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(Part 7 of 7)
ENDNOTES
(1.) "Events in the Life of John
Leland: Written by Himself," in L. E Green, The Writings of the
Late Elder John Leland (New York: G. W. Wood, 1845), 9, 19-31.
Leland is widely recognized by Baptists as one of two leading early
Baptist champions of religious liberty (the other being Isaac Backus),
although secular historians have exhibited minimal interest in
Leland's views of religious liberty. Recent historiography of Leland's
championing of religious liberty, in addition to works referenced
elsewhere in this document, includes Edwin S. Gaustad, The Baptist
Tradition of Religious Liberty in America (Waco, TX: Baylor
University, 1995), and John White, Jr., Religion and the American
Constitutional Experiment: Essential Rights and Liberties (Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 1999), as well as a handful of dissertations and
theses.
(2.) "Further Sketches of the Life of
John Leland," Writings, 51.
(3.) "Address Delivered at
Bennington, Aug. 16, 1839," Writings, 698.
(4.) H. Shelton Smith, In His
Image, But... : Racism in Southern Religion, 1780-1910 (Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 1972).
(5.) James D. Essig, The Bonds of
Wickedness: American Evangelicals Against Slavery, 1770-1808
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982).
(6.) Christine Heyrman, Southern
Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1997).
(7.) John R Daly, When Slavery Was
Called Freedom: Evangelicalism, Proslavery, and the Causes of the
Civil War (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002).
(8.) Bill Leonard, Baptist Ways: A
History (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 2003), 131,185-86.
(9.) Robert G. Torbet, A History
of the Baptists (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1950, 1963, 1973),
282-83.
(10.) H. Leon McBeth, The Baptist
Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness (Nashville: Broadman
Press, 1987).
(11.) Jack Manley, "Leland, John,"
Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, vol. 2 (Nashville: Broadman
Press, 1958), 783.
(12.) W. R. Estep, "Leland, John
(1754-1841)," Dictionary of Baptists in America, ed. Bill J.
Leonard (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 171-72.
(13.) Essig, The Bonds of
Wickedness, 62-72, 117.
(14.) Smith, In His Image,
47-48.
(15.) Heyrman, Southern Cross,
49-52, 67-68.
(16.) Mechal Sobel, Trabelin' On:
The Slave Journey to an Afro-American Faith (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1979), 86-87.
(17.) Brad Creed, John Leland:
American Prophet of Religious Individualism (Ann Arbor, Michigan:
VMI Dissertation Services, 1998 (1986), 94-105. Greed's thesis is
similar to Andrew M. Manis's assertion that the early Leland was
influenced by enlightened doctrines of conscience, a product of the
experiential religion horn of the Great Awakening. See Andrew M. Manis,
"Regionalism and a Baptist Perspective on Separation of Church and
State," American Baptist Quarterly 2, no. 3 (September 1983), 255 (as
cited in Greed's dissertation).
(18.) According to Christine Heyrman,
Baptists in the early post-revolutionary American South began
embracing slavery as a means to achieve cultural acceptance within the
region. At the turn of the century, however, many Virginia Baptists
remained opposed to slavery. Virginia had long harbored a high
percentage of slaves in relation to the overall population. The
Constitutional Convention of 1787 left slavery intact within the
newly-founded United States of America. Many Baptists in Virginia,
however, were seriously questioning the morality of "hereditary
slavery." In 1785, the Virginia Baptist General Committee passed a
resolution declaring hereditary slavery "contrary to the word of God."
In 1790, the Roanoke Association determined that the question of
slavery should be left to individual "conscience." In 1791, the
General Committee reiterated its opposition to hereditary slavery,
while the Strawberry Association resolved that the General Committee
not interfere in regards to the slavery matter. The following year the
General Committee dropped its opposition to slavery. The following
year the General Committee dropped its opposition to slavery. In 1796,
the Portsmouth Association declared slavery "contrary to the laws of
God and nature," while the Ketocton Association declared slavery "an
improper subject of investigation in a Baptist Association." The
following year the Ketocton Association reversed its stance and
declared slavery "a transgression of the Divine Law." In 1797, the
Dover Association passed a resolution recommending that Baptists unite
with "the abolition society" for the "gradual emancipation" of slaves.
