Preview

The Domestication of Women and Blacks for the Sake of Christianity in the 19th Century

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4048 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Domestication of Women and Blacks for the Sake of Christianity in the 19th Century
The Domestication of Women and Blacks for the Sake of Christianity in the 19th Century

Introduction
The prominence of America has always been setup on the foundations of abstract, utopian idealisms. “Land of the free,” “equal opportunity,” a place where one can achieve the “American dream,” have all been parts of the driving force for the greatness of this nation and how the history of political thought and discourse has constantly promoted this notion of superiority and grandness. The mentality of “American exceptionalism” and maintaining a strong sense of being regarded as the “city upon a hill” are concepts strewn throughout the political rhetoric of transcendent theorists, writers, and political leaders all through the entire narration of American political thought. However, one of the underlying factors and primary facets of these idealistic maxims is the undemanding fact that patriarchal power and male conquest, along with the subordination of Blacks and racialized beings, have been the main driving forces in America reaching this level of greatness, especially before the eyes of God. The mission of building and creating a vast Christian empire is setup upon the domestication of women and people of color and the dominance of white men have led this nation to be rooted in racial inequality and gendered tyranny, distinctively for the purpose of spreading Christian morals and virtues. Contrasting the airy, romantic, widely-known concept of “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator” should be abridged to specifically only mention “all white men." Understanding that this frame of thought is embedded within figures such as Catharine Beecher and John C. Calhoun, during the Ante-bellum era of America, demonstrates that in order for America to reach such an optimum level of superiority and supremacy, groups of people must always be dominated and subjugated as a consequence of God’s will.
In this essay, I intend to explore the political



Cited: Belzer, Lydia M. "Raising Her Voice: Early Feminist Efforts At Obtaining The Right To Speak, 1835-1860." Texas Journal Of Women & The Law 13.2 (2004): 313-341 Search Premier. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. Brown, Alexis Girardin. "The Women Left Behind: Transformation Of The Southern Belle, 1840-1880." Historian 62.4 (2000): 759 Carlson, A. Cheree. "Creative Casuistry And Feminist Consciousness: The Rhetoric Of Moral Reform." Quarterly Journal Of Speech 78.1 (1992): 16 8 Dec. 2012. Elder, Robert. "A Twice Scared Circle: Women, Evangelicalism, And Honor In The Deep South, 1784-1860." Journal Of Southern History 78.3 (2012): 579-614 Premier. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. Hall, Mark David. "Beyond Self-Interest: The Political Theory And Practice Of Evangelical Women In Antebellum America." Journal Of Church & State 44.3 (2002): 477 History & Life. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. Hackett Pub., 2007. N. pag. Print. (2006): 367-389. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Dec. 2012 Heyse, Amy The Confederacy Remember The South." Women & Language 33.2 (2010): 31-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. Jortner, Adam. "Cholera, Christ, And Jackson: The Epidemic Of 1832 And The Origins Of Christian Politics In Antebellum America." Journal Of The Early Republic 27.2 (2007): 233-264. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. Kaplan, Amy. "Manifest Domesticity." American Literature 70.3 (1998): 581. America: History & Life Lennox, Stephen J. " 'One In Christ ': Galatians 3:28 And The Holiness Agenda." Evangelical Quarterly 84.3 (2012): 195-212 Matthews, Jean V. "Consciousness Of Self And Consciousness Of Sex In Antebellum Feminism." Journal Of Women 's History 5.1 (1993): 61 8 Dec. 2012. Prentice, E. Parmalee. "John C. Calhoun And The Labor Question." Harvard Law Review 14.1 (1900): 44-51 Slatta, Richard W. "Making And Unmaking Myths Of The American Frontier." European Journal Of American Culture 29.2 (2010): 81-92 Dec. 2012. West, Emily. " 'She Is Dissatisfied With Her Present Condition ': Requests For Voluntary Enslavement In The Antebellum American South." Slavery & Abolition 28.3 (2007): 329-350. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The study of slavery and race in America highlights the ironic contrast between an Anglo-American and African-American Society. Anglo-Europeans who professed a love for freedom and the importance of virtue deprived African-Americans of humanity and dignity. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed, Ar’n’t I a Woman: Female Slaves in the Plantation South by Deborah Gray White, and Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake & Lowcountry by Philip D. Morgan examine the systematic removal of power and perceived humanity of enslaved women and contrast the perceived sexual promiscuity of enslaved women with the sexual repression and virtue assigned to white women. Annette Gordon-Reed’s The…

