The Black Robe Regiment The Black Robed Regiment was the name
that the British placed on the courageous and patriotic American
clergy during the Founding Era (a backhanded reference to the
black robes they wore). Significantly, the British blamed the
Black Regiment for American Independence, and rightfully so, for
modern historians have documented that: There is not a right
asserted in the Declaration of Independence which had not been
discussed by the New England clergy before 1763. It is strange
to today’s generation to think that the rights listed in the
Declaration of Independence were nothing more than a listing of
sermon topics that had been preached from the pulpit in the two
decades leading up to the American Revolution, but such was the
case. – David Barton