FOOTNOTES

As to your coming South, let me just here state, for all, that you wholly misapprehend the spirit of our people. We ask not one thing of the North which has not been secured to us by the Constitution and laws since they were established and enacted, and which has been granted to us until within a few years past. We demand no sacrifice nor the surrender of Northern rights and privileges. The party that elected Mr. Lincoln proclaimed uncompromising hostility to the institution of slavery—an institution which existed here, and has done so from its beginning, in its patriarchal character. We feel ourselves under the most solemn obligations to take care of, and to provide for, these people who cannot provide for themselves. Nearly every free-soil state has prohibited them from settling in their territory. Where are they to go?

Here the bishop is seen as a defender of Southern institutions and ideals, yet he was loyal to the Union as an old Whig just as long as he could be. He wrote letters to members of the cabinet, begging caution and consideration. But when he felt that the South had been unnecessarily attacked, he fully identified himself and the Tennessee Episcopalians with the cause of the South. Writing to his daughter, May 24, 1861, he said, “And now, my dear child, you ask me if I think the cause of the South just, and that God will favor us and defends us. I answer, in very deed, I do.”[170]

When his slaves were set free in 1862, he called them into his parlor and gave them a father’s advice. He said: “I donot regret the departure of my servants, except Lavinia and Nora (children of eight and seven years of age); I pity them—I have endeavored to treat them always humanely. They had as comfortable rooms, and as many necessary comforts as myself. If they can do better by leaving me, they are free to do so.”[171]

It is undoubtedly true that the general spirit of frontier life was against slavery. It was always opposed to convention and privilege. In the early period of Tennessee politics when the anti-slavery feeling was strongest, frontier conditions prevailed. These pioneers, in the period from 1790 to 1834, were fighting for the suffrage, representation, and the right to hold office. These privileges were enjoyed only by property holders. Under such conditions, opposition to slaveholders, who primarily stood for privilege, was inevitable. The anti-slavery attitude of the churches was partly a result of these conditions as well as of religious sentiment. These people could express themselves through churches and independent societies more freely than through politics, which was generally dominated by slaveholders.

In estimating the work of the churches as a whole, one is compelled to acknowledge the value of their services to the negro. Practically all of the outstanding anti-slavery leaders were prominent churchmen. The anti-slavery literature of the early period was published under the inspiration of the church. The churches constantly advocated manumission to the masters, and sought easier terms from the legislature for emancipation. They preached against the slave traffic and the inhuman practice of separating families. Their influence also softened the character of the slave code in both its make-up and administration. In the later forties and fifties when the negroes came into the churches in increased numbers, their field of service was increased. There was almost as large a percentage of slaves belonging to the churches in 1860 as there is of negroes in the church today.[172]

The church was given a freer hand with the slaves, missions were established, church houses were built, and many of the slaves learned to read under the guidance of the church. Their characters were improved. The influence of the churches was always directed toward better living conditions, better food and clothing, and better treatment generally. Their influences were felt directly by the negroes as well as indirectly through Christian masters.

The individual churches in Tennessee differed considerably in their attitude toward slavery in the early period. In the order of their degree of hostility to slavery, the Friends should have first place, the Methodists second, Cumberland Presbyterians third, Baptists fourth, Presbyterians fifth, and Episcopalians sixth. From point of service, the Methodists should rank first, and the Baptists second. These two churches represented the masses of the slaveholders and contained the majority of the slaves that belonged to the church. It is difficult to estimate the work of the Baptists because there are no records of their local associations or their individual congregations. Through biographies and actions of Tennessee delegations to the Southern Convention after 1845, one can find convincing evidence that Tennessee Baptists did a valuable work for the negro. The sources for the study of the Methodists are much more abundant. It appears, therefore, that their work assumed larger proportions than that of any other denomination. “High and low alike,” says Harrison, “entered into this noble work. There was no phase of it too humble, no duty connected with it too unpleasant to deter the most earnest and painstaking effort. Bishop McTyeire, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, declared that during a long ministerial life there was nothing connected with it in which he took more pride and satisfaction than the remembrance of the more than three hundred services he had preached to negro congregations.”[173]