    • 1639 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intro – The American Revolution spurred a dramatic shift in American Society which spawned numerous changes to the status quo, though in some cases this idealistic outpouring of principles was tempered with the harsh contradictions of colonial society. Though a change from the “virtual representation” and British tyranny, colonial federal government was weak and ineffective and prevented a true shift to an effective democratic society. Agrarian self-sufficiency was stressed, but only truly realized through protective tariffs. And while the ideological outpouring of the Declaration of Independence staring, “all men are created equal”, could have lead to a truly egalitarian society it so became clear that the statement applied (from 1775 – 1800) to rich, white, protestant, land owning adult males. Additionally visionary desires of peace with Native American tribes were never realized du tot the greed under, “The White Man’s Democracy”.…

    • 1839 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nineteenth-century Brown University president Francis Wayland has been celebrated for his contribution to antislavery arguments on the basis of the Bible. His arguments amount to a “signal moment in American moral history” (Noll 2006) because, more than simply providing a biblical articulation of the injustice of the slave racial regime, they entailed a practical method for its gradual, civil, and nonviolent abolition (Marsden 1996). Taking Francis Wayland’s arguments as a historical case study, this paper shows how his antislavery writings contributed to the production of racialized difference by mapping race as the criteria of tolerable and intolerable violence. This paper therefore aims to complicate the reception of Wayland by attending…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life: Racial discrimination is deeply rooted in the pages of American history as David Walker describes people of color are the most “Wretched, degraded, and abject set of beings ever lived (1). Exploring from this perspective of Walker’s writing: Appeal in Four Articles, he argues that the punishment inflicted on African Americans were without cause. In comparison to the Israelites in Egypt, or the Helots in Sparta and slavery as it was known for the Romans was in no comparison to the oppression of African Americans in the United States. “But we, (colored people) and our children are brutes!! And of course, are and ought to be SLAVES to the American people and their children forever!…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women have suffered throughout history. Angelina Grimke, Sarah Grimke, Catherine Beecher and Margaret Fuller wrote letters to express the importance of women’s rights. Often comparing women’s rights to slavery, each letter stressed the importance of equal rights for all. I never knew women were oppressed that badly. The letters these women wrote were based on moral rights, observation of injustice, and suppression in society. Each letter written expanded my knowledge on women’s rights. Although each wrote letters, the effectiveness of the writer’s point of view made some essays more effective at proving their point than others. Throughout this paper I will summarize, compare and contrast, and analyze each letter written to determine which paper effectively persuaded their reader.…

