This paper was written Spring Semester, 1999, under Michael Gagnon, in the History Department, at the University of Georgia, as a requirement for completion of History 4000, "Social History of Antebellum America." The views expressed in this paper are strictly the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the instructor, the department, nor the university.

 
    Revivalism and camp meetings in the nineteenth century were vital to shaping American society.  They strengthened the religious sects by bringing more people to Christ than ever before.  At no other time in American history did one movement cause the conversion of so many individuals.  The religious revival that took place was inevitably based on the problems that were arising in the New World.  The Great Awakening and the revivals that came with it helped America identify itself as a nation.  On an individual basis it gave hope to the despairing, shaped new ideas, and beliefs.  This paper will argue that Revivalism and the camp meetings that identified this time helped change and shape societies views on slavery.  It will use Athens, Georgia as a case study and consider how this town fit into the national trends concerning this issue.
    The first church in Athens was started by Presbyterians in 1828.  This was of little importance at the time because, as of 1831, nine out of every ten Georgia residents had no religious affiliation.  Slowly, this prospect began to change.  Churches in Athens began to see substantial growth due to revivals and camp meetings.  In 1830, the first time Athens was introduced to camp meetings, thirteen were scheduled to take place.1    The local Athens paper documented that a four day meeting took place at the Presbyterian church in the month of May in 1831.  During this revival, seventy people declared their new religious beliefs or converted.2   A Methodist revival occurring in 1838 was said to bring fifty new people into the church.3   Another revival taking place at the same church only two years later brought in twenty- five more individuals.4   In 1857, again at the same church, William Price Talmadge documented that seventy more people were added to the congregation.5   The most important camp meeting took place in 1858.  It started in May and lasted through March.  The most remarkable thing about this revival was that it moved from church to church, taking place in many of the churches throughout Athens.  This revival was said to have caused a great increase in the size of the white churches.6   The conversion of these people through the camp meetings in Athens also opened the door for the introduction of religion into the lives of slaves.
    Considering the fact that nine out of ten Georgia residents had no religious affiliation, it is safe to assume that slaveholders in Georgia did not expose their slaves to religion either.  Originally, blacks were considered to be heathens.  In 1819, a local Grand Jury showed concern over the number of  blacks that were drinking and playing marbles on the Sabbath.7   With the introduction of religion into the lives of their masters, slaves began to be taught religious principles as well.  The camp meetings that were mentioned in the paragraph above also had black participants.  The revival that took place at the Methodist Church in 1940 was said to have converted six “ coloreds.”8   The big revival of 1858 caused one hundred blacks to join the Negro Methodist Church.9   The most interesting information comes from a newspaper article that describes the decision of the local Methodist Church to separate from the Northern Methodist Church over the issue of slavery.  They felt that slavery was an institution that should not be meddled in by the church.  In response to the Conference of the M.E. Church creating legislation on slavery, the Methodist Church in Athens separated from the Northern Methodist Church.10   This shows that the religious people in Athens felt that slavery was not a issue that should be dealt with in their church.
    Revivalism changed the make up of the religious face and these changes spilled over into the American society as well.  Evidence of this change in society and religion was the introduction of camp meetings as a tool of spreading the word of God.  These meetings appealed to many different types of people and were responsible for converting thousands of individuals throughout the revivalist period.
    To understand how views on slavery changed or were shaped through Revivalism, we must first look at the importance of camp meetings, especially their part in converting individuals.  Originally, religious services consisted of a minister preaching from a pulpit and applying the ideas of the sermon to everyday life.  Emotion was considered to be false and not related to real conversion.  The congregation was usually made up of well- educated listeners.  Therefore, the sermons were often hard to understand for ordinary people.11   With the beginning of Revivalism, these things began to change.  Camp meetings became the main tool in spreading the word of God.  They were extremely large scale, consisting of tents set up in large fields, with numerous local and visiting preachers, and a crowd of thousands of people that came from all around.12
    The main purpose of camp meetings was to influence individuals to convert to Christianity.  This was achieved in many different ways.  Often, worshipers were moved to tears and repentance by the ministers. Sermons contained emotional stories and imagery in order to evict an emotional response from the crowd.  Ministers were like actors, using changes in their voice and body language to draw the crowd into their message of God.13
