Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820-1865 - Hardcover

Jordan, Ryan P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0253348609 ISBN 13: 9780253348609

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Ryan P. Jordan explores the limits of religious dissent in antebellum America, and reminds us of the difficulties facing reformers who tried peacefully to end slavery. In the years before the Civil War, the Society of Friends opposed the abolitionist campaign for an immediate end to slavery and considered abolitionists within the church as heterodox radicals seeking to destroy civil and religious liberty. In response, many Quaker abolitionists began to build "comeouter" institutions where social and legal inequalities could be freely discussed, and where church members could fuse religious worship with social activism. The conflict between the Quakers and the Abolitionists highlights the dilemma of liberal religion within a slaveholding republic.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Impressive. As someone who has worked with most of the materials Jordan has used, I am struck by his thorough, thoughtful, and incisive use of them. The prose is smooth, even, and readable. I do not agree with all of his conclusions, but he argues his case well and raises questions about Quakers and anti-slavery that are a major contribution to American religious and reform history." -Thomas A. Hamm, Earlham College

About the Author:

Ryan P. Jordan is Visiting Assistant Professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0253348609
• ISBN 13: 9780253348609
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 175