FOOTNOTES[1]Jernegan, M. W., Slavery and Conversion in the Colonies, pp. 516-7.[2]Ibid., p. 576.[3]Ibid., p. 514.[4]Col. Recs., I, 204.[5]Ibid., 857.[6]Ibid., 720.[7]Ibid., IV, 13.[8]Ibid., 794.[9]Ibid., VII, 126.[10]Ibid., 424.[11]Ibid., 705.[12]Matlock, L. C., The Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 17.[13]American Church History, XI, 1.[14]Tyerman, L., Life of Whitefield, II, 272. Whitefield is reported as having said: “I should think myself highly favored if I could purchase a good number of slaves in order to make their lives more comfortable and lay a foundation for bringing up their posterity in the nature and admonition of the Lord.” He died owning 75 slaves. American Church History, XI, 5.[15]Jernegan, op. cit., 515.[16]Matlock, op. cit., 17.[17]Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Conferences, 1773-1813, I, 5-6.[18]The first paragraph of this law shows the general tenor of these regulations:1. Every member of our society who has slaves in his possession shall, within twelve months after notice given to him by the Assistant (which the assistants are required immediately, and without any delay, to give to their respective circuits), legally execute and record an instrument whereby he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession who is between the ages of forty and forty-five immediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the age of forty-five; and every slave who is between the ages of twenty-five and forty immediately, or at farthest at the explication of five years from the date of said instrument; every slave who is between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five immediately or at farthest when they arrive at the age of thirty; and every slave under the age of twenty as soon as they arrive at the age of twenty-five at farthest; and every infant born in slavery after the above-mentioned rules are complied with immediately on its birth. McTyeire, Holland M., History of Methodism, II, pp. 375-378.[19]Minutes of the General Conferences, 1796-1844, pp. 40-1; Journal of the General Conference of 1800, pp. 37-44; American Church History, XI, 7.[20]Journal of the General Conference of 1816, p. 170.[21]“Resolved, by the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Conference assembled, That they are decidedly opposed to modern abolition, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention, to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and slave as it exists in the slaveholding states of this Union.” Journal of the General Conference of 1836, pp. 446-7.[22]Journal of the General Conference of 1840, p. 136.[23]The Finley Resolution was: “Whereas, the discipline of one church forbids the doing anything calculated to destroy an itinerant general superintendency; and, whereas, Bishop Andrew has become connected with slavery by marriage and otherwise, and this having drawn after it circumstances which, in the estimation of the General Conference, will greatly embarrass the exercise of his office as an itinerant general superintendent, if not in some places entirely prevent it; therefore, Resolved that it is the sense of this General Conference that he desist from the exercise of this office so long as this impediment exists.” Journal of General Conference of 1844, p. 85.[24]Bedford, A. H., History of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, p. 207.[25]Journal of the General Conference of 1844, p. 85.[26]Bedford, pp. 418-503; see also Wightman, W. M., Life of William Capers, pp. 398-425; Smith, G. G., Life and Letters of James Osgood Andrew, pp. 336-385.[27]Garrett and Goodpasture, p. 156; Goodspeed, p. 647.[28]Ibid., p. 157.[29]Harrison, W. P., The Gospel Among the Slaves, p. 61.[30]McFerrin, J. B., History of Methodism in Tennessee, I, pp. 26, 470, 523; Vol. II, pp. 132, 159, 262; see also McTyeire, p. 462; and Goodspeed, pp. 664, 667.Note: The minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodists in Tennessee were burned with the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, February, 1872. The publishing house has never been able to find another copy. McFerrin’s History of Methodism in Tennessee, which contains copious quotations from these minutes, is the only available source.[31]Supra, p.105.[32]Asbury, Thomas, Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury, Vol. 3, p. 290; Cartwright, Peter, Fifty Years as a Presiding Elder, pp. 53ff.; Goodspeed, pp. 663-667; Temple, O. P., East Tennessee and Civil War, pp. 97ff.[33]Goodspeed, p. 667.[34]Supra, p.106.[35]McFerrin, II, 261, 283; Goodspeed, pp. 667, 668.[36]McFerrin, II, 261.[37]McFerrin, II, 401.[38]The Code of 1817 is as follows:“If a local elder, deacon, or preacher, in our Church, shall purchase a slave or slaves, he shall lay his case before the Quarterly-Meeting Conference of his circuit as soon as practicable, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall say how long such slave or slaves serve as a remuneration to the purchaser; and on the decision of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, touching the time the slave or slaves shall serve, the purchaser shall, without delay, enter into a written obligation to the Quarterly-Meeting Conference to emancipate such slave or slaves at the expiration of the term of servitude,if the law of the Statewill admit; and such obligation shall be entered on the Journals of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference. But should the laws of the State continue rigidly to oppose the emancipation of slaves, so that their freedom, as above contemplated, should prove impracticable, during the term and at the end of the slave’s or slaves’ servitude, as determined by the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, he, the said elder, deacon, or preacher, shall, at the end of the time of servitude, again lay his case before the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall determine it according to the then existing slave rule of the Annual Conference to which he belongs; and should the said elder, deacon, or preacher, be dissatisfied with the decision of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, he shall be allowed an appeal to the ensuing Annual Conference, provided he then signifies his intention of so appealing.“2. If a private member in our society buy a slave or slaves, the preacher who has charge of the circuit shall summon a committee, of which he shall be president, or at least three disinterested male members from the class of which he or she is a member; and if a committee cannot be elected from the class to which the slave purchaser belongs, in such case the preacher may make up the committee from a neighboring class or classes, which committee shall determine the length of time such slave or slaves shall serve as a compensation to the purchaser, and immediately on the determination of the committee, touching the slave’s or slaves’ time of servitude, he or she, the purchaser, shall bind himself or herself in a written obligation to the church to have the emancipation of such slave or slaves, at the expiration of the given time, recorded as soon as practicable,if the laws of the States in which he or she live will admit of emancipation; and such obligation shall be filed among the papers of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference of the circuit in which he or she lives.But should the laws of the State in which the purchaser lives render it impracticable to emancipate said slave or slaves, during the time of servitude fixed by the committee for said slave or slaves, the preacher having charge of the circuit or station shall call a second committee at the end of the time of servitude who shall determine the case according to the then existing slave rule of the Annual Conference to which he or she belongs; and if he or she feel him or herself aggrieved, he or she shall be allowed an appeal to the ensuing Quarterly-Meeting Conference of his or her circuit. In all cases relative either to preachers or private members, the colored or bond-children born of slaves purchased, after their purchase and during the time of their bondage, male and female, shall be free at the age of twenty-five,if the law admit of emancipation;and if not, the case of those born of purchased slaves in bondage to said elder, deacon, or preacher, shall becognizableby the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, and in the case of those born of purchased slaves in bondage to private members, shall be cognizable by a committee of the above-mentioned kind, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference and committee shall decide in such case as the then existing slave rule shall or may direct;provided, nevertheless, the above rules be not so construed as to oblige an elder, deacon, preacher, or private member, to give security for the good behaviour and maintenance of the slave or slaves emancipated, should the court require it. If an elder, deacon, preacher, or private member, among us, shall sell a slave or slavesinto perpetual bondage, they shall thereby forfeit their membershipin our church. Therefore, in case an elder, deacon, or preacher sell a slave or slaves,he shall first submit the case to the Quarterly-Meeting Conferenceof which he is a member, and said Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall say for what term of years he shall sell his slave, or slaves, which term being fixed, the seller shall immediately record his, her, or their emancipation in the county court; and a private member selling a slave or slaves shall first acquaint the preacher having the charge of the circuit with his design, who shall summon a committee of the above-mentioned kind, of which he, the said preacher, shall be President. Said Committee shall say, for what term of years, he, she, or they shall sell his, her or their slave or slaves, and the seller shall be required immediately to record the emancipation of such slave or slaves in the county court. An elder, deacon, preacher, or private member among us, refusing to comply with the above rules, shall be dealt with as in other cases of immorality, and expelled.” McFerrin, II, 462-466.[39]McFerrin, II, p. 467.[40]Goodspeed, p. 669.[41]McFerrin, III, 19-20.[42]Ibid., p. 161.[43]Goodspeed, p. 670.[44]Ibid., p. 669; Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher, p. 195.[45]Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, p. 195.[46]Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, p. 196.[47]Goodspeed, pp. 669-670.[48]McFerrin, II, 195.[49]He proposed the following program for the church on slavery:1. That every householder in our church shall provide a comfortable house, with sufficient bed and bedding, for every slave in his possession.2. That each slave shall be clothed in decent apparel in summer and warm clothing in winter, and shall have plenty of good and wholesome food, and time to eat it.3. That every slave over ... years of age shall be taught to read the Holy Scriptures.4. That every slave over ... years of age shall be permitted to attend the worship of God ... times in every ...5. That every slave shall attend family worship twice a day.6. That every slave shall be allowed one hour for reading in every ...7. That no master shall inflict more than ... stripes for any one offense, nor any stripes on any one who is over ... years of age.8. That no slave shall be compelled to marry against his will.9. No master shall suffer man and wife, parent and child, to be parted without their consent when it is in his power—he being the owner of one—to prevent it by buying or selling at a fair price.10. On any complaint being made against a member for violation of these rules let the preacher appoint a committee of ... to investigate the facts and report to the society.11. Any member violating or refusing to comply with the above rules shall be dealt with as in other cases of immorality.