14 Evangelical Christians and their fight against slavery[1]
Georg Fox: Quaker and Abolitionist
George Fox was the founder of new branch of the Christian Faith: Quakerism. He died 13 January 1691, aged 66. Preacher George Fox had gathered numerous followers, also known as Friends. Many of them played a positive role in the anti-slavery movement. When Fox visited some of his followers in Barbados in 1671, he was shocked by the bad treatment of enslaved Africans. Several followers owned slaves. In their view slavery was indispensable for the colonial economy.
Fox had heard about the misery of colonial slavery from returned missionaries before. Already in 1657, he had written that Friends beyond Sea that have Blacks and Indian Slaves, ought to teach them about Jesus, for it gives: “Liberty and Freedom, and is Glad Tidings to every Captivated Creature under the whole Heavens.[2] Now, preaching to a congregation of colonists, he told them that slavery was wrong. He underlined that Jesus had died for the
redemption of the sins of all people: whites, blacks, and Native Indians. Fox told masters that they and their overseers must deal gently with bonded servants and not use cruelty toward them. Time and time again, he stressed that bonded servants ought to be treated in a civilized way.[3]
On tour in British colonies in America, Fox urged all Quakers to free their bonded labourers – not immediately, but after a certain period. In some of his sermons, he told masters that their enslaved servants should be freed “… after a considerable Term of Years, if they have served them faithfully.” He preached his Christian flock to remember the practice of freeing Jewish slaves in the Jubilee Year.[4] Fox preached that this Jubilee year, practice could be applied to all Christians, including Christianized slaves. Sometimes he was rather vague about the length of servitude. It could be longer than six or seven years.[5]
Fox, urged Quakers to make haste with converting their black and indigenous servants.[6] He advised Friends to invite them to their religious Meetings, believing that this would facilitate their conversion and mitigate immorality and abuse.[7] However, since he never told his flock that enslaving people was a sin and should be stopped immediately, he gave the idea that slavery was defendable, as long as slaves were treated fairly. Readers might think that his abolitionism was rather timid, yet at that time and that colonial place, even modest demands for change did raise eyebrows. Political leaders and slave owners found his requests to improve the life and working conditions of slaves outrageous – even dangerous. Taking all this into account, his stance deserves our admiration.
Katherine Reid Gerbner, a specialist in Quaker history, shows that most Christian planters rebuffed the efforts of Quaker, Anglican and Moravian missionaries to convert the enslaved. [8] For them, being Protestant was a sign of their mastery and freedom. Besides, they feared that they would lose their “property” as soon as enslaved men and women would be converted. They feared that emancipation might lead to a breakdown of the entire colonial economy. To calm frightened whites, missionaries argued that conversion would make slaves more obedient and hardworking.[9]
Many enslaved and free people of colour converted. Among them, Mulattoes formed a majority. Settlers with a strong affection for their black or mulatto concubine tended to acknowledge their interracial offspring and bring them to church meetings to be baptized. Also, several black woman wanted their interracial children to be baptized.[10] Another reason for taking this step was to underscore their close relationship with their Master and Mistress and to achieve a higher status.[11] Yet, by the end of the sixteenth century the percentage of Christianized people of colour in the West-Indies still was very low, due to resisting planters, reluctant ministers and a steady influx of enslaved blacks from Africa.
Many Christianized blacks and mulattoes clang on to African patterns such as polygamy. This forced missionaries to reinterpret key points of Christian doctrine. They knew that Biblical figures such as arch father Jacob and King David were polygamists. The bible says that King Solomon even had about 700 wives and 300 concubines. Based on these examples some ministers condoned polygamy. However, The New Testament contains three pastoral passages that say that church leaders should stick to one wife. But even these texts leave room for the view that “common” Christians are allowed to have more than one wife.[12] So, Barbadian missionaries, working far away from the Bishops in Britain, tended to condone polygamy.
Why George Fox broke away from The Church of England?
George Fox was born in 1624 in Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire. His father was a weaver. His parents were Puritans. They took their faith very serious. They maintained a sober lifestyle and distrusted all people who were “having a good time.” These Puritan Protestants took issue with what they called “Papist aberrations.” Aberrations that still were present in the Church of England, hundred years after King Henry VIII had started his local brand of Christianity.
Points of Puritan dissent were the luxurious vestments of the clergy, kneeling to receive Holy Communion, and making the sign of the cross during baptism. Recurrent efforts to purify the Church of England led to persecution and extra tensions.[13] Later on, Fox and his followers also met strong opposition, from the Anglicans, and also from Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Puritans. Thousands were being incarcerated, hundreds died in prison and tens of thousands fled to the Americas.[14]
In England, angry mobs had kicked George Fox down church steps, and had hit him with sticks and stones. More than once he had been accused, convicted, and jailed for criticizing Church of England leaders, ministers, doctrines and hypocritical practices. No wonder that Anglicans viewed Quakers as dissenters that attempted to uproot social order. The Quaker Act of 1662 legalized their persecution. Twenty seven years later, the Act of Toleration put an end to this.[15]
In jail, Fox went on convincing other prisoners of his views. Free again, he went to London. There he founded the Religious Society of Friends. At first, these “Seekers” called themselves “Children of the Light” or “Friends of the Truth.” This evolved in the simple label: “Friends”. Later they became widely known as Quakers. Despite the deep disdain from Anglicans and Puritans, Fox “convinced” many people to join his brand of Christianity. He also gained the respect of Oliver Cromwell, one of the most important figures in British history. Percentage wise, their success was less impressive. Around 1680 about 1 % of the people in England and Wales were Quakers. In North America, Fox also befriended and convinced renowned people like William Penn, writer, politician, and founder of Pennsylvania.[16] At present there are about 350,000 Quakers worldwide.
When George was a child, his mother noted that he was more devote, more inward, and more observing than his younger brothers. Later, as a grown up, Fox said that he, aged 11, already knew: “… pureness and righteousness; for, while I was a child, I was taught how to walk to be kept pure. The Lord taught me to be faithful in all things … inwardly to God, and outwardly to man.”[17] As a young child he could astonish grown-ups with intriguing questions and smart answers, foreboding a career as a minister of the church. And so it happened, however, without doing the usual theological schooling. As a young teenager, he started his working life as a simple shepherd. Herding cattle suited his meditative mind.[18] By thinking about God’s words and deeds many hours a day, he developed into a self-made preacher with some controversial views, such as believing in the “free ministry of the true church.” First and foremost, he truly believed that God was present in him, that God had called him to spread the Gospel of Jesus.[19] Following God’s orders, George Fox laid the foundation of The Religious Society of Friends.
