Reviews for The Abolitionists And The South, 1831-1861

The average rating for The Abolitionists And The South, 1831-1861 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-06-23 00:00:00 Sharen Kenton As someone intensely interested in Baptist anti-slavery activism in the 19th century (and who isn't?!) this book is indispensable. It's one of few "modern" (1984!) treatments that goes into the subject with some depth. This book is not just first-rate historical scholarship, it's inspiring, illuminating, just superb. I think this book could (should!) be the launching point for much further study (i.e., "there is little or no biographical information available for many of these individuals" (69) Well??? Who's going to do something about that? With digitization of old books and newspapers, information about many of these figures *is* now available. (*climbs off soapbox*) Here's a little more detail. In the book McKivigan "examines the efforts of American abolitionists to persuade northern religious institutions to condemn slavery and to endorse immediate emancipation" (1). As Albert Barnes said, "There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it" (1). Yet, their efforts had minimal success: "all but a few small denominations balked at a commitment to uncompromised abolitionist principles and programs. As a result, civil war and government coercion, not moral suasion and church discipline, became the instrument that finally ended slavery in 1865" (1). The book exposes the controversies within the various anti-slavery groups, particularly "The Garrisonians" and the more evangelical groups. It also corrects some "important misperceptions that impair historical understanding between abolitionists and the churches" (14). You might think, based on the major schisms in the 1840s (i.e., the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845), that northern churches were militantly opposed to slavery. But this "ignores serious deficiencies in the northern churches' antislavery testimony" including maintaining fellowship and cooperation with slaveholders in denominational efforts. McKivigan covers all the major denominations, but my own particular interest is in the Baptists. He covers all of the major anti-slavery groups and figures, including Elon Galusha, Cyrus Grosvenor, Nathaniel Colver, Duncan Dunbar, Charles Denison, the American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention, and the American Baptist Free Mission Society, as well as their battles with more conservative "moderate" figures like Francis Wayland. McKivigan dives deep into primary sources and exposes the spectrum, the nuances, and the controversies among anti-slavery advocates. He also includes some really helpful tables quantitatively analyzing the denominational affiliation of the participants in various anti-slavery groups (like the AASS, the AFASS, the CASS, etc.) Interesting discussion of politics, including the Liberty Party, the Free-Soilers, and ultimately the Republican Party and the various tensions and differences between the two. I had no idea that some strident abolitionists worked against Lincoln's re-election in 1864 because he hadn't been strong enough on emancipation (!). One limitation is that the book focuses almost exclusively on white northern protestants, other than a very short section (107-09) on black Christians. This is a vitally important piece of anti-slavery history, and recent work (i.e., Manisha Sinha's The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition) has done much to fill in this gap. Highly recommended.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-01-06 00:00:00 Steve Moidel Gary Willis historical analysis knocks my pretty little historical framework socks off. (as he has before in Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, a rhetorical-historical analysis) We have heard of the Washington and Alexander Hamilton & Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Yet Willis combos John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, amd Timothy Pickering. Timothy Pickering who we mostly know as a historical footnote. Wills says that while Adam's and Jefferson have weighty importance American history, no one has begun done to do justice to the role Pickering played as a Federalist working to hold back slave power. Oh may I read that historical analysis when it comes into being. I read Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power as part of a reading survey of Thomas Jefferson with GR group Nonfiction Side Reads. I have left many comments and quotes there. As that group is a private group, that information can be accessed only by those friends. I will, as I often do, record some quotes in the next couple of days will be able to be seen by all interested.