Religion & the Subjugation of Man

In this podcast special, the host explores how religion, specifically Christianity, was used to justify, maintain, and condemn prejudice and bondage in the colonial Atlantic world. The focus is on the transatlantic slave trade and the effects of Christianity on marginalized groups such as indigenous Americans and free people of color. The host discusses the role of Christianity in defining social hierarchy, through ecclesiastical actions and commercial influences. The podcast also examines how religious differences were used to define superiority and justify mistreatment of indigenous Americans. The role of missionary work, papal decrees, and epidemics in promoting conversion and submission is highlighted. The podcast also touches on the relationship between Christianity and slavery, with the belief that enslavement of non-Christians was justifiable. Overall, the host aims to explore how religion shaped ideas about human differences and contributed to the development of the early moder Religion and the Subjugation of Man. Hello, my avid listeners and fellow historians, and welcome to the first of three episodes exploring the ways in which religion was used to justify, maintain, and condemn prejudice and bondage in a colonial Atlantic world. But first, what do I mean in an Atlantic world context when I refer to prejudice? Of course, the most prevalent example of this is the transatlantic slave trade, which functioned for centuries across several continents at the detriment of African people. While the practice of slavery is at the focus of this special, we will also be examining the effects of Christianity in regards to other marginalized groups, such as indigenous Americans and free people of color. Certainly, Christianity played a significant role in defining the social hierarchy of this environment. I would argue that it is prevalent in much more than just the colonial Atlantic, but I fear we would be here for much longer than three episodes. We will be exploring this through direct ecclesiastical actions, such as missionary work or sermons, as well as more subtle products of influence, such as commercial byproducts and communities. Overall, the goal of our journey is exploring how this integral facet of the early modern era developed ideas about what sets mankind apart or makes man so intrinsically similar, leading into what we later see come the early liberal era and through abolition. So, my fellow historians, I hope you make yourselves comfortable and grab a snack or two. It's time to transport ourselves back a couple hundred years. The premise of justification, maintenance, and condemnation, all finding their roots in one aspect can certainly appear implausible. However, Christianity and its principles held a grip on the lives of people in a way that is often difficult to imagine in a modern context. This is explored in the very first week of the His2F90 course, as the first lesson established Christianity as both a foundation of and reasoning for disparity. The church was a regular aspect of everyday life, even in areas that may not appear outwardly religious. Colonial expansion in the West is without a doubt where I believe this discussion should begin. Yes, because through European expansion, we can more clearly analyze the intersection of different people and cultures by means of indigenous people already in the Americas and the creation of the transatlantic slave trade. However, in discussing cultural clashes and conversion efforts, we can view the earliest principles of the structural society that is more well established by the height of colonial empires in the Atlantic. The motivations behind overseas expansion have been covered in previous modules of the His2F90 course, and thus are not of focus. Though, as we know, commercial gain and religious fervor were the most prevalent incentives towards such an endeavor. Religious, specifically Christian superiority, has long served as a force of division in Europe's own history, amongst others such as in the Crusades, which are memories of the days of old by the establishment of colonial dominions. However, the European Reformation, not as long past, certainly managed to divide Christian Europeans amongst themselves. This is an observation on Christianity that Daniel Paul, the late Canadian Mi'kmaq author and activist, shares in chapter 4 of his book, We Were Not the Savages, a Mi'kmaq perspective on the collision between European and Native American civilizations. The concept of religious differences defining superiority did not materialize upon first contact between European and Indigenous or African people. European Christians, soldiers of God, as Paul describes them, had long condoned the use of unsavory methods to instill Christianity amongst their own people, to persuade people to see the light as they themselves saw it. Religion had already been established as a long-standing determinant in the hierarchy of man. So, how was this applied in the context of Indigenous Americans? Well, Daniel Paul's work highlights the importance placed on proper religious affiliation, as in the eyes of a predominantly Christian society, to