His opposition against paying tithes, saying oaths, and other bones of contention brought him into contact with a long list of magistrates. He was convicted to short periods of imprisonment. Once, a judge called him and his followers “Quakers,” because they told people “to tremble before the eyes of God.”[20] The corner stone of Quakerism is a strong conviction that each person can hear the voice of God inwardly, that everyone can experience what they call “The Inner Light”, and can apprehend God’s wishes, rulings and commands in a direct way. When this happens one doesn’t need the assistance of trained ministers or priests. Putting in practice what people learned from their personal experience of God was enough. There was no need for typical church buildings, proscribed rituals, religious holidays or sacraments to practice faith. Religious meetings could be held anywhere, in the open field, in spacious living rooms, farm yards or meeting halls. Religion should be something one lived and acted out, on each day of the week, not only on Sundays.[21]
What started Fox’s mission to convince others of his spiritual views? On a warm, sunny day, at a Summer Fair in July 1643, he met his cousin Bradford, a minister of the Church. Bradford was accompanied by another minister. Being thirsty the three ordered a pint of beer. After one pint of beer, the other two ordered more drinks. George was shocked by their licentious behaviour. He paid for the first round and left. That night he could not sleep. He walked up and down his room, praying urgently. During silent meditation and intense praying, he had experienced spiritual contact with God before. To him, receiving the Inner Light or Truth directly from The Lord was much more important than anything else; even more important than a literal reading of the Bible. That night, he felt that God told him to forsake all intemperate behaviour.
The next morning, Fox decided to leave his friends and family.[22] He began to travel, meeting all sorts of people, always eager to discuss religious issues with other Christians. His open-air sermons drew many people to his pure and simple faith, a faith without strict dogmas and doctrines, without autocratic Popes and Bishops, without impressive cathedrals and churches. Like Fox, his followers tried to avoid excess and to practice restraint, to be honest and fair, and to treat all people as equals – women included.[23] In Fox’s view, also women might preach and lead religious meetings.[24] For most men and women, this was a shocking, revolutionary idea. For the majority of Catholics, Moslems and Jews it still is. At the time, seeing men and women as equals, accepting women as priests or ministers, triggered so much anger that religious and secular authorities decided to persecute all Quakers. Many Quaker families decided to migrate to British colonies overseas.
As mentioned before, George Fox planned to visit his followers on Barbados in 1671. The voyage took seven weeks and had gone well. Dolphins had been spotted, caught and eaten. Before he had left England Fox had been very ill. Temporary, he had lost sight. He was still very ill when he arrived. He stayed several weeks to convalesce in the house of Thomas Rous, a rich slaveholder. When wandering around, visiting other planters, Fox observed many things that troubled his mind. He witnessed several cases of slaves being mistreated by masters and overseers, and learned of violence and sinful actions committed by blacks and whites, such as drinking, swearing, and adultery. He concluded that a lot of families were “not brought in order.” Hence, Fox often preached on the topic of The Gospel and Family-Order. We have to understand that Fox’s reactions to slavery stemmed from his patriarchal-Christian views on the family. He often cited Scriptural texts on the responsibility of the father/master to call together his entire family/household for worship and to enforce right order, servants included. He preached that Christ died for Indians, blacks, barbarians and whites. Hence, all of them might cherish the hope to get to heaven, to be freed from spiritual bondage for ever.[25]
Fox urged masters to train up their Blacks in the fear of God. However, some masters falsely accused Fox of inciting Negroes to rebel. To set the record straight Fox sent a carefully worded letter to the Governor in which he insisted that he and his companions only told blacks to be sober, to fear God and to obey their masters and mistresses. Thus, he hoped to avoid being incarcerated or expelled.
In 1991, at a conference organized for the remembrance of George Fox, who had died 300 years ago, J. William Frost asserted that Fox’s stance on slavery was ambiguous, for he had never questioned the morality of slavery per se. However, we should remind ourselves that even his modest demands to improve the treatment of the enslaved blacks and to free Christian slaves after six or more years, did put him in the picture as a revolutionary and an enemy of the authorities. Having been persecuted and incarcerated in England before, he thought it wiser not to question the injustice and immorality of slavery head on while visiting Barbados. Nonetheless, it is sad to realize that two or more generations after Fox died a number of conservative Quakers in Pennsylvania argued that his carefully composed letter to the Governor of Barbados could be framed as support for slavery.
Mary Fisher: From maidservant to energetic follower of Fox.
To give an idea of the spirit of the times, with the permanent thread of persecution, I shed some light on the life of Mary Fisher – one of the first and most passionate followers of George Fox. She had met Fox when he visited the Tomlinson house in Selby where she worked as a maidservant. His words had a great impact on her and her Mrs. Elizabeth Tomlinson. As soon as Fox had left and travelled to other places, these two women out to preach to everyone who was willing to listen. All this ardent preaching came at price. Mary and Elizabeth were being seized, brought to court, convicted, and put in the damp dungeon of York Castle. There, Mary met other Friends, like Elizabeth Hooton, Jane Holmes and Thomas Aldam. In prison they made life bearable by worshipping together, exchanging spiritual stories and sharing preaching practices. Thus they strengthened each other’s faith. For the illiterate Mary Fisher it was an extra bonus that Elizabeth and Jane taught her to read and write. Her first written sentence was: “Woe to the unjust judge.” She would always criticize judges for meting out harsher punishments to the poor than to the rich. In York, these five imprisoned “Friends” wrote the pamphlet: “False Prophets and False Teachers Described.” [26]
After being released, Mary Fisher walked to Cambridge to proselytise the south of England. In Cambridge, she and fellow preachers sternly reproved student theologians. The Mayor ordered them to be taken to the market cross. There they were stripped naked to the waist and flogged. This humiliating experience did not stop her. Soon she was imprisoned again for rebuking a priest.[27] Her spirit was not crushed. She remained a most valiant missionary. In 1658, she and five fellow Quakers were convinced that God had called them to convert the Turks. They thought it would be a good idea to start with Sultan Mehmed IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. After this small group of Quakers arrived in Smyrna, the English Consul told them that this was a very bad idea. He ordered them to board a ship heading for Venice, and then to travel back to England. The adamant Mary had other ideas. She disembarked on a Greece Island. The rest of the team stayed on board. Alone, Mary walked through Macedonia and Thrace, until she arrived at the tent of the Sultan in Adrianople, where he was fighting the Greek. It is hard to imagine how Mary managed to make this lengthy tour, on her own, not knowing the local language, not being escorted by guides. Somehow, she succeeded. She was allowed to meet Sultan Mehmed IV In spite of her dirtied sober clothing. She passionately told him about her great belief in Jesus Christ.[28] Helped by an interpreter, the young Sultan listened attentively, but Mary failed to convince the 84th Caliph of the Muslims.
