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Religion in the Antebellum Period (Essay)

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Religion in the Antebellum Period (Essay)

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Religion was a very important subject in the antebellum period. Christianity was clearly the primary religion in America in America at that time. Many paintings created revolving around the theme of religion. Literature also nearly always had a theme surrounding Christianity, one way or another. There were also many ministers that aided in spreading the name of Jesus to people who lived in different areas of America. Throughout the entire antebellum, religion had an impact on every aspect of people’s lives, from the books they read to the art they could see; religion was surely inescapable.

In art, there were paintings showing camp meetings of different types and involving different types of people. Camp meetings were types of services that happened outdoors. These meetings often lasted three or four days and people would travel great distances to attend. People would sing hymns, listen to preachings, and often get married or baptized. Though they became very hectic at times, the Methodist church continued with them and became very popular. They were very essential in evangelism. “Camp Meeting of the Methodists in N. America" by Milbert Jacques Gérard is a great example of art that portrays these meetings. With the trees in the background, we get a sense of the outdoors and the meeting contains many people. "A Negro Camp Meeting in the South" by an unknown painter shows something similar, except with African Americans. It wasn’t until the 1800s that slaves were introduced to Christianity but even then they were very few. During the Second Great Awakening many more were introduced. Methodists and Baptists appealed to slaves the most through sermons of hope and redemption. Their praise and worship styles were also the most appealing as it reflected the way slaves worshipped before being forcefully brought to America. The painting shows the idea of camp meetings in the woods by all the trees and portrays camp meetings well with the obvious exaggerated form of worship.

Just as religion was prominent in art, literature also had inspiration from Christianity. “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was very obviously a religious book. Hester Prynne, the main character, was forced to wear the letter “A” for adulterer. Even at the end when she no longer needed to wear it and had been forgiven, she still did not feel worthy of being used by God because she felt tainted by sin. The books revolved around the idea of sin and how it can destroy one’s life. “The Heroic Slave” by Frederick Douglass also had many traces of religion within it. It advocated for the freedom of slaves by stating how Madison Washington, the main character, was a man also created by God and was a child of God. Plus, it spoke how he was hated for nothing but the colour of his skin and how, because of the oppression he endured, church bells could not be a symbol of joy as many Christians heard it (Douglass 9). Literature during this time period had much inspiration drawn from religion.

Many ministers also had a major impact on the antebellum period as a whole. William Apess was a Methodist minister who wrote “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man,” an essay discussing the discrimination Natives Americans, like himself, went through by so-called Christians. He uses the Bible as his main supporting text. By using the Bible, Apess reminded white Americans how the treatment of Natives could not be justified as Jesus himself was a man of colour. Plus, Paul, the man who helped convert Gentiles (as everyone who was not Jewish was known as) was also a man of coloured skin. There was no evidence of Jesus telling His apostles to hate based on the colour of people’s skin. Charles G. Finney was also an evangelical minister. He helped with the Second Great Awakening as people had began to backslide. He stirred up controversy as he was an abolitionist and allowed women to pray during services. Women’s rights movements and abolitionists were all fueled by his writing and theology. He aided in helping people return to God through his own camp meetings.

As religion being the main theme in my Padlet posts, it is evident that it had a major impact on everyone’s lives at the time. Art was inspired by camp meetings and religion. Literature like Hawthorne’s and Douglass’s writings were also heavily influenced by religion, either condemning sin or slavery. Plus, ministers such as Apess and Finney preached to many people; Apess through his writing and using Biblical references to preach against discrimination and Finney through his camp meetings and theology classes. Religion, specifically Christianity, affected people’s daily lives and the different forms of art that surrounded them.

Word Count: 783

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"The Heroic Slave" by Frederick Douglass

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"The Heroic Slave" by Frederick Douglass

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“Here is indeed a man,” thought he, “of rare endowments, —a child of God,— guilty of no crime but the colour of his skin,— hiding away from the face of humanity, and pouring out his thoughts and feelings, his hopes and resolutions to the lonely woods; to him those distant church bells have no grateful music” (9).

This is a quote from a man who, in the moment, was overhearing Madison Washington talk about wanting to be free. Here, he is deciding to be an abolitionist. By using this, Douglass is showing that white abolitionists were beginning to see slaves as more than just slaves but as “Children of God.” Religion, at this point, was turning from being used as a means of having slaves to a means of proving that slaves were people as well and their only “crime” was the colour of their skin. People then were realizing that the racism against slaves was not biblical as church bells should bring joy, not sadness. Religion was helping build the cause against slavery and racism.

