'Twas Seeding Time: A Mennonite View of the American Revolution

by John L. Ruth

This book give readers some little-known insights concerning Mennonite community life in America 200 years ago.

On the eve of the Revolution, nearly a century after the first Mennonite settlers arrived in Pennsylvania, these formerly oppressed Swiss-Germans were enjoying the liberties of the Quaker Commonwealth. Their small farms provided an adequate livelihood, and their simple meetinghouses showed the reality of the religious freedom so often denied them in Europe.

But the real trial of faith came with the rising sentiment of rebellion in the colonies.

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking. You’re an early American Mennonite in a British province under a British king, and a rebel government starts up. What should you do when these rebel colonials try to force you into military service? The rebel government dilemma, I’m calling it. It had never entered my mind before. Now I want to theorize the ideal Mennonite response. Here are some of my notes/reactions upon the rebel government dilemma:
- Voluntary house arrest, neutral zones
- Allegiance to traditional government until legitimate (both sides agree/ make peace) change of government occurs
- Britain wants loyalty, but doesn’t expect it, and wants no aid going to the rebels.
- Rebels want no aid going to Britain.
- Rebels, consider us as rural peaceful British in England, whom you are not attacking. You will have our allegiance if you win the war. “We are spoils of victory”
- All governments are wicked anyway, and we are to obey and serve under disobedient governments. What does it matter if we pay tax to the rebel government, anymore than if we pay tax to the British government, which does many things that are wicked?
- Shall we decline to pay the colonials to fight the British, so that we can pay the British to fight the colonials? Should we pay neither? But we have already paid the British for a great while, who have fought wars in many places.
- We are not paying anyone to protect us. If we were, we would not pay tax to the British, since they are no longer protecting us from the rebels.
- Is it delinquency for a man not to join the rebels? Is it delinquency for a law-abiding citizen not to commit a crime? Rather, it is delinquent to commit the crime. Therefore the passive part is in this case the better part. Can a man be called unjust for refusing to commit a murder? Shame to the people who calumniate him so.
- Give to Congress what belongs to Congress (their newly issued paper money), and to God what is God’s.
- If the rebel government imposes monetary penalty on conscientious objectors, should the penalty be considered a tax or a fine? If the former, we should pay it; but we should refuse to pay a fine for non-participation. Is it unlawful theft? If so, we should pay it, and this is Christian generosity in a Pablo Yoder style.
- We are ambassadors. Should an ambassador pay a fine or a tax? But the government is unjust, and extorts money.
- We can promise that we will not help either side of the war effort.
- But we must help the man that comes to our door, whoever he is, colonial or Brit, rebel or Hessian, by giving food, shelter, warmth, dressing for wounds, and other necessities which serve his human dignity.
- We will not give them information about enemy movements, directions, or other pertinent information, but will simply say, “We are not permitted to tell.” Or we will be silent.

[Chad D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have read this book thirty-four years ago. It was sent in a package to my home in Africa, which arrived after my parents took us back to the States to care for my dying grandfather and then my widowed grandmother. It is a moving experience to have finally read it now.

The book didn't change my life, but it is lovely in its way, a quiet book about quiet people who didn't want to fight, caught up in Revolutionary War politics they would have preferred to ignore or avoid, and fighting mainly with each other over which side to root for and yield to.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I married into a family with German Reformed and Anabaptist roots, and he and I were raised in Amish/Mennonite country. This book had so many familiar places and names to me. However, I never heard how persecuted the pacifists were by the Americans, specifically the militia fighting against the British. The pacifists were ordered to take an oath to the new governmental order, to take up arms against the British. These people had traveled across the ocean to escape that very kind of enforcement. The Mennonites and other pacifists suffered physically, economically, impoverishment for being unwilling to give up their allegiance to the king. The book gave a whole different perspective on the Revolutionary times. I did find the narrative at times confusing, and think it could have been edited better.