Three years earlier, in 1655, Mary Fisher had made a voyage to Barbados. In 1625, Captain John Powel landed on its coast and claimed it for King James.[29] Following the example of the profitable tobacco cultivation in Virginia, English settlers started to grow tobacco plants and sugar cane. They needed help from indentured workers from Britain, but very few did arrive. To fill the gap, planters began to buy captured Africans. Also free English people came to Barbados – men and women persecuted for their religion. When Mary Fisher arrived, already thousands of Quakers had settled on Barbados. All but four of them owned slaves. Mary Fisher disembarked in the company of Ann Austin, a mother of five. Soon these two “convinced” Governor Daniel Searle to become a Quaker too.[30] They started to preach “Quakerism” to European settlers, black Africans and indigenous people.[31]
Several months later, Mary and Anne went to Boston, North America. They were not welcome there. Boston had evolved into the political, commercial, religious and educational centre of New England.[32] In 1635, King Charles I had geared up the persecution of Puritans. In Boston, these migrated Puritans became even more sober, stricter and more puritan than before. They opposed the intrusion of Quaker ideas and practices, such as women leading religious meetings. Deputy Governor Richard Bellingham forbade the two women to set foot on land and ordered to burn all their books, pamphlets and papers. They were brought to court and convicted as propagators of blasphemous opinions. The two were strip-searched for devilish signs of witchcraft such as having unusual skin moles or a third tit. Neither of these signs was found. Yet, they were put in a dark prison; without food and drinks. Surely, they would have died, were it not for the help of innkeeper Nicholas Upsall. This compassionate man bribed the jailer to smuggle in food and water. After five weeks, Austin and Fisher were sent back to Barbados. In 1657, they returned to England.[33] Their harsh treatment was no incident, but part of a punitive system based on a strong anti-Quaker mood. To discourage further Quaker refugees, the authorities enacted the first anti-Quaker law in October 1656. A second and third anti-Quaker law did follow. They all held barbaric measures, such as cutting off ears and noses, whipping, and exile.
Mary Fisher returned to England in 1662. She married seafarer, writer and preacher William Bayley. George Fox had influenced him to converted too. In 1675, Bailey died at sea. Next, she married John Cross(e) of London, with whom she migrated to Charleston. She died in 1698. The property she left included one black slave.[34] Was he a converted slave? Had she planned to set him free?
On the 1st of June 1660, another Mary, Mary Barrett Dyer, became the first Quaker woman hanged in Boston. She had given birth to a deformed and stillborn child. Since Puritans always demanded a close look at all aspects of one’s life for signs of God’s approval or disapproval, she had sought counsel of reverend John Cotton. He advised her to conceal this unfortunate birth and to bury the body in secret. When Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts got wind of this, he ordered to exhume the little corpse for further inspection. About a hundred nosy men and women went to the secret grave to have a good look. Winthrop’s description of the disfigured baby was far from truthful. In his journal he wrote that the unfortunate child had a beastly face with four little horns, claws with talons instead of toes, and scales on its back. Evidently, the birth of such a “monster” must be the result of having “monstrous” ideas.[35] This macabre story tells a lot about the Zeitgeist of the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
Were all Quakers abolitionists?
Historian Katherine Reid Gerbner made clear that slave conversion is not a one-sided process in which white missionaries simply tell non-whites what to believe and what rituals to practice. Initially, enslaved people were very reluctant to forsake their traditional beliefs. Coloured people in a somewhat privileged position, such as slave driver or chief house slave were the first to take a serious interest in the Christian faith. By converting they expected or hoped to become just as powerful and respected as their masters. Many were convinced that the skills that enabled whites to make better weapons, bigger ships, and accurate compasses must have come from their God. So what else could they conclude than that the white man’s God was superior to their African Gods?
Reid Gerbner observed that many Quaker missionaries felt lonely, Hence they wanted to be integrated in the community of colonists. Subsequently they got influenced by the colonists and began to support their race-based justification for slavery. Some missionaries even started to check the Bible for theological justifications for slavery. Others might be looking for legal justifications. In sixteenth century England there was no such thing as slavery, let alone a Christian slave. They might have heard of captured Christian seamen and merchants, being forced into slavery by Algerian, Libyan, Moroccan or Turkish pirates, but in England it was illegal to enslave Christians. This rule also applied to Christian Blacks on Barbados. Pro-slavery planters had to twist this law in such a way that it did apply to white Christians only. Hence, some Quaker missionaries fabricated Biblical arguments for slavery.[36]
Slave rebellions tended to fuel the support for slavery. In 1675, planters discovered that some slaves were planning to end colonial rule on Barbados and to install an African government headed by a new king, an elderly African, named Coffee. They had made many bows and arrows, plus an exquisitely wrought African throne. Anna, a black maid servant, overheard two slaves boasting that the insurgents would kill all the whites. This meant that also her master and his wife and children would be killed. Immediately, she warned the master’s wife. The two rebels were being caught and tortured until they betrayed other organizers of the revolt.
“Seventeen were found guilty and executed, six burnt alive and eleven beheaded, their dead bodies dragged through the streets …” [37]
Quakers have long been hailed as heroes of abolitionism.[38] The 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition against Slavery was the first North-American document that denounced slavery. The four authors[39] stemmed from a small group of Mennonites from Krefeld and Frankfurt.[40] Religious persecution and the desire to avoid military conscription had pushed them to Ukraine, Russia, and North America. In America the Mennonites joined the Quakers. 18 February 1688, at the Germantown Meeting of Friends, they presented a document in which they condemned the traffic of “men-body.” Slavery went against the Golden Rule that one should treat all men, like one would treat oneself.[41] Katherine Reid Gerbner took a closer look at its reception and discovered that even the organizers of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting had issues with its content and refused to discuss the protest against slavery. She dug deep in the minds of these people. Being a Quaker, she got quite concerned after finding that many Pennsylvanian Quakers owned slaves. They had come from Barbados and had been recruited by governor, planter, and writer William Penn, the founder this Colonial Province in 1683. He realized that the Province needed more settlers to make it a viable colony. The newcomers from Barbados believed that slavery was crucial for economic growth. Clearly, they needed to study the foundations of their faith again.
