The First American Prayer Book (1789)

Historical background

After the American Revolution, the former Church of England congregations in the United States could no longer pray for the king or require oaths of loyalty to the Crown. In 1785 a convention produced the “Proposed Book,” which made sweeping changes (including omitting the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds), but it was widely rejected. Samuel Seabury of Connecticut had been consecrated in 1784 by Scottish nonjuring bishops and had promised them to commend the Scottish Communion Office. William White and Samuel Provoost were consecrated in England in 1787. The General Convention of 1789 united the church under a constitution and authorised a new Prayer Book, in use from October 1790.

What changed

Prayers for the king and royal family were replaced by prayers for the President and civil authorities. The Communion service adopted, from the Scottish rite, an oblation and an invocation of the Holy Spirit after the words of institution, following Seabury’s concordat with the Scottish bishops. The Athanasian Creed was omitted; the Nicene Creed was retained as an alternative to the Apostles’ Creed. Some services were shortened, the “Commination” was dropped, and the Psalter could be replaced by “Selections” of psalms. A Form of Prayer for the visitation of prisoners and a Thanksgiving Day service (for the first Thursday in November) were included. The Ordinal and the Articles were adopted in 1792 and 1801 respectively.

Notable and controversial

The book reflected a balance between the high-church Connecticut clergy and the more latitudinarian middle and southern states: the Scottish eucharistic prayer was retained, while the Athanasian Creed was not. It served, with only small changes, for a century, and its eucharistic prayer is a link between the American and Scottish churches that has carried through every later American revision.