HIST 501 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Final_Paper_ASSIGNMENT_2022.pdf

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Submitted to Dr. Carey Roberts

HIST 501-B01

Historical Methods

by

Worldview. As a country that was founded on Christianity, the question that looms, is how

Christians could justify the enslavement and mistreatment of one race for over 200 years and

how were they influenced by the clergymen they followed. As I have studied history, I have

learned that there is a stark difference between slavery as it was in America and slavery as it is

described biblically. Theological questions should be answered regarding how early American

interpretation to their congregations. It is also a question as to how those biblical interpretations

were deeply divided when it came to the issue of slavery, and were some of the most vocal when

it came to promoting and denouncing it. There were two Presbyterian ministers who had very

different views on slavery. James Henley Thornwell, was a Presbyterian minister who was

proslavery. He preached, spoke, and wrote on the idea of why slavery had a place in America. I

John Rankin was a Presbyterian minister who denounced slavery. He preached, spoke, and wrote

against slavery. He was also one of the most prominent figures in the Underground Railroad. My

research will compare both ministers in an effort to decipher their theological differences and

example of what slavery should not be.

in chattel slavery when building sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

America, it appears slaves were treated more as indentured servants rather than chattel slaves,

much like in Europe. Many of the slaves sold in Jamestown on August 20, 1619 were freed

sometime later.

thought the plantation type agriculture is what made chattel slavery attractive to those who

hard labor for what would probably would have been room and board as payment. The question

still remains why our Christian founders in our Christian nation felt it was biblically justified to

enslave people.

Even in its earliest beginnings, there was evidence that Americans were divided when it came to

slavery. This is likely due to theological interpretation and moral conflict. In 1640, John Punch

would be considered America’s first slave. He was an indentured servant who fled from his

master in Virigina. He was tried and sentenced to a lifetime of slavery as punishment. Six years

later in Massachusetts, a court freed 2 black slaves and convicted the white sailors who captured

Sweetser, William B. “Biblical Interpretation, Race, and Union Presbyterian Seminary.” Interpretation 75, no. 1

(January 2021): 44

Ibid

Amongst the Christian population, the Presbyterian denomination was one of the largest in Early

America. The denomination was founded in the 17th century by New England Puritans who

preferred the presbyterian system of church government to that of New England

Congregationalism. Like America, the Presbyterian denomination was divided when it came to

slavery. Presbyterians had leaders that taught different views on slavery, adding to the division

College, James Henley Thornwell was one of those leaders. Thornwell was born December 9,

weeks after birth. Thornwell’s father passed away when he was 8 years old, leaving his mother to

raise him and his siblings. Thornwell was raised in the Baptist denomination, which he appeared

to be thankful for. He felt God’s Providence was something that was in place, nothing ever

happened by chance, therefore slavery was something God had planned for some, and

slaveholding was planned for others.

Thornwell adhered and taught the Calvinistic Westminister

Creed that stated, “God the great creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, and dispose, and

govern all creatures, actions and things from the greatest to the least by His most wise and holy

Saying “We stand upon the platform of the Bible. God’s word recognizes the relation of master

and servant . . . whether Slavery shall be perpetuated or not . . . these are questions not for the

Church but the State . . . Christian men may discuss them as citizens and patriots, but not as

members of the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Serving as a commissioner of the General Assembly

Ibid

Sweetser, William B. “Biblical Interpretation, Race, and Union Presbyterian Seminary.” Interpretation 75, no. 1

(January 2021): 52

for the Presbyterian Church, he wrote his wife a letter from the Assembly meeting in Cincinnati

in 1845, saying “The question of slavery has been before the house and has been referred to a

special committee of seven. Although I am not a member of the committee, I have been

consulted and have drawn up a paper , which I think the committee and the Assembly will

…adopt; and if they do abolitionism will be killed in the Presbyterian church, at least for the

very large majority, will declare slavery not to be sinful, will assert that is sanctioned by the

interfere, and that abolitionism is essentially wicked, disorganizing, and ruinous.”

view on slavery was supportive and his view on abolitionism was radical. Thornwell was a

leader within the Presbyterian denomination, believed slavery was God’s will, God’s providence

is what determined the path you were destined to follow, slavery was not for the church to debate

or decide, and taught his followers as such. Thornwell did agree with abolitionists that slavery

was not compatible with the word of the gospel, but was not willing to use interpretation as a

guide. He insisted on using the written word as it is read, relying on the moral authority of

not the Christian’s job to attempt to end the institution of slavery.

Churches of Christ”, he reviewed his doctrine by saying “The provinces of Church and State are

perfectly distinct, and the one has not right to usurp the jurisdiction of the other.”

Having

Palmer, B.M. The Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell, DD, LLD, Ex-President of the South Carolina College

Conservatism, Journal of Church and State, Volume 61, Issue 1, Winter 2019

Ibid

played a major role in organizing the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America

before his death, he had a profound impact on how the Presbyterian church in the South would

approach slavery.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States

of America adopted Thornwell’s doctrine in 1861.