not subscribe to Christianity, to be the other, is to be a heathen or a pagan. The process of establishing communities in a land overseas meant that the unsavory practices Paul speaks of were transported from the European continent to North and South American soil. Catholic countries such as France and Spain did this through missionary work, emboldened by papal decrees such as Pope Paul III's 1537 Sublimis Deus, in which the bull mandated that Indigenous people were truly men capable of understanding the Catholic faith, and should not be destroyed or enslaved as opponents of Christianity. Carol Blackburn, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, asserts that conversion efforts by Jesuit missionaries promoted obedience and submission, key attributes of Christian life. Similarly to Paul's notion of unsavory practices, Blackburn sheds light on the success of conversion and compliance when sought through humiliation, often brought about by disease. An example of this can be seen in a series of epidemics faced by the Huron community in the early half of the 17th century, one that Jesuit missionaries either remained unscathed by or recovered at more favorable rates. The Hurons themselves were not as lucky, and when asked if they might help the community suffering by sharing methods of prevention and cure, the Jesuits insisted that the only cure was through prayer and baptism, as that was the true and only means of turning away the scourge of heaven. While this method by the Jesuits did bring Indigenous people under the folds of Christianity through fear, it twofold made enemies of the church, in which the once healing properties of God were spun into a weapon. In this context, epidemics faced by the Huron were the work of God's justice. Father Gabriel Lalema explained in a letter written to the Society of Jesus at Rome, while they, the Hurons, were sound in body, they did not hear. It therefore pleased God to pull their ears through a certain kind of pestilence, which spread over the whole country and adjudged many to the grave. While a mass conversion project was underway, so too was the development of the transatlantic slave trade. While Indigenous people did find themselves subjected to slavery and bondage, there is an interesting aspect of Daniel Paul's mention of sublimist deuce that I would like to bring forward in our conversation once again. The Papal Bull, Paul quotes, asserts that Indigenous people in the Americas should not be enslaved as supposedly inferior, and dumb brutes created for our service. With the intention in mind that they should instead be made Christians, we must attempt to unravel the relationship between Christianity and the enslaved. Why is it that the decree of 1537 suggests that the former cannot become the latter? To this we turn to Catherine Gerbner, a historian with dedicated work to this peculiar relationship. As Gerbner explores, the premise of slavery is present in the Bible, and some early Christian interpretations viewed slavery as spiritually advantageous. However, the acceptability of Christian slavery soon begins to change. By the early medieval period, slavery was still a tangible feature of not only Europe but the Middle East as well, though it became increasingly taboo for a Christian to own another Christian. Philip D. Morgan explores this as well in his book, Virginia Slavery in Atlantic Context, 1550-1650. In the context of Northwestern Europe, at the eve of the slave trade, chattel slavery had become increasingly uncommon, and most Christians were well-versed in the notion of liberty and freedom that came from escaping bondage in the Bible. As Protestantism spread through Northwestern Europe, so did the notion that Protestantism was the Christianity of the free, free from both Catholicism's corruption and spiritual bondage. Thus, as Gerbner asserts, most Christians, regardless of denomination or region, were in agreement that Christians should not enslave other Christians, but that the enslavement of non-Christians could be justified. How and to whom this belief was applied, and thus preserved, we will explore in our next episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to episode 2 of my podcast special, Religion and the Subjugation of Man, where we will be exploring the ways in which Christianity was utilized in the colonial Atlantic world to justify, maintain, and finally condemn human subjugation. To briefly summarize the content tackled in the previous episode, we explored the religious undertones of overseas exploration, the conversion efforts of the Church towards Indigenous populations, and the relationship between slavery and the Church prior to and at the beginning of colonial expansion. This episode, we will be continuing our conversation about the relationship between Christianity and bondage, and how once established, the teachings of the Church were utilized to maintain its practice. As we left off in our previous episode, the majority of Christian Europeans found bondage justifiable, though only in the case of non-Christians. This belief emerged following Christian Europe's crusade against Islam in the medieval period. In the context of the Atlantic colonies, how were these non-Christians chosen? We return to Catherine Gerbner, who reveals that our first clue can be found in 15th century Portuguese exploration into sub-Saharan Africa. While initially seeking gold, the merchants soon found themselves trading for slaves. In response, a papal bull in 1452 broadened the already somewhat loose understanding of what constituted slavery as morally just, asserting Portugal's right to enslave Africans as non-believers and place them into servitude. Catholic countries now had expressed permission to transport enslaved people, yet as the Church fractures in the next century, the waters become murkier, as different denominations seek their own interpretations free from papal control. While initially a Catholic Iberian-dominated construction, the Protestant British Empire soon finds itself dominating the trade of human life in the Atlantic. On the plantations, the decisions surrounding enslaved people and access to Christianity was largely left in the hands of plantation owners themselves. Believing Protestantism to be a religion for free people alone, a majority of slave owners did not want or allow the enslaved people under their control to convert or be baptized. Gerbner raises a strong link between this choice and colonies whose populations were dominated by enslaved people, such as Barbados or South Carolina. In a community where people in bondage outnumbered those who were free, the ability to pursue religion was taken away to prevent possible uprising in knowledge of individual rights as Christians. In focusing on Barbados, Gerbner furthermore raises an interesting aspect for consideration. While today we tend to view the practice of slavery through a racialized lens, the early years of slavery in the Protestant Caribbean functioned religiously. Christian was synonymous with white, so to speak, and it was not until free people of color on the island began to convert to Christianity and own property that racialized terms began appearing in the Barbadian legislature. So, we can begin to understand here that Christianity is as deeply entwined in understandings of bondage as it is freedom. To speak very plainly, and ignoring the nuances of different Atlantic colonies for just a brief moment, Christianity both promoted the route that was taken and held the possibility of wreaking havoc on it completely. With the growing numbers of free people of color, we can begin to see how new methods are being taken to maintain this once solely religious divide of superiority between white settlers, free people of color, and those who are enslaved. In this respect, we will look towards the coined consumer revolution of the 18th century, where goods formerly thought of as a luxury begin to become more widely available outside of Europe, as various colonies become more settled and stable. Professor of history, Michael Quass, explores this boom in consumerism in chapter one of his book, The Consumer Revolution, 1650 to 1800. As we discussed all the way back in episode one, Catholic missionaries devoted their time in the Americas to attempting to convert the continent's indigenous population. This mission of civilization, as it was regarded, resulted in attempts to fundamentally alter the ways of life of indigenous people. Style of clothing was one aspect of this, as missionaries introduced European styles of dress in an attempt to Christianize and thus civilize. This method of thought is one that carried into the later centuries of settler colonialism. As Quass writes, that white settlers often acquired clothing at similar rates to their counterparts still within the European continent, eager to differentiate themselves as civilized compared to the perceived nakedness and disorganization of indigenous and enslaved African people. This, however, did not leave white settlers as the sole consumers during this boom. While most enslaved people did have little choice in their clothing, often being given rough and cheap fabrics, some did have the opportunity to acquire higher quality clothing through petty trade and illicit underground markets. This diversity in clothing was most prevalent in urban enslaved communities, and despite the centuries-old, at this point, argument of European clothing symbolizing Christian civility, many cities attempted to enforce racial sumptuary laws to appease white citizens. This two-fold applied to free people of color, whom white settlers accused of dressing too extravagantly, once again invoking the growing hypocrisy of these religiously founded principles. In French Saint-Domingue, modern-day Haiti, Quass asserts that one such law prohibited free people of color, a large number of Saint-Domingue's population, from emulating the dress, hairstyles, style, or bearing of whites, though these laws were seldom upheld. To bring our focus to Saint-Domingue in the century of the same Haitian Revolution, this French island is an example of Catherine Gerbner's earlier mention of colonies where people of color far outweighed those of European descent. In their publication, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean 1789-1804, A Brief History