Elihu Palmer: American Freethinker

Elihu Palmer (1764–1806) was an American freethinker who preached unconventional ideas about the makeup of an interconnected universe and the utopian possibility that humankind could think its way to a perfect and peaceful future. Raised in Connecticut, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1787 intent on becoming a minister with the optimistic message that God saves all virtuous souls. Contemporary freethinkers changed Palmer’s mind about religion and set him on a path of intellectual exploration that eventually placed him beyond any conventional religious category. The most important element of Palmer’s cosmology was that all matter is infused with a life force or “vital principle” that must be nothing short of divine. He also thought that the smallest particles of matter are sensate, meaning that they register and store sensations like pain. Given the eternal recombination of atoms, everything will eventually experience the same sensations. Palmer was certain that understanding the interconnectedness of all things would naturally produce radical compassion for all living beings and prompt an end to cruelty and oppression. Even after the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793 killed his wife and blinded him permanently, Palmer maintained his unbounded enthusiasm for these ideas. He also had a penchant for proselytizing and a gift for public speaking. Supernatural religion obscured reality, Palmer thought, and he spoke out publicly against Christianity to make room for what he called the “principles of nature.” Palmer’s views sparked controversy, and clergy attacked him as an apostate and a danger to the nation’s moral fabric. Palmer was not cowed despite the blasphemy laws that remained actionable in many states. In 1796, he moved to New York City and founded the Deistical Society of New York, which explored a wide range of Enlightenment-era freethought. A well-traveled Englishman named John Stewart introduced Palmer to elements of eastern religion and a practice of meditation that revealed the interconnected cosmos. Palmer journeyed by stagecoach and boat between New England and Georgia, speaking to a wide variety of freethinking people. In 1801, he published a 300-page book Principles of Nature; then, with the help of his second wife, he published a newspaper Prospect; or, a View of the Moral World between 1803 and 1805. Thomas Paine became a friend and wrote for Palmer’s newspaper. In contrast to more politic freethinkers like Thomas Jefferson, Palmer shared his ideas in public, placing himself at the forefront of efforts to ensure free speech by enacting it.