Thomas Whittemore was an influential member of the Universalist Church of America

Universalist Church of America

The Universalist Church of America was a Christian Universalist religious denomination in the United States . Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942...

 and founder and editor of The Trumpet and Universalist magazine (1828), which succeed the Universalist magazine of Hosea Ballou

Hosea Ballou

Hosea Ballou was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.-Biography:Hosea Ballou was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, to a family of Huguenot origin...

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Like Ballou and Ballou's grand-nephew, Hosea Ballou 2nd, first president of Tufts College

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

, Whittemore contributed to Universalist historiography claiming precedents for Universalist beliefs in earlier Christianity He co-founded with Thomas J. Sawyer of New York the Universalist Historical Society (1834). The These histories were influential in bring many readers to think of the Christians of the first centuries as Universalists.

Massachusetts Legislature

From 1831-1836 Whittemore served as Cambridge's representative in the Massachusetts legislature, being involved in chairing the committee that led to the disestablishment of the Congregational Church

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 and Unitarian Church

American Unitarian Association

The American Unitarian Association was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it merged with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.According to Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary...

, to whose special status Whittemore was opposed, from their privileged position written into the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Whittmore viewed that "no civil government has a right to compel the citizens to support any system of religion whatsoever." and supported calls for a popular referendum for separation of church and state

Separation of church and state

The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

 in 1834, the result of which brought Massachusetts into line with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

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He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...

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Works

• The Modern History of Universalism 1830, revised 1860 - a companion to Ballou's Ancient History of Universalism which deals with 1500-1800
• The plain guide to Universalism: designed to lead inquirers to the belief of the doctrine, and believers to the practice of it 1840
• article Universalists sustain the Bible
• Life of Rev. Hosea Ballou, 1855
• The early days of Thomas Whittemore: An autobiography 1860