Rejecting the dogma of predestination
John Calvin and his Puritan followers strongly believe that all humans are sinful from the moment they are born. Hence, after death, they will go to hell, where they will suffer eternally. Only very few people will go to heaven. It is God and God alone who decides who will enter heaven or go to hell. This choice is predestined, before one is born. Whatever you will do during your life, it will not change God’s plan. William Law denounced this fear arousing theory.
William Law was born in in 1686 King’s Cliffe. He attended Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1705. Knowing that most university students tend to engage in “unchristian” practices, he prepared a list of 18 rules to which he wanted to stick: for example, do not waste time, beware temperance in all things, be humble, engage in constant self-examination, and always, commit yourself to the will of God; acknowledge the primacy of the Bible, and pray to God several times a day.[42] These rules foreshadowed what he was going to write in his best-selling book: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.[43]
Queen Anne died in 1714. She had been pregnant six times, but never gave birth to a healthy child. Without a proper heir, the nearest in line was Duke George Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, elector of Hanover. In Law’s view, George I was not a Divine successor of a Divine King, but a common nobleman, crowned thanks to the Act of Settlement of 1701, issued by parliament to secure Protestant succession. [44] Law refused to pledge loyalty to King George I. Many others shared his view. On Coronation-day riots broke out in twenty English towns.[45] Law’s refusal costed him his position as fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was forbidden to preach and banned from all parochial functions too. He had to find other ways to make a living and became tutor of rich men’s children. He was a prolific writer. His clear and well written sermons, books and pamphlets reached a large audience. The core of his teaching was that it is our duty to love all humans and to mitigate human suffering. This humanistic-Christian view implies that one has to love one’s slaves too, see them as equals and help them to become free citizens.[46] He did not demand complete abolition now, but said:
“Slaves … can only live to God in one particular way; that is by religious patience and submission in his state of slavery.”[47]
The Amazing Benjamin Lay, zealous opponent of slavery
Englishman Benjamin Lay was much more outspoken than William Law. He was born in 1682 near Colchester. His parents were Quakers. Benjamin Lay was very short: about four and a half feet high. He had a hunched back, a big protruded chest and thin legs. At old age he had a long white beard. Being disfigured, taught him that he always had to try extra hard to be seen as an intelligent person. Kogan even argues that his radical abolitionism could partly be declared by his exceptional physique.[48] Benjamin started his working life as a shepherd, next he became a glove maker. At 21 got a job as seaman. He saw slave markets in Africa and the Middle East. He moved to Barbados. There he earned a living as merchant. He was shocked to see that also Quakers owned slaves. He wrote several pamphlets and books in which he protested against slavery. The angry reactions of planters and slave traders made him realize that it was better to leave. In 1731, he migrated to the Province of Pennsylvania. Also there, he ardently criticized slavery. He operated a small farm that produced fruit, flax and wool, and boycotted all products made with the help of slave labour. His lifestyle was frugal. He was a vegetarian. Probably he was one of the first advocates of animal rights.[49]
In 1738, at a Quaker meeting, Benjamin Lay called slave owners hypocrites, paying lip service to the Golden Rule. He warned all slave masters, that “… God shall shed the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures.”[50] To Benjamin Lay the practice of slavery was gross, hurtful to God and destructive to Government. The year before, renowned writer, politician and scientist Benjamin Franklin had printed Lay’s polemic book titled: All Slave Keepers that keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates. Very few people bought his book. Therefore, Lay handed them out for free. The time was not ripe for abolition yet. His approach was counterproductive. Lay withdrew from social life and became a hermit living in a cave. He refused to eat, drink or use anything produced by slavery. During his life William Lay sowed the seeds for a revolution in morals, trade, and government. Two decades later these seeds came to fruition. In 1758, one year before he died, the Philadelphia Quaker meeting formally disavowed the trading of slaves.
John Wesley: Tireless founder of Methodism
The writings of William Law might be less revolutionary than Benjamin Lay’s, but they inspired many God-loving people. John Wesley and his brother Charles were sons of an Anglican minister and the daughter of a dissenting minister. The Wesley brothers became Law’s disciples. He advised them to help spreading the Gospel in North America. However, in America they experienced much more resistance than they had anticipated and returned to England. On the boat to America they had met a group of Moravian brethren whose composure and total resignation to God made an inerasable impression. John Wesley got acquainted with Peter Boehler, a Moravian bishop who was in London to prepare himself for missionary work in North America. The two began an extensive and very personal discourse on the nature of faith. Boehler’s counsel on “the nature of grace” and “heart religion” was precisely what Wesley needed after his depressive experience in the USA.[51] Boehler believed that the grace of Christ eventually would win all hearts. When Wesley met William Law again, he lectured him for not having told him the true doctrine of the Christian Faith as taught by Peter Boehler. From then on, Law and the Wesley brothers went different ways.
Someday, while listening to a sermon at Aldersgate Street, John Wesley underwent his definitive “evangelical conversion.” A few weeks later he presented his doctrine of “personal salvation through faith.”[52] Following his own doctrine, he became the national leader of a revival movement within Anglican Protestantism. His razor sharp attack on the predestination dogma triggered a lot of controversy. For Wesley, this doctrine was a blasphemous corruption of the true faith. It represented God as worse than the devil, because it foretold that after death the large majority of all humans would suffer in hell, not for a period of purification, but for eternity. According to orthodox Protestantism, even a life full of good works could not alter God’s predestined plan. John Wesley preached that all humans could become true followers of Jesus Christ; that everyone could be “born again” and saved from an eternity in hell.[53] He founded this view on verse Eph. 11.8 which reads: “By grace are ye save through faith.” Therefore, he and his pious followers, later called Methodists, methodically focused their daily life on works of piety and mercy: on serious fasting, listening to sermons, frequent praying and Bible studies. Examples of excellent works of mercy are: helping the sick, the poor, and the prisoners. Restoring social justice also is very important, for instance through ending slavery.
