“The Necessary Result of Piety”: Slavery and Religious Establishments in South Carolina Presbyterianism, 1800–1840

Journal Title: Religions - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 9

Abstract

Historians have argued that disestablishment liberated American religion and allowed for the proliferation of religious practice and religious freedom, especially individualistic Evangelicalism in the South. This proposition reduced nearly all of southern Protestantism to Revivalist Evangelicalism, and failed to account for the powerful presence of coercive Protestant religiosity in older southern states such as South Carolina. While they shared certain Evangelical particulars with frontier populations, Protestants in South Carolina, especially Presbyterians, rejected individualized religion in favor of religiosity that favored and nurtured activist state protection of both antidemocratic political norms and chattel slavery. This essay argues that ostensibly disestablished Presbyterianism in South Carolina helped intellectually erect and socially perpetuate coercive religious and state power.

Authors and Affiliations

Miles Smith

Keywords

Related Articles

Comparative Framework for Understanding Jewish and Christian Violent Fundamentalism

Although most scholars agree that in the last couple of decades, religious fundamentalism has become the dominant ideological feature in the landscape of modern terrorism, many prefer to ignore the fact that this is no...

Remembering to Ask the Boss: Priming and the Dynamics of Priest Reliance on Bishop Cues

Though the degree of influence that US bishops have over Catholic parishioners is inconsistent, the institutional power bishops have over parish priests suggests that bishops enjoy reliable influence over their local s...

Shelley’s Unknown Eros: Post-Secular Love in Epipsychidion

Whether Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Epipsychidion—a Platonic poem on love addressed to the patriarchally imprisoned Theresa Viviani or “Emily”—receives praise or blame has generally been determined by two focal passages: a...

Christian Ethical Boundaries of Suicide Prevention

In Western countries the general rule is that caregivers do everything possible to prevent suicide. The aim of this essay is to critically reflect on that position along three questions: is there an unconditional oblig...

“A Religious Recognition of Equality”: Liberal Spirituality and the Marriage Question in America, 1835–1850

Studying texts by Lydia Maria Child, Sarah Grimke, and Margaret Fuller, this article seeks to recover the early phases of a dialogue that moved marriage away from an institution grounded in ideas of unification and tow...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP25771
  • DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8090180
  • Views 323
  • Downloads 10

How To Cite

Miles Smith (2017). “The Necessary Result of Piety”: Slavery and Religious Establishments in South Carolina Presbyterianism, 1800–1840. Religions, 8(9), -. https://europub.co.uk./articles/-A-25771