Plymouth Church was found in 1847 by 21 New Englanders who wanted a Congregational church that had a simple order of worship, governed by the congregation. With this Purpose they named Henry Ward Beecher the first pastor of this church. Throughout time, Henry Ward Beecher was seen as a great abolitionist who would do anything to help slaves, but also as the pastor who was involved in a sex scandal. This scandal followed him all through his life making him a man of great controversy. Although, this problem got him unnecessary problems it didn’t stop him from achieving great things as a pastor. Now Plymouth Church has been designated as a historical landmark since 1961 for the impact it had towards the abolitionist movement thanks to him.

Rev Henry Ward Beecher is honored in Plymouth Church until this day. Besides being the first pastor of this church he brought the church a lot of popularity from the great things he got to accomplished. According to a book titled A Biography of Rev Henry Ward Beecher it states that Henry Beecher was a congressionalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, Known for his support in the abolition of slavery (Beecher). Therefore, he was asked to be a pastor in Plymouth Church and he accepted stating he will be a pastor of the church mainly so it can help him stop slavery. Beecher preached for thousands of people. After two years of the church just being founded it burned out and a new one was immediately build. Its design was completely different. The church was designed to seat 2,800 people. Many people even compared it as being like a theatre than a church (NYC AGO). This was all fixed so people would be able to hear Beecher preach.  His sermons were categorized by its originality, logic, pathos, and humor (Plymouth Church). Also he never stopped mentioning how Gods love was so important and that God loved with no discrimination of any kind. He even helped many slaves by buying them to set them free from their owners. One of the most famous slaves he bought was a girl named Pinky. Raising $900 the segregation of the church was able to buy Pinky from her owner. She was given a ring that was obtained with her purchased the moment that she was set free to commemorate her freedom. In 1929 she went back to the church to give back the ring and also to express her gratitude towards the church and specially Beecher (Beecher). The church was even part of the Underground Railroad because it was a common place were slaves used to hide in thanks to Beecher. It even became known as “The Grand Central Depot” of the Underground Railroad. Through his sermons he became known all over New York. Even Abraham Lincoln went to listen to him preach.

On the other hand some people didn’t like Henry Ward Beecher because apart from being abolitionist they though he was a “fake”. The reason for this was because of the sex scandal he was involved in. In 1870 Beecher was accused of seducing Elizabeth Tilton. She was the wife of his former friend and protégé a journalist named Theodore Tilton. In that moment Mrs. Tilton was one of the parishioners of Plymouth Church. This caused the scandal to escalate rapidly. Soon after the news was just starting to spread out, a radical feminist, entrepreneur and clairvoyant woman named Victoria Woodhull published the scandal in the national press, causing the story to spread out even quicker (Applegate). Even though Beecher tried to ignore it, it was too late many people demanded to know what was going on. The people that hated him for being abolitionist used the scandal in favor of them to put Beecher’s reputation down. By 1875, Theodore Tilton sued Beecher of “criminal conversation”. As the trial went down Elizabeth Tilton was asked to speak in various occasion, but she contradicted her statement every time. On some statements she stated that Beecher was Guilty, and in others she stated he was innocent. This let the jury to the conclusion that Beecher was innocent due to inconclusive evidence. The jury voted 9 to 3 in favor of Beecher (history engine). Therefore, Beecher was exonerated from the case. This scandal that lasted 2 years caused the separation of Theodore Tilton and Elizabeth Tilton. It also left some people thinking who Beecher really was.

Henry Ward Beecher has been one great abolitionist that did everything that was on his hands to help slaves. But in the other hand, he also has shown himself as pastor that spread Gods love to people, meanwhile committing adultery and braking peoples marriage. Well it is said that Henry Beecher already had a reputation of flirting too much. It was supposedly his “clerical weakness” (Giles).  He was a man that captivated the attention of thousands of people through his sermons. He made woman in Plymouth church fall in love with him causing a lot of problems in his marriage and in the marriage of all the woman who felt for him too. Obviously, this was something his wife was that okay with. She was known to be “famously jealous.” Here he was helping so much people all over the US. Buying slaves so they could have a chance to be free, so why as a man of God was he flirting and destroy marriages? That’s something to think about. What’s interesting is thinking that in either way during that time, he was going against the law with his all his actions. He was hiding slaves in the church’s basement and helping them in any way he was able to when back then it was illegal to do all that. He was also committing adultery with his friend’s wife. This could be taken as Beecher being a man that liked to go for illegal things. But it could also be considered as a mistake that shouldn’t be judged so harshly.  At the end of the day he was a pastor that help slaves gain their freedom through his preaching’s.

In conclusion, Plymouth Church is one of the most historic churches in New York. Its popularity increased since the first day Henry Ward Beecher became the pastor of the church. He may had his flaws but he achieved great things for this society. No one is perfect, but what counts is what you could do to make this world a better place to live on.  I assure you Beecher did his part for humanity. It only take to go inside Plymouth Church to know that.

Citations

• Beecher, William. A Biography of Rev Henry Ward Beecher. Kessinger, 2007. Print.
•  United States. NYC Organ Project. Plymouth Church. 2000. Print. <http://www.nycago.org/Organs/Bkln/html/PlymouthChurch.html>.
• “Henry W.” Plymouth Church. n. page. Print. <http://www.plymouthchurch.org/our_history_henry-wardbeecher.php>.
• Applegate, Debby. “Henry Ward Beecher.” New York Times 2005, n. pag. Print. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/henry_ward_beecher/index.html>.
• “Scandals and Public Discorse.” History Engine n.pag. Web. 1 Dec 2013. <http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/3953>.
• Giles, Mathew. “Preacher Beecher, a Sex Crazed Creature.” New York News and Politics 04 01 2012, n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/henry-ward-beecher-2012-4/>.