The practices of these Methodists flouted many rules of the Church of England. Again, religious controversy turned into ferocious persecution. Anglicans denounced Methodists as peddlers of heretic doctrines, leading people astray.[54] Mobs disrupted their sermons. Some attempted to kill Methodist ministers. John Wesley faced such mortal dangers with great courage. Thanks to his extraordinary physical and mental strength and despite all the hindrance and sabotage, he did accomplish many things. He used to preach two or three times a day, in tents, in open fields and in churches. He was a hard worker, always rising early. He formed societies, opened chapels, commissioned preachers, and established and supervised schools and orphanages. Each year he travelled about 7,000 kilometres, most of it on horseback. His sermons brought countless people to repent their sins. He published the best of his sermons, theological tracts, and also books that clarified physical science for a broad audience.[55]
For John Wesley, authentic religious truth had to be vivified. One should not divorce faith from reason. Personal divine experience and reason were always subject to the Holy Scripture. He aroused the English Church to a renewed Christian way of life. His teachings lifted thousands of the humbler classes from ignorance and turned them into faithful Christians, not only in England, but also abroad.[56]
“Away with all whips, all chains, all compulsion.”
John Wesley became a keen abolitionist, never forgetting the horrors of slavery he had witnessed. He frequently spoke out against slavery. In 1774, he published: Thoughts upon Slavery. On the front cover he put a Biblical quotation of God’s anger over Cain, who had killed his brother Abel. Thus Wesley made clear that enslaving people is like killing one’s brother. Showing that every citizen can be of help to put an end to slavery, he proposed a boycott of cane sugar and rum.[57]
“Liberty is the right of every human creature, … and no human law can deprive him of that right. Give liberty to whom liberty is due. … Away with all whips, all chains, all compulsion. Be gentle toward all men; and see that you invariably do with every one as you would he should do unto you.”[58]
The bitter reality was that Christian Euro-Americans denied human rights to thousands of Africans. Therefore, Wesley campaigned against slavery throughout the rest of his life. Six days before his death on the 2nd of March 1791, he wrote a long letter to politician William Wilberforce. The next month, in April, Wilberforce presented his proposal for a new law to abolish slavery. The Right Honourable MP used some of Wesley’s arguments during his four-hour long parliamentary speech, but failed to get enough support for the bill.
William Cowper: poetry against slavery
Verbal attacks of Evangelicals against slavery varied in quality and urgency. William Cowper (pronounced: Cooper) used his poetical talents to influence his readers. A bad dream had made him think that he was doomed.[59] After a botched suicide attempt, he got institutionalised for insanity. He was released after 18 months and found refuge in a community of evangelical Christians. Their loving care inspired him to write poems and hymns.[60] His poem Charity sheds a sharp light on the dilemmas of international trade. Though it also shows some ambiguity towards freedom.
“Trade is the golden girdle of the globe.
Wise to promote whatever end he means,
God opens fruitful Nature’s various scenes:
Each climate needs what other climes produce,
And offers something to the general use;
No land but listens to the common call,
And in return receives supply from all.”
The first part is a great ode to globalisation and world capitalism. Further on, the poem foregrounds the dark sides of the trade, highlighting shiploads full of misery, terror, pain and death.[61]
For merchants rich in cargoes of despair,
Who drive a loathsome traffic, gauge, and span,
And buy the muscles and the bones of man?
The tender ties of father, husband, friend,
All bonds of nature in that moment end;
And each endures, while yet he draws his breath,
A stroke as fatal as the scythe of death
…
Cowper scolds all Christians that are involved in the slave trade. Why aren’t they ashamed of themselves for selling and buying fellow humans? In the eyes of God they are our equals, no matter the colour of their skin. Cowper warns traders and planters that they are acting against God’s will, though in the last part of this poetical sermon he creates room for confusion and ambiguity. He argues that masters must improve the life of their slaves by converting them to Christianity. As a devout Christian, he valued spiritual liberation for eternity far more than physical liberation during your life on earth. Cowper wished to believe that converted slaves would thank their master for bringing them into contact with Jesus. He hoped that their gratitude might become big enough to forgive their masters.[62]
We may scorn these wishful thoughts, but should realize that Cowper lived in an entirely different social and cultural context than we do now. He knew the dangers of evocating his views. So, in his attempts to change the views of all Christian slave traders and owners, he wrapped his critique in words of praise. Surely, slavery had robbed African descendants from their freedom and their roots, but Cowper believed that Christians could and should lead them to unshackled bliss in heaven.[63]
In those days, overseas, Christians did not mind physical slavery so much. If you were being shackled for life, then it must have been God’s will. Hence, one should accept his or her situation and serve the masters.
“Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, … knowing that each will be requited from the Lord for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”[64]
Many abolitionists denounced Cowper’s sanctimonious approach. They propagated freedom for all, nothing less.
The anti-slavery approach of Granville Sharp.
In his anti-slavery book, from 1769, British abolitionist Granville Sharp interpreted the Biblical story of the liberation of enslaved Jews from Egypt as a divine assignment to treat all slaves in a humane and loving way. [65]
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9)
Other verses that refer to the long stay of Jews in Egypt can be read as inspiration for treating all bondsmen well, as a call for complete emancipation.[66] Deuteronomy 15:15 also commends believers to remember that their ancestors had been enslaved and that The Lord had redeemed them.[67] Another indication for emancipation was found in the rule that freedom should be granted after six years of service. For Evangelicals, this take on slavery helped to solve the dilemma whether one could abolish a social phenomenon that God had condoned in the past.
Devote believers regularly sing hymns about their spirit, shackled to their sinful inclinations, and how God will redeem them or already has redeemed them.[68] It takes a little step to extend this idea to the liberation of physically shackled people. Anstey argues that this might be the main reason why Evangelicals did fight slavery harder than believers of some other denominations.[69] For Methodists, redemption of sins was hard core doctrine. Many of them fought slavery passionately; warning people that supporting slavery would be punished by God.