Thornwell’s influence as a leader continues

to hold some merit to this day. His providential stance in regards to slavery was believed and

Slavery continued to spread in America, most notably in southern states. The Presbyterian

church was undoubtably continued to be divided when it came to the issue of slavery. In May

1787, a committee at a meeting of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, the highest

everything in their power consistent with the rights of civil Society to promote the abolition of

Slavery, and the instruction of Negroes whether bond or free.”

Under pressure from its anti-

slavery leaders, congregation members, and society, the Presbyterian church condemned slavery

in 1818 and called for immediate and universal emancipation. But even given growing

abolitionism and the new Presbyterian stance, Presbyterian churches in the south began to own,

Tuininga, Matthew J. The ‘Great Conservative Power’: James Henley Thornwell and the Gospel of Southern

Conservatism, Journal of Church and State, Volume 61, Issue 1, (Winter 2019), 59

Klett, Guy S., ed., Minutes of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1706-1788 (1976) 627

them out not only paid their minister’s salary, but the salaries from Farmville and Hampden-

Sydney churches as well.

the Presbyterian church, as he was.

He attended Washington College in Virginia, and was

licensed as a Presbyterian minister in 1817. Rankin was a minister in Tennessee, however

Presbyterian leaders warned him not to preach anti-slavery views from the pulpits. He then

moved to Kentucky and accepted a ministerial position at the anti-slavery Concord Presbyterian

Kentucky, he made the decision to move once again. In 1822, Rankin moved from Kentucky to

Ohio. Ohio was more accepting of abolitionists and that is where Rankin’s most influential work

took place. Notably, his work in Concord was influential, as a good portion of his congregation

shared Rankin’s position on slavery, and made the decision to move to a free state as well after

he left. As Rankin moved to Ohio, the majority of his congregation moved to Indiana.

cause (1870), 8

The Soldier, the battle, and the victory : being a brief account of the work of Rev. John Rankin in the anti-slavery

cause (1870), 26

was beyond my reach.”

In Rankin’s first letter to his brother, he tells him “I consider

involuntary slavery, a never failing fountain of the grossest immorality, and one of the deepest

sources of human misery; it hangs over the mantle of night over our republic, and shrouds its

rising glories.”

not mark them for slavery, oppression has caused Africans the inability to improve themselves or

what is moral and choose evil in order to gain what is desired.

Rankin continued his letters to

newspaper, the Castigator, they eventually found themselves as a part of a pamphlet.

His

letters were published as a book in 1826 and by the 1830’s Rankin’s letters were standard

reading amongst abolitionists. William Lloyd Garrison published Rankin’s letters in his

newspaper, the Liberator in 1832, which in turn became published and widely circulated.

Garrison said in appreciation, “With the profound and loving veneration of his anti-slavery

disciple and humble co-worker in the cause of emancipation.”

Garrison was a believer of

Rankin’s move for emancipation and although was not a religious man, did what he could to help

were the Society’s first shared publications. He subsequently helped form the Anti-Slave Society

in Ohio at a meeting in Putnam, Ohio. Rankin said of the meeting, “The convention was

composed of all classes of Christian people. All denominational distinctions were lost, and the

May, Samuel Joseph, Some recollections of our antislavery conflict (1869), 10

The Soldier, the battle, and the victory : being a brief account of the work of Rev. John Rankin in the anti-slavery

cause (1870), 31

love and harmony that prevailed were such as I never witnessed before.”

Rankin then began to

lecture at Presbyterian churches on behalf of the anti-slavery cause, and was often the target of

mob violence and pastoral opposition of his messages in fear of backlash and violence. Rankin

felt his messages were not in vain, as he was able to make abolitionists out of some who listened

to him speak. Rankin at times, chose to preach several times, focusing on the humility and

slavery, he would not mention slavery until his foundation was laid. The results were members

supportive of anti-slavery causes. Rankin often would invite all who wished to attend to

meetings, at which time he would present what he believed to be true. Those thoughts were that

all men were created equal and had rights, as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, that

God “made of one blood all nations of men”, as stated in the Bible, and that every man should do

his own work or pay the man that does it for him. Adding that the Lord said “The laborer is

worthy of his reward”. Explaining those were the doctrines maintained by abolitionists, it is

believed that all men have the same rights, regardless of color.

John Rankin was one of the

Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. He worked with John Parker to turn Ripley, Ohio into a

key crossing point for fugitive slaves fleeing form their masters. Rankin’s house stood on a high

hill in Ripley, Ohio, overlooking a river that separated him from Kentucky. He accepted fugitive

slaves into his home and assisted them in their journey to Canada. It is thought he assisted over 2

thousand slaves. Rankin also continued his anti-slavery campaign within the Presbyterian

Ibid

The Soldier, the battle, and the victory : being a brief account of the work of Rev. John Rankin in the anti-slavery

cause (1870), 53