The Old School Presbyterian Church and the American
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“THE BOND OF UNION”: THE OLD SCHOOL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND THE AMERICAN NATION, 1837-1861 Volume II A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Peter J. Wallace, B.A., M.Div. _______________________________ James C. Turner, Director Graduate Program in History Notre Dame, Indiana April, 2004 CONTENTS VOLUME II CHAPTER SIX. WHEN SCHISM IS NOT AN OPTION: THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY, 1818-1849 .......................... 390 1. The Old School Center: Breckinridge and Hodge ..................... 400 2. South Carolina and the Charleston Union Presbytery .................. 410 3. The Northwestern Debates, 1841-1845 ............................. 415 4. The General Assembly of 1845 ................................... 423 5. The Brief Comment of 1846 ..................................... 433 6. 1849: The Last Gasp in Kentucky ................................. 439 Conclusion ..................................................... 446 CHAPTER SEVEN. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PRO-SLAVERY CONSENSUS IN THE SOUTH ................................................ 448 1. The Growth of Sectionalism ..................................... 449 2. The Defense of Slavery ......................................... 463 A. The Mission to the Slaves ................................. 473 B. The Reform of Slavery ................................... 478 C. The Problem of Race ..................................... 484 3. Slavery and the Breakdown of Ecclesiastical Relations with other Denominations ................................... 491 4. Van Rensselaer, Armstrong and the Deepening Chasm ................ 500 Conclusion ..................................................... 516 CHAPTER EIGHT. “CONFIDENCE IN HIS BRETHREN”: THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN THE NORTHWEST, 1848-1859 ................................. 517 1. A Feud Begins (New Albany Seminary, 1848-1849) .................. 521 2. The Establishment of the Cincinnati Theological Seminary (1849-1853) ... 526 3. A New Seminary for the West? (Danville Theological Seminary, 1853-1856) .................... 531 4. J. G. Monfort, the Presbyterian of the West xv and the Rise of a Vocal Anti-Slavery Movement in the Northwest .... 543 5. The Synodical Northwestern Theological Seminary (1856-1859) ......... 552 6. The Theological Seminary of the Northwest and the General Assembly of 1859 ............................ 570 Conclusion ..................................................... 589 CHAPTER NINE. COVENANT AND CONVERSION: THE BOOK OF DISCIPLINE CONTROVERSY ...................... 593 1. The Status of Baptized Children .................................. 600 A. Profession and Discipline: the Edwardsean Background ......... 604 B. The Creation of a New Ritual: Public Profession ............... 614 C. The Decline of Infant Baptism? ............................ 617 D. The Debate ............................................ 620 2. “But What If I’m Not Converted?” ................................ 624 3. “Caesar Is No Model for Christ” .................................. 633 4. Later Developments ............................................ 636 A. Northern Discussions .................................... 636 B. Southern Presbyterian Canons of Discipline (1866) ............. 639 Conclusion ..................................................... 641 CHAPTER TEN. CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRUCTION AND PRESBYTERIAN BOARDS: LAW, EQUITY, AND THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE CHURCH 642 1. Strict Construction and the Spirituality of the Church .................. 647 2. The Boards Controversy ........................................ 657 A. Thornwell and Smyth .................................... 661 B. Missions and Slavery in South Carolina ...................... 669 C. The Response of the Boards ............................... 674 3. Variations on the Spirituality of the Church ......................... 676 A. Stuart Robinson and the Presbyterial Critic ................... 680 B. William A. Scott in San Francisco .......................... 685 C. The Spirituality of the Church and Constitutional Construction .... 691 4. The Spirituality of the Church and the General Assembly .............. 694 5. The General Assembly of 1860 ................................... 701 Conclusion ..................................................... 712 CHAPTER ELEVEN. THE COLLAPSE OF THE CENTER AND THE END OF OLD SCHOOL PRESBYTERIANISM .............. 714 1. The Political Climate of 1860 .................................... 