—Recollections of Rev. John Johnson and His House, An Autobiography, 305-6.[50]McFerrin, II, 95.[51]Ibid., 494.[52]Ibid., 261; Goodspeed, 668.[53]McFerrin, III, 271.[54]Infra, pp.153-5.[55]Harrison, p. 151.[56]Ibid., pp. 61-2; Wightman, pp. 288-302.[57]Goodspeed, p. 676.[58]Harrison, p. 155.[59]Ibid., p. 161.[60]Harrison, p. 194.[61]Ibid., p. 195.[62]McFerrin, III, 387.[63]McFerrin, III, 389-90.[64]Harrison, 338-343.[65]Green, Wm. M., Life of A. L. P. Green, 167.[66]Bedford, pp. 214-5; 301.[67]Bedford, p. 601.[68]Ibid., p. 603.[69]Ibid., p. 605.[70]Ibid., p. 600.[71]Bedford, p. 423.[72]Ibid., p. 449.[73]These resolutions show the frame of mind of these people:“Whereas, the long-continued agitation on the subject of slavery and abolition in the Methodist Episcopal Church did, at the General Conference of said church, held in the city of New York, in May, 1844, result in the adoption of certain measures by that body which seriously threatened a disruption of the Church; and to avert this calamity, said General Conference did devise and adopt a plan contemplating the peaceful separation of the South and the North; and constituting the conferences in the slaveholding States, the sole judges of the necessity for such separation; and, whereas, the conferences in the slaveholding States, in the exercise of the right accorded to them by the General Conference, did, by their representatives in convention at Louisville, Ky., in May last, decide that separation was necessary, and proceeded to organize themselves into a separate and distinct ecclesiastical connection, under the style and title of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, basing their claim to a legitimate relation to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States upon their unwavering adherence to the Plan of Separation adopted by the General Conference of said church in 1844, and their devotion to the doctrines, discipline, and usages of the church as they received them from their fathers.And as the Plan of Separation provides that the conferences bordering on the geographical lines of separation shall decide their relation by the votes of the majority ... and also that ministers of every grade shall make their election North or South without censure—therefore,1. Resolved, That we now proceed to determine the question of our ecclesiastical relation by the vote of the conference.2. That we, the members of the Holston Annual Conference, claiming all the rights, powers, and privileges of an Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in the United States, do hereby make an election with, and adhere to, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.3. That while we thus declare our adherence to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, we repudiate the idea of secession in any schismatic or offensive sense of the phrase, as we neither give up nor surrender anything which we have received as constituting any part of Methodism, and adhere to the Southern ecclesiastical organization. Plan of Separation, adopted by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at its session in New York in May, 1844.4. That we are satisfied with our Book of Discipline as it is on the subject of slavery, as recorded in that book; and that we will not tolerate any change whatever, except such verbal and unimportant alterations as may, in the judgment of the General Conference, facilitate the work in which we are engaged, and promote uniformity and harmony in our administration.5. That the journals of our present session, as well as all our official business, be henceforth conformed in style and title to our ecclesiastical relation.6. That it is our desire to cultivate and maintain fraternal relations with our brethren of the North. And we do most sincerely deprecate the continuance of paper warfare either by editors or correspondents, in our official church papers, and devoutly pray for the speedy return of peace and harmony in the Church, both North and South.7. That the Holston Annual Conference most heartily commend the course of our beloved Bishops, Saule and Andrew, during the recent agitations which have resulted in the territorial and jurisdictional separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that we tender them our thanks for their steady adherence to principle and the best interests of the slave population.”—Bedford, pp. 500-503.[74]Harrison, 302.[75]Ibid., 318.[76]Harrison, 324.[77]Ibid., 326.[78]Minutes of the Annual Conferences of M. E. Church, South, I, 1845-1859, 16-25.[79]Ibid., 167, 172, 181.[80]Ibid., 273, 290, 295.[81]Ibid., 385, 392, 403.[82]Ibid., II, 214, 218, 223.[83]Minutes of the Annual Conference of M. E. Church, South, II, 1845-1859, 214, 218, 203.[84]American Church History, XI, pp. 66-7.[85]26th Annual Report of American Anti-slavery Society, 1859, 115.[86]McTyeire, III, 536.[87]Milburn, W. H., Ten Years of a Preacher’s Life, 337.[88]Cartwright, Fifty Years a Presiding Elder, p. 24.[89]Cartwright, Autobiography, p. 157.[90]Col. Recs., III, p. 48.[91]Garrett and Goodpasture, p. 156.[92]Newman, A. H., History of Baptist Churches in United States, p. 338.[93]Briggs, Charles A., American Presbyterianism, pp. 59-60.[94]Newman, p. 305.[95]Ibid., p. 338.[96]Pius, N. H., An Outline of Baptist History, p. 131.[97]Harrison, pp. 65, 91.[98]Col. Recs. VIII, 164.[99]Buckley, James M., History of Methodism, I, 373, 375.[100]Harrison, 58.[101]Riley, B. F., History of the Baptists in Southern States East of the Mississippi, p. 199.[102]Ibid., p. 201.[103]Riley, p. 205.[104]Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1845, pp. 18, 19.[105]Riley, p. 211.[106]Pendleton, J. M., Reminiscences of a Long Life, p. 112.[107]Ibid., 113.[108]Professor Pendleton remained at Union University during the war and was a loyal unionist. He preached on Sunday and worked on the farm during the week. He constantly expected to be taken from his home and hanged. He always prepared at night a method of escape, yet he, despite proposals by the citizens of the community to hang him, never had to execute his plans. He lived in constant fear until the Army of the Cumberland occupied Murfreesboro in 1863.—Pendleton, op. cit., 127.[109]Proceedings of Southern Baptist Convention, 1845, p. 35.[110]Ibid., p. 28.[111]Proceedings of Southern Baptist Convention, 1859-60, p. 89.[112]Pendleton, p. 127.[113]Pius, p. 61.[114]Garrett and Goodpasture, 160.[115]McDonald, B. W., History of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, p. 411.[116]Cossitt, Franceway Ranna, The Life of Rev. Finis Ewing, p. 273.[117]McDonald, p. 411.[118]Letters furnished by Hon. F. E. McLean (Quoted by McDonald, 412).[119]McDonald, p. 412.[120]Diary of Beard, A. J., July 11, 1855.[121]McDonald, p. 414.[122]Ibid., 415.[123]The Cumberland Presbyterian, August 19, 1835.[124]McDonald, p. 417.[125]Minutes of the Assembly of 1848, pp. 12, 13.[126]Minutes of the Assembly of 1851, p. 16.[127]Minutes of the Assembly of 1851, pp. 56, 57. This committee consisted of LeRoy Woods, Ind., A. J. Beard, Ky., J. J. Meek, Miss., N. P. Modrall, Tenn., J. H. Coulter, Ohio, S. E. Hudson, Penn., and J. C. Henson, Ind.[128]Weeks, S. B., Southern Quakers and Slavery, p. 199 (Baltimore, 1896).[129]Ibid., p. 207.[130]Ibid., 207-8.[131]Ibid., 208.[132]American Church History, XII, 245.[133]Weeks, 201.[134]Ibid., 206.[135]Ibid., 207.[136]Weeks, 221.[137]Ibid., 225.[138]Hoss, E. E., Elihu Embree, Abolitionist, p. 11.[139]Petition of Society of Friends, 1817 (Archives of State). This petition was signed by Elihu Embree and nine other Friends.[140]Goodspeed, p. 645.[141]Goodspeed, p. 646.[142]Gillet, E. H., History of Presbyterian Church in United States of America, I, 201. These synods said:“We do highly approve of the general principles in favor of universal liberty that prevail in America, and of the interest which many of the states have taken in promoting the abolition of slavery. Yet, inasmuch as men, introduced from a servile state to a participation of all the privileges of civil society, without a proper education, and without previous habits of industry, may be, in some respects, dangerous to the community; therefore, they earnestly recommend it to all the members belonging to their communion to give those persons, who are at present held in servitude, such good education as may prepare them for the better enjoyment of freedom. And they moreover recommend that masters, whenever they find servants disposed to make a proper improvement of that privilege, would give them some share of property to begin with, or grant them sufficient time and sufficient means of procuring, by industry, their own liberty; and at a moderate rate, that they may thereby be brought into society with those habits of industry that may render them useful citizens; and, finally, they recommend it to all the people under their care, to use the most prudent measures consistent with the interest and the state of civil society in the parts where they live, to procure eventually the final abolition of slavery in America.”[143]Minutes of the Assembly of 1795, Quoted by Gillet, I, 284.[144]Ibid., p. 285. The committee reported that “a neglect of this (religious education) is inconsistent with the character of a Christian master, but the observance might prevent, in great part, what is really the moral evil attending slavery—namely, allowing precious souls under the charge of masters to perish for lack of knowledge.”[145]Gillet, I, 453. The assembly urged religious education on the slaves “that they may be prepared for the exercise and enjoyment of liberty when God in his providence may open a door for their emancipation.” As to buying and selling of slaves, it recommended “Presbyteries and Sessions under their care to make use of all prudent measures to prevent such shameful and unrighteous conduct.”[146]Ibid., II, pp. 239-41. The assembly said: “We consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature, as utterly inconsistent with the laws of God, which requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, which enjoins that all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”[147]Gillet, II, 241.[148]Ibid., 242. See also Fourth Annual Report of American Anti-slavery Society, 1837, p. 62; and Patton, Jacob Harris, Popular History of the Presbyterian Church, p. 444.[149]Thompson, R. E., History of Presbyterian Churches in the United States, p. 123.[150]Thirteenth Annual Report of American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, 1827, pp. 67-8.[151]Tenth Annual Report of American Colonization Society, 1827, pp. 67-8.[152]Quarterly Review of the M. E. Church, South, April, 1892, 119-120.[153]Methodist Quarterly Review, lxiii, 132.[154]Quarterly Review of the M. E. Church, South, April, 1892, 120.[155]Thirteenth Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, 1853, p. 80.[156]Ibid., p. 71.[157]Thirteenth Annual Report of American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, 1853, pp. 73-4.[158]Ibid., pp. 67-8.[159]Ibid., p. 82.[160]McNeilly, James H., Religion and Slavery, p. 42.[161]Harrison, p. 91.[162]Ibid., p. 92.[163]Goodspeed, p. 683.[164]Harrison, p. 40.[165]Ibid., 67.[166]Ibid., 73.[167]Goodspeed, p. 694.[168]Ibid., p. 697.[169]Ibid., p. 698.[170]Memoirs of Rt. James H. Otey, p. 94.[171]Memoirs of Rt. James H. Otey, p. 93.[172]Harrison, 304.[173]Harrison, 304.

