Christianity and slavery
Movement towards abolition
Anglican, Mennonite and Quaker opposition to slavery; late 17th century
||1665: Richard Baxter, an ordained priest of the Church of
criticized those who: "catch up poor Negroes...and...make them slaves and sell
them...[This is] one of the worst kinds of thefts in the world...such persons are to be
taken as the common enemies of mankind." He, and a very few others who spoke
out, had essentially no influence and were ignored by governments and the public alike.
||1683: The first religious group in the U.S. to raise objections to slavery were
Mennonites, a Christian group which descended
from the Anabaptists.
Anabaptists had broken away from Luther and Calvin's
Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Their name comes from the Latin word "anabaptista"
which means "one who is rebaptized." i.e. a person who was baptized
first as an infant and later as an adult. It is a misnomer, because Anabaptists did not
baptize infants and did not recognize the validity of such a baptism. Baptisms were only
performed later in life after the individual is sufficiently mature and has trusted Jesus
as Lord and Savior. "Anabaptist" was originally a term of derision; but the
One notable feature of the Anabaptists was their love of freedom from state and
religious oppression. They opposed war. They opposed the taking of oaths in court,
believing that a person's word is sufficient. They observed a life of simplicity, with
minimal entanglement with the state.
One of the sects to emerge from the Anabaptist movement were the Mennonites. Their
first permanent settlement in North America was at Germantown PA (near Philadelphia) in
1683. "This growing Mennonite element is credited with American history's first
public protest against slavery and was very influential in the later Quaker antislavery
|| 1688: A "Germantown Protest"
pamphlet was printed by Mennonites in Pennsylvania. (Some sources say
Quakers; others say Mennonite Quakers). It said, in part: "Now,
tho' they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it
is to have other white ones...And those who steal or rob men, and those who buy or
purchase them, are they not all alike?" The document was not well received by
the rich slave owners in the region. The Mennonites found themselves rejected and isolated
by the rest of Christian society for their radical views. "They got little help
from outsiders. Their deprivation was such that Germantown was nicknamed 'Armentown' or
||1694: A group of Christian clergy petitioned the
Massachusetts government to pass a bill which would allow slave owners
to retain their slaves after the latter were baptized.
||1696: The Society of Friends (the Quakers) is another faith group with Anabaptist
roots. They threatened any of their members who imported slaves with expulsion from
the denomination. 3
During the late 17th century and early 18th century, slavery became a
growing concern among the Quakers. In protest
against slavery, they relocated from their settlements in the southern U.S. states into
Indiana and Ohio.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of Christian denominations (those which were not
Anabaptist) were not troubled by slavery; they continued to view and teach it as
a spiritually and morally acceptable institution fully supported by the Bible.
Abolition gains momentum: 18th century
British Quakers were the first organized religious group to
both repudiate slavery and to forbid slave owning among their membership. They provided
much of the leadership of the abolitionist movement, both in Britain and North America.
However, their influence was limited by their small numerical strength. It was John Wesley
(1703-1791), founder of the Methodist movement, who was able to convert the small Quaker
protest into a mass movement.
By the end of the 18th century, slavery appeared to be a dying
institution. In Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, farmers had largely switched
from tobacco to grains. This required less manpower. Many slave owners freed
their slaves to avoid the costs of having to care for them. But the invention of
Eli Witney's cotton gin reversed this trend. Short-staple cotton became very
profitable in the south. Production of cotton in the South increased from 3,135
bales in 1790 to 4.8 million bales at the outbreak of the Civil War. With the
increased production of cotton, the demand for slaves increased.
||1706: Cotton Mather, a Puritain leader, writes "The Negro
Christianized." It argues that blacks are human beings and should
be given full rights.
||1723: The German Baptist Brethren arrived in Pennsylvania. They were known
as the Dunkers and later as the Church of the Brethren. Like their
fellow Anabaptists, they actively opposed slavery.
||1734: The Great Awakening starts in MA. This is a Christian
revival that promoted religious fervor among whites and blacks. Blacks were
encouraged to join the Methodist and Baptist churches.
||1752: George Washington acquired his sister-in-law's share in the
Mount Vernon estate in 1752. The purchase included 18 slaves. He added to his
collection; at one time he owned over 300 humans. In his will, he
stipulated that at the death of his wife, his slaves would be freed. He also
required that a fund be set up to support aged and infirmed slaves; it
appears that the fund was never established. 5 During the
1780s and 1790s, he expressed the wish in his private writings that state
governments would legislate "a gradual Abolition of Slavery."
||1758: The Philadelphia yearly meeting of Quakers decided that
slavery was inconsistent with Christianity.
||1761: Slave traders were excluded from membership in the Society of
Friends (the Quakers). Some individual Quakers still owned slaves at this time.
||1774: Thomas Jefferson owned 187 slaves on his various farms.
||17??: The Roman Catholic church's Sacred Congregation of the Index placed many
anti-slavery tracts on their Index of Forbidden Books to prevent them
from being read by the public.
|| 1775: Quakers were mainly responsible for the founding of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of
Slavery. This was the first antislavery society in the U.S.
||1776: David Hartley makes a motion to outlaw slavery in Britain and
in British colonies. He calls slavery "contrary to the laws of God
and the rights of man." The motion fails. 5
||1777: Slavery is abolished in Vermont.
||1784: The Christmas Conference of the Methodist Church
passes an anti-slavery resolution.
||1786: The Society of Friends (Quakers) mounts legal lawsuits
to free slaves who are visiting Philadelphia with their owners. George
Washington recommends that visiting slave owners avoid problems by bypassing
the city. 3
||1786: About 10% of the 18,791 Methodists were black.
||1787: Richard Allen, a former slave, organizes the Free African
Society in Philadelphia, PA.
||1789: There is considerable abolitionist feeling the Southern
Christian churches. Some southern plantation owners felt uneasy about
slavery. They institute educational programs and freed many slaves.
||1791: In Canada, the legislature of Upper Canada (now called
Ontario) passed a law to gradually abolish slavery. No more slaves could be
imported; existing slaves would remain enslaved for life; children of female
slaves would receive their freedom at age 25.
||1793: Blacks totaled 18,500 (25%) out of a total of 73,417
||1799: The second Great Awakening began in Kentucky. Many
slaves become Christians. The religious revival lasts until 1830.
||1800: Virginia passed a law forbidding African-Americans from
gathering after sunset for religious worship.
Related essays on this site:
Copyright © 1999 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2007-AUG-24
Author: B.A. Robinson