with Documents, authors Laurent Dubois and John Geragas estimate that approximately 31,000 white settlers resided on the island, in comparison to 25,000 free people of color and nearly half a million enslaved of African descent or birth. Free people of color in Saint-Domingue were integral to the functioning of the island's slave society, with many free people of color being both land owners and slave owners themselves. Thus, many were not inherently opposed to slavery. However, their attacks on racism and the prejudice they themselves faced led the way for the Slave Revolt and eventual abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue in 1794. One of these attacks on prejudice can be seen in the writing of Julian Ramond, an indigo planter and slave owner who was born to a French immigrant and free woman of color. I choose Ramond's writing specifically because his 1791 observation on the origin and progression of the white colonist prejudice against men of color sheds light on what Ramond classifies as the origin of racism against free people of color in Saint-Domingue. Ramond asserts that the issue arose in the mid 18th century as a result of white jealousy. Beginning in 1769, Ramond writes that various laws were passed that outdid each other in tyranny and absurdity. Some of these laws in particular made it more difficult to enter an interracial marriage. If one was granted, priests and notaries were required to insert the classification free on all documentation, and white men who married women of color were often strict of all honors, even nobility. It is intriguing as marriage is a sacrament in the eyes of the church. As we discussed earlier in this episode, racial terms were adopted in colonial practice once Christianity ceased being the standard identifier of status. Nearly a century later, we are able to see a holy sacrament such as marriage being utilized in a similar way. By altering the process and effects of a common facet of the church, colonial authorities are using religion to both undermine the process going forward, and the legitimacy of children born in previous marriages. As an excerpt of Ramond's final words read, the majority of the free colored class was born free, of free parents, and in legitimate marriage. Next episode, we will explore the ways in which the tide is turned, and Christianity becomes a force in the arguments against prejudice and bondage. Welcome back for the final time, and thank you all for taking this journey with me through the colonial Atlantic world. As we have reached our final episode, and have dutifully surveyed both the justify and maintain portions of our discussion, we are left now to explore the ways in which Christianity was utilized to fight and condemn human subjugation in the late 17th to early 18th century Atlantic world. We ended our last episode by discussing the words of Julian Ramond, a free man of color in the Haitian revolution. Now, I would like to continue our trend of discussing revolutions of the late 18th century, as it is through them that we can see ideals about freedom take form. There is no set end date for prejudice or slavery across the entire Atlantic. Even now, centuries later, prejudice has not been eradicated in all forms, and the question of whether or not it truly will be is difficult to answer. However, this specific period of history, roughly just under a century, is rife with growing debates surrounding the ideals of freedom. What does freedom entail? Who is entitled to freedom? The Atlantic revolutions of the late 18th century offer an excellent starting point in this discussion. American historian Gordon Wood recognizes that an Enlightenment era idea worthy of discussion in the context of the American Revolution is the natural inherited equality of man. However, indigenous and African men were not often included in this definition of man. There were people who disagreed, and an example of this can be seen through the anonymous author Humanity, in a letter written to the future president of the United States, John Adams, in 1776. What doth thee think of these troublesome times? The letter opens, without a doubt referring to the Revolutionary War. This anonymous writer attributes sin as the cause of such troubles, the practice of slavery specifically. Humanity asks what prompted us to take them from their lands and force them into servitude, asking, are they not the work of God's hand? Have they not immortal souls? Are we not the sons of one Adam? Humanity continues to blame the war on the sin of slavery, and their following statement sheds light on the hypocrisy of a natural inherited equality of man, as mentioned by Wood, that does not include all of mankind. Are we claiming freedom, fighting for it, and yet practice slavery? God forbid. The identity of Humanity as the author of this letter remains anonymous, though their words shed light on the moral bankruptcy of fighting a war for freedom and liberty, while simultaneously denying the same to others. We can see the same sentiment that the anonymous Humanity evokes in the 1777 slave petition for freedom to the Massachusetts legislator. The petition, asking for freedom, is