    • 1624 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When, Susan B. Anthony (one of the first suffragettes), got the “crazy” notion to be able to have an opinion on political matters, men’s pride was about to pick a fight with one of the strongest forces this world has ever known, woman. When first brought to Congress in 1848, it wasn’t even thought about. No was the only response for such an absurd notion. However, women were just getting started. They marched…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the year 313 AD, Emperor Constantine I adopted the Edict of Milan, allowing Christians to practice their faith without persecution. Although Christianity had been around for more than three hundred years by then, this was a foundational building block of the institution known as the “Church”. When we look back at the history of Europe we can see that the church played an important role in shaping social ideals such as tolerance, beliefs and morals. These concepts were shipped across the Atlantic during the colonial era and long after the American Revolution, remained fixed in the minds of the people. By comparing the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave Written by Himself and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, we can see the injustices in which the Church displays towards coloured people in American in order to gain wealth. We also, get a sense that the churches influence over society has changed from the original revolutionary concepts of peace and love, to the totalitarian concepts of domination and control. Both men shared a vision of a pure Christianity. Both men shared the condemnation of the church’s position on equality and justice. Both men shared the feelings of societal manipulation inflicted by the church. Both men shared their talents with the world in order to cure prejudice and demand equality.…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the antebellum South, slavery existed not only as an economic staple, but also was seen by many as a key component of the Christian religion. African-American slaves were subject to the will of their owners who believed the Bible supported their every action. As a slave himself, Frederick Douglass quickly realized that the ideals of Christianity strictly opposed the practice of slavery. The false form of this religion, explained as “The hypocritical Christianity of [the] land,” is practiced by whites, most notably Mr. Covey, and is a complete mockery of the true ideals behind genuine Christian thought (Douglass, 95). Douglass refutes Covey among others to expose the underlying hypocrisy of the slaveholding South while revealing his version…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout our nation’s history, African Americans are consistently and involuntary forced to stand as an omnipresent representation of inferiority. Starved of a Negro consensus, white men—mostly European—began persecuting them and exalting their supposed mediocrity. Hundreds of years after this tenet hit America, an exceedingly astute preacher named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exemplified himself as the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1900s. Notwithstanding the omnipotent fear plaguing the Negro community, Dr. King apprehends the vindictiveness of classifying the black men and women as inferior and engenders a movement. One hundred years after the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Negros still encountered perilous suppression.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Manifest Destiny 11

    • 5273 Words
    • 15 Pages

    In the 1840’s the people of America began to believe that they were chosen by God to control the North American continent. Thus it became a factor which drove them to look west and claim new territory. Not only was it a movement to spread political system, but it was also to spread a racially defined society due the “American race” as the superiority.…

    • 5273 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    [9] John Stott and David L. Edwards, “Essentials: A Liberal – Evangelical Dialogue” (London, 1988), p 316.…

    • 2265 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The twentieth century proved to be a crucible for America and Her people. During the 1900s America faced its greatest economic calamity, two world wars, and fought a forty-five year struggle to stop the spread of a political cancer that threatened to squeeze all the liberty from democracy’s lungs. On the domestic front, Americans fought, sacrificed, and even died as they rallied to enforce the purest of American values: “we are all endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” When Martin Luther King, Jr. declared he had a dream, Americans showed the world that there was no place for racism or racial prejudice in a nation that was founded on the fundamental principles of God’s grace. Despite challenges, upheaval, defeat, and triumph, America once again answered Her call to be the beacon of light that She was destined to be. Now the question is: Can She still hold on?…

    • 1454 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Devine, Robert A (2010) America Past and Present, AP Edition, Pearson, New York City, NY Retrieved November 11, 2012 from http://wps.ablongman.com/long_divine_appap_7/23/5931/1518407.cw/index.html…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Have you ever thought about the explicit details that went into the creation of America? Slavery and the Making of America, written by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton uses facts and stories to portray the life of slaves, and the evolution of slavery over several decades, and its effect on America today. The title of this book, Slavery and the Making of America is a great leeway into the authors’ main thesis of the book; “Slavery was, and continues to be, a critical factor in shaping the United States and all of its people. As Americans, we must understand slavery’s history if we are ever to be emancipated from its consequences,” (Horton). Throughout the six chapters in this book, the authors’ go into explicit details on what actions from both white Americans and African slaves led to the Civil War, the abolition of slavery and America as it is today.…

    • 1403 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Largely the Catholic faith chose to neglect the effects of slavery, and their stance on the issue, because slavery benefited many of the organization’s personal finances. Who wants to admit that they messed up, especially a powerful religious institution tasked with upholding of the moral standard for a vast standing of followers? “The Catholic social teaching promotes the idea that as a human being, made from the image of God we have an inherent dignity, which should be respected quite opposite of the exact nature of slavery, which by definition is dehumanizing (USCCB).” I wish to examine the many ways Maxwell shows in, Slavery and the Catholic Church, how slavery was not recognized within the institution of the Catholic Church. Seeing how…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays