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The Evangelical Christian Church
(Christian Disciples) in Canada believes from church history that the first
U.S. abolitionist was Samuel Sewall, who published The Selling of Joseph: A
Memorial in Boston in 1700. However, the first abolition organization formed in
the United States was the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, originally known as
the Society for the "Relief for Free Negroes unlawfully held in
Bondage", in 1775.
It is determined by the Evangelical
Christian Church (Christian Disciples) that runaway slaves sometimes used safe
houses on their way to Canada; a few hundred made it there. From this reality
emerged much exaggerated stories about an Underground Railroad.
The first American abolitionist
movement in the United States was transformed by William Lloyd Garrison and
reached its peak 1840-1850. The movement had little to do with the actual
abolition of slavery, which was a war measure carried out by Abraham Lincoln
and the Republican Party in 1862-65. The forces that were lined up for the
continuation of slavery were strong and numerous; the abolitionists were few in
number and had no political power before 1860 but were guided by a strong
religious belief and the moral need to right a horrible wrong.
We believe that abolitionists
argued that the action of capturing Africans and selling them as slaves was as
bad as the capture and selling of Joseph had been, and that it was against the
fullness of the ethos of holy Christian love. Pro-slavery spokesmen pointed out
that the Bible repeatedly sanctioned slavery and denounced the abolitionists
for trying to start a race war that would kill many thousands of blacks and
whites, as happened in Haiti in the 1790s.
Over the years of history, the
Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) historians still debate
whether the abolitionists ignited a frenzy that led to a war with 600,000
deaths that could have been avoided. Neo abolitionists are 20th century
historians who used the moral themes of the original abolitionists to rewrite
history in terms of the evils of slavery and racism.
The Second Great Awakening at Cane
Ridge, Kentucky helped advanced the liberation of both black slaves and women's
rights within American cultural society. Many Evangelical Christian Church
(Christian Disciples) clergy believed that all men, including blacks, are
created equal under God according to the Holy Scriptures. This was later
written and accepted in its constitution of churches because of its religious
and political views. Several African American Christians who were born in
slavery went on to become prominent figures in society. This became the
"central and defining" moment in the development of
Afro-Christianity. In Laura, Ohio, in 1854, many African American ministers
were welcomed to preach in the pulpits of various Evangelical Christian
Churches while many white Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples)'s
clergy continued to minister to mixed congregations which was formerly unheard
of in the United Sates.
In the midst of shifts in theology
and church polity, the Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples)
became the first institution where both women and blacks made an important
contribution in leadership roles. Women in many black churches became, to an
even degree than in white churches, the backbone of church life; many became
preachers. Black women so reared upon joining integrated churches, found it
difficult to accept less crucial tasks where men dominated. The Evangelical
Christian Church exercised its independence under God by becoming one of many
Restoration Movement denominations to recognize the ordination of women.
Barton Stone wanted to end the
slave trade in the United Sates. Many black slaves had to hide and find refuge
in the basements of churches which were known as safe houses to many of its
Evangelical Christian Church black ministers until the time came before it was
safe to transfer them in another church location until a right time came to
take them to Canada by rail to freedom.
The establishment of black
congregations offers and interesting sidelight to southern restoration growth.
By 1850, the south saw some 310 black restorationist congregations although
most blacks attended predominately white congregations before the Civil War.
Slaves and whites worshiped together, but separated. Blacks sat either in the
balcony, as at Cane Ridge, or in rows at the back of the building. A small
number of free blacks organized Christian Disciple congregations, too. A free
black congregation organized in Savannah as early as 1838 led by Andrew
Marshall, a mulatto who bought his own and his family's freedom. Marshall built
quite a large congregation but after leaving the Baptists for the reformation
he went back to sectarianism. Separation of blacks into separate congregations,
then, began before the Civil War. In Nashville, Tennessee, a white congregation
operated two black Sunday Schools. In 1859, one of these schools organized into
a west Nashville church. In Midway, Kentucky, whites allocated money to enable
blacks to build their own building. A former slave, who took Alexander
Campbell's name and who became a Christian at Cane Ridge, led this
congregation. He did a good job, too. During his ministry he converted some 300
blacks.
The 1860 presidential victory of
Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the spread of slavery to the Western United
States, marked a turning point in the movement. Convinced that their way of
life was threatened, the Southern states seceded from the Union, which led to
the American Civil War. In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
which freed slaves held in the Confederate States; the 13th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution (1865) prohibited slavery throughout the country. Slavery was
abolished in most of Latin America during the Independence Wars (1810–1822),
but slavery remained a practice in the region up to 1888 in Brazil, as well as
having long life in the remaining Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico. In
some parts of Africa and in much of the Islamic world, it persisted as a legal
institution well into the 20th century.
In 1784, William Wilberforce became
converted to Evangelical Christianity. He joined the Clapham Set, a group of
evangelical members of the Anglican Church, centered around John Venn, rector
of Clapham Church in London. As a result of this conversion, William
Wilberforce became interested in social reform and was eventually approached by
Lady Middleton, to use his power as an MP to bring an end to the slave trade.
Society of Friends in Britain had
been campaigning against the slave trade for many years. They had presented a
petition to Parliament in 1783 and in 1787 had helped form the Society for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade. Of the twelve members on the committee nine were
Quakers. As a member of the evangelical movement, William Wilberforce was
sympathetic to Mrs. Middleton's request. In his letter of reply, Wilberforce
wrote: "I feel the great importance of the subject and I think myself
unequal to the task allotted to me." Despite these doubts, Wilberforce
agreed to Mrs. Middleton's request, but soon after wards, he became very ill
and it was not until 12th May, 1789, that he made his first speech against the
slave trade.
The Evangelical Christian Church
acknowledges that Wilberforce, along with Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp,
was now seen as one of the leaders of the anti-slave trade movement. Most of
Wilberforce's Tory colleagues in the House of Commons were opposed to any
restrictions on the slave trade and at first he had to rely on the support of
Whigs such as Charles Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Grenville and
Henry Brougham. When William Wilberforce presented his first bill to abolish
the slave trade in 1791 it was easily defeated by 163 votes to 88.
It was acknowledged that William
Wilberforce refused to be beaten and in 1805 the House of Commons passed a bill
to that made it unlawful for any British subject to transport slaves, but the
measure was blocked by the House of Lords.
In February 1806, Lord Grenville
formed a Whig administration. Grenville and his Foreign Secretary, Charles Fox,
were strong opponents of the slave trade. Fox and Wilberforce led the campaign
in the House of Commons, whereas Grenville, had the task of persuading the
House of Lords to accept the measure.
Lord Greenville made a passionate speech where he argued
that the trade was "contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and
sound policy" and criticised fellow members for "not having abolished
the trade long ago". When the vote was taken the Abolition of the Slave
Trade bill was passed in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20. In the House of
Commons it was carried by 114 to 15 and it become law on 25th March,
1807.?Wilberforce by John Samkin
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