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The Tulsa Beacon

 

Rosemary Durham

Cephas Washburn was similar to Epaphras Chapman

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Who was Cephas Washburn? Had you ever heard of him before a sign at Dwight Mission? Yet, like Epaphras Chapman to Union Mission, he blazed the trail for schooling to the Old Settlers Cherokee. Let’s back up to the American Board of Commissioners…

Where is the Dwight Mission?

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Hey, it is a good time for a day trip. We turned onto US 64 highway. The road is within spitting distance of the Arkansas River at the Tulsa-Wagoner County line. How about a road trip down river? Unlike the Mississippi River, no…

What do these men have in common?

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] What did Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Sequoyah have in common? Actually, quite a bit. We see people as they seem when they are older and accomplished, but we miss the problems they had to overcome. Benjamin Franklin was one of 17 children….

Did Thomas Jefferson really take scissors to the Bible?

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Did Thomas Jefferson really take scissors to the Bible? Jefferson was a strong advocate of Native American education. Jefferson’s programs to the southeast Nations, were to the people called ‘the Five Civilized Tribes,’ a generation later. Recall in a recent article, Jefferson supported…

America must have freethinkers who hold to their values

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] To build the framework for the original teachers and settler-leaders to the Indian Territory, we saw that President Thomas Jefferson was an avid supporter of church schools. That caused us to back up for a look at the foundations of the government. Many…

Was Ben Franklin a Deist? For a while

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Why were Presidents Jefferson and Washington, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, with other early political architects called Deist? We saw earlier that all the founding colonies had requirements and oaths definitively affirming traditional Protestant beliefs and the colonies expelled those not advocating the prescribed practices….

Did President Jefferson promote religious education?

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Did President Jefferson promote religious education? That brings up the bigger question. Was our country founded as a Christian nation? We have seen in earlier editions that Thomas Jefferson was an ardent financial supporter and advocate of education for Native American groups, who…

Jefferson and Ben Franklin did not want a state religion

Tulsa Beacon

Jefferson the Reformer [Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] How did Thomas Jefferson’s religion influence our local politics? William Curtis (1901) regaled with the story of an educated stranger who recounts his meeting Jefferson at an inn. When he spoke law, I thought he was a lawyer; when he…

What was the outcome of Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase?

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] What are the consequences of Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase? While the ink was still drying on the Purchase of 1803, the first Native Americans crossed the wide, swift, muddy Mississippi. Why? The Treaty of Tellico forced them out of Tennessee. They began the…