Protestant revival meetings were being organized in the open air, in big tents or in conference halls. Charismatic preachers besieged their flock with thunder speeches. They berated religious laxness and loose morality. They urged their audience to take life very serious; to stop sinning, live piously and help people in need. The Revival Movement raged over the country like a hurricane. It evolved into a moral crusade, telling everybody that the way to heaven was small, up hill, and unpaved. A crusade against alcoholism sat well within this moralizing model as did the fight against slavery. Abolitionists and evangelists toured the land like inseparable twins. Both groups wanted a radical change. Many itinerant preachers were dissatisfied with the social situation at large. They wanted a sea change in society, in Church and within each individual. They urged people to be searching for a personal relationship with God. Some found satisfaction in religious revival, others went for political action. However, after some time, many people got the feeling that these revival meetings offered more show than authenticity, more exhibitionism than devotion. That some attendants fell in trance and others appeared to be saved by the simple laying on of hands, got questioned more and more. In his biography, Frederick Douglas, [70] a very prominent mulatto abolitionist, tells the story of a woman that asserted that she had made a short visit to heaven while being in trance. When asked whether she had seen black people there, she hesitated for a while, but then responded: “Oh, but I haven’t been in the kitchen.”[71]
A growing number of evangelicals got frustrated because many ministers remained unwilling to tackle slavery or other intense social problems. In reaction to this lukewarm attitude many abolitionists crossed the road to political activism. Their involvement with the inner self, their individual soul, shifted to a commitment with the other.[72] Abolitionists knew that if the majority of American ministers would support abolition and preach against slavery each Sunday, it would happen soon. In this climate, theology students began to invest more time and energy in fighting slavery. Often this had a negative effect on their study and their career. It saddened Lyman Beecher, head of Lane Seminary, that many of his students left his college prematurely. But near the end of his life he remarked that they had achieved far more than those that had opted for a career as a dignified traditional minister.[73] Also his daughter, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, generated a far greater impact than modal ministers did.
Doubt had driven many ministers to revivalism first. Growing doubts spurred more difficult questions about their personal belief in God. Sometimes this resulted in a complete desertion from faith. Other defectors left because prominent leaders went on preaching that slavery was just: installed and legitimized by God. Their frustration inspired others to think of alternative action models. They lost their belief that everything would turn out right, as soon as everyone would become a devout Christian. More was needed than praying: one needed political activity too: Ora et labora. New laws had to be made, implemented and controlled. And if abolition had to be realized with help from non-religious people, so be it.
Accusative arguments launched at the conventional Church, the Bible, and even God, became louder and louder. When asked what he would do if God would endorse slavery, Henry C. Wright, an avid abolitionist, pacifist and feminist, answered that he would free the slaves and shackle God.[74] Wright would reject the Bible if its content was in contradiction with the freedom of all humans. He called for complete resistance to slavery. To him, abolitionist John Brown symbolized the courage of such resistance. Brown stemmed from a Calvinist antislavery family. In 1837, he became an active non-violent abolitionist. Later, he opted for a kind of guerrilla warfare. In 1856, he and his five sons killed three pro-slavery men. During this skirmish also one of his sons got killed. A few years later, Brown started an uprising. With a small platoon of 22 men, including five blacks and three of his sons, he assaulted the Harpers Ferry arsenal. A company of US marines, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, killed half of Brown’s platoon, including two of his sons. John Brown was captured and hanged.
Events like this show that a growing number of abolitionists left the church. Others kept searching for new interpretations of Biblical texts that would match their antislavery goals. Renowned abolitionists like James G. Birney, Gerrit Smith, Elizur Wright, Lydia Maria Child, and William Lloyd Garrison went on a quest for a new all-embracing faith, a faith in humanity. Their alternative was to see the passion for social reform as a new kind of religion, as a platform for all things they wished to achieve. To them abolitionism was the saviour of Church and State. It was “the true core of civilization and Christendom of our time.”
William Lloyd Garrison and “The Liberator”
Garrison was born in 1805. His father had left the family after loosing his job. So, William was raised by his mother: Francis Maria Lloyd. To honor her, he added Lloyd to his name. In 1818, hardly 13 years old, he became an apprentice at the Newburyport Herald. He learned to be a skilled typesetter, journalist and editor. In 1826, he borrowed money and bought another Newburyport paper, which he turned it into a highly politicized journal and renamed The Free Press. It was short-lived. Many readers denounced his viewpoints and ended their subscription. The other reason was that he was a reformer and not a bookkeeper. This setback had no impact on his views on social justice, equity, and slavery.
In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison and his companion Isaac Knapp gave it another try and started The Liberator. This paper was even more radical. In the first editorial he stated his views on slavery: “I do not wish to think, speak, or write with moderation … AND I WILL BE HEARD.”[75] The paper became highly influential. In 1834, Garrison married Helen Eliza Benzon, daughter of a wealthy merchant and convinced abolitionist. With the help of his wife and father in law the paper weathered all opposition and survived until slavery was abolished.
The strong urge to stand up against injustice tends to spill over to other forms. December 1837, Garrison announced that The Liberator also would support the rights of women.[76] Meanwhile, on the 1st of January 1832, William Lloyd Garrison, Fredrick Douglass and Wendell Phillips had founded the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. Other political organizations did not accept women as active members, but the NEASS did. It sponsored lecturers, addressing local groups, selling abolitionist documents and copies of The Liberator. Within a year the NEASS counted 2000 members. In 1833, William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan, expanded its catching area to other states and established the American Anti-Slavery Society.[77] The ASS sent antislavery petitions to Congress. The ASS published periodicals such as The Slave’s Friend, meant for children, writing in simple English that God loves all children, the colored and the white; that we all are brothers and sisters. That God has not made separate corners for colored and whites, that slavery is a great sin, and that abusing, selling men, women and children is wicked..[78]
Some radical abolitionists disturbed sermons of ministers that supported slavery. This attracted a lot of media attention. Their next step was the refusal to attend churches that also were frequented by people who shored up slavery. For many abolitionists it no longer sufficed to protest in public or to send petitions to government. They found it absolutely necessary to confront pro-slavery vicars and ministers. Next, they established their own churches. The Christian faith had to be evaluated by checking its effects on its flock, just like a tree is evaluated by its fruit. What really mattered where positive acts; not pious words. True Christians had to fight injustice.
