Christian Worldviews on the Abolition of Slavery in Early America

 

In 1784, a Scottish gentleman published a tract at the mysterious printshop of Joseph Crukshank, on Market Street, Philadelphia. The tract burned with a fiery invective against slavery, a command for the abolition of the corrupt practice in the United States, and a scalding criticism against Great Britain for corrupting the land with the practice in their idolatry of the sugar trade.[1]

The tract formulated a Christian worldview against slavery three years before the first meeting of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and seven years before William Wilberforce officially joined in the crusade against slavery.

Charles Crawford’s tract Observations upon Negro Slavery wasn’t a monumental piece that swayed hearts and minds. However, the tract is remarkable in the systematic design of how a Christian ought to perceive slavery. What is even more remarkable, however, is that Crawford himself was a slave owner, and not a middling one either. He owned 184 slaves, more than even Thomas Jefferson, and he didn’t emancipate them until almost 10 years after his death, as stipulated in his will.[2] Furthermore, his slaves lived on the horrifying island of Antigua, part of the Barbados-Antigua slave culture where masters could murder their slaves in cold blood out of spite and then pay a sum of money to the government to wipe the record of the act.

Crawford grew up on Antigua and saw the horrors of slavery first-hand. Antigua’s superficial dioramic manifestations conjure the image of a Christian Holy Land: the island was divided into “parishes” named St. Johns, St. Phillips, St. Mary, St. Peter, and Pope’s Head, with villages named Gracefield, Lebanon, Valley Church, Gracebay, Gracehill, Christian Bay, and Fort Christian.[3] Mission societies were highly active in Antigua, establishing waystations and training centers across the countryside.[4] Crawford must have seen the hypocrisy of Christendom during his early years, because when he went to college at Cambridge he rebelled against God, writing angry tirades against the existence of an omnipotent being and getting expelled for being a rabble-rouser, and it wasn’t until his 30s that he found God again when he was living and traveling in the United States during the years of the American Revolution.[5]

Crawford built his argument against slavery in a uniquely Christian worldview, framing a problem uniquely suited to the Christendom of his age. He girded this understanding on the principle of Mark 12:31, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” calling slavery an “affront to reason, as well as a direct contradiction to the express declaration of Christianity.”[6]

The next scriptural defense against slavery that Crawford mentioned was Acts 17:26, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,” explaining Christians corrupted the original purpose by claiming “one blood signified various bloods,” twisting words to suit their purposes.[7] Crawford labeled these kinds of Christians as those who take “pleasure in unrighteousness,” ignoring the reality that African slaves have the “same figure, voice, passions, and feelings as other people, and therefore were made by the same God and redeemed by the same Savior.”

Crawford framed the argument with a series of surprising verses: Exodus 21:16, and 1 Timothy 1:10 which deal with the idea of “stealing men” being against the law of God.[8] In Exodus, the law forbids the stealing of a man against his will, either in the sale or possession of the man. In 1 Timothy, kidnappers are listed among sodomites, fornicators, liars, and perjurers – that the law is given to these kinds of people to reform them into right living.

Crawford finally described the idea of a just God, stating:

“There must be a state of retribution: a state wherein the just God will reward every man according to his work… then will the great God deal with you, as you have dealt with them, and require all their blood at your hands.”

He laid the responsibility of enslavement not on “the African villain” but on the Christian for enabling both the African and English villains.[9]

His solutions to the slave trade are trifold: halt the purchase of more slaves, halt any further hiring of future slaves, and begin gradual emancipation so slaves can learn language literacy and commercial trades for self-sufficiency.[10] His final statement is one familiar to both the American fighting in the Revolution and the Christian:

“Liberty is the right of every human creature, as soon as he breathes the vital air… give liberty to whom liberty is due, that is, to every child of man, to every partaker of human nature. Away with whips, chains and all compulsion. Be gentle towards all men. And see that you invariably do unto every one, as you would he should do unto you.”[11]

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[1] Crawford, Charles. Observations upon negro-slavery. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by Joseph Crukshank, 1784. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0101780527/SABN.

[2] Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, “Charles Crawford ‘Earl of Crawford and Lindsay’: Profile & Legacies Summary 1752-1825,” T71/245 pp. 141-144; T71/246 pp. 351-355; T71/248 pp. 89-92; T71/249 84-86.

[3] Jefferys, Thomas. The West-India atlas: or, a compendious description of the West-Indies: illustrated with forty one correct charts and maps, taken From actual surveys. Together with an historical account of the several countries and islands which compose that part of the world. Rumsey Collection. London: Sayer and Bennett, 1775.

[4] Peterson, Augusts. The Moravia atlas, embracing statistics of the Church of the United Brethren in her home and foreign departments, compiled from the most recent and authentic sources, by the teachers of the Fullback Academy. Fullback, England: Fullback Academy, 1853.

[5] Leary, Lewis. “Charles Crawford: A Forgotten Poet of Early Philadelphia.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 83, no. 3 (July 1959): 293-306.

[6] Crawford, 3.

[7] Ibid., 4.

[8] Ibid., 13.

[9] Ibid., 17, 19-20.

[10] Ibid., 15, 20, 22.

[11] Ibid, 21.