Against the backdrop of ambivalent institutional action, some
individual Baptist slave owners became convinced of the evils of
slavery and took action to free their slaves. Throughout the state,
Baptist churches and associations thus struggled with the master-slave
relationship, as well as the presence of free African Americans,
within the church community. See Heyrman, Southern Cross, 8-9,
19, 64, 124-27; Reuben Edward Alley, A History of Baptists in
Virginia (Richmond, VA: Virginia Baptist General Board, 1973),
127-31,138-40; Minutes, General Committee, 1791 and 1792 [Cited
in Garnett Ryland, The Baptists of Virginia, 1699-1926
(Richmond: The Virginia Baptist Board of Missions and Education), 121,
122]. Minutes, Roanoke Association, 1790; Minutes,
Portsmouth Association, 1796; Minutes, Ketocton Association,
1796; Minutes, Doyer Association, 1797 (Cited in Ryland,
151-54), In some instances, slaves and whites worshipped together. At
least one white church called a free African American as pastor. In
other situations, African Americans, whether slave or free, worshipped
apart from whites. White Baptists sometimes purchased freedom for
slaves. On the other hand, white Baptists were frequently perplexed
with how to deal with heavy-handed slave owners, disobedient slaves,
and the informality of marriage among slaves. The early nineteenth
century, however, witnessed a transformation in the state. An economic
depression and depleted soils severely diminished tobacco crops, while
at the same time cotton became king in the deep South and the African
slave trade faced more restrictions. In response, Virginia slave
owners turned to raising slaves for the deep South, while becoming
increasingly unresponsive to abolitionist arguments
(19.) "Further Sketches of the Life
of John Leland," Writings, 51.
(20.) "Letter of Valediction, on
Leaving Virginia, in 1791," Writings, 173.
(21.) Ibid., 96-97.
(22.) Ibid., 97.
(23.) Ibid. Leland estimated that an
expenditure of 8.3 million pounds would be required in reparation for
Virginia to free all of her 276,932 slaves, a sum "infinitely beyond"
what the state could afford to pay.
(24.) Ibid.
(25.) Ibid., 97-98.
(26.) Ibid., 98.
(27.) "Letter of Valediction,"
Writings, 174.
(28.) Ibid.
(29.) Ibid., 174-175.
(30.) "An Oration, Delivered at
Chesire, July 5, 1802, on the Celebration of Independence: Containing
Seventeen Sketches, and Seventeen Wishes," Writings, 268.
Leland's contributions to religious liberty in Virginia and the United
States Constitution are summarized in Alley, A History of Baptists
in Virgina, 8589, and Ryland, The Baptists of Virginia,
125-30.
(31.) Ibid., 268-69.
(32.) In the surviving manuscripts,
Leland does not mention the issue of American slavery between 1803 and
1830. Although claiming to have preached nearly 8,000 sermons ("Events
in the Life of John Leland," Writings, 35), very few have been
preserved in writing.
(33.) Of the 744 pages that comprise
Writings, all but 31 ("Further Sketches of the Life of John
Leland," authored by compiler L. E Greene) were written by Leland. Of
the remaining 713 pages, 340 pertain to Leland's life during the years
1803-1830. The weight of Leland's concerns during this period is
decidedly political in nature. During this era, he served both as a
Jeffersonian politician and a minister in Chesire. His Jeffersonian
repulsion against aristocracy and affinity for the common man meshed
with the ideal of religious liberty. Time and again, Leland returned
to religious liberty as the juncture of his secular and ecclesiastical
views.
(34.) "Address Delivered at North
Adams, On the 4th of March, 1831," Writings, 612.
(35.) See R J. Staudenraus,
African Colonization Movement, 1816-65 (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1972); Early L. Fox, American Colonization Society,
1817-1840 (Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1919). Also, an overview of
the Library of Congress' Holdings is available online at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/spcoll/007.html.
(36.) "Address," Writings,
612.