Garrison set fire to a copy of the American Constitution during a public meeting on Independence Day, 1854. Since slavery had been smuggled into The Constitution, he condemned it as “a covenant with Death, an Agreement with Hell”[79] Many attendants thought that he had morphed into an overzealous High Priest of Abolitionism, turning the movement in a sect. Others compared him with great religious reformers like Martin Luther. For some leaders abolitionism had become their new faith. It had evolved in a kind of church community that fitted men and women brought up with a strong Protestant Ethic and dislike for hypocrisy. The movement perfectly expressed their abhorrence over spiritual vacuums and political cowardice. Much of the appeal of abolitionism lay in the potential to rebuild essentially religious impulse and spiritual discontent into a constructive and acceptable social role. This they could not find within traditional Protestantism.[80] Most ministers remained silent. They feared that activism might harm their career. Hence the movement was taken over by laymen, religious outsiders and apostates. Also Garrison’s parents found it difficult to accept prevailing doctrines. They drifted away from the established church, looking for direct contact with God. [81]
Author Lydia Maria Child
Other distinguished abolitionists also had a history of religious restlessness. Author Lydia Maria Child (née Frances: 1802-1880) had been searching for a religious practice that would unite her heart and mind. In the 1830s, she and her husband, David Child, got inspired by articles of The Liberator and joined Garrison’s platoon of antislavery reformers. Garrison asked her to use her literary talents to promote abolition. In 1833, Maria Child describes the horrific conditions of slavery in: “An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans” [82] Like Garrison, she strongly argued in favor of emancipation now, without any compensation for their legal owners. She surveyed slavery from different angles – historical, political, economic, legal, and moral. Thus she made clear that Africans were morally and intellectually equal to Europeans, that emancipation was morally just. Besides it also was just from an economic perspective.[83] Child’s book was the first anti-slavery book printed in America. It aroused much consternation and a lot of aversion, in particular for her defense of interracial marriage. She lost many friends, readers, and revenue. This was quite unfortunate because her husband, a newspaperman, had lost his job and fallen into debt. But she remained undeterred, because she wanted: “to shoot the accursed institution from all quarters of the globe. …”
In spite of much vitriolic critique, Child’s book converted many people to abolitionism. 19 years later, Uncle Tom’s Cabin from Harriet Beecher Stowe would have a similar or even bigger impact. In 1841, Mary Child was offered $ 1,000 a year to edit the National Antislavery Standard. Despite her skills as editor, she could not meet the demands of all factions. The inability of ardent abolitionists to work together estranged her from the AASS. She resigned to focus on her literary career. In 1843, she published her popular columns for the National Anti-Slavery Standard in the form of a book. This restored her reputation. From then on, she published articles, anthologies, children’s literature, short stories and also more antislavery works; earning more than enough to pay her bills.
In May 1854, antislavery Senator Charles Sumner, a friend of the Child family, was almost beaten to death on the floor of the Senate. Enraged about this ghastly event, Mary Child wrote “The Kansas immigrants”, a story about law-abiding settlers persecuted by ruffians from Missouri. In 1860, she praised John Brown for his good intentions, but deplored his violent actions. At this point in time, Child reached the pinnacle of her fame. In 1865, the year of abolition, she designed The Freedmen’s Book. It promoted both self-respect and self-reliance for all freed blacks and mulattoes. It included inspiring biographical sketches of prominent Afro-Americans such as Frederick Douglass. Her last novel, A Romance of the Republic (1867), describes the story of two mulatto sisters that enjoyed a kindly and sheltered upbringing in New Orleans, but had to deal with many trials and tribulations during early adult life. Both of them married a white man and became respected matrons in Boston. Thus, Mary Child had returned to one of her favorite topics: racial intermarriage. Again it did hit a raw nerve. Even for many white abolitionists this was a step too far. She got disappointed again, but failed to notice the positive response from formerly enslaved people.
[1] This chapter 14 of my book The Abolition of Slavery. Draft: 15 Sep 2026. Words: 9854.
[2] George Fox. A Collection of Many and Select Christian Epistles of … George Fox. London: T. Sowle, 1698. p 117; Quoted by J. William Frost (See note 2)
[3] J. William Frost: George Fox’s Ambiguous Anti-slavery Legacy. In: New Light on George Fox (1624-1691) Ed. Bu Michael Mullet (York, England: William Sessions [1994], pp 69-88: Retrieved from Web.tricolib.brynmawr.edu.
[4] Idem
[5] Idem: o. c., pp. 69-88
[6] Idem
[7] Idem
[8] Katherine Reid Gerbner, Christian Slavery: Protestant Missions and Slave Conversion in the Atlantic World, 1660-1760. Dissertation, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, May, 2013
[9] Idem, p. iv
[10] Idem, p. 57
[11] Idem, p. 59
[12] Polygamy in Christianity: Wikipedia. Wikipedia refers to Gen 29:15-28, 1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16, 1 Kings 11:1-3.1Timothy 3:2, 1Timothy 3:12 and Titus 1:6
[13] History of Puritanism in North America: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 30 March 2024; Rufus M. Jones: Introduction of Journal of George Fox, o. c.; p. x.
[14] Richard T. Vann: Society of Friends. www.brittanica.com. Retrieved: 24 March 2024
[15] Quakers; Wikipedia. Retrieved 18-10-2022
[16] George Fox, Wikipedia. Retrieved: 11-10-2022; George Fox and the Quaker (Friends) Movement. George Fox and the Quaker Movement: |George Fox University. Retrieved: 11-10-2022
[17] Journal of George Fox: J.M. Dent & Sons, ltd. London, 1924. P. 1
[18] Idem; p. xv
[19] Zavada, Jack. “What Do Quakers Believe?” Learn Religions, Jul. 5, 2021. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2022 learnreligions.com/quakers-beliefs-and-practices-701370
[20] Isaiah 66:2: “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
[21] Quakers in Britain: www.quaker.org.uk. Retrieved: 25 March 2024
[22] Idem, p. 3
[23] Zavada: o. c.; Journal of George Fox, Idem
[24] Joel 2:28: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy …” Joel 2:29: “Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit …”
[25] J. William Frost: George Fox’s Ambiguous Anti-slavery Legacy. In; New Light on George Fox (1624-1691) Ed. By Michael Mullet (York, England: William Sessions [1994], pp 69-88:
[26] Marcelle Martin: Mary Fisher; Maidservant turned Prophet. Friendsjournal. February 1, 2008.
[27] Mary Fisher (missionary): en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 7-11-2022
[28] From the Islamic perspective, Jesus was not the son of God, but his 24th Prophet. Mohammed was the 25th Messenger of God.
[29] John Powel did not know or ignored that Pedro a Campos had discovered this island in 1536 and claimed it for the King of Portugal.
