page_title: Stephen Johnson (minister)
section_title: Writing
hierarchical_section_title: Stephen Johnson (minister) / Writing
caption_attribution_description: English: First Congregational Church, Lyme Connecticut
context_page_description: Stephen Johnson was a Congregationalist minister and pamphleteer from Lyme, Connecticut who wrote one of the first pamphlets condemning the Stamp Act.
context_section_description: Johnson wrote his pamphlet, one of the first against the Stamp Act, in 1765, during his 20th year as minister of Lyme's First Congregational Church. Titled Some Important Observations, Occasioned by and Adapted to the Publick Fast, Ordered by Authority, it was delivered as a sermon on December 18, 1765. In an oft-quoted passage, George Bancroft describes it as "a paper from the incomparable Stephen Johnson, of Lyme". 
  Johnson's work is a "fiery article, designed to rouse the community to a sense of the public danger" from the Stamp Act. Its substantive content was printed in two versions: once serially in a New London newspaper, and then in pamphlet form by a printer in Newport, Rhode Island. Although the two versions make similar arguments, the newspaper version is cast in secular terms, whereas the pamphlet is styled as a sermon. The newspaper version was published pseudonymously, like many 18th-century polemics, under the name of "Addison".
  Johnson's neighbor John McCurdy financed the dissemination of Johnson's works. The two were close, and often discussed their various grievances with the administration of Governor Thomas Fitch.
  His two other known other works include an election day sermon preached on May 10, 1770, and a massive anti-Unitarian treatise.
caption: The First Congregational Church in Lyme, 2018. The church likely looked much the same in the 18th century, when Johnson was minister there.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot G7 X", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2018:04:14 16:37:02", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "394", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "6940", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "19444", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5169", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "125", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:04:14 16:37:02", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:04:14 16:37:02", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "329/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "27/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "44/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5472", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3648", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "5472", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3648", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6830", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5472000/517", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "243200/23", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": ""}