Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery

The abolitionist movement, writes Stewart in this engaging study, grew out of a number of historical conditions in early American society. Fearful of secularism and materialism, and disdainful of the luxurious life of the upper class, evangelical Christians of varying ethnicity banded together to forge a religious revival called the Great Awakening. In the South these evangelicals, especially the Quakers, confronted slave-holding Anglicans. They steadily worked to convert pro-slavery individuals, and they were often successful. By recruiting escaped slaves to speak out publicly against "the peculiar institution," the abolitionists galvanized public opinion outside the South, leading to the sectionalism that would later find its ultimate expression in the Civil War. Stewart's account of the important role that women played in the abolitionist movement is of special interest.