Lewis Tappan
(1788-1863)
“We will persevere, come life or death.”
—Lewis Tappan
More Online Resources
Papers of Lewis Tappan at the Billy Graham Center of Wheaton University
Brief Biography and Timeline
Summary of Amistad victory and biographical sketch
A few years ago a popular movie called Amistad directed by Steven Spielberg told the story of slaves from West Africa who were captured and sold illegally. They mutinied while onboard a slaving vessel and commandeered the ship. Later they were captured in America, but their cause was taken up by abolitionists who fought for their freedom.
The man chiefly responsible for funding their defense and persuading the former President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, to serve as their lawyer, was the wealthy Christian businessman Lewis Tappan (1788-1863). He mobilized benefactors to finance the slaves’ defense and after the trial these benefactors formed the American Missionary Association to continue the work.
In a wave of Christian unity birthed out of an early 19th-century revival, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, their pastor, Charles Finney, and others among the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians sought to influence society in what Finney said was “being useful to the highest degree possible.”
Finney said that anyone who claimed to be a Christian would of necessity be involved in the reform of society. Otherwise, they were backslidden. Christians working together for the reform of society through faith in Jesus Christ created major interdenominational movements like these in nineteenth-century America, forming a “Benevolent Empire.”
Key Organizations of Benevolent Empire
- American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1810)
- American Education Society (1816)
- American Home Missionary Society (1826)
- American Bible Society (1816)
- American Tract Society (1826)
- American Sunday School Union (1817)
- American Temperance Society (1826)
- American Anti-Slavery Society (1833)
- American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (1840)
- American Missionary Association (1839)
Free Enterprise from a Biblical Base
As a Christian businessman, Lewis Tappan’s life demonstrated biblical principles. He believed that God had given him his wealth and he should use it in a godly way. This included the principle of integrity, which led him to found a credit rating agency that became Dun and Bradstreet.
His faith also led him to give away such large sums of money that they actually influenced the course of American history in such moral causes as the abolition of slavery and education of the freed slaves, temperance, and honoring the Sabbath day. Their lives were threatened and their property destroyed. They were sometimes misunderstood. They were subject to the financial crises of the times and had to repay debtors and rebuild their finances after a major crash.
The Tappan brothers are rarely mentioned in history today, but their impact was noted in heaven. They remain an example of people who hope that their donations will make a difference that all of us can follow.
“Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you” (Luke 6:38).
