Slavery and the Civil War
Slavery and the Civil War
American religion flourished in the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. In particular, evangelical Christianity rose to a position of unprecedented cultural authority. Although wide variations exist, evangelicals are generally defined by four attributes: an emphasis on individual conversion; a focus on the saving power of Jesus's death and Resurrection; an appeal to the Bible as the ultimate religious authority; and an enthusiasm for witnessing and activism. As evangelicalism expanded, political discourse increasingly adopted evangelical overtones. Nowhere was this more true than in the conflict over American slavery. This chapter presents the following documents: Frederick Douglass' “Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country” (1847), George Armstrong's The Christian Doctrine of Slavery (1857), Julia Ward Howe's “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1862), and Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865).
Keywords: American religion, evangelical Christianity, slavery, Frederick Douglass, George Armstrong, Julia Ward Howe, Abraham Lincoln
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