August 3, 1785 - Samuel Seabury Becomes First Anglican Bishop in U.S.

Samuel Seabury (1785), painted by Ralph Earl, held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The Smithsonian has released this image under its Open Access (CC0) program, making it free to use without permission.

On August 3, 1785, Samuel Seabury was formally confirmed as the first Anglican bishop serving in the newly independent United States. His consecration marked a turning point for American Anglicanism, providing the fledgling church with its own episcopal leadership after the Revolutionary War had severed ties with the Church of England.

Before the Revolution, Anglican clergy in the American colonies depended on the Church of England for ordination and oversight. However, after independence, English law required bishops to swear allegiance to the British Crown—a requirement Seabury, an American loyalist who remained committed to serving the church in Connecticut, could not make. Instead, he traveled to Scotland, where on November 14, 1784, the non-juring Scottish Episcopal bishops consecrated him as bishop. He returned to America, and on August 3, 1785, he was officially recognized as the Bishop of Connecticut by the clergy of his diocese.

Seabury's consecration also influenced the development of what soon became known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Although Anglican congregations had existed in America since the early 1600s, the new nation required a church that could govern itself independently of the British monarchy. Over the next several years, American Anglicans organized their own constitution and episcopal structure while maintaining historic Anglican doctrine and worship.

Why it matters:

Samuel Seabury's confirmation ensured that the Anglican tradition would survive in the United States after the Revolution. His willingness to seek consecration outside England preserved apostolic succession for the American church while demonstrating that ecclesiastical unity could endure despite political separation. The Episcopal Church that emerged from this process became one of the nation's oldest Protestant denominations and continues to trace its episcopal lineage directly through Seabury.