From ca 1810-1815, the Reverend Lyman Beecher was a prominent and influential Congregational minister in Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1820 Lyman preached anti-slavery sermons in response to the issue of whether Missouri should be admitted to the union as a slave or a free state. Lyman's dynamic preaching, religious energy and commitment had a profound impact on all of his children. He encouraged an intellectual environment at home and would often lead family debates on important issues of the day. Lyman Beecher dedicated his life to the saving of individual souls. He believed that unless an individual made a personal commitment to the Christian religion that he/she was doomed. All of Lyman's children carried out Lyman's commitment to their religion, but in a new way. They thought of God as much more loving and forgiving, and believed that the best way of serving God was to take action in society to make a better world. Harriet's career as a writer shows how she acted out this vision. He was a well known Boston Minister, Congregational, of the Hanover Street Church, and in 1832 the first President of the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his four minister sons were the leading clerical family in nineteenth century America.