engineering, farming, bookkeeping, and the law, or studying
important and useful subjects such as chemistry, mineralogy,
botany, and history (Ray, 2005). Holbrook instituted a system of
Town Lyceums, united by a County Lyceum. Consequently, New
England quickly became “lyceumized” and the development of
State Lyceums soon followed.
In 1831, following the tradition of European organizations
like the Institute of Paris and the Royal Society of London, New
York ushered in the first National Lyceum—called the American
Lyceum. The explicated purpose of the American Lyceum was the
“advancement of education...and the general diffusion of
knowledge,” not just for adults but also for the common schools in
general. Lyceums were also seen as inexpensive forms of evening
entertainment (Spearman, 2009, p. 208, 209). Research on the
Franklin Lyceum of Providence, which functioned from 1831 to
1885, revealed that lectures on self-education and education of the
ordinary man were conducted most in the 1840s, whereas topics on
religion were the most popular in the 1850s in the specific lyceum
(Stone, 2015).
In 1980, historian Donald M. Scott wrote in the
Journal of
American History
that the lyceum lecture system in the mid-
nineteenth-century United States “not only expressed a national
culture, it was one of the central institutions within and by which
the public had its existence” (Wright, 2013, p.42). In 1868, Thomas
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Artifact Analysis
Wentworth Higginson wrote of the role of the lyceum lecturer as a
“living shuttle” on a weaver’s loom, “moving to and fro . . . to
weave together this new web of national civilization” (Ray, 2013, p.
23). Public education is useful, “practical science” (Ray, 2005, p,
13) was the expressed goal of the lyceum movement in the 1820s.
Typically, well-to-do British American Protestant men banded
together in villages and towns to read original compositions, to
debate questions of policy and value, to present and hear lectures,
and to enjoy the companionable presence of their peers. “Useful
knowledge” and “republican virtue” were mantras of the early
nineteenth century. With the new country frequently identified as
an “experiment” in democracy, the success of the endeavor
depended on tapping the skills and potentials of the citizenry and
controlling the potential of the mob rule (Ray, 2013, p. 14). Thus, we
may conclude lyceums were considered an important aspect of
America’s democratic process and progress. At lyceum meetings,
members convened together on a regular basis to hear a series of
speeches or readings, sometimes followed by discussion or debates
(Spearman, 2009).
Lyceum in Illinois
As the American people moved westward, so did the
American lyceum, although its beginnings were slow for several
reasons. Like neighboring Indiana, Illinois was dominated by
Southern culture and leadership despite the influx of New
Englanders (Bode, 1968). The majority of these New Englanders
were on their second migration, now coming from Ohio, but still
held true to many New England values. Moreover, the government
control by those coming from the South was not well received. In
turn, the New Englanders would move to the northern part of
Illinois in the area surrounding Chicago, creating hostility between
the southern and northern parts of the state. The exception was a
small area in the south near Springfield, Alton, and Pittsfield where
many New Englanders also settled. This was where the lyceum
system would ultimately begin in Illinois.
The first official state Lyceum was established in 1831 in
Vandalia, Illinois, which was the state capital at the time. Despite
its location in the southern part of the state, it drew heavily from
the New England influence in the northern part of the state. The
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goals of the first meeting included “diffusion of useful knowledge”
(Bode, 1968, p. 96). It saw a slow start in Illinois, partially the result
of a small population, and as data indicates, early settlers had very
little interest in education, a primary goal of American Lyceums
(Bode, 1968). It would be several years until the Lyceum system
saw any real support in Illinois.
The first local lyceum was started by Josiah Holbrook
himself in Jacksonville, Illinois. Conversely, the Chicago Lyceum
saw a short life, holding its first meeting in December 1834 and is
believed to have ceased to exist by 1844 due to “sheer neglect”
according to a former secretary (Bode, 1968, p. 97). The Chicago
Mechanics’ Institute, however, took over the lecturing circuit and
added a periodical called The Prairie Farmer; it was one of the
more successful clubs of this type in the state. Other lyceums
around the state would see similar results to the one in Chicago,
including Springfield, which once hosted Abraham Lincoln before
his days in politics, along with Rock Creek, and Naperville (Bode,
1968).
Joseph Naper: Laying the Religious Foundation
of the Naperville Lyceum
Joseph Naper founded Naperville, the oldest town in the
county with approximately 2,000 residents. By 1857 the town
flourished with hotels and post offices, 10 manufactories, mills,
quarries, lumber yards, nurseries, other stores, and an incorporated
academy (Richmond & Vallette, 1857). The need to exchange ideas
and knowledge not only fell into the category of fellowship and
friendly debate, but out of the necessity of creating a common
community where like-mindedness was important in building a
public trust. Joseph Naper was the type of person others were
willing to follow to help build the frontier into a civilized part of
Illinois. According to information disseminated by the Naperville
Museum, “Joseph Naper was not just interested in physically
building a town; he also helped build the cultural, spiritual, and
educational foundations for the community” (par. 4). He was also a
founding member of the Naperville Lyceum which was modeled
after the lyceums in New England. The town’s early pioneers had
“ready zeal” organizing, building, and sustaining churches
(Richmond & Vallette, 1857, pp. 100-101).
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Artifact Analysis
The first church was built in 1833. By 1857 there were six
churches. Some ministers were circuit riders who preached across
districts. People often met in homes while houses of worship were
being built. The Baptist Church began with nine members in 1843.
During the construction phase of the church building, a
discrepancy erupted around the transfer of the land on which
construction had already begun. The owner refused to give title,
and a large number of the most prominent citizens met and
removed the building by force to a secondary site donated by Lewis
Ellsworth. In 1844, the esteemed building was shared by
Congregational and Baptist societies on alternating Sabbaths. A
belfry and steeple were added in 1847, sounding not only a church
bell in the county, but communicating information quickly. They
warned of fires, told of death, and announced joyful occasions like
weddings. Churches drew from neighboring settlements including
the Naper Settlement, the East Branch Settlement, Lisle, and
Downers Grove neighborhood, Big Woods, Strong and Clark
Settlement, and the Northern neighbors. According to 1857 archive
records, the town paid $3,400 annually for the support of preaching
for 400 members across denominations and 350 people attending
Sabbath schools (Richmond & Vallette, 1857). Thus, the Christian
religion’s impact on the development of Naperville’s cultural
society provides localized insight into the wider religious
movement building in American culture at large, known as the
Second Great Awakening.
The Second Great Awakening
American culture underwent a wave of social reform
during the Second Great Awakening. An increase in spiritual and
personal responsibility shaped American social ideals. In the early
19th century these series of revivals followed a pattern much like
the lyceum movement, beginning in the Northeast but eventually
making their way toward the western frontier. The movement was
more than an emotional revival for Christianity, it involved
developing a network of interdenominational missionary
organizations, referred to as “benevolent societies” (Griffin, 1957).
These societies were the birthing ground for several social
movements in America promoting universal education, women’s
rights, antislavery and temperance (Osinski, 2012).
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The revivals brought together people of various religious
traditions and social classes, flipping many traditional societal
roles, especially those pertaining to gender. As one historian notes
“Nothing better symbolized the countercultural identity of the new
evangelicals – the Freewill Baptists, Christian Connection,
northern Methodists, African Methodists, and Millerites – than
their willingness to allow large numbers of women into the pulpit”
(Brekus, 2009, p.22). Contemporary scholars agree not only did
women preach during camp meetings, but children were also
known to address large adult crowds (Osinksi, 2012; Brekus, 2009).
The religious reformation movement proved to be a viable
platform paving the way for women and African American
involvement in the public sphere; this eventually impacted lyceum
culture as early lyceums did not provide influential access to either
group initially. Prominent lyceum speaker Frederick Douglass’
account summarizes the culture of many early American lyceums
stating:
The New Bedford Lyceum refused till several years after my
residence in that city to allow any colored person to attend the
lectures delivered in its hall. Not until such men as Hon. Chas
Sumner, Theodore Parker, Ralph W. Emerson and Horace
Mann refused to lecture in their course while there was such a
restriction was it abandoned (Ray, 2002, p. 261).
The lack of rights and personal freedom for both the slave
and the woman created a model for abolitionist feminists to
connect and develop societies of their own. In 1832, the Boston
Female Anti-Slavery Society was founded; by 1838 there were over
forty feminist anti-slavery groups in Massachusetts (Griffin, 1957).
The Salem Lyceum, founded by Sarah Parker Redmond, helped to
bridge the gap between social issues of African Americans in the
lyceum environment. Known as the Salem Female Anti-Slavery
Society, this group sponsored lyceum lectures by prominent
abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown,
and Charlotte Forten. In an 1847 lecture delivered at the Salem
Lyceum by William Wells Brown, he reprimands those who take
pride in the new republicanism ideology suggesting that supporters
of a “democratic, Christian, republican America” failed to hold true
to the Constitution’s integral claim that “all men are created equal”
(Brown & Parkhurst, 1847). In this way, the religious revival
phenomenon and the agenda for social justice became intertwined.
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Artifact Analysis
The religious movement sweeping American culture took
full advantage of communication venues, which included lyceums,
available at the time to leverage support and to quickly amplify
their message:
The evangelical movement seized upon the communications
revolution, exploited it, and even fostered it. Religious
publishers took advantage of advances in the technology of
printing to turn out Bibles and tracts by countless thousands,
many of which they distributed free of charge. The churches
also contributed heavily to a new genre of printed matter, the
magazine. Magazines, even more than newspapers, tended to
be published for specialized audiences with similar interests
and opinions…Most of the periodicals with national
circulations and successful publishing histories before 1840
were religious (Howe, 2009, p. 230).
The Second Great Awakening played a role in shaping the
social consciousness toward impending social reform following the
Civil War. These social justice issues impacted lyceum culture by
changing the status quo of societal roles in the public spheres and
influencing the topics of debate. Lyceums became a platform for
religious discourse and social reform rhetoric influencing the
national conversation around issues of slavery and women’s rights.
The following analysis will specifically look at how these topics
impacted the Naperville Lyceum and perhaps in turn, how the
Naperville Lyceum was likely to have impacted the continuation of
such social and religious movements.
Analysis
The Naperville Lyceum records provide insight into both
the historical and religious landscape of the socio-cultural issues
impacting both the nation and the state of Illinois. Only two other
lyceums in Illinois have recorded minutes to explore, so Naperville
Lyceum minutes serve as a unique window into the social
conscious through the information on topics that shaped the
discussion. The minutes recorded in the Proceedings of the
Naperville Lyceum provide evidence toward the popularity of
topics pertaining to religion and morality. The Proceedings listed
the topics debated, dates on which those debates happened, and the
names of those who sided with the affirmative and the negative
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Vol. 1, Issue 4
sides of an evening’s topic. Religion, especially the Christian faith,
was important to the people of Naperville. The first church in the
town was formed in 1833 by members of the East Branch Settle-
ment. In 1837, an Evangelical church was organized, and “The
Bapdst [Baptist] Church in Naperville was organized in 1843, with
nine members, by Rev. Morgan Edwards” (Proceedings of the
Naperville Lyceum, 1836-1843, p. 17). The Proceedings of the
Naperville Lyceum went on to disclose events that unfurled in the
process of establishing the Baptist Church:
Immediate steps were taken to erect a house of worship. A
building was commenced on the foundation of the present
Congregational Church, but a difficulty arose between the
owner of the lots, who had not yet conveyed them to the
society, and one of its members. In consequence of this the
owner refused to give title and forbade the removal of the
partly constructed building. A committee waited upon him, but
finding all their overtures in vain… (p. 17)
Moreover, in describing the people of Naperville, who
were a blend of Easterners and Hoosiers, Judge Robert Murray of
Naperville expressed:
... we were a sort of free people; we believed in doing just
about as we pleased. The good brethren of the East Branch
Settlement used to come here with their iron bedstead and try
to fit us to it, but they found it useless and gave up the people
of Naper Settlement as children of the devil for whom there
was no hope. (Fraser, 1982)
As Joseph Naper was both a founding member of the
Naperville Lyceum and proponent of church building and
Christianity throughout the town, it is expected that Christian
rhetoric would emerge throughout Naperville Lyceum proceedings
as the aforementioned illustrates that Christian social thought
played a role in the Naperville community. Topics recorded in the
Proceeding of the Naperville Lyceum with morality and religious
implications are discussed in the following section.
Naperville Lyceum Moral and Religious Societal Context
The proceedings indicate religious and morality issues
were among the topics on the Naperville Lyceum circuit. Ray
(2013) asserts that in 2005 she saw the lyceum as an institutional
structure that helped to create, promote, and sustain what would
count as American values and American popular knowledge. “The
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Artifact Analysis
lyceum, I said, was about nation building” (Ray, 2013, pp. 23-24).
While the Enlightenment period leading up to the American
Revolution would promote ideals of separation of church and state,
the presence of the Second Great Awakening in American culture
would attempt to reunite these concepts. Moral and religious
questions in the Naperville Lyceum focused on issues of virtue
from a social-cultural perspective.
Religion and State.
Naperville lyceum members debated
the topic of Christianity and the role it should play in American
culture. With questions like, “Has the Christian religion under its
various forms been productive of more good than evil” and “Has
mankind benefited by advocates of the Christian religion.”
Naperville lyceum-goers were challenged to rethink many of the
ideals and social teaching developed by the Age of Reason. In the
proceeding 17th and 18th centuries, a new zeal for independence
swept through the newly formed colonies. Weinstein (1982)
suggests the effects of the Enlightenment period describe it as a
time where prominent political thinkers “analyzed the origins of
politics and proposed secular ideals toward which humans could
and should strive, including linguistic ones” (p. 90). Life meant
much more than survival and religious freedoms. It was now about
intellectual ideas that advanced societies to become what they were
destined for — greatness. The Revolutionary War brought about a
sense of freedom and nationalism fueled by this new wave of
thought. Naperville Lyceum proceedings reveal questions that
expose the tension between revolution and religious ideologies as
new rhetoric stirred secular American culture. The debate
questions divided Naperville members, half in the affirmative and
half in the negative, over the role Christianity should have in
influencing American culture. However, the affirmative greatly
outweighed those in the negative when it came to the question of
“Has the reformation under Luther, Calvin, and others been as
beneficial to mankind as the American Declaration of
Independence.” Additional questions involve moral justification
for capital punishment and the influence of divine law. A question
such as “Is the traffic (in ardent) spirits (as a drink) immoral?”
reflected an early temperance discussion with moral implications.
Religion and Immigration.
Another Naperville Lyceum
question debated the issue of immigration and asked whether
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“foreign immigration endanger(s) our civil and religious
institutions?” American immigration nearly quadrupled during the
1830s with people arriving mostly from Ireland, Germany, and
other European countries (Bankston, n.d.). The inclusion of this
topic in the Naperville proceedings showed members’ defensive
posture to protect religious institutions, and specifically from
foreign influence. However, the low frequency with which this
topic appears suggests the immigrant groups posed little to no
threat to Naperville religious life.
Morality and Women’s Rights.
Like several other
lyceums at the time, the Naperville Lyceum debated questions
about women’s rights and equality. Questions like, “Ought
females to be admitted to the right of suffrage on the same legal
qualifications that are required of males,” and “Is it expedient for
women to petition legislative bodies for the redress of grievances,”
challenged the current social structures which gave men more
social mobility and legal privileges. While women were not
allowed to debate at the Naperville Lyceum, according to Article 13
of the charter, they were allowed to be physically present. As the
debate about women’s rights became a national conversation, it
impacted lyceum debate topics in 1837 and 1838. Two female
abolitionists, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, traveled through New
England to lecture on the topic of citizenship for women. Several
other influential speeches in the women’s rights movement, both
for and against, took place at lyceums or in response to lyceum
lectures (Ray, 2006, p. 189). This was notable both because it
indicates the importance of popular social issues, but also because
women had acted as the lecturers. Both in a lyceum setting and in
contemporary society, this was an uncommon occurrence. The
history of women’s suffrage labels the lyceum as “an important site
for women’s public action” (Ray, 2006, p. 193). The Civil War and a
waning availability of men led to increased opportunities for
women lecturing in the lyceum setting, although the lyceums were
already losing popularity by that point. Lectures by notable
feminists as Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna Howard
Shaw, Anna Dickinson, and Susan B. Anthony would prove
influential in the years that followed, furthering the work that
began in the American lyceum system.
While it cannot be said Naperville was a champion for
women’s rights, the proceedings reveal lyceum members were
willing to consider and debate relevant, timely issues of social
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Artifact Analysis
justice informing companion movements to the Second Great
Awakening.
Morality and Slavery.
The religious movement of the
Second Great Awakening was infused with abolitionist rhetoric,
which eventually influenced the lyceum circuit. According to the
Naperville Lyceum proceedings, the issue of slavery was another
issue where members were very much divided. Questions debated
with near-equal votes on the affirmative and negative positions
include, “Would the abolition of Slavery in the United States be
beneficial,” “Would the abolition of Slavery in the U. S. be
beneficial to the people, Nation, or the Slave,” and “Ought
Congress to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia.”
According to African American genealogical records compiled by
the Illinois Secretary of State, the slave trade began in Illinois in
the 1700s, and was first introduced by French settlers. After Illinois
statehood in 1818, the First General Assembly met and adopted a
stringent code for free negroes, mulattoes, servants, and slaves. The
law required free negroes to produce a certificate of freedom.
Those harboring undocumented slaves were charged with a felony
and fined $1,000 (Fishback, 1904, pp. 417-418). In 1820, Illinois had
917 registered slaves, including indentured and registered servants
out of a population of 55,162 (Fishback, 1904, p. 420). An addendum
to the law in 1829 put an undue burden on freemen. This required
them to produce both a certificate of freedom and a $1,000 bond.
This bond became their commitment to be self-supporting, but
effectually refused them entry as freemen in Illinois (Fishback,
1904). The numbers of freemen grew slowly from 457 in 1820 to
7,628 by 1860 (Savery, 1986). Illinois census data show the
institution of slavery was steadily declining in the state from over
900 recorded persons in 1820 to 331 by 1840, and eventual
abolishment by 1848. Additionally, no census data could be found
documenting slaves in Naperville. The Naperville Lyceum
proceedings reveal the issue of slavery, having no found or
recorded impact, was a way for the community to engage in the
social justice and moral issues of the day, and those debated on the
broader, national stage.
The advent of the Civil War would be a climatic turning
point for lyceums throughout the nation (Ray, 2005). African
Americans and the anti-slavery movement gained incredible
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Vol. 1, Issue 4
momentum during the permeation of lyceums in American culture.
Rhetoric was employed strategically, through the lyceum, by
African Americans and anti-slavery promoters to exercise free
speech while arguing for social change. Lyceums acted as conduits
to initiate the change in norms, values, and traditions that were
rooted in American “cultural fixedness” (Ray, 2002, p. 626).
While members valued the Christian religion, the
Naperville proceedings reveal the members were not in full
agreement about how the Christian faith should influence societal
norms or the level of influence it should have in shaping American
culture. In addition, members were divided in determining the
national, moral obligation toward oppressed people groups, namely
women and African Americans.
Conclusion
In an attempt to better understand how lyceum debates
reflected the social collective consciousness of American culture,
especially that of people away from the populated east coast of the
United States, the purpose of this paper was to examine if and how
religious and moral topics were treated in Naperville, Illinois. The
Proceedings of the Naperville Lyceum provide a timeline from
1836-1843 into the life and times of a frontier settlement town.
Within the lyceum, members engaged in national conversations
and tried to define how the broader issues of the day impacted their
part of the world.
It is clear that religion, specifically Christianity, was
playing a role in the topics that were chosen for debate in the
Naperville Lyceum. Perhaps this was because there were some for
whom religion informed their beliefs about a debated topic while
others chose a practical, non-religions orientation to the same. Or it
may be that different religious traditions, for example the Lutheran
church whose pastor was known to attend the lyceum meetings
compared to a person who came from a Quaker or
Congregationalist background, may have thought differently about
religious topics making them a proper subject for debate.
