When slavery was called freedom: evangelicalism, proslavery, and the causes of the Civil War

Abstract

When Slavery Was Called Freedom is a bold new interpretation of the intellectual foundations of secession and the American Civil War. Author John Patrick Daly focuses on the culture of antebellum America and the debate about the morality of slavery that obsessed people of the period. Contrary to common wisdom, striking similarities between North and South led to the ferocity of the slavery debate and the war. Daly explains that antislavery and proslavery emerged from the same evangelical roots; both sides interpreted the Bible and Christian moral dictates in light of individualism and free market economics. In an age when many history books avoid synthesis and broad explanations, Daly's analysis attacks hard questions and uncovers the cultural and ideological bonds that linked the combatants in Civil War era America.