‘Christian Patriots’: The Intersection Between Proto-fascism and Clerical Fascism in the Antebellum South

Stefan Roel Reyes

doi:10.1163/22130624-00219121

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the convergence between clerical fascism and proto-fascism in the Antebellum South of the United States. The author employs Roger Griffin’s theories of palingenetic ultranationalism and clerical fascism to understand the worldviews of Southern intellectuals. The author argues that a cadre of Southern theologians rejected the liberal heritage of the United States and redefined the relationship between the individual and state. Southern clerical fascists reconceived of an alternative modernity that reflected God’s precepts. Slaves, laborers, and slave masters all had a mandate to guide secular and spiritual progress. Furthermore, these Southern clerics believed the best hope for securing God’s order was to be found in the birth of a new Southern society – the Confederate States of America. This study builds upon the works of other historians who discerned the illiberal and authoritarian qualities of the American South while also contributing to delineation of the protean qualities of clerical fascism.

Highlights

When the Confederate States of America seceded from the United States, they aimed to preserve the chattel slavery they believed was guaranteed in the constitution
This article examines the convergence between clerical fascism and proto-fascism in the Antebellum South of the United States
The combination of embracing an alternative modernity defined by collectivism, progress, Confederate nationalism and secession laid at the intersection between proto-fascism and clerical fascism in the Antebellum South

Summary

Introduction

When the Confederate States of America seceded from the United States, they aimed to preserve the chattel slavery they believed was guaranteed in the constitution. As one of the allotments of Providence to man, as having sinned and so forfeited liberty and every other blessing with life itself.’[68] Characteristically, Thornwell expanded this notion of fallen state to include the lower class whites while simultaneously rejecting their rights: ‘The distinction of ranks in society, in the same way, is an evil; but in our fallen world, an absolute equality would be an absolute stagnation of all enterprise and industry.’[69] This notion of man’s fallen state was used to protect the institution of slavery This was not a vision that saw Southern society as stagnant. Shannon outlined his patriotism and devotion to the rebirth of a new Southern nation: ‘we feel justified in pledging our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, to each other, to the State, and to our sister slave States’.97 Everything was to be sacrificed for the nation because the nation protected God’s institutions and God’s creation

Conclusion

A Note on Palingenetic Ultranationalism