[30] Mary Fisher (missionary); en.wikipedia.org
[31] The early Quakers spoke of “conviction”. Christianization of “heathens” is called “Conversion”
[32] History of Boston: Wikepedia.org. Retrieved: 7-11-2022
[33] Jeannine Michele Graham: Ann Austin, Faculty Publications, George Fox School of Theology, digitalcommons.georgefox.edu. November 2016: Retrieved: 6-11-2022
[34] Mary Fisher (missionary): en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 14 March 2024
[35] Mary Dyer: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 14-11-2022
[36] Katherine Reid Gerbner, o. c. p. vi
[37] Anonymous Report: Great Newes from Barbadoes. Or a True and Faithful Account of the Grand Conspiracy of the Negroes against the English. London: Printed for L. Curtis in Goat Court upon Ludgate-Hill, 1676.
[38] Katherine Gerbner: Slavery in the Quaker World. Friendsjournal.org: Retrieved: 25 June 2021
[39] These four men were: Francis Daniel Pastorius, Garret Hendericks, Derick op den Graeff and Abraham op den Graeff.
[40] Mennonites are named after their founder Menno Simons, an excommunicated Catholic Priest from Dutch-Friesland. Mennonites believe in adult baptisms, strict pacifism, shunning oaths, foot washing and separation from the world (of non-Mennonites). Their strict segregation policy has resulted in maintaining their mother tongue until this very day.
[41] The Germantown Friends’ protest against slavery: www.teachingamericanhistory.org
[42] The Act of Settlement of 1701
[43] Arthur Middleton: William Law: Scholar, Mystic, Non-Juror and Wit. William Law (trushare.com) Retrieved: 12-12-2022
[44] Later in life Law might have rejected King George I for the bad treatment of his wife and the greed of his two German mistresses. Wikipedia: George I of Great Britain. Retrieved 10-10-2022. George I | king of Great Britain: Britannica. Retrieved: 24-10-2022
[45] https://www.christianitytoday.com: Retrieved: 10-10-2022
[46] Law, William: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life: Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians. Boston: T. Belington, 1821 p. 218.
[47] Rev. S. Harvey Gem: The Mysticism of William Law. Publisher: The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge: London, 1914. p. 20. (www.forgottenbooks.com.)
[48] Nathan Smith Kogan: Aberrations in the Body and in the Body Politic: The Eighteenth-Century Life of Benjamin Lay: Disabled Abolitionist. Disability Studies Quarterly: Vol. 36 No. 3 (2016).
[49] Benjamin Lay: Wikipedia. Retrieved: 25 April 2024
[50] Jill Lepore: These Truths: a History of the United States. W.W. Norton & Comp: New York, 2019, p 73-74
[51] Peter Boehler: Wikipedia. Retrieved: 24-10-2027
[52] Jackson, Thomas (1979). The Works of John Wesley (1872). Vol. 1. Kansas City, Mo: Beacon Hill’s. John Wesley: Sermon #1: Salvation by Faith, Preached at St. Mary’s Oxford, June 18, 1738 livrosgratis.com.br: Retrieved: 10-10-2022
[53] To be born again refers to the regeneration of one’s human spirit. Wesley defines this rebirth as the: “inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly testifies to their spirit that they are the children of God.” He referred to specific Biblical verses, such as Romans 8:15–16.
[54] John Wesley: Wikipedia; Retrieved 8 April 2018.
[55] The annual conference, established in 1744, acquired a governing power only after his death. Charles, John’s brother, wrote and translated many hymns.
[56] An account of the Life of John Wesley: Fox’s Book of Martyrs. Retrieved May 10, 2018
[57] This pamphlet went into four printings within two years. John Wesley: Thoughts upon Slavery. Electronic edition. docsouth.unc.edu.
[58] John Wesley, o. c. p. 56
[59] William Cowper: Wikipedia. Retrieved”17-10-2022
[60] His poem “Light Shining out of Darkness” gave the English language the phrase: “God moves in mysterious ways.” William Cowper: Wikipedia: Retrieved May 14, 2018.
[61] Cowper, William: Table Talk, and Other Poems. Philadelphia: Thomas Desilver, 1818
[62] Taught me what path to shun, and what pursue; Farewell my former joys! I sigh no more. For Africa’s once loved, benighted shore; Serving a benefactor I am free
[63] “Then would he say, submissive at thy feet, While gratitude and love made service sweet
My dear deliverer out of a hopeless night, Whose bounty bought me but to give me light,
[64] Ephesians 2:6; Davis, David Brion: The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1975, p. 43
[65] Granville Sharp: A Representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of admitting the least claim of private property in the persons of men, in England, etc, Granville Sharp: Biography and bibliography, brycchancarey.com; Retrieved 23 January 2018
[66] Leviticus 26:13
[67] “… remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you”
[68] R. Anstey quotes Charles Wesley’s hymn from the Methodist Hymn book: “Long my imprisoned spirit lay. Fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eyes diffused a quickening ray – I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free …” Anstey o. c.: p. 190
[69] Idem, p 191
[70] This and two subsequent autobiographies mark his great contributions to American culture. They are excellent examples of the slave narrative tradition and as classics of American autobiography. Reader’s Companion to American History: Eric Foner and John A. Garraty (Editors). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1991; Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Gutenberg.org
[71] Ronald G. Walters: The Antislavery Appeal: American Abolitionism after 1830. Baltimore & London: The John Hopkins University Press. 1976. p 39-40
[72] Idem: p 39-40
[73] Idem: p 37 e.v.
[74] Idem pp 48-49
[75] britannica.com/biography/William-Lloyd-Garrison, retrieved: 19-11-2022
[76] William Lloyd Garrison: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 21-11-2022
[77] britannica.com/topic/American-Anti-Slavery-Society. Retrieved: 22-11-2022
[78] The Slave’s Friend (NO. 2) The Slave’s Friend, children’s periodical published by R.G. Williams for the American Anti-Slavery Society (1836). The Newberry Library, Ruggles Fund, 1999 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
[79] Idem: Wikipedia refers to Finkelman, Paul (Winter 2000). Garrison’s Constitution: The Covenant with Death and How It Was Made. Prologue Magazine 32 (4).
[80] Ronald G. Walters: The Antislavery Appeal, o. c. pp 50-53
[81] Idem pp 45-47
[82] She went by her middle name.
[83] Lydia Maria Child: Wikipedia. Retrieved 12-10-2022. Wikipedia refers to “Samuels, Shirley. The Culture of Sentiment: Race, Gender and Sentimentality in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992: 64–70.”