The attitude of five protestant churches towards slavery

Abstract

For this study five Protestant ohurches have been selected and widely different results have been found. The Quakers with the anti-slavery element in the ascendance early freed the church from slavery and remained united. The Prot¬ estant Episcopal church under the guidance of slaveholders retained slaveholding members within the church and remained united. The Baptist, llethodist and Presbyterian ohurches engaged in a bitter struggle for years with neither the pro- slavery or anti-slavery side able to maintain its policy. In the end all three ohurches separate!; the Baptist and Methodist ohurches in 1844-1845, and the Presbyterian church at the outbreak of the Civil War.