Mayhew, Jonathan (1720–1766)

US Protestant clergyman. He was a theological liberal opposed to Calvinist notions of predestination, and is acknowledged as a forerunner of Unitarianism. A political liberal, too, he delivered a sermon on the Stamp Act (1765) that advocated resistance to unjust laws, thus helping to create a climate in which the independence movement could flourish. A minister's son, Mayhew was born on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1744 and became pastor of West Church in Boston, Massachusetts, three years later.