Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America

Abstract

A book of uncommon significance, Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America compels us to rethink the causes for the Civil War and once again place the moral issue of slavery at the heart of the matter. -- Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Journal of Southern HistoryThis superbly researched and expertly written book makes a signal contribution to American history as well as to the history of religion. -- Mark Noll, Christianity TodayCarwardine's book is a major contribution to our understanding of pre-Civil War politics.... Few, after reading this sophisticated account, will deny the important role evangelicals played in shaping mid-nineteenth-century American political culture.-Curtis D. Johnson, American Historical ReviewThis book, first published in 1993 to great acclaim, examines the relationship between evangelical Protestant piety and political life in the critical twenty years before the Civil War. It is the first study to address directly the questions of how effectively evangelicals engaged in secular politics, how far they fashioned American political culture and party developments, and how instrumental they were in shaping the lines of sectional antagonism.Richard Carwardine explores the complex character of the evangelical movement and its impact during the antebellum era. He reveals how evangelicals, both North and South, re-inforced the drive toward two-party, adversarial politics by encouraging voting and responsible citizenship, pressuring politicians, and forcing questions of education, the removal of Native Americans, war, drink, and, above all, slavery onto the political agenda. This book goes further than any previous study to argue that religion was thecoin of politics in the early 1800s and that the roots of the Civil War lay in religious as well as secular factors.