“Your Devoted Father”

Both Harvard and Columbia colleges granted the title “Doctor of Divinity” (D.D.) to Sprague throughout his lifetime.

“That the perpetual blessing of a covenant keeping God may rest upon you, is the most earnest prayer of Your Devoted Father.” (251)

When a spouse dies, coping emotionally is hard enough – having a child of the opposite sex to raise by oneself make this process even more difficult. The death of the mother during childbirth was a very prevalent issue during the 19th century, thus many men were put into this difficult situation of raising a newly born child without the guidance of a woman.[1] After the death of his wife, William B. Sprague decided to allay his concerns by writing Letters on Practical Subjects to a Daughter to teach his daughter how to be a proper lady. Sprague’s decision to pen his book exemplifies the intermingling of religion and reform movements in the first half of the 19th century.

Sprague spent many years in school and graduated from Yale with honors, and from Princeton Theological Seminary. After graduating, Sprague went on to become a prominent Presbyterian minister for over 40 years. Throughout his lifetime, Sprague was a bibliomaniac – he obtained countless books and pamphlets throughout his life and also wrote many books of his own.[2] In penning Letters, Sprague was not only responding to the death of his wife, but he was also in conversation with social fears of the time period. Increased immigration, expanded suffrage, and rapid industrialization created an uncertain landscape that some perceived as a threat to “American values.” Taking advantage of advancements in printing technology, which made printing cheaper and more accessible, Sprague wrote his book as way to instill proper societal morals and, more importantly, religious morals, within his daughter and to the larger audience who received his book.[3] Sprague’s book is only one of many examples of religious leaders who used the reform movements as a platform for espousing their own beliefs about proper morals for society to follow.

[1] Judith Walzer Leavitt, Childbearing in America, 1750-1950 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 14.

[2] Barry Waugh, “William B. Sprague, 1795-1876,” Presbyterians of the Past, last modified August 2, 2016, http://www.presbyteriansofthepast.com/2016/08/02/william-buell-sprague-1795- 1876/.

[3] Ronald G. Walters, American Reformers: 1815-1860 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978), 4-10.