The pulpit, or rather rhetoric delivered from the pulpit, played a controversial role in the abolitionist movement. There were many who believed that slavery was a political question and as such it should not be discussed or debated in a religious venue. Others argued that the church in its official capacity should remain above the political fray and remain outside or above the debate on slavery. Cheever argues that not only is it permissible for religious to preach the evils and sin of slavery but that they are morally bound and obligated to do so. Cheever maintains that the church through its ministers cannot remain silent on the issue of slavery; they possess the right to relay the word of God to their congregation on the sin and evil of slavery.

Cheever goes on to say that preaching about the evils of slavery is not bringing politics into the church but rather refusing to listen or admonishing this preaching is in fact bringing politics into the church. It is those who are against the church speaking out against slavery who are guilty of being "political Christians" and shunning the true word of God. Cheever contends that in ignoring or refusing to see the evil and sin of slavery these Christians refuse to see and hear the true word of God, they are blinded by politics and society. Cheever strengthens his arguments by examining biblical evidence to support his denouncement of slavery, largely drawing from the New Testament text.

Historians have not been able to come to a consensus when evaluating the effect of the abolitionist movement on the developing sectional conflict and crisis leading up to the Civil War. Some historians have argued that the abolitionists did not have a direct impact in causing the escalation of the sectional conflict which precipitated the Civil War. Avery Craven maintains that the abolitionists and their fanatical rhetoric and ideology exacerbated the sectional conflict which lead to the outbreak of the war. Craven finds that the abolitionists effectively poured salt in the wounds of the nation and instead of working to bring the nation together worked to split it apart.

Craven finds that through the abolitionistsπ use of the "slave power conspiracy" ideology the divisiveness of the slavery question was emphasized and exacerbated. Craven through his examination of the abolitionist ideology claims that the abolitionists were guilty of recklessly expounding their fanatical beliefs instead of trying to solve the problem with feasible solutions. Through these radical beliefs the abolitionists fostered the sectional conflict and worked toward increasing this conflict. Through his analysis of the abolitionist movement and ideology Craven maintains that the abolitionists were thoughtless fanatics who through their insistence on maintaining their radical beliefs encouraged and necessitated an unnecessary war.

In the slave societies of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, black religion and black churches in America functioned primarily to assist the Negro population in dealing with the unaccepting harsh environment they were exposed to. The Negroes found that in order to insure their survival as a group they had to either adjust to the environment and the social restrictions placed upon them, or attempt to change it. The two major factors that lead to the rise of black churches in the late Eighteenth Century were this need for community and a continual sense of a people hood, as well as the discriminatory treatment the Negroes were receiving in the white churches. Afro-Americans turned to the church to understand their past, define the present, and project their future. Their hopes and promises of change were kept alive through the Church and through "their" God. Until the black churches were formed, the Negroes in America had a bipartite religious system; the official Sunday service in the white church, and the prayer meetings or spirituals where the blacks sang, danced, and carried on their African culture. Many historians and theorists feel that the black spirituals were the mainspring of black religion in the United States, as the slave owners wiped out the majority of their African ways and traditions, except those that could be hidden or secretly celebrated. However, the formation of the black church did not come about easily. There were laws that restricted blacks in most realms of their daily lives.

Slave codes were created for the purpose of withholding slaves from any exercise of humanity or justice. The slave was held as a Chattel in the societies of this time. Therefore the "legal relation' of slave ownership, upheld by these codes, did not consider the recognition of intellectual, social, and religious rights of slaves. There was absolutely no consideration for the slaves' religious wants, their religious natures, or their religious destinies. The codes allowed the masters complete control of the slaves;

"he may forbid religious instruction and access to public worship. He may enforce upon the slave and his family a

religious worship and a religious teaching which the slave may disapprove of for the claim of chattelhood extends to the soul as well as the boy." (Goodell, p.253)

The secret meetings or religious celebrations of the Negroes created a fear of insurrection among the whites. As a result the white masters extended the laws and codes even further, in order to keep their slaves in a state of complete subordination.

In addition to the laws and regulations that were setup, there were also restrictions that dealt with the Christianizing of the slaves. The question was raised as to whether or not the heathen blacks could be, or should be, converted. Some individuals claimed that the slaves morals and uncivilized manners could never be converted to represent the "Christian character". While others said that converting the blacks to Christians put them on an equal level with the whites in the religious sense.

After 1700 the discussions regarding the Christianization of the slaves finally began to take precedence. However, in the late eighteenth century, we find that very few slaves had yet to be converted to Christianity, although most practiced some sort of religion. In The American Slave, Rawick distinguishes between the religion the slaves practiced with many African spiritual elements, from that which the white's practiced. The first type of religion, that is heir to the slaves and their spirituals, is an "enabling religion", or an emotional religion of protest about this world. On the other hand to the slave masters Christianity was a "coping religion", or a religion concerned with surviving in this world and retaining one's current position. In most cases the blacks were allowed to attend Sunday services with their masters, although the importance on having their own spirituals and way of worship was essential to the black community and to their idea of religion. The whites felt the allowance of blacks into their places of worship was a major step on their part. Yet the blacks were still restricted in the white religious practices, in terms of where they had to sit and the order in which they received communion. In the mid nineteenth century there was an attempt on the part of the masters to superimpose a formal religion on the slaves. However, that religion never seemed to gain the total adherence of the slaves, who continued to carry on prayer meetings at night (Rawick, p.33). Therefore not long after the initial allowances of black members into white churches, was the rise of independent black churches (Scherer, p.144). In the North Negroes organized their own independent churches. Yet in the South, except for a few border cities, the laws against slave assemblies prevented them from doing so before the Civil War (Stampp, p.373). However, no matter where the churches were located there was opposition from both the black and the white communities, but their was also support from both ends. The reasons that have come out over the course of time for and against the development of the black church greatly differ depending on the laws and circumstances of the time, as well as the color of one's skin. The main distinction we can draw between the early works, of the nineteenth century, versus the works of the mid and late twentieth century, is that the earlier works tend to place emphasis on one particular reason and viewpoint for the development of the black church in America. While many of the more recent works of this century, not only give us views from both of the races within each work, but they also enlarge our view by exposing their readers to a larger number of theories and reasons for and against the formation of independent black churches.