Whichever scenario was the case, it is revealing that the religious
debate topics reveal a town divided enough to debate issues of
gender equality, slavery, and the societal role of the Christian faith.
Although these topics were not discussed as frequently as more
secular topics, they imply the Naperville membership was
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Artifact Analysis
impacted by the wider national conversations happening in part due
to emergence of The Second Great Awakening.
As revivalists merged their social agenda with the
Christian platform, it is to be expected some would question these
changes and the new social norms which developed as a result. It
was evident from the proceedings that the members of the lyceum
were divided on their opinions about the part Christianity ought to
serve in the larger culture of the nation. But most agreed that the
reformation had been beneficial to America. The presence of an
unction to maintain separation between church and state is not
surprising considering the nature of the Revolutionary War and the
independent spirit that fueled American nationalism. It is
commendable the Naperville members were at least willing to
engage discussion even when they were never in full agreement.
The atmosphere of the nation was ripe with reformed
thinking as the Second Great Awakening also stirred attention
toward social justice issues such as women’s rights, and the
abolition of slavery. Questions debated in the Naperville Lyceum
like “
Ought females to be admitted to the right of suffrage on the
same legal qualifications that are required of males,”
and
“Is it
expedient for women to petition legislative bodies for the redress of
grievances,
” showed a consideration of issues pertaining to
women’s rights and a willingness to reflect on how social
structures could make room for the advancement of women’s civil
liberties. The intellectual and legal nature of the queries hint at an
audience that was well educated, possibly men in the legal
profession, and perhaps people with influence who could advocate
for such change.
The issue of social and economic change is an important
concept in the historical context of debate societies. The purpose of
lyceums was to advance learning of their members and ideally
create positive transformation in the discernment of an individual.
This in turn would have a thoughtful impact on society and the
economy (Ray, 2001). Considering the religious and moral nature of
the questions investigated in the paper, further research could look
at the individual religious lives of the members. It would be
significant to identify more fully the societal role of religion in
Naperville and to learn the prominent ideology of members toward
the relationship between church and state.
16
Vol. 1, Issue 4
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Keywords
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American culture
Additional author Bios:
Jana Duckett, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategic
Communication, School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State
University. Her research interests include polymedia theory, social network
analysis, design thinking pedagogy, and media effects. ORCID ID: 0000-0003-
3159-6145.
Hanisha Besant, Ph.D., is a Part-time Assistant Professor at Regent University
Department of Communication Studies. Her research interests include indirect
communication, persuasion, creative ideation, and digital marketing. ORCID ID:
0000-0001-6912-1255.
Stephen D. Perry, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of
Communication Studies at Regent University. His research interests emphasize
media, religion, government, and history. He is Publisher and Executive Editor for
Epistelogic. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4 320-392X.
18
Vol. 1, Issue 4
Cristi Eschler-Freudenrich, Ph.D., is Chair of the School of Communication &
Public Affairs Oral Roberts University. Her recent research considers media
history, religious rhetoric, and their influence in society. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-
6666-2531.
Brooke Dunbar-Treadwell, Ph.D., of Messiah University researches the impact
of hyper-personal communication, invitational rhetoric, cognitive dissonance, and
dehumanization in both connected and divisive online spaces. She has researched
the take-a-knee protests and the 2020 U.S, elections.
Beryl Nyamwange, Ph.D., has keen interest in Social Policy and Intercultural
and Crisis Communication research. With extensive cross-cultural living in
several continents and countries, Beryl's research interests include historical and
rhetorical analyses of communication perspectives of the marginalized.
Jonathan D. Powers, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Professor in the College of Arts and
Sciences at Regent University. His interest is in production design for film &
television, and communications studies
To Cite this Article:
Fletcher, C., Perry, S. D., Eschler-Freudenrich, C., Powers, J., Khoo, F.,
Dunbar-Treadwell, B., Nyamwange, B., Besant, H., & Duckett, J.
(2022). Religious and Moral Impact in the Naperville Lyceum.
Artifact Analysis, 1
(4),
