The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American

by Andrew L. Seidel

When the British took Philadelphia in 1777 and threw Duché in jail, he switched sides, pledging his allegiance to the Crown. He spent only one night in jail because of this apostasy.16 After defecting to the British, Duché wrote George Washington a letter condemning American independence, explaining that the only reason he accepted the chaplaincy was self-interest.17 Duché was not a true believer in self-government or independence, but was merely using his position as a political “expedient,” just as the Adamses were using him. Duché told Washington that independence was impious, a form of idol worship, and asked, “Are the dregs of Congress then still to influence a mind like yours?”18 After attacking Congress as “illiberal and violent men,” Duché turned his pen on the army, calling them unprincipled cowards: “Can you, have you the least confidence in a set of undisciplined men and officers, many of them have been taken from the lowest of the people, without principle, without courage…19 Duché begged Washington to convince the Congress to end the war and rescind “the hasty and ill-advised declaration of Independency.” Washington forwarded this craven letter to the Continental Congress, noting that Duché might have been “induced” into the “ridiculous–illiberal performance.”20 As to coercion, Duché himself dismissed the idea: “The sentiments I express, are the real sentiments of my own heart, such as I have long held.”