Damned Nation? Belief in and Uses of Damnation among American Abolitionists

“SLAVERY DESTROYS IMMORTAL SOULS,” declared an article in the December 20, 1839 issue of the Liberator. Not only did it destroy the “souls of the oppressor,” but also “the souls of the oppressed,” and of those too “timid and time serving” to do anything about it.

To attribute to slavery the widespread destruction of souls was not merely a rhetorical device for many reformers, but was also rooted in deeply-held beliefs about damnation and divine justice. Although many abolitionists looked forward to a millennium purged of the sin of slavery, they also predicted divine justice on the nation and its inhabitants should their cries for emancipation go unheeded.

This paper examines beliefs in and rhetorical uses of damnation among American abolitionists. It will look at whether and how reformers’ own fears of damnation and their personal conversion experiences affected their interest in antislavery, their different ideas about America’s millennial role, and their attitudes towards the use of violence in bringing about emancipation. In addition, it will look at how abolitionists used the threat of damnation, against both individual and nation, to try to implement their goals.

European developments form an important backdrop to the story, and this paper will also consider how scholars of European history, more than of American history, have addressed topics like sin, guilt, and belief in heaven and hell. These scholars have described a “decline of hell” in 19^th century Europe, but this paper will suggest that a similar decline did not hold for most American abolitionists. The constant presence of the sin of slavery, a sin which they saw as destructive of America, as much as of the individual soul, ensured the survival of damnation in the abolitionists’ worldview and arsenal.