(37.) The Anti-Slavery Picknick
(Boston: H. W. Williams, 1842). Located on the Library of Congress
website at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam005.html. In New
York in 1831, a convention of free blacks declared, "This is our home,
and this is our country. Beneath its sod lie the bones of our fathers;
for it some of them fought, bled and died. Here we were born, and here
we will die."
(38.) "Address," Writings,
613.
(39.) Ibid. Two years later, in
January of 1833, in a political speech lamenting the Nullification
Crisis, Leland briefly referred to slavery when he noted, "my heart
sickens with grief at the idea of having the fruitful fields of
Carolina, which are covered every year with cotton, rice, indigo and
corn, turned into slaughter pens for human victims. Yes, the
anticipated groans of the dying, and lamentations of widows and
orphans, are almost too much for my nerves to bear." ("Address
Delivered at Chesire, On the Eighteenth Anniversary of the Battle of
New Orleans, January 8, 1833," Writings, 631.) Yet, in another
political speech two months later, Leland reiterated that he had spent
his life championing for "the civil and religious rights of men,"
referring to religious liberty specifically, but making no direct
reference to slavery. ("Address Delivered at Westfield, March 4,
1833," Writings, 637-38.)
(40.) "Free Thoughts on Times and
Things," Published in 1836, Writings, 672. Prior to 1803,
Leland had expressed concern in the details of emancipation, yet
passionately insisted it must be done soon for the good of the
country. Now he threw a note of caution across the entire endeavor.
While admitting that simply setting the slaves free was the simplest
solution, he noted that this "most rational solution may be fraught
with serious consequences ... in such a state they would wonder in
droves into all the states, seeking supplies for the calls of nature
... begging and stealing."
(41.) Ibid., 672.
(42.) Ibid., 672-73.
(43.) Leland had only glowing words
for the Jackson Administration. See Writings, 740-41.
(44.) "Address Delivered at
Bennington, Aug. 16, 1839," Writings, 698. Two years prior to Leland's
final statement on slavery, John C. Calhoun delivered his famous
"Slavery a Positive Good" speech (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=71).
(45.) "An Oration, Delivered at
Chesire, July 5, 1802, on the Celebration of Independence: Containing
Seventeen Sketches, and Seventeen Wishes," Writings, 268-69.
(46.) Daly, When Slavery Was
Called Freedom.
(47.) C. C. Goen, Broken Churches,
Broken Nation (Macon, GA: Mercer University, 1985).
(48.) On New Years Day, 1802, Leland
delivered a giant cheese to the White House as a gift for Jefferson.
In return, he was invited to address Congress two days later, on
January 3. Leland spoke from the text, "Behold a greater than Solomon
is here," in the presence of Jefferson. Manasseh Curler, Journal, 3
January 1802. Located on the Library of Congress Internet site at
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html.
(49.) Essig, The Bonds of Wickedness.
As a politician, Leland was concerned about the developing
sectionalism of the 1820s and 1830s. In a political speech on January
8, 1833, in which he addressed the Nullification Crisis, he closed
with the popular slogan, "Jackson, the Constitution, and the Union of
the States Forever. ("Address Delivered at Chesire, On the Eighteenth
Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1833,"
Writings, 632.)
(50.) Creed, John Leland, 94-105.
(51.) Richard Furman, Exposition of
The Views of Baptists, Relative to the Coloured Population in the
United States, in a Communication to the Governor of South Carolina,
2nd ed. (Charleston, SC: A.E. Miller, 1838). Located on the Furman
University Nineteenth Century Documents Project website at
http://www.alpha.furman.edu/~benson/docs/rcd-fmnl.htm . Three
decades prior to Furman's pronouncement, Leland had noted the
divisiveness of the slavery issue, which he attributed to his own
reluctance to speak against slavery. ("Letter of Valediction on
Leaving Virginia," 1791, Writings, 173.)
(52.) See Goen, Broken Churches,
Broken Nation. Goen examines the extent of religious division over
slavery, arguing that by the 1840s, sectional sectarian strife made
civil war inevitable.
(53.) See Smith, In His Image. |
