A Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches: By the Deputation from the Congregation Union of England and Wales

Andrew Reed (1787-1862) was a Congregational Minister and one of the leading philanthropists of his day, fund-raising for and founding a number of orphanages and asylums. In 1834, he and fellow Congregational Minister James Matheson (1766-1840) were sent to the Congregational churches of the United States, in order to promote peace and friendship between the two communities. This two-volume 1835 work consists of thirty-nine letters in which the authors recount their journey, and their meetings with their fellow Congregationalists. They visited a large number of cities, mostly on the Eastern Seaboard, and made one excursion to Canada. In Volume 1, the focus is on their arrival in America and their first impression of the country and its people. They note with approval that that ‘there is less claptrap, less trifling, and no frivolity’ in Congregational services in the United States, as compared with England.