[1]Jernegan, M. W., Slavery and Conversion in the Colonies, pp. 516-7.

[2]Ibid., p. 576.

[3]Ibid., p. 514.

[4]Col. Recs., I, 204.

[5]Ibid., 857.

[6]Ibid., 720.

[7]Ibid., IV, 13.

[8]Ibid., 794.

[9]Ibid., VII, 126.

[10]Ibid., 424.

[11]Ibid., 705.

[12]Matlock, L. C., The Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 17.

[13]American Church History, XI, 1.

[14]Tyerman, L., Life of Whitefield, II, 272. Whitefield is reported as having said: “I should think myself highly favored if I could purchase a good number of slaves in order to make their lives more comfortable and lay a foundation for bringing up their posterity in the nature and admonition of the Lord.” He died owning 75 slaves. American Church History, XI, 5.

[15]Jernegan, op. cit., 515.

[16]Matlock, op. cit., 17.

[17]Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Conferences, 1773-1813, I, 5-6.

[18]The first paragraph of this law shows the general tenor of these regulations:1. Every member of our society who has slaves in his possession shall, within twelve months after notice given to him by the Assistant (which the assistants are required immediately, and without any delay, to give to their respective circuits), legally execute and record an instrument whereby he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession who is between the ages of forty and forty-five immediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the age of forty-five; and every slave who is between the ages of twenty-five and forty immediately, or at farthest at the explication of five years from the date of said instrument; every slave who is between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five immediately or at farthest when they arrive at the age of thirty; and every slave under the age of twenty as soon as they arrive at the age of twenty-five at farthest; and every infant born in slavery after the above-mentioned rules are complied with immediately on its birth. McTyeire, Holland M., History of Methodism, II, pp. 375-378.

[18]The first paragraph of this law shows the general tenor of these regulations:

1. Every member of our society who has slaves in his possession shall, within twelve months after notice given to him by the Assistant (which the assistants are required immediately, and without any delay, to give to their respective circuits), legally execute and record an instrument whereby he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession who is between the ages of forty and forty-five immediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the age of forty-five; and every slave who is between the ages of twenty-five and forty immediately, or at farthest at the explication of five years from the date of said instrument; every slave who is between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five immediately or at farthest when they arrive at the age of thirty; and every slave under the age of twenty as soon as they arrive at the age of twenty-five at farthest; and every infant born in slavery after the above-mentioned rules are complied with immediately on its birth. McTyeire, Holland M., History of Methodism, II, pp. 375-378.

[19]Minutes of the General Conferences, 1796-1844, pp. 40-1; Journal of the General Conference of 1800, pp. 37-44; American Church History, XI, 7.

[20]Journal of the General Conference of 1816, p. 170.

[21]“Resolved, by the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Conference assembled, That they are decidedly opposed to modern abolition, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention, to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and slave as it exists in the slaveholding states of this Union.” Journal of the General Conference of 1836, pp. 446-7.

[22]Journal of the General Conference of 1840, p. 136.

[23]The Finley Resolution was: “Whereas, the discipline of one church forbids the doing anything calculated to destroy an itinerant general superintendency; and, whereas, Bishop Andrew has become connected with slavery by marriage and otherwise, and this having drawn after it circumstances which, in the estimation of the General Conference, will greatly embarrass the exercise of his office as an itinerant general superintendent, if not in some places entirely prevent it; therefore, Resolved that it is the sense of this General Conference that he desist from the exercise of this office so long as this impediment exists.” Journal of General Conference of 1844, p. 85.

[24]Bedford, A. H., History of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, p. 207.

[25]Journal of the General Conference of 1844, p. 85.

[26]Bedford, pp. 418-503; see also Wightman, W. M., Life of William Capers, pp. 398-425; Smith, G. G., Life and Letters of James Osgood Andrew, pp. 336-385.

[27]Garrett and Goodpasture, p. 156; Goodspeed, p. 647.

[28]Ibid., p. 157.

[29]Harrison, W. P., The Gospel Among the Slaves, p. 61.

[30]McFerrin, J. B., History of Methodism in Tennessee, I, pp. 26, 470, 523; Vol. II, pp. 132, 159, 262; see also McTyeire, p. 462; and Goodspeed, pp. 664, 667.Note: The minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodists in Tennessee were burned with the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, February, 1872. The publishing house has never been able to find another copy. McFerrin’s History of Methodism in Tennessee, which contains copious quotations from these minutes, is the only available source.

[30]McFerrin, J. B., History of Methodism in Tennessee, I, pp. 26, 470, 523; Vol. II, pp. 132, 159, 262; see also McTyeire, p. 462; and Goodspeed, pp. 664, 667.

Note: The minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodists in Tennessee were burned with the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, February, 1872. The publishing house has never been able to find another copy. McFerrin’s History of Methodism in Tennessee, which contains copious quotations from these minutes, is the only available source.

[31]Supra, p.105.

[32]Asbury, Thomas, Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury, Vol. 3, p. 290; Cartwright, Peter, Fifty Years as a Presiding Elder, pp. 53ff.; Goodspeed, pp. 663-667; Temple, O. P., East Tennessee and Civil War, pp. 97ff.

[33]Goodspeed, p. 667.

[34]Supra, p.106.

[35]McFerrin, II, 261, 283; Goodspeed, pp. 667, 668.

[36]McFerrin, II, 261.

[37]McFerrin, II, 401.

[38]The Code of 1817 is as follows:“If a local elder, deacon, or preacher, in our Church, shall purchase a slave or slaves, he shall lay his case before the Quarterly-Meeting Conference of his circuit as soon as practicable, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall say how long such slave or slaves serve as a remuneration to the purchaser; and on the decision of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, touching the time the slave or slaves shall serve, the purchaser shall, without delay, enter into a written obligation to the Quarterly-Meeting Conference to emancipate such slave or slaves at the expiration of the term of servitude,if the law of the Statewill admit; and such obligation shall be entered on the Journals of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference. But should the laws of the State continue rigidly to oppose the emancipation of slaves, so that their freedom, as above contemplated, should prove impracticable, during the term and at the end of the slave’s or slaves’ servitude, as determined by the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, he, the said elder, deacon, or preacher, shall, at the end of the time of servitude, again lay his case before the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall determine it according to the then existing slave rule of the Annual Conference to which he belongs; and should the said elder, deacon, or preacher, be dissatisfied with the decision of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, he shall be allowed an appeal to the ensuing Annual Conference, provided he then signifies his intention of so appealing.“2. If a private member in our society buy a slave or slaves, the preacher who has charge of the circuit shall summon a committee, of which he shall be president, or at least three disinterested male members from the class of which he or she is a member; and if a committee cannot be elected from the class to which the slave purchaser belongs, in such case the preacher may make up the committee from a neighboring class or classes, which committee shall determine the length of time such slave or slaves shall serve as a compensation to the purchaser, and immediately on the determination of the committee, touching the slave’s or slaves’ time of servitude, he or she, the purchaser, shall bind himself or herself in a written obligation to the church to have the emancipation of such slave or slaves, at the expiration of the given time, recorded as soon as practicable,if the laws of the States in which he or she live will admit of emancipation; and such obligation shall be filed among the papers of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference of the circuit in which he or she lives.But should the laws of the State in which the purchaser lives render it impracticable to emancipate said slave or slaves, during the time of servitude fixed by the committee for said slave or slaves, the preacher having charge of the circuit or station shall call a second committee at the end of the time of servitude who shall determine the case according to the then existing slave rule of the Annual Conference to which he or she belongs; and if he or she feel him or herself aggrieved, he or she shall be allowed an appeal to the ensuing Quarterly-Meeting Conference of his or her circuit. In all cases relative either to preachers or private members, the colored or bond-children born of slaves purchased, after their purchase and during the time of their bondage, male and female, shall be free at the age of twenty-five,if the law admit of emancipation;and if not, the case of those born of purchased slaves in bondage to said elder, deacon, or preacher, shall becognizableby the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, and in the case of those born of purchased slaves in bondage to private members, shall be cognizable by a committee of the above-mentioned kind, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference and committee shall decide in such case as the then existing slave rule shall or may direct;provided, nevertheless, the above rules be not so construed as to oblige an elder, deacon, preacher, or private member, to give security for the good behaviour and maintenance of the slave or slaves emancipated, should the court require it. If an elder, deacon, preacher, or private member, among us, shall sell a slave or slavesinto perpetual bondage, they shall thereby forfeit their membershipin our church. Therefore, in case an elder, deacon, or preacher sell a slave or slaves,he shall first submit the case to the Quarterly-Meeting Conferenceof which he is a member, and said Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall say for what term of years he shall sell his slave, or slaves, which term being fixed, the seller shall immediately record his, her, or their emancipation in the county court; and a private member selling a slave or slaves shall first acquaint the preacher having the charge of the circuit with his design, who shall summon a committee of the above-mentioned kind, of which he, the said preacher, shall be President. Said Committee shall say, for what term of years, he, she, or they shall sell his, her or their slave or slaves, and the seller shall be required immediately to record the emancipation of such slave or slaves in the county court. An elder, deacon, preacher, or private member among us, refusing to comply with the above rules, shall be dealt with as in other cases of immorality, and expelled.” McFerrin, II, 462-466.

[38]The Code of 1817 is as follows:

“If a local elder, deacon, or preacher, in our Church, shall purchase a slave or slaves, he shall lay his case before the Quarterly-Meeting Conference of his circuit as soon as practicable, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall say how long such slave or slaves serve as a remuneration to the purchaser; and on the decision of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, touching the time the slave or slaves shall serve, the purchaser shall, without delay, enter into a written obligation to the Quarterly-Meeting Conference to emancipate such slave or slaves at the expiration of the term of servitude,if the law of the Statewill admit; and such obligation shall be entered on the Journals of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference. But should the laws of the State continue rigidly to oppose the emancipation of slaves, so that their freedom, as above contemplated, should prove impracticable, during the term and at the end of the slave’s or slaves’ servitude, as determined by the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, he, the said elder, deacon, or preacher, shall, at the end of the time of servitude, again lay his case before the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall determine it according to the then existing slave rule of the Annual Conference to which he belongs; and should the said elder, deacon, or preacher, be dissatisfied with the decision of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, he shall be allowed an appeal to the ensuing Annual Conference, provided he then signifies his intention of so appealing.

“2. If a private member in our society buy a slave or slaves, the preacher who has charge of the circuit shall summon a committee, of which he shall be president, or at least three disinterested male members from the class of which he or she is a member; and if a committee cannot be elected from the class to which the slave purchaser belongs, in such case the preacher may make up the committee from a neighboring class or classes, which committee shall determine the length of time such slave or slaves shall serve as a compensation to the purchaser, and immediately on the determination of the committee, touching the slave’s or slaves’ time of servitude, he or she, the purchaser, shall bind himself or herself in a written obligation to the church to have the emancipation of such slave or slaves, at the expiration of the given time, recorded as soon as practicable,if the laws of the States in which he or she live will admit of emancipation; and such obligation shall be filed among the papers of the Quarterly-Meeting Conference of the circuit in which he or she lives.But should the laws of the State in which the purchaser lives render it impracticable to emancipate said slave or slaves, during the time of servitude fixed by the committee for said slave or slaves, the preacher having charge of the circuit or station shall call a second committee at the end of the time of servitude who shall determine the case according to the then existing slave rule of the Annual Conference to which he or she belongs; and if he or she feel him or herself aggrieved, he or she shall be allowed an appeal to the ensuing Quarterly-Meeting Conference of his or her circuit. In all cases relative either to preachers or private members, the colored or bond-children born of slaves purchased, after their purchase and during the time of their bondage, male and female, shall be free at the age of twenty-five,if the law admit of emancipation;and if not, the case of those born of purchased slaves in bondage to said elder, deacon, or preacher, shall becognizableby the Quarterly-Meeting Conference, and in the case of those born of purchased slaves in bondage to private members, shall be cognizable by a committee of the above-mentioned kind, which Quarterly-Meeting Conference and committee shall decide in such case as the then existing slave rule shall or may direct;provided, nevertheless, the above rules be not so construed as to oblige an elder, deacon, preacher, or private member, to give security for the good behaviour and maintenance of the slave or slaves emancipated, should the court require it. If an elder, deacon, preacher, or private member, among us, shall sell a slave or slavesinto perpetual bondage, they shall thereby forfeit their membershipin our church. Therefore, in case an elder, deacon, or preacher sell a slave or slaves,he shall first submit the case to the Quarterly-Meeting Conferenceof which he is a member, and said Quarterly-Meeting Conference shall say for what term of years he shall sell his slave, or slaves, which term being fixed, the seller shall immediately record his, her, or their emancipation in the county court; and a private member selling a slave or slaves shall first acquaint the preacher having the charge of the circuit with his design, who shall summon a committee of the above-mentioned kind, of which he, the said preacher, shall be President. Said Committee shall say, for what term of years, he, she, or they shall sell his, her or their slave or slaves, and the seller shall be required immediately to record the emancipation of such slave or slaves in the county court. An elder, deacon, preacher, or private member among us, refusing to comply with the above rules, shall be dealt with as in other cases of immorality, and expelled.” McFerrin, II, 462-466.

[39]McFerrin, II, p. 467.

[40]Goodspeed, p. 669.

[41]McFerrin, III, 19-20.

[42]Ibid., p. 161.

[43]Goodspeed, p. 670.

[44]Ibid., p. 669; Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher, p. 195.

[45]Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, p. 195.

[46]Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, p. 196.

[47]Goodspeed, pp. 669-670.

[48]McFerrin, II, 195.

[49]He proposed the following program for the church on slavery:1. That every householder in our church shall provide a comfortable house, with sufficient bed and bedding, for every slave in his possession.2. That each slave shall be clothed in decent apparel in summer and warm clothing in winter, and shall have plenty of good and wholesome food, and time to eat it.3. That every slave over ... years of age shall be taught to read the Holy Scriptures.4. That every slave over ... years of age shall be permitted to attend the worship of God ... times in every ...5. That every slave shall attend family worship twice a day.6. That every slave shall be allowed one hour for reading in every ...7. That no master shall inflict more than ... stripes for any one offense, nor any stripes on any one who is over ... years of age.8. That no slave shall be compelled to marry against his will.9. No master shall suffer man and wife, parent and child, to be parted without their consent when it is in his power—he being the owner of one—to prevent it by buying or selling at a fair price.10. On any complaint being made against a member for violation of these rules let the preacher appoint a committee of ... to investigate the facts and report to the society.11. Any member violating or refusing to comply with the above rules shall be dealt with as in other cases of immorality.—Recollections of Rev. John Johnson and His House, An Autobiography, 305-6.

[49]He proposed the following program for the church on slavery:

1. That every householder in our church shall provide a comfortable house, with sufficient bed and bedding, for every slave in his possession.

2. That each slave shall be clothed in decent apparel in summer and warm clothing in winter, and shall have plenty of good and wholesome food, and time to eat it.

3. That every slave over ... years of age shall be taught to read the Holy Scriptures.

4. That every slave over ... years of age shall be permitted to attend the worship of God ... times in every ...

5. That every slave shall attend family worship twice a day.

6. That every slave shall be allowed one hour for reading in every ...

7. That no master shall inflict more than ... stripes for any one offense, nor any stripes on any one who is over ... years of age.

8. That no slave shall be compelled to marry against his will.

9. No master shall suffer man and wife, parent and child, to be parted without their consent when it is in his power—he being the owner of one—to prevent it by buying or selling at a fair price.

10. On any complaint being made against a member for violation of these rules let the preacher appoint a committee of ... to investigate the facts and report to the society.

11. Any member violating or refusing to comply with the above rules shall be dealt with as in other cases of immorality.—Recollections of Rev. John Johnson and His House, An Autobiography, 305-6.

[50]McFerrin, II, 95.

[51]Ibid., 494.

[52]Ibid., 261; Goodspeed, 668.

[53]McFerrin, III, 271.

[54]Infra, pp.153-5.

[55]Harrison, p. 151.

[56]Ibid., pp. 61-2; Wightman, pp. 288-302.

[57]Goodspeed, p. 676.

[58]Harrison, p. 155.

[59]Ibid., p. 161.

[60]Harrison, p. 194.

[61]Ibid., p. 195.

[62]McFerrin, III, 387.

[63]McFerrin, III, 389-90.

[64]Harrison, 338-343.

[65]Green, Wm. M., Life of A. L. P. Green, 167.

[66]Bedford, pp. 214-5; 301.

[67]Bedford, p. 601.

[68]Ibid., p. 603.

[69]Ibid., p. 605.

[70]Ibid., p. 600.

[71]Bedford, p. 423.

