The Problem of Slavery in Christian America: An Ethical-Judicial History of American Slavery and Racism

by Joel McDurmon

Church historian Lester B. Scherer points out that the Quakers “were the only Christian body that applied the instruments of church discipline to rid itself of what it saw as the guilt of slavery.”85 This is not quite true, for there was one other small group: the Reformed Presbytery of the United States of North America. This 1798 plant of Irish “Covenanters” were radically faithful to the demands of biblical law. As a result, they demanded “immediate and unrestricted abolition” of slavery. When the subject of compensating slaves owners to effect emancipation arose, this devoutly orthodox sect proclaimed that the slaves, not the oppressors, deserved recompense. Indeed, they did not hold back on the sins of American slave masters. To delay freeing their slaves was to “implicate yourself more and more deeply in robbery and murder.”86