    Emotion was considered to be important in the conversion process, but ministers did not want to evict an uncontrollable emotional response.  Instead, they wanted individuals to make a conscious decision to follow God because it was right, not because they were overcome by emotion.  The purpose of the continuos sermons over consecutive days was to convert people by emphasizing the importance of God and explaining why God was needed in their lives.14
    One criticism of revivalism is that it was responsible for placing too much emphasis on emotion rather than focusing on the basic truths of Christianity.  The gatherers at camp meetings were not knowledgeable in the Christian principles.  They came to the meetings on the basis of emotion and when that emotion quelled, a strong Christian foundation was not present.  Many revivalist ministers made the mistake of confusing emotion with understanding.  They focused too much on evicting emotion and did not teach the principles that are necessary for a good Christian.  Despite this, the importance of emotion should not be trivialized.  Many important decisions involve emotion, and in some cases emotion is a better guide than reason, but in order for these people to become good Christians, they must understand what being one entails.15
    The camp meetings also became a chance for converted individuals to reaffirm their faith.  It was not uncommon for them to reenact their conversion process.  They were also expected to bring candidates for conversion to the meetings.  Most of the potential converts were family members of individuals that had already come to Christ.       Revivals intensified the pressure to convert already applied by their family members.  The sermons were directed mostly at the lost souls in the hope that they would come to the Lord.16
      The conversions taking place at these camp meetings revived the religious sects.  The three dominant denominations during this period were Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists.  The increase in church membership and ministers brought on by the revival allowed these three sects to spread across the nation.  The growth of their membership also helped to end the segregation of the white social classes.  Whites from all social classes became Christians.  Baptist’s congregations were no longer exclusively non-slave holding whites and slaves.  Slave holders and people from lower social classes worshipped with different types of people from the abolitionist to the wealthy.17   The fact that new people, especially slaveholders, were beginning to accept Christ helped lead to the introduction of Christianity into the lives of slaves.  A main factor in the conversion of the slaveholders, and later the slaves, was the camp meetings.
    Slavery was an issue that divided Christians and denominations throughout the country.  The Great Awakening was the first time blacks began to accept Christianity in large numbers.18   But there were many obstacles that stood in the way of revivalist ministers bringing the word of Christ to blacks.
    Slaveholders did not want slaves to become Christians because they thought that it would lead them to become militant.  Blacks were often seen as unable to control their emotion, and there was a widespread fear that revivalist ministers could not control the slaves religious emotion and point it in the direction their masters wanted.  Often, revivalist ministers were forced to persuade slaveholders to allow them to teach the gospel to their slaves.  Even when the slaves accepted Christ they were forced to take an oath at their baptism swearing that their conversion was for their own salvation, not for freedom from their masters.19   But still, slaveholders were still reluctant to release their slaves to the ministers.
    In order for the churches to attract the slaveholders and their slaves, they were going to have to make some changes.  Churches saw that slavery was an important factor in the growth of their congregation.  Early Southern ministers realized that their abolitionist stance prevented them from spreading the gospel.  Their ability to speak in some areas was restricted or prohibited if they were going to criticize slavery.  This meant that they were not allowed to preach to slaves, and most slaveholders refused to attend as well.  Therefore, Baptist and Methodist ministers began to ignore their anti-slavery sentiments in order to increase their ability to spread the gospel.20   Individually, ministers had to make the choice between condemning slavery and alienating their congregation or ignoring their feelings in order to help the church grow.  Many ministers supported their decision to accept slavery by rationalizing that their ability to convert lost souls was more important.  Southern churches accepted slavery as an institution they were not responsible for. Those ministers that could not accept that compromise left the South in order to preach in free states.21
    With slavery no longer a religious issue and camp meetings converting individuals at high rates, slaveholders began coming to church and allowed their slaves to attend church as well, but only under the close supervision of whites.22   As a consequence of more slaves attending church, Baptists and Methodists accepted slaves as members.  Whites and blacks attended church together, heard the same sermons, took communion together, and were buried in the same cemeteries.  Gathering together under one roof and praying together changed white attitudes towards blacks.  With the introduction of Christianity into the lives of slaves, the relationship between whites and blacks became less hostile.  They essentially were brothers and sisters in Christ, even though blacks were still considered inferior.  Evidence suggest that  blacks received more equal treatment in church than in anywhere else in society.  Slaves were allowed to give their testimonies and they were accepted even if they were directed at whites.  Also in church courts, whites and blacks were held to the same moral code.23