[72]Ibid., p. 449.

[73]These resolutions show the frame of mind of these people:“Whereas, the long-continued agitation on the subject of slavery and abolition in the Methodist Episcopal Church did, at the General Conference of said church, held in the city of New York, in May, 1844, result in the adoption of certain measures by that body which seriously threatened a disruption of the Church; and to avert this calamity, said General Conference did devise and adopt a plan contemplating the peaceful separation of the South and the North; and constituting the conferences in the slaveholding States, the sole judges of the necessity for such separation; and, whereas, the conferences in the slaveholding States, in the exercise of the right accorded to them by the General Conference, did, by their representatives in convention at Louisville, Ky., in May last, decide that separation was necessary, and proceeded to organize themselves into a separate and distinct ecclesiastical connection, under the style and title of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, basing their claim to a legitimate relation to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States upon their unwavering adherence to the Plan of Separation adopted by the General Conference of said church in 1844, and their devotion to the doctrines, discipline, and usages of the church as they received them from their fathers.And as the Plan of Separation provides that the conferences bordering on the geographical lines of separation shall decide their relation by the votes of the majority ... and also that ministers of every grade shall make their election North or South without censure—therefore,1. Resolved, That we now proceed to determine the question of our ecclesiastical relation by the vote of the conference.2. That we, the members of the Holston Annual Conference, claiming all the rights, powers, and privileges of an Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in the United States, do hereby make an election with, and adhere to, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.3. That while we thus declare our adherence to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, we repudiate the idea of secession in any schismatic or offensive sense of the phrase, as we neither give up nor surrender anything which we have received as constituting any part of Methodism, and adhere to the Southern ecclesiastical organization. Plan of Separation, adopted by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at its session in New York in May, 1844.4. That we are satisfied with our Book of Discipline as it is on the subject of slavery, as recorded in that book; and that we will not tolerate any change whatever, except such verbal and unimportant alterations as may, in the judgment of the General Conference, facilitate the work in which we are engaged, and promote uniformity and harmony in our administration.5. That the journals of our present session, as well as all our official business, be henceforth conformed in style and title to our ecclesiastical relation.6. That it is our desire to cultivate and maintain fraternal relations with our brethren of the North. And we do most sincerely deprecate the continuance of paper warfare either by editors or correspondents, in our official church papers, and devoutly pray for the speedy return of peace and harmony in the Church, both North and South.7. That the Holston Annual Conference most heartily commend the course of our beloved Bishops, Saule and Andrew, during the recent agitations which have resulted in the territorial and jurisdictional separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that we tender them our thanks for their steady adherence to principle and the best interests of the slave population.”—Bedford, pp. 500-503.

[73]These resolutions show the frame of mind of these people:

“Whereas, the long-continued agitation on the subject of slavery and abolition in the Methodist Episcopal Church did, at the General Conference of said church, held in the city of New York, in May, 1844, result in the adoption of certain measures by that body which seriously threatened a disruption of the Church; and to avert this calamity, said General Conference did devise and adopt a plan contemplating the peaceful separation of the South and the North; and constituting the conferences in the slaveholding States, the sole judges of the necessity for such separation; and, whereas, the conferences in the slaveholding States, in the exercise of the right accorded to them by the General Conference, did, by their representatives in convention at Louisville, Ky., in May last, decide that separation was necessary, and proceeded to organize themselves into a separate and distinct ecclesiastical connection, under the style and title of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, basing their claim to a legitimate relation to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States upon their unwavering adherence to the Plan of Separation adopted by the General Conference of said church in 1844, and their devotion to the doctrines, discipline, and usages of the church as they received them from their fathers.

And as the Plan of Separation provides that the conferences bordering on the geographical lines of separation shall decide their relation by the votes of the majority ... and also that ministers of every grade shall make their election North or South without censure—therefore,

1. Resolved, That we now proceed to determine the question of our ecclesiastical relation by the vote of the conference.

2. That we, the members of the Holston Annual Conference, claiming all the rights, powers, and privileges of an Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in the United States, do hereby make an election with, and adhere to, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

3. That while we thus declare our adherence to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, we repudiate the idea of secession in any schismatic or offensive sense of the phrase, as we neither give up nor surrender anything which we have received as constituting any part of Methodism, and adhere to the Southern ecclesiastical organization. Plan of Separation, adopted by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at its session in New York in May, 1844.

4. That we are satisfied with our Book of Discipline as it is on the subject of slavery, as recorded in that book; and that we will not tolerate any change whatever, except such verbal and unimportant alterations as may, in the judgment of the General Conference, facilitate the work in which we are engaged, and promote uniformity and harmony in our administration.

5. That the journals of our present session, as well as all our official business, be henceforth conformed in style and title to our ecclesiastical relation.

6. That it is our desire to cultivate and maintain fraternal relations with our brethren of the North. And we do most sincerely deprecate the continuance of paper warfare either by editors or correspondents, in our official church papers, and devoutly pray for the speedy return of peace and harmony in the Church, both North and South.

7. That the Holston Annual Conference most heartily commend the course of our beloved Bishops, Saule and Andrew, during the recent agitations which have resulted in the territorial and jurisdictional separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that we tender them our thanks for their steady adherence to principle and the best interests of the slave population.”—Bedford, pp. 500-503.

[74]Harrison, 302.

[75]Ibid., 318.

[76]Harrison, 324.

[77]Ibid., 326.

[78]Minutes of the Annual Conferences of M. E. Church, South, I, 1845-1859, 16-25.

[79]Ibid., 167, 172, 181.

[80]Ibid., 273, 290, 295.

[81]Ibid., 385, 392, 403.

[82]Ibid., II, 214, 218, 223.

[83]Minutes of the Annual Conference of M. E. Church, South, II, 1845-1859, 214, 218, 203.

[84]American Church History, XI, pp. 66-7.

[85]26th Annual Report of American Anti-slavery Society, 1859, 115.

[86]McTyeire, III, 536.

[87]Milburn, W. H., Ten Years of a Preacher’s Life, 337.

[88]Cartwright, Fifty Years a Presiding Elder, p. 24.

[89]Cartwright, Autobiography, p. 157.

[90]Col. Recs., III, p. 48.

[91]Garrett and Goodpasture, p. 156.

[92]Newman, A. H., History of Baptist Churches in United States, p. 338.

[93]Briggs, Charles A., American Presbyterianism, pp. 59-60.

[94]Newman, p. 305.

[95]Ibid., p. 338.

[96]Pius, N. H., An Outline of Baptist History, p. 131.

[97]Harrison, pp. 65, 91.

[98]Col. Recs. VIII, 164.

[99]Buckley, James M., History of Methodism, I, 373, 375.

[100]Harrison, 58.

[101]Riley, B. F., History of the Baptists in Southern States East of the Mississippi, p. 199.

[102]Ibid., p. 201.

[103]Riley, p. 205.

[104]Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1845, pp. 18, 19.