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"A Negro Camp Meeting in the South" 1872

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"A Negro Camp Meeting in the South" 1872

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This is an image of African America people worshipping at a camp meeting. Most slaves weren't introduced to Christianity until the 1800s. At first, ministers captivated large audiences at camp meetings but only a small percentage of slaves. However, during the Second Great Awakening, many more black men and women were introduced and converted to Christianity through camp meetings and revivals. Baptist and methodists appealed to slave and free populations by preaching plain sermons about hope and redemption. Now only this, but they also appealed to the way they used to worship before they were brought to America. This included shouting, dancing, and call-and-response singing. In these meetings, slaves often sang songs of salvation and biblical figures like Moses. Often, these songs encoded messages of resistance and when they were planning to gather to escape. Fear of slave uprising, many of these camp meetings were banned until they moved to the North. This painting shows many forms of worship. There are hands in the air, people clearly praying, and some call-and-answer actions. This shows how faithful slaves were to worshipping. It is set in the woods. There are women, men,  and children. It is a great representation of how slaves worshipped during this period.
https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/religion/history2.html

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"Camp Meeting of the Methodists in N. America" by Milbert, Jacques Gérard

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"Camp Meeting of the Methodists in N. America" by Milbert, Jacques Gérard

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This is a painting of a camp meeting in the 1800s. Camp meetings during the antebellum were a type of outdoor revival services held by many Protestant denominations. People travelled long distances to be able to camp out at these meetings. The people would pitch tents and the services would last about three or four days. There are many reasons as to why people attended the camp meetings, but the main reason was that people often yearned for a place to worship. At these meetings people would sing hymns, they would pray, and often got married or were baptized. The preachings varied but usually were messages to convert people.  However, they became so hectic that they gained a bad reputation. However, the Methodist church profited the most as they were quite popular. Eventually, camp meetings became essential for evangelism.

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Camp meeting of the Methodists in N. America / J. Milbert del. ; M. Dubourg sculp.

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Rights assessment is your responsibility. The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

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William Apess's essay “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” (1833)

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William Apess's essay “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” (1833)

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“Did you ever hear or read of Christ teaching his disciples that they ought to despise one because his skin was different from theirs? Jesus Christ being a Jew, and those of his Apostles certainly were not whites,—and did not he who completed the plan of salvation complete it for the whites as well as for the Jews, and others?”

William Apess was an outspoken, Pequot native American Methodist preacher. The quote I have chosen to elaborate on is from his essay “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” which was written in 1833. The entire focus of his essay was to show how white men were hypocrites. He uses biblical evidence to prove that racism is unbiblical. This quote specifically shows how Apess proves his point effectively as 1) nowhere in the Bible is it stated to hate because of skin colour and 2) even Jesus Himself was not white. It proves that, during the antebellum period, racism was very prominent. Just as well, it shows how white men tried to justify racism and discrimination with Biblical Scriptures, this proving that they didn’t read for themselves but went based off personal beliefs, not Biblical.

http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/Amerind/apesslkggls.htm

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"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne 

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"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne 

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“Earlier in life, Hester had vainly imagined that she herself might be the destined prophetess, but had long since recognized the impossibility that any mission of divine and mysterious truth should be confided with a woman stained with sin, bowed down with shame, or even burdened with life-long sorry. The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a women, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful…” (155).

This quote is from the book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It centers around Hester Prynne, a woman who has been accused of adultery and forced to wear the letter “A” on her chest as a public sign of her sin. She has a child named Pearl, who is later revealed to be the daughter of a minister. Hester is a Puritan, a Christian denomination that focused on purifying the Catholic beliefs. The story is set in New England. The quote emphasizes the strictness Puritans held towards the female sex. Hester had imagined herself as a woman that could be used by God some day, but because of her Puritan beliefs, the fact that she had committed adultery made her feel as if she could not. This quote reveals how strict these beliefs were. Despite the fact that everyone knows that God is a forgiving God, Hester believes that the sin of adultery is always going to be a part of her and that God will never be able to see past that. It reveals just how hard women’s lives were judged in the antebellum period by using the Puritan beliefs as a support for the strictness of women's treatment.

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The Second Great Awakening and Charles G. Finney, the evangelist.

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The Second Great Awakening and Charles G. Finney, the evangelist.

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Charles G. Finney was a famous evangelist because of his work during the movement called "The Second Great Awakening." This movement was a series of revivals for America during the 1800s. Before the movement, people had begun to backslide as they figured that God did not care about their daily lives or they were simply too busy making a living. As a result, “The Second Great Awakening” began. These revival meetings often were presented in the camp meetings I mentioned previously. One of the greatest figureheads was Charles G. Finney. He did, however, stir up much controversy as he was an abolitionist. Just as well, he allowed women to pray in his sermons, which was known to be something that people often found insulting as it was believed women shouldn't speak during services. He did spread the word all the way to western New York and even became a professor of theology and wrote books on this revival. These revivals then refueled the American population to return to God. Just as well, abolitionists and women’s rights movements were also influenced by “The Second Great Awakening.”
(This image and information comes from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Charles_Finney and http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Second_Great_Awakening)