There are many works throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that deal directly with the arguments for and against the founding of an all black church. However, most of the works that came out around the mid nineteenth century discuss one or two main reasons for choosing either the black or the white view, but rarely looked at both sides. When looking at the whites that were in favor of instructing the Negro population in a type of religion that would eventually lead them to take the necessary steps towards forming a black church, we first turn to Thomas Paine. The first article that he came out with after he initially landed in the ~w World was "African Slavery in America." This article was published by a Philadelphia paper on March 8, 1775 and was probably one of the major influences in the founding of the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery society in April of that same year (Aptheker, p.46). Paine believed that as Christians we have a duty to the slaves to allow them to see Christianity in a non-oppressive manner. Therefore Paine called for Americans to consider his proposal to take proper measures to instruct and educate the slaves in religion:

Yet, fifty years later the white abolitionists and anti-slave societies were still calling for instruction. In 1830 an appeal developed in North Carolina to give the slaves more than their hidden religion; it called for the education of the slaves. This particular appeal addressed "To the people of North Carolina", recommended a law providing for the instruction of slaves in the elementary principles of language, at least as far as to enable them to read the Holy Scriptures.

Even though we see many white men calling for changes that will benefit the Negro population, we must realize that many of these men were merely fighting for this cause partly because of the guilt they felt for oppressing a group for so long in such horrific conditions. In 1833 in Philadelphia, the first national Anti-Slavery Society was founded, which was devoted to bettering the conditions that the Afro-Americans faced. Garrison played a major part in the development of the constitution that this society formulated. This constitution or declaration called society to attempt to elevate the character and condition of the people of color by encouraging their intellectual, moral, and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice. In that respect, this society was calling for blacks and whites to be considered equals in the civil and religious aspects of life. In order to gain support from other white Christians for this drastic change in society, Garrison called for men to repent and allow the oppressed to be free for "the guilt of this oppression is unequaled by any other on the face of this earth." (Aptheker, p.110)

The slaves also called for freedom and equality among all humans, but they were able to foresee the fact that this would not be achieved merely by being instructed-they needed a religious community of their own. Therefore, until the black churches became widely spread throughout the country, the slaves counted on their spirituals for the communal and social aspects of life. From the viewpoint of the slaves, religion was a deeply personal expression of hopes, experiences, and needs. The spirituals that the slaves sung during these secretive meetings were religious, yet they also reflected a deep yearning for freedom and equality on earth. They were a weapon of struggle, an instrument of solace, and also a means of informing the slave communities of the escapes or developments regarding their fellow slaves. The spirituals gave the slave a sense of hope that white Christianity could not give them:

"Keep your lamps trimmed and a-burning,

The differences between the black man's perspective on religion compared with that of the white man is immense.

The American Slave Code is one of the early nineteenth century works that deals with this expansion of Negro religion, looking primarily at the white man's perspective. Although Goodell sites three main reasons that white men and slave masters should be in favor of giving the blacks a religious mind and nature of their own, all three of these reasons in some way come around to benefiting the white man in the end. The first deals with the behavior of the slaves. Goodell feels that if slave masters treated their slaves justly and kindly the danger of insurrection in the slave communities would cease. The second is regarding the nature of true Christians, for if whites want to follow in the good, honorable '⁹Christian way" that God sets fortb, there is no way tbey can agree to continue to deprive these individuals of their rights when they are no longer considered heathens. Finally, the formation of an independent black church can be seen as the colonization of free blacks, with their own consent. Goodell continues his reasoning and looks at the opposite side of the spectrum and poses one reason against the formation of the black church and the religious instruction of the Negroes. Once the Negroes are recognized as Christians they are no longer heathens, and therefore now must be recognized as having a conscience and spirit of their own. This move to a view that perceives blacks as humans leaves the master questioning his degree of overall control.

Another way in which the white race exhibited their protest against the black religion movement, was by discriminating against the blacks within the white churches they were a part of The whites set up lower galleries and seats located on the floor in the back of their churches and congregations, solely for the blacks to sit in. White masters felt if the blacks set up their own churches, they would lose their overall essence of control and therefore the institution of slavery would be jeopardized.

An additional method the white men used to assert his control over the Negroes within the confines of the church, was through the methods and messages of the preachers. Reverend Balme's American States Churches, and Slavery, another mid-nineteenth century work, concentrates on the reasoning behind the need for a black church apart from the white society. Balme felt that the slaves needed and were entitled to hear an unaltered view of the word of God. However, white Christianity only exposed slaves to preachers that spoke of the slave’s duty to God to act in an obedient manner for their masters. Dr. Nelson, a well-known author and resident of North Carolina for over forty years during the mid-nineteenth century, gives testimony regarding the instruction of the slaves: