Benjamin Morgan Palmer: Southern Presbyterian Divine

BENJAMIN MORGAN PALMER: SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN DIVINE Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this dissertation is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This dissertation does not include proprietary or classified information. _________________________ Christopher M. Duncan Certificate of Approval: ________________________ ________________________ Kenneth W. Noe Anthony G. Carey, Chair Associate Professor Professor History History ________________________ ________________________ Charles A. Israel George T. Flowers Associate Professor Dean History Graduate School BENJAMIN MORGAN PALMER: SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN DIVINE Christopher M. Duncan A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama December 19, 2008 BENJAMIN MORGAN PALMER: SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN DIVINE Christopher M. Duncan Permission is granted to Auburn University to make copies of this dissertation at its discretion, upon request of individuals or institutions and at their expense. The author reserves all publication rights. ______________________________ Signature of Author ______________________________ Date of Graduation iii VITA Christopher Michael Duncan was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Michael Alan Duncan and Lurajean Akin on November 14, 1974. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Auburn University in Speech Communication in 1997 and a Master of Divinity from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in 2000. He was ordained to the gospel ministry in the Presbyterian Church in America in 2001. He is married to Kelli Anne Johnson and currently resides in Opelika, Alabama with their two daughters. iv DISSERTATION ABSTRACT BENJAMIN MORGAN PALMER: SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN DIVINE Christopher M. Duncan Doctor of Philosophy, December 19, 2008 (M.Div., Beeson Divinity School, 2000) (B.A., Auburn University, 1997) 226 Typed Pages Directed by Anthony G. Carey The purpose of this dissertation is to provide an updated life-and-times biography of a major religious and political figure in nineteenth-century American history, Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902). Palmer rubbed elbows and held sway with a virtual “Who’s-Who” of American religious, political, and cultural life, both North and South. He was the most influential religious figure in the largest, most cosmopolitan southern city before, during, and after the Civil War. The only published biography of Palmer, however, was produced in 1906. A figure of such stature is due for an updated treatment, especially in light of several new primary source documents that were not available to Palmer’s original biographer. Much of the evidence challenges and enhances current commonly held understandings of religious, familial, and political historiography. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work is dedicated to the wonderful saints of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Opelika, Alabama. I would like to thank my director, Dr. Anthony G. Carey, whose mentorship has been essential to the completion of this dissertation. Thanks are due to my other dissertation committee members Dr. Kenneth W. Noe, Dr. Charles Israel, and Dr. Norman Godwin. A special thanks to all of my parents, who have always encouraged me to stretch to my fullest potential. I looked at my two precious daughters daily for encouragement to persevere through this project. Finally, I thank my wife, Kelli. Words cannot express her role in this endeavor. Strength and dignity are her clothing. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She is far more precious than jewels. There should be a special line for her name on the approval page. It is most fitting that I should graduate on the day of our tenth wedding anniversary. vi Style manual used: The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers, 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Computer software used: Microsoft Word 2007 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART I. SOUTH CAROLINA Chapter 1. I Am a South Carolinian 8 Chapter 2. The Boy is the Father of the Man 36 Chapter 3. A Presbyterian of the Presbyterians 68 PART II. NEW ORLEANS Chapter 4. In Furnace Heated Seven Times Hot 93 Chapter 5. The Big Villain of the Play 121 Chapter 6. The First Citizen of New Orleans 154 CONCLUSION 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY 197 viii INTRODUCTION That I, whose experience of teaching is extremely limited, should presume to discuss education is a matter, surely, that calls for no apology. It is a kind of behavior to which the present climate of opinion is wholly favorable. Bishops air their opinions about economics; biologists, about metaphysics; inorganic chemists, about theology; the most irrelevant people are appointed to highly technical ministries; and plain, blunt men write to the papers to say that Epstein and Picasso do not know how to draw. Up to a certain point, and provided the criticisms are made with reasonable modesty, these activities are commendable. Too much specialization is not a good thing. There is also one excellent reason why the veriest amateur may feel entitled to have an opinion about education. For if we are not all professional teachers, we have all, at some time or another, been taught. Even if we learnt nothing – perhaps in particular if we learnt nothing – our contribution to the discussion may have a potential value. – Dorothy Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning Why a biography of Benjamin Morgan Palmer? Many academics today may look on such a project with understandable suspicion. A “life and times” is admittedly an old school approach, rather than cutting-edge American historiography. In addition, biographies of religious figures often tend to be more for devotional purposes, erring toward hagiography, and deficient of serious scholarship and objectivity. Such a project can quickly become so specialized that its only real significance is to a small subgroup of history buffs within one particular denomination. Conscious of all of these pitfalls, and a host of potential others, this biography aims to present an objective and scholarly treatment in a sympathetic and understandable way – a work that finds value with academics as well as a potential broader audience. 1 To explain the approach used in writing this biography, it is helpful to borrow from stylistic categories developed by historian Edwin L. Ayers.1 According to Ayers, there is a continuum between two basic approaches to the writing of professional history – fixed narratives and open narratives. Fixed narratives emphasize twentieth-century forms of social science and formal, linear arguments. They rely heavily upon formalized and labeled introductions, chapter summaries, conclusions, arguments, and historiographical markers, all tailored to academic audiences. Fixed narratives seek resolutions to tensions in professional debate, and feature displaying evidence and making judgments. On the other hand, open narratives emphasize storytelling, and are comfortable with irony and tension. They grapple with problematic sources, fold analysis into the story itself, and are accessible to a broader audience. Open narratives intentionally leave ambiguities and tensions unresolved in the evidence, characters, and situations. Open narratives hide documentation and historiography in footnotes. According to Ayers, most works of professional history contain elements of both approaches. The approach in this work has been to follow more of an open narrative than a fixed narrative. There is also an intentional interdisciplinary nature to the study, drawing from the disciplines of history, theology, biblical studies, and rhetoric. Admittedly, most modern scholars would categorize Palmer as a figure of secondary importance in American history. Even in the denomination spawned under his moderation in December 1861, now the Presbyterian Church in America, the vast majority of its almost 400,000 adherents do not recognize his name. Palmer, however, rubbed elbows and held sway with a virtual “Who’s-Who” of nineteenth-century 1 Edwin L. Ayers, What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the South and Southern History (New York: Norton, 2005), 176-178. 2 American religious, political, and cultural life, both North and South. He was the most influential religious figure in the largest, most cosmopolitan southern city before, during, and after the Civil War. A survey of major works dealing with the role of southern clergy and intellectual elites in the growing sectional crisis and the interpretation of the South’s defeat shows that Palmer’s significance is at least partially recognized.2 His only published biography, however, is dated from 1906, and the handful of journal articles and graduate studies on Palmer in the last century have mostly been highly specialized rhetorical, political, and theological analyses.3 In many ways, he is an ideal subject for a biography. He has certainly not been over analyzed, yet he is particularly notable and influential in a number of ways to demand more attention. 2 For example, see the indices in James B. Silver, Confederate Morale and Church Propaganda (Tuscaloosa, AL: Confederate Publishing, 1967); Gaines M. Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, The Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South 1865 to 1913 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); Charles Reagan Wilson, Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920 (Atlanta: University of Georgia Press, 1990); Charles Royster,

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