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Congregational minister, who circulated anti-slavery literature
throughout the South, and Elizur Wright^ another Congregational
minister,, was one of the five men who created the
sentiment that made New York the head center of abolition
influence at the close of General Jackson's first presidential
term.
In the most fiery epoch of the country's history
the New York Independent was begun by a trio of Congregationalists
who were also abolitionists. As the child of the
battle-field this paper became one of the strongest organs
for the opponents of slavery. Financed and edited by Drs.
Storrs, Bacon, and Thompson, 'all of whom» were prominent
Congregational ministers, and enhanced by the uncompromising
and impassioned arguments of Dr. Beecher, its record stands
as a worthy monument to the services of Congregationalists
2
in uprooting slavery in the United States.
The American Board in 1845 unanimously adopted a report
strongly condemning the system of slavery, and in 1846
The American Missionary Association 3 was founded on anti-slavery
principles. Says James Powell: - "Slavery had chained
the theology of the South to its cruel service, and turned
the pulpits into open and zealous defenders of oppression;
therefore the association sent missionaries into the South to
preach a free gospel and to bear testimony against wrong.
Slavery had secured such ascendency in the national politics,
and so allied itself with the commercial interests of the
1 Birney, James G. Birney and His Times. p. 415.
2 Abbott and Holliday, Life of Beecher. p. 124-5.
3 Encyclopedia Brittanica, see Congregationalism.
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (16)
