Phillips, by contrast, spoke of slavery in the political language of republican ideology. His was, to be sure, a language charged with a moral and religious fervor that no Garrisonian could help but applaud, and it accorded with perfectionist thinking at many points. Yet Phillips was far less immediately concerned than were most of his colleagues with redeeming souls for Christ and decrying the nation’s standing in the sight of God. Instead, Phillips hated slavery as an institution that was preeminently social and political. His criticisms invariably stressed its destructive moral impact on
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