“The organisation of labour which Providence has given us”: Scriptural Defences of Slavery and the Role of Christianity in the American Slaveholding South, 1820-1865

This thesis purposes to understand how a deeply committed Christian people viewed their claims to power as they did; and through the American Civil War laid down their lives in terrible numbers to preserve the way of life which they had forged for themselves. The Old South deemed itself to be the societal manifestation of biblical Scripture, a social order bestowed by Providence and ‘ordained of God’ . This apparent manifestation of God’s will produced a patriarchal, hierarchical slave society, legitimised almost entirely through literal readings of Scripture, and the reading of such alongside contemporary political and economic theories. Here, I will examine the forging of an ideology and social order based solidly in the realities of biblical Scripture, which Southerners believed to be just - so much so that the bloodiest war ever fought on U.S soil raged for more than four long years. Thusly, through examining the extent and depth of the effort to situate slavery on Christian...Show moreThis thesis purposes to understand how a deeply committed Christian people viewed their claims to power as they did; and through the American Civil War laid down their lives in terrible numbers to preserve the way of life which they had forged for themselves. The Old South deemed itself to be the societal manifestation of biblical Scripture, a social order bestowed by Providence and ‘ordained of God’ . This apparent manifestation of God’s will produced a patriarchal, hierarchical slave society, legitimised almost entirely through literal readings of Scripture, and the reading of such alongside contemporary political and economic theories. Here, I will examine the forging of an ideology and social order based solidly in the realities of biblical Scripture, which Southerners believed to be just - so much so that the bloodiest war ever fought on U.S soil raged for more than four long years. Thusly, through examining the extent and depth of the effort to situate slavery on Christian ground, and build a class-stratified social order ordained of God, one may obtain some understanding as to the Southern whites’ readiness to defend a social system so odiously abhorrent, even by contemporary standards. The research focus of this paper is to present an understanding of the ways in which this deeply committed Christian people viewed their world and their claims to power as they did, and how this view emerged and was influenced by the Christian Scriptures.Show less

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“The organisation of labour which Providence has given us”: Scriptural Defences of Slavery and the Role of Christianity in the American Slaveholding South, 1820-1865