15 Facts About Jedidiah Morse

Jedidiah Morse was an American geographer and preacher whose textbooks became a staple for students in the United States.

Jedidiah Morse spent the winter of 1787 and 1788 in New Haven in geographical work, preaching on Sundays to vacant parishes in the vicinity.

Jedidiah Morse became a pastor in Charlestown, Boston on April 30,1789, where he served until 1820.

Jedidiah Morse was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1796.

Jedidiah Morse was very active in 1804 in the movement that resulted in enlarging the Massachusetts general assembly of Congregational ministers, and in 1805 unsuccessfully opposed, as a member of the board of overseers, the election of Henry Ware to the Hollis Chair of Divinity at Harvard.

Jedidiah Morse did much toward securing the foundation of Andover Theological Seminary, especially by his successful efforts in preventing the establishment of a rival institution in West Newbury which had been projected by the Hopkinsians.

Jedidiah Morse participated in the organization of the Park Street Church in Boston in 1808, when all the Congregational churches of that city, except the Old South Church, had abandoned the orthodox faith.

Jedidiah Morse strongly influenced the educational system of the United States.

Jedidiah Morse followed that with American Geography, which was widely cited and copied.

Jedidiah Morse took great interest in requiring Native Americans to become Christian, and in 1820 was appointed by the US secretary of war to visit and observe various tribes on the border in order to devise the most effective ways of assimilating them to European-American culture.

Jedidiah Morse was a strong Federalist and feared that the anti-Federalists would repeat the French Revolution's excesses.

Jedidiah Morse was an active member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813, and was a member of various other literary and scientific bodies.

Jedidiah Morse published 25 sermons and addresses on special occasions; A Compendious History of New England, with Elijah Harris ; and Annals of the American Revolution.

Jedidiah Morse married Elizabeth Ann Finley Breese after starting as pastor in Charlestown.

The senior Jedidiah Morse died in 1826 and was buried at the Grove Street Cemetery.