brought forward by a group of African American people detained in a state of slavery in the bowels of a free and Christian country. This religious language used in these primary documents utilizes the very same arguments we have discussed in the first two episodes of this special. Episode 1 explored how a lack of Christianity gave morality to slavery. These aforementioned words prove that a lack of Christianity is no longer the case. Furthermore, the fears of conversion creating dissent, as discussed in episode 2, have proven fruitful. A free and Christian country, the petition reads. Access to Scripture and ecclesiastical benefits have highlighted the connection between Christianity and freedom, long overshadowed by its two-fold connection to bondage. Turning to Britain, debates on the future of slavery ran in tandem with the ones emerging in America, even as the latter became its own independent nation. British academic Catherine Hall asserts the notion that is the bread and butter of this podcast special. Christianity has long coexisted with slavery. However, similar to the taboo placed on Christian slavery by the late medieval period discussed in episode 1, by the late 18th century, many Christians, particularly those involved in the Evangelical Revival, were abhorred by the practice of it. How was this conclusion reached? Hall explains that a focal belief pushed by the 18th century Evangelical Revival was an individual experience of spiritual rebirth. Many Christians found themselves drawn to missionary work in order to spread this message both at home and abroad. Conflict arose when this experience, fundamentally intended to be experienced by all men and women, was denied to enslaved people by plantation owners. Evangelical missionaries found themselves in disagreement with planters who wished to prevent Christian teachings from reaching the people under their domain. While it is not Christianity alone that abolished slavery in the West, when examining Britain's move towards abolition, the influence of religious reform is evident. This can be seen in the formation of the London Anti-Slavery Society of 1823 to 1838, as many of the society's members had been involved in a campaign to abolish the trade of slaves in the British Empire that had been passed in 1807. Furthermore, Hall notes, the Quakers, ardent supporters of abolition, were closely tied to the society. Two well-known Quakers, William Allen and William Smith, were among its members. The London Anti-Slavery Society's mobilization of countrywide deputies in 1832 can be attributed to securing the act to officially abolish slavery passed in 1834. While abolition had been achieved in Britain, the newly independent United States of America was still behind in moving to end bondage. While I have discussed in which ideas of morality that have their foundations in Christianity have been used to further abolitionist aims, there are still examples of the opposite being done as well. A stark example of this can be seen in an anonymous address delivered before the Missouri Pro-Slavery Convention in 1855, in which the argument is raised that slavery is actually for the betterment of the enslaved, and that slavery elevated their character. Moral condemnation of slavery, however, did not fully succeed in cutting the ties to bondage. That is not the argument that I wish to make. While I have focused on religion and morality, I made a brief mention in our first episode that religious obligation was not the only driving force in colonial expansion, as commercial gain was of equal significance. I do not mean to undermine the role of Christianity, as that would truly throw a wrench in the last approximately 30 minutes I have spent exploring its influence. However, the prospect economic benefits is a powerful determinant. Despite the British emancipation of enslaved people being completed by 1838, scholar Mark Harvey raises the important observation that the British economy continued to benefit from slave labor, through cotton particularly. Legally speaking, slavery had been ended on British soil, yet by 1850, Harvey writes that over 70% of the total American cotton crop went to Lancashire, and that 10 years later, 88% of British cotton textiles were made from Deep South slave cotton. Nonetheless, abolition was achieved across the Atlantic, though the loopholes that persisted, seen with Britain in the mid-19th century, serve to highlight the indecisiveness I have been analyzing as a whole. Lastly, it is difficult as a modern viewer to attempt to swallow a pill of moral self-righteousness when exploring the way subjugation and mistreatment was perpetuated historically, as our modern world still repeats the same patterns. Just as the British continued to benefit from slave labor following abolition, slavery as we understand it in the Atlantic world is long abolished, yet so many of the products we consume are likewise produced through forced labor, only elsewhere in the world. However, just as the London Anti-Slavery Society was doubtful that the fruits of their moral pursuit would be achieved in a near perceivable future, perhaps the same can be said for our own lifetime.