    Over time, the presence of slaves in the church changed societal views towards slavery.  Slaves became seen as people with souls and looked upon as children of their masters .  Slavery was a way of bringing beasts to Christianity.  Slaveholders used black attendance in church as evidence that slavery was a form of taming the savage beasts and this fact disputed the abolitionist charges that slaveholders were not responsible for their slaves.  Consequently, the conversion of slaves formed the foundation of the defense of slavery.  Churches and ministers moved from being in opposition of slavery to defenders of it.24
Christianity also became a tool for controlling slaves.  Often, after regular church service on Sundays slaves were required to stay for a pro-slavery sermon.  Revivalist preachers warned slaves to watch for the sin of disobedience.  They also read the Bible to slaves, emphasizing the parts that discussed honoring your father and obeying your master.  An English Evangelical named Ann Dutton wrote to slaves: “ It is better to suffer, than sin; better to die, than sin.”  Whites made certain that slaves understood that Christianity did not free them from service to their master.25
    Blacks looked at Christianity in a different light.  Slaves saw their newfound religion as a doorway to a better life. They expected better treatment from their masters on the basis that they were brothers and sisters in the eyes of the Lord.26   Christianity represented individualism, freedom, and equality to slaves.  It gave them hope because salvation had become available to everyone.  They longed for freedom and put faith in the fact that if it did not happen in real life, they would be free in eternity.  Many preachers taught blacks that they could expect freedom and justice on Judgment Day, but for now they should obey their masters.27
    Although slavery was a touchy subject in the South, many Christians in the North took a strong stance against it.  It was a common view among northern ministers that slaves were children of God just like whites.28   Christianity was a system that placed everyone on a level playing field.  According to William Homer, the editor of The Northern Christian Advocate, an abolitionist evangelical newspaper, “ Men had no right to make a constitution which sanctioned human bondage.”  He also felt that, “ The fact a law is constitutional amounts to nothing, unless it is also pure; it must harmonize with the law of God, or be set at naught by all upright men.”29   In other words, the law of God did not allow the bondage of any human.  Slavery was considered a sin by Northern ministers because a good Christian would not control another Christian.
    Revivalist ministers felt that the institution of slavery could only be stopped when people realized the value Christ put on every human creature.  Society needed to understand that slavery was a denial of rights given to every man by God.  The growth of slavery would be stopped more effectively by the spread of Christianity than by any legislative means.30   The best way to abolish slavery would be to convert slaveholders and make them see that slavery was wrong.31
    In the North, a very close relationship existed between education and Revivalism.  Out of nine colonial colleges, six of them had some tie to Revivalism and the Great Awakening.  The conversions taking place because of camp meetings naturally called many young men to the ministry.32   Northern Revivalist ministers understood that if they could control the institutions in which these men were educated, they could also point these young men in the direction they wished.  The ideas, values, and methods of the future revivalist ministers were being shaped by the professors at the schools they attended.33   These men were the future preachers of camp meetings and revivals.  If they could be taught that slavery was wrong, then they would teach this to their converts as well.  Consequently, these young men and the schools they attended helped spread the anti-slavery sentiment through their preaching.
    Many anti-slavery movements were started by evangelical preachers.  The majority of abolitionist newspapers in the North were started or run by evangelists.  These papers circulated throughout the North, but generally did not receive a warm welcome in the South.34   One of the most radical and interesting anti-slavery movements was the creation of anti-slavery Baptist churches known as the Friends of Humanity Association.  Individuals were not admitted to this organization if they owned slaves or supported slavery.35   Other abolitionists during this period held more radical views for abolishing slavery.  Christians could not support these ideas because they contradicted their beliefs.  Ministers were confident that God would free the slaves and judge the slaveholders.  Their job, in respect to slavery, was to spread the word of God and educate people on the truths of Christianity.36
    As it is evident throughout this paper, Revivalism and camp meetings played a crucial role in shaping the views on slavery.  Revivalism became a time of change and opened the minds of people to new ideas.  Without this movement in American history, it would be possible that religion would have never expanded in the New World.  Slavery would probably still have ended, but without religion dictating what is right and wrong it is hard to know for sure.  The town of Athens, Georgia fits in well with the trends going on in the South at this time.  It is a good example of how slavery and blacks were viewed during this period.  Overall, much can be learned about Revivalism in American history.  It is the movement that brought religion to the attention of the American people and made it a priority in their lives.  Even today, religion is a major factor in the lives of many people and it is all due to the impact of Revivalism.

