Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery - Softcover

Stewart, James Brewer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080901596X ISBN 13: 9780809015962

Publisher: Hill and Wang, 1997

Synopsis

Revised to include important new scholarship, James Brewer Stewart's eloquent survey of the abolitionist movement is also a superb analysis of how the antislavery movement reinforced and transformed the dominant features of pre-Civil War America. Revealing the wisdom and na veté of the crusaders' convictions and examining the social bases for their actions, Stewart demonstrates why, despite the ambiguity of its ultimate victory, abolition has left a profound imprint on our national memory.

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Review:

The abolitionist movement, writes Stewart in this engaging study, grew out of a number of historical conditions in early American society. Fearful of secularism and materialism, and disdainful of the luxurious life of the upper class, evangelical Christians of varying ethnicity banded together to forge a religious revival called the Great Awakening. In the South these evangelicals, especially the Quakers, confronted slave-holding Anglicans. They steadily worked to convert pro-slavery individuals, and they were often successful. By recruiting escaped slaves to speak out publicly against "the peculiar institution," the abolitionists galvanized public opinion outside the South, leading to the sectionalism that would later find its ultimate expression in the Civil War. Stewart's account of the important role that women played in the abolitionist movement is of special interest.

From the Back Cover:

Now revised to include important new scholarship, Holy Warriors, James B. Stewart's eloquent and judicious history of American abolitionism, offers a superb analysis of how the antislavery movement reinforced and transformed the dominant features of pre-Civil War America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hill and Wang
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 080901596X
• ISBN 13: 9780809015962
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256