The Aggravating Effects of Religion in the Agruments over Slavery

An enslaved man named Josiah Henson wrote an autobiography about his life during his enslavement in the Southern states of the United States. He wrote about a time when his enslaver got into some legal trouble and was going to lose all of his property. The enslaver told Josiah Henson to lead the other enslaved people to his brother’s home in Kentucky to which he reluctantly agreed. Once the party reached Cincinnati, Henson was presented with a dilemma. Groups of liberated African Americans told him to abandon their journey and self-liberate themselves. As the leader of the group, the decision was his to make. Despite the possibility of liberty, Josiah Henson insisted to remain loyal to his enslaver because according to him, “the duties of the slave to his master” were “appointed over him” by “the Lord.”

The story of Josiah Henson is just one of the ways that religion aggravated the arguments over slavery in the United States. The lives of many enslaved people who practiced a Protestant belief developed conflicting views on their enslavement. The role that religion played in the debates over the future of slavery created complex rhetoric that only polarized the two sides of the arguments.

Defenders of slavery often argued that slavery was not only accepted by God but also encouraged. It was the lack of rejection of slavery in the Bible that pro-slavery debaters used as support for their arguments. Ironically, those who denounced slavery, known as abolitionists, also used the Bible to support their arguments by arguing that the idea of slavery was directly opposite to the moral ideas that the Bible preached.

Historian Margaret Abruzzo found that enslavers often claimed that the enslavement of others made them better people. The power over the enslaved supposedly allowed enslavers to feel emotions easier such as pity and sympathy while also helping develop authoritative qualities. The arguments made to justify slavery were based around portraying slavery as a necessary evil that had benefits to both those who enslaved and those who were enslaved.

One argument that gained traction before the Civil War was the paternalistic nature of slavery that was used by defendants of slavery. The concept of paternal slavery was the idea that slavery was similar to a relationship between a parent and their children. Without the enslavers’ control over the enslaved, they would not be able to survive in society on their own. Again the ideas of those who supported slavery painted the institution as a necessary cultural and social role.

Abolitionists’ attempt to expose the hypocrisy of slavery and its religious defenses was a powerful one in persuading those who were indifferent to the issue. With the use of religion, an appeal to emotions paired effectively to create persuasive rhetoric. It was this appeal to emotions that caused a shift in the arguments of slavery from a justified practice to a necessary component to life in the South.

With constant debating over the issue, a common psychological issue would come into place as it does with any controversial issue. Group polarization occurs when two groups who have opposing views on a topic further polarize themselves from one another. The inability to concede pushes their arguments to become more radical in an attempt to win the argument. This concept heavily influenced the tension and violence that had led up to the secession of the Southern states and the Civil War.

The issue of slavery would capture the entire nation in a devastating war. It was one of the most highly debated topics in American history if not the most. There are people who to this day argue that African Americans deserve reparations for slavery. The impact of slavery and the fallout of the nation has impacted the nation through the Civil Rights Era and even to this day where minority groups, specifically African Americans, are often subjected to unnecessary violence and injustice.

Margaret Abruzzo, “The Contradictions of Benevolence, 1852–1861,” in Polemical Pain: Slavery, Cruelty, and the Rise of Humanitarianism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).

Josiah Henson, Uncle Tom’s Story of His Life. An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (London: Christian Age Office, 1876), 47.