Biography
Peter Cartwright was born on September 1, 1785, in Amherst County, Virginia. His father had fought in the Revolutionary War, and the family moved to Kentucky when Peter was a boy, in 1790. They settled in Logan County, in a rough and lawless region of the frontier, which was known as Rogues' Harbor. His family was poor and uneducated. As a youth, he was wild and given to dancing, card playing and horse racing. He later said that he was a gambler and a rowdy, and that he was a leader of the wicked. His mother, a devout Methodist, prayed for him.
In 1801, at the age of sixteen, he attended a camp meeting at Cane Ridge, in Kentucky, the largest revival of the Second Great Awakening. He was struck down by a deep conviction of sin and cried out for mercy. After several days, he said that he found peace in Christ, and he was converted. He joined the Methodist church. In 1802, he was licensed to exhort, and at the age of eighteen, he became a circuit rider. He was a tall and powerful young man, who feared no one. He rode a circuit in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana, preaching in cabins and in the open air, and facing the rough settlers.
He was ordained as a deacon in 1806 and as an elder in 1808. In 1824, he moved to Illinois, where he spent the rest of his life. He served as a presiding elder, in charge of a large district. He was a vigorous preacher, who used plain speech and strong language. He had a quick wit and a gift for rough humor. He fought with those who disrupted his meetings, and, on some occasions, he used his fists. He tells of knocking down a ruffian who tried to break up a service. He was proud of his strength and of the fact that he had never lost a fight.
He was a strong opponent of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination and of the Baptists and Presbyterians. He was also a foe of the dancing and gambling and drinking of the frontier. He saw the Methodist church as a force of order and civilization. He is said to have baptized twelve thousand people and to have preached about fifteen thousand sermons. He wrote a famous autobiography, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher, published in 1856, which is one of the classic accounts of frontier religion. It gives a picture of the camp meetings and of the rough customs of the early West.
He was a man of strong convictions in politics. He was a Democrat and a supporter of Andrew Jackson. He served in the Illinois legislature in 1828 and 1832. In 1846, he ran for Congress against Abraham Lincoln and was defeated. In the campaign, he accused Lincoln of being an infidel, which was a charge that had no truth. Lincoln won by a large margin. Cartwright was a man who spoke his mind. He also took a stand against slavery. He had left Kentucky because of his opposition to the system, and he was a leader of the antislavery wing of the Methodist church.
His weaknesses were those of a man who was impatient and proud. He had a combative nature and a strong will. He was often rough with those who disagreed with him. He was also critical of the educated clergy and of the more refined style of the eastern churches. He opposed the founding of seminaries, as he thought that they led to a dry and formal ministry. He was suspicious of the new learning. He was the target of criticism for his bluntness. He also had a gift for being a father to many of his preachers.
He died on September 25, 1872, in Pleasant Plains, Illinois, at the age of eighty-seven. He had been a preacher for seventy years. His life shows the force of a man who was converted from a wild life and who brought the gospel to the frontier. The Methodist church grew from a small society to the largest denomination in the United States largely through the labors of men like him.