When Slavery Was Called Freedom : Evangelicalism, Proslavery, and the Causes of the Civil War

by Daly, John Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780813122410
• ISBN10: 0813122414
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-07-23
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

When Slavery Was Called Freedom is a bold new interpretation of the intellectual foundations of secession and the American Civil War.

Author John Patrick Daly focuses on the culture of antebellum America and the debate about the morality of slavery that obsessed people of the period. Contrary to common wisdom, striking similarities between North and South led to the ferocity of the slavery debate and the war. Daly explains that antislavery and proslavery emerged from the same evangelical roots; both sides interpreted the Bible and Christian moral dictates in light of individualism and free market economics.

In an age when many history books avoid synthesis and broad explanations, Daly's analysis attacks hard questions and uncovers the cultural and ideological bonds that linked the combatants in Civil War era America.

Author Biography

John Patrick Daly is professor of American history at the State University of New York, Brockport.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(5)
Freedom and Evangelical Culture in the South	6	(24)
The Post-1831 Birth of Evangelical Proslavery	30	(27)
Answering Abolitionists, Defending Slaveholders	57	(16)
The Evangelical Vision of the South and Its Future	73	(38)
Evangelical Proslavery, Free Labor, and Disunion, 1850-1861	111	(25)
The Proslavery Formula and the Test of War, 1860-1865	136	(19)
Epilogue	155	(4)
Notes	159	(26)
Selected Bibliography	185	(18)
Index	203