714 2. The Election of 1860 and Its Aftermath ............................. 719 3. Hodge on the State of the Country ................................. 728 xvi 4. Fort Sumter and the General Assembly of 1861 ...................... 739 5. The Spring Resolutions ......................................... 743 6. The Southern General Assembly of 1861 ........................... 765 Conclusion ..................................................... 767 CONCLUSION. THE REALIGNMENT OF AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM .. 774 xvii FIGURES VOLUME II 6.1. Old School Officers in Abolitionist Organizations ......................... 399 6.2. Ministers of the Charleston Union Presbytery, 1837 ....................... 415 6.3. Attendance at the Presbyterian Anti-Slavery Convention in Cincinnati, 1845 .... 424 6.4. The 1845 Statement on Slavery ....................................... 428 6.5. Protesters of the 1845 Decision on Slavery .............................. 430 6.6. Votes on the “No Further Action” Resolution of 1846 ...................... 437 7.1. Old School Missionaries to the Slaves .................................. 476 8.1. Spheres of Influence of Old School Seminaries, 1858-1859 ................. 571 9.1. Hodge’s Statistics on Baptism ........................................ 618 10.1. Regional Identification of the Protesters of 1846 ......................... 645 10.2. Leading Southerners Who Did Not Protest .............................. 646 10.3. Breckinridge’s Elite Eight ........................................... 659 11.1. The Spring Resolutions ............................................. 744 11.2. Votes on the Spring Resolutions, 1861 ................................. 755 11.3. Speakers on the Spring Resolutions ................................... 757 11.4. Southern Presbyterian Dissenters ..................................... 770 xviii SIX WHEN SCHISM IS NOT AN OPTION: THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY, 1818-1849 In 1818 the Presbyterian General Assembly unanimously agreed that: We consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ . it is manifestly the duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of the present day, when the inconsistency of slavery, both with the dictates of humanity and religion, has been demonstrated, and is generally seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest, and unwearied endeavours, to correct the errors of former times, and as speedily as possible to efface this blot on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery throughout Christendom, and if possible throughout the world.1 This statement was forged in the context of a refusal to endorse the idea of immediate emancipation, even as both northern and southern Presbyterians agreed that emancipation was a desirable goal.2 But as we have seen, Presbyterian moral discourse was changing, 1Minutes (1818) 692. One important textual error crept into some versions of this statement. The published edition of the Minutes from 1789-1820 (which was compiled in the 1850s) included a statement that “The manifest violation or disregard of the injunction here given, in its true spirit and intention, ought to be considered as just ground for the discipline and censures of the Church.” But as the editors of the Presbyterian pointed out, that statement was not found in the manuscript minutes. Editorial, “Baird’s Digest,” Presbyterian 28.7 (February 13, 1858) 26. I have been unable to ascertain how the extra phrase was added. 2The 1818 statement resulted from a controversy in Virginia over the writings and activity of George Bourne. Bourne claimed that Virginia Presbyterians regularly mistreated their slaves, but refused to name names. In 1815 he authored The Book and Slavery Irreconcileable, cited as the first thoroughly 390 and traditional interpretations of biblical passages were being set aside as a common sense literal hermeneutic replaced the older contextual interpretation.3 Many historians have tackled the challenge of understanding the relation between antebellum religion and slavery. Edward Crowther has suggested that the traditional narrative argued that “the cessation of anti-slavery policy” was “the result of southern evangelicals caring more about converting lost souls [presumably an illegitimate purpose for a church] than in getting rid of slavery [presumably the real purpose of evangelicalism].”4 Crowther challenges this interpretation, suggesting that the evangelical churches in the south were not particularly anti-slavery prior to 1830. But Crowther may go too far in asserting an unqualified proslavery movement in the south prior to 1830. He is certainly correct that few southerners expected slavery to end soon, and that even fewer took any steps