Episode 8: The Birth of the Cotton South

A New History of the American South

Dr Edward Ayers (2018)

Film Review

This lecture traces the influence of the evangelical faith on the South. Before the southern colonies joined the United States, the Anglican church was the primary faith. During colonial times, churches were built with public money and expected to disperse money and welfare services to paupers and widows.

Ayers credits John Wesley as one the the primary founders of the evangelical faith (in England). He and his followers preached about a God who spoke to them directly rather than through priests and preachers. Wesley taught that all Christians had to do to be saved was to acknowledge their sins, ask forgiveness and strive to live by strict guidelines forbidding drinking, dancing and gambling. After Wesley and his followers were derided as “methodists” (for the strict rules they imposed on themselves), they adopted the label for themselves.

Wesley visited Virginia and South Carolina in the 1740s, winning over numerous coverts wanting him to send missionaries or “evangels” to help spread his teachings in the New World.

The Anglican clergy, who couldn’t be “saved” without acknowledging their sins and experiencing conversion, prevailed upon civil authorities to have the evangelists jailed (for refusing to apply for a license to preach). They were also jailed and tarred and fevers (as suspected British loyalists) for refusing to fight in the Revolutionary War and for worshiping together with their African slaves. During the 1780s many evangelicals freed their slaves.

The evangelicals emerged stronger than ever from the Revolutionary War. Without the King of England as its nominal head of their church, the Anglicans lost their standing under the new US government. lost its standing under the new government. During the first half of the 19th century, the evangelical movement drew new members during “revival” camps hosting up to 15,000 people. Organizers and attendees belonged to Baptist and Presbyterian, as well as Methodist, churches.

Ayers emphasizes that these churches were the only real biracial institutes in the South in the 19th century. Unlike the Anglican church, the evangelical churches recognized slave marriages.  In the 1830s, freed slaves petitioned to start the First African Baptist Church of Richmond Virginia. Although state law required their minister to be white, the church was run by 30 African deacons (although most were freemen, a few were still enslaved).

Evangelical slave holders believed God’s purpose in sending Africans to America was to teach them responsible Christianity. Owing to the absence of law enforcement in frontier settlements, religion played a very important role in enforcing morality. Frontier churches also provided a stabilizing influence for slaves uprooted from their families to and transported to frontier settlements.

Film can be viewed free on Kanopy with a library card.

https://pukeariki.kanopy.com/video/evangelical-faith-south