[105]Riley, p. 211.

[106]Pendleton, J. M., Reminiscences of a Long Life, p. 112.

[107]Ibid., 113.

[108]Professor Pendleton remained at Union University during the war and was a loyal unionist. He preached on Sunday and worked on the farm during the week. He constantly expected to be taken from his home and hanged. He always prepared at night a method of escape, yet he, despite proposals by the citizens of the community to hang him, never had to execute his plans. He lived in constant fear until the Army of the Cumberland occupied Murfreesboro in 1863.—Pendleton, op. cit., 127.

[109]Proceedings of Southern Baptist Convention, 1845, p. 35.

[110]Ibid., p. 28.

[111]Proceedings of Southern Baptist Convention, 1859-60, p. 89.

[112]Pendleton, p. 127.

[113]Pius, p. 61.

[114]Garrett and Goodpasture, 160.

[115]McDonald, B. W., History of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, p. 411.

[116]Cossitt, Franceway Ranna, The Life of Rev. Finis Ewing, p. 273.

[117]McDonald, p. 411.

[118]Letters furnished by Hon. F. E. McLean (Quoted by McDonald, 412).

[119]McDonald, p. 412.

[120]Diary of Beard, A. J., July 11, 1855.

[121]McDonald, p. 414.

[122]Ibid., 415.

[123]The Cumberland Presbyterian, August 19, 1835.

[124]McDonald, p. 417.

[125]Minutes of the Assembly of 1848, pp. 12, 13.

[126]Minutes of the Assembly of 1851, p. 16.

[127]Minutes of the Assembly of 1851, pp. 56, 57. This committee consisted of LeRoy Woods, Ind., A. J. Beard, Ky., J. J. Meek, Miss., N. P. Modrall, Tenn., J. H. Coulter, Ohio, S. E. Hudson, Penn., and J. C. Henson, Ind.

[128]Weeks, S. B., Southern Quakers and Slavery, p. 199 (Baltimore, 1896).

[129]Ibid., p. 207.

[130]Ibid., 207-8.

[131]Ibid., 208.

[132]American Church History, XII, 245.

[133]Weeks, 201.

[134]Ibid., 206.

[135]Ibid., 207.

[136]Weeks, 221.

[137]Ibid., 225.

[138]Hoss, E. E., Elihu Embree, Abolitionist, p. 11.

[139]Petition of Society of Friends, 1817 (Archives of State). This petition was signed by Elihu Embree and nine other Friends.

[140]Goodspeed, p. 645.

[141]Goodspeed, p. 646.

[142]Gillet, E. H., History of Presbyterian Church in United States of America, I, 201. These synods said:“We do highly approve of the general principles in favor of universal liberty that prevail in America, and of the interest which many of the states have taken in promoting the abolition of slavery. Yet, inasmuch as men, introduced from a servile state to a participation of all the privileges of civil society, without a proper education, and without previous habits of industry, may be, in some respects, dangerous to the community; therefore, they earnestly recommend it to all the members belonging to their communion to give those persons, who are at present held in servitude, such good education as may prepare them for the better enjoyment of freedom. And they moreover recommend that masters, whenever they find servants disposed to make a proper improvement of that privilege, would give them some share of property to begin with, or grant them sufficient time and sufficient means of procuring, by industry, their own liberty; and at a moderate rate, that they may thereby be brought into society with those habits of industry that may render them useful citizens; and, finally, they recommend it to all the people under their care, to use the most prudent measures consistent with the interest and the state of civil society in the parts where they live, to procure eventually the final abolition of slavery in America.”

[142]Gillet, E. H., History of Presbyterian Church in United States of America, I, 201. These synods said:

“We do highly approve of the general principles in favor of universal liberty that prevail in America, and of the interest which many of the states have taken in promoting the abolition of slavery. Yet, inasmuch as men, introduced from a servile state to a participation of all the privileges of civil society, without a proper education, and without previous habits of industry, may be, in some respects, dangerous to the community; therefore, they earnestly recommend it to all the members belonging to their communion to give those persons, who are at present held in servitude, such good education as may prepare them for the better enjoyment of freedom. And they moreover recommend that masters, whenever they find servants disposed to make a proper improvement of that privilege, would give them some share of property to begin with, or grant them sufficient time and sufficient means of procuring, by industry, their own liberty; and at a moderate rate, that they may thereby be brought into society with those habits of industry that may render them useful citizens; and, finally, they recommend it to all the people under their care, to use the most prudent measures consistent with the interest and the state of civil society in the parts where they live, to procure eventually the final abolition of slavery in America.”

[143]Minutes of the Assembly of 1795, Quoted by Gillet, I, 284.

[144]Ibid., p. 285. The committee reported that “a neglect of this (religious education) is inconsistent with the character of a Christian master, but the observance might prevent, in great part, what is really the moral evil attending slavery—namely, allowing precious souls under the charge of masters to perish for lack of knowledge.”

[145]Gillet, I, 453. The assembly urged religious education on the slaves “that they may be prepared for the exercise and enjoyment of liberty when God in his providence may open a door for their emancipation.” As to buying and selling of slaves, it recommended “Presbyteries and Sessions under their care to make use of all prudent measures to prevent such shameful and unrighteous conduct.”

[146]Ibid., II, pp. 239-41. The assembly said: “We consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature, as utterly inconsistent with the laws of God, which requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ, which enjoins that all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

[147]Gillet, II, 241.

[148]Ibid., 242. See also Fourth Annual Report of American Anti-slavery Society, 1837, p. 62; and Patton, Jacob Harris, Popular History of the Presbyterian Church, p. 444.

[149]Thompson, R. E., History of Presbyterian Churches in the United States, p. 123.

[150]Thirteenth Annual Report of American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, 1827, pp. 67-8.

[151]Tenth Annual Report of American Colonization Society, 1827, pp. 67-8.

[152]Quarterly Review of the M. E. Church, South, April, 1892, 119-120.

[153]Methodist Quarterly Review, lxiii, 132.

[154]Quarterly Review of the M. E. Church, South, April, 1892, 120.

[155]Thirteenth Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, 1853, p. 80.

[156]Ibid., p. 71.

[157]Thirteenth Annual Report of American and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, 1853, pp. 73-4.

[158]Ibid., pp. 67-8.

[159]Ibid., p. 82.

[160]McNeilly, James H., Religion and Slavery, p. 42.

[161]Harrison, p. 91.

[162]Ibid., p. 92.

[163]Goodspeed, p. 683.

[164]Harrison, p. 40.

[165]Ibid., 67.

[166]Ibid., 73.

[167]Goodspeed, p. 694.

[168]Ibid., p. 697.

[169]Ibid., p. 698.

[170]Memoirs of Rt. James H. Otey, p. 94.

[171]Memoirs of Rt. James H. Otey, p. 93.

[172]Harrison, 304.

[173]Harrison, 304.

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