Religion and the Antebellum Debate over Slavery

The most complete discussion of the various ways religion undergirded most of the important issues of the day. The quality is high, and the collection makes an important contribution to antebellum social, cultural, religious, and political history.

* author of Religion in Antebellum Kentucky *

The real merit of this book is to explore slavery and sectionalism within the context of antebellum Protestantism as a means to expose new connections and to highlight established scholarship in a fresh manner.

* coeditor of Religious Diversity and American Religious History *

Introduced by a valuable historiographical essay by editors McKivigan and Snay on ‘Religion and the Problem of Slavery in Antebellum America,’ this excellent collection has much to offer those who study conflicts over slavery within as well as between the North and the South.

* Journal of the Early Republic *

Historians have given extensive attention to abolitionism in all of its aspects, including its religious roots. Such attention or even obsession extends to the religious origins and shape of the proslavery argument. Religion and the Antebellum Debate over Slavery does not rehash the familiar debates, but broadens and deepens our understanding of the relationships of religious Americans to the increasingly pressing question of slavery.

* Florida Historical Quarterly *

These essays deepen and complicate our understanding of Protestants' role in the sectional crisis and their religious opinions about slavery. One wishes that the collection had included more discussion of non-evangelicals and some discussionof non-Protestants, but these essays will undoubtedly inspire other scholarship. Kudos to John McKivigan and Mitchell Snay for this exciting and nuanced collection.

* Georgia Historical Quarterly *

Representative of sophisticated new research on the influence of multiple religious discourses in shaping antebellum southern culture and points toward intriguing possibilities for pursuing the questions raised by the contributors.

* H-SHE