 1.    Ernest Hynds, Antebellum Athens and Clarke County (Athens: University of Georgia, 1974), 108.here.

 2.    “Revival of Religion,” Athenian, 31 May 1831, Col. 1, p.2.here.

 3.    Hynds, Antebellum Athens and Clarke County, 108.here.

 4.    “Religious Revival,” Southern Banner, 24 April 1840, Col.1, p. 3.here.

 5.    William Price Talmadge, William Price Talmadge Diary, 4/25/1857 entry , p. 34.here.

 6.    Hynds, Antebellum Athens and Clarke County, 109.here.

 7.    Ibid., 17.here.

 8.    “ Religious Revivals,” Southern Banner, 24 April 1840, Col.1, p. 3.here.

 9.    Hynds, Antebellum Athens and Clarke County, 109.here.

 10.  “Methodist Church,” Southern Banner, 4 July 1844, Col. 2, p. 3.here.

 11.  Ed. Edith L. Blumhofer and Randall Balmer, Modern Christian Revivals (Chicago: University of   Illinois, (  (1993), 78.here.

 12.  Ibid.,64.here.

 13.  Ibid., 78.here.

 14.  William G. McLoughlin, Jr., Modern Revivalism (New York: Ronald Press, 1959), 92.here.

 15.  William Warren Sweet, Revivalism in America (Gloucester: Peter Smith, 1965), 145.here.

 16.  Ed. Blumhofer and Balmer, Modern Christian Revivals, 64-65.here.

 17.  Ibid., 71.here.

 18.  Frank Lambert, “ ‘I Saw the Book Talk’: Slave Readings of the First Great Awakening,” Journal of Negro History
        no.77 (1992): 188.here.

 19.  Ibid., 188-189.here.

 20.  Ed. Blumhofer and Balmer, Modern Christian Revivals, 67.here.

 21.  Ibid., 68.here.

 22.  Lambert, “ ‘I Saw the Book Talk’: Slave Readings of the First Great Awakening,” 189.here.

 23.  Ed. Blumhofer and Balmer, Modern Christian Revivals, 69-70.here.

 24.  Ibid., 68-69.here.

 25.  Lambert, “ ‘I Saw the Book Talk’: Slave Readings of the First Great Awakening,” 189.here.

 26.  Ibid., 195.here.

 27.  Ibid., 189.here.

 28.  Sweet, Revivalism in America, 155.here.

 29.  Timothy L. Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform (New York: Abingdon, 1955), 205-206.here.

 30.  Ibid., 153.here.

 31.  Ibid., 215.here.

 32.  Sweet, Revivalism in America, 147-149.here.

 33.  McLoughlin Jr., Modern Revivalism, 82.here.

 34.  Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform, 208.here.

 35.  Sweet, Revivalism in America, 155.here.

 36.  Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform, 215.here.
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