author
Jacob Duché
1738–1798
Remembered for opening the First Continental Congress with prayer, this Philadelphia clergyman stood close to the American Revolution at one of its most dramatic moments. His life later took a surprising turn, making him a complicated and memorable figure in early American history.
1 Audiobook
Discourses on Various Subjects, Vol. 1 (of 2)
by Jacob Duché
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1737, Jacob Duché was an Anglican clergyman, writer, and educator. He graduated with the first class of the College of Philadelphia, spent time at Cambridge, and went on to serve at St. Peter’s Church and Christ Church in Philadelphia. He was also connected to the College of Philadelphia, the institution that later became the University of Pennsylvania.
Duché is best known for delivering the opening prayer at the First Continental Congress in 1774, a moment that gave him a lasting place in American history. During the early years of the Revolution he was widely admired as a preacher, and he became chaplain to the Continental Congress.
His public reputation changed sharply after he urged George Washington to seek peace with Britain, a position that made many former supporters see him as disloyal. Duché later spent years in exile in England before returning to Philadelphia, where he died in 1798. That mix of prominence, controversy, and reversal has made his story especially striking to later historians.