It was religious fundamentalists (evangelicals) who started and ran the anti-slavery movement:
Clarkson experienced what he called a spiritual revelation from God as he travelled on horseback between Cambridge and London. Having broken his journey at Wadesmill, near Ware, Hertfordshire, as he stopped, 'A thought came into my mind', he later wrote, 'that if the contents of the Essay were true, it was time some person should see these calamities to their end' (Clarkson, History, vol. 1). It was this experience and sense of calling that ultimately led him to devote his life to abolishing the slave trade.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Clarkson
James Ramsay (1733–1809) was a ship’s surgeon, Anglican priest, and leading abolitionist.
....
Ramsay set out by welcoming both black and white parishioners into his church, with the aim of converting the slaves to Christianity. As well as pastoring the members of his church he practised medicine and surgery, providing a free service to the poor of the community. Having been appointed surgeon to several plantations on the island, he was able to see firsthand the conditions under which the slaves laboured and the brutality of many of the planters.
He strongly criticised the cruel treatment and punishment meted out to the slaves, and became more convinced of the need to improve their conditions. This led him into involvement in local government, but he was the target of much antagonism and personal attack from the planters, who resented his interference, because of his measures to ameliorate the conditions of the slaves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ramsay_(abolitionist)
In 1785 he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian, resulting in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform. In 1787 he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave-trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and Lord Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take on the cause of abolition, and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists. ..... Thereafter, his political views were informed by his faith and by his desire to promote Christianity and Christian ethics in private and public life.[42][43] His views were often deeply conservative, opposed to radical changes in a God-given political and social order, and focused on issues such as the observance of the Sabbath and the eradication of immorality through education and reform.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce
It is true, after what he felt was his true conversion to Christianity, he continued working the slave routes for a few years, but he eventually came to repent. He later joined William Wilberforce in the campaign for abolition. In 1787 he wrote a tract supporting the campaign, Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Newton
His fame rests mainly on his untiring efforts for the abolition of slavery. ..... Sharp was also one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society and of the Society for the Conversion of the Jews.
en.wikipedia.org
In 1853, Garrison credited Reverend John Rankin of Ohio as a primary influence on his career, calling him his "anti-slavery father" and saying that Rankin's "...book on slavery was the cause of my entering the anti-slavery conflict." (Hagedorn, p. 58)
en.wikipedia.org
John Rankin (February 4, 1793 – March 18, 1886) was an American Presbyterian minister, educator and abolitionist. Upon moving to Ripley, Ohio in 1822, he became known as one of Ohio's first and most active "conductors" on the Underground Railroad. Prominent pre-Civil War abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe were influenced by Rankin's writings and work in the anti-slavery movement.
When Beecher was asked after the end of the Civil War, "Who abolished slavery?," he answered, "Reverend John Rankin and his sons did it."[1]
en.wikipedia.org
Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was a prominent, Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century. ....The Beecher household was exemplary of the orthodox ministry that Lyman Beecher preached. His family not only prayed at the beginning and end of each day but also sang hymns and prepared for other rigorous church obligations. The family members were expected to participate in prayer meetings, attend lectures and other church functions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ward_Beecher
Harriet Beecher Stowe (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an abolitionist, whose novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) attacked the cruelty of slavery; ....Beecher was born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the seventh child of Protestant preacher, Lyman Beecher, whose children would later include the famed abolitionist theologian, Henry Ward Beecher. The family always supported black rights.
en.wikipedia.org
As you can see, it was NOT liberals who were the protagonists in the fight against slavery!
Even many of the leaders of the women's suffrage movement were Christians and the oldest, largest, and most influential early women's movement was the Women's Christian Temperance Union:
Thus the WCTU was very interested in a number of social reform issues including: labor, prostitution, public health, sanitation and international peace. As the movement grew in numbers and strength, members of the WCTU also focused on suffrage. The WCTU was instrumental in organizing woman's suffrage leaders and in helping more women become involved in American politics. Local chapters, known as “unions”, were largely autonomous though linked to state and national headquarters. At a time when suffragists still alienated most American women, who viewed them as radicals, the WCTU offered a more traditionally feminine and appropriate organization for women to join. As the movement grew in numbers and strength, members of the WCTU also focused on suffrage. The WCTU was instrumental in organizing woman's suffrage leaders and in helping more women become involved in American politics. Willard pushed for the "Home Protection" ballot, arguing that women, being the superior sex morally, needed the vote in order to act as "citizen-mothers" and protect their homes and cure society's ills.
en.wikipedia.org |
