The Negro in Tennessee, 1790-1865

by C. Perry Patterson

I. The Methodists.

Methodism came to America in 1766.[13] There were two wings of it from the beginning. Wesleyan Methodism in Maryland and New York was anti-slavery, while Whitefield Methodism in Georgia was pro-slavery.[14] Methodism spread rapidly from these centers and became national in its organization by 1773, when the first General Conference was held at Philadelphia.[15]

The anti-slavery history of Methodism may be divided into the following periods: 1766-1784, a period in which there was a growth of anti-slavery feeling in the church that reached a high water mark in 1784; from 1784 to 1816, a period of reaction, culminating in the compromise law of 1816; from 1816 to 1836, a period of practically no change in legislation, although the church in the North was becoming more anti-slavery in sentiment, and in the South, more pro-slavery; from 1836 to 1844, a period of conflict with 1840 as the date of the greatest compromise; from 1844 to 1860, the period of two branches of Methodism.

A brief characterization of these periods forms a fitting background for the anti-slavery history of Tennessee Methodists:

A. From 1776 to 1784. This was a period of little dissension on the slavery question.[16] It was characterized by an increasing anti-slavery feeling, expressing itself first in 1780[17] and more effectively in 1784, when the Baltimore Conference enacted a general code of regulations for both laymen and preachers, prohibiting “the buying or selling the bodies and souls of men, women or children with the intention of enslaving them,”[18] and requiring abolition of the slaves of its members within one or two years. This was to be done, however, conformably to the laws of the various states. This was the high water mark of anti-slavery Methodism.

B. From 1784 to 1816. This period is marked by concession to slaveholders, finally ending in the adoption in 1808 of the policy of letting the annual conferences regulate slavery.[19] The church here definitely recognized that it could not enforce requirements upon its members in violation of the civil laws of the states. This really amounted to a split in the church on this question, because it meant the establishment of two policies, one conformable to the free states of the North, and the other to the slave states of the South. This change in the policy of the church was a victory for the slaveholders.

C. From 1816 to 1836. The conference of 1816 adopted the famous compromise law by which slaveholders in free states could not be officers in the church. This prohibition did not apply to the slave states.[20] The conference of 1836 with absolutely no dissent expressed a determined opposition to abolition.[21]

D. From 1836 to 1844. During this period the anti-slavery forces were organizing to break the grip of the slaveocracy of the church. In 1840, the pro-slavery forces registered their greatest victory in the history of the struggle. The result was the secession of 1842 and the formation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America at Utica, New York in 1843, with a non-slaveholding membership.[22] It was now seen that the church could no longer pursue a compromise policy. The annual conferences began to adopt resolutions condemning either anti-slavery fanatics or slaveholding thieves. It was now impossible for officers of the church to be administrators in sections of the country with which their views on slavery did not agree.

E. From 1845 to 1860. It was early seen that the General Conference of 1844 would likely divide on the question of slavery. The contest of 1844 related to Bishop Andrews, whose wife was a slaveholder, and ended in the passing of the Finley Resolution by the decisive vote of 110 to 68, deposing Bishop Andrews from the Episcopacy,[23] although he had violated no law of the church.[24] The Southern delegates attempted in vain to have this action of the conference interpreted as merely advisory in character.[25]

The general conference of the church finally agreed to its reorganization under two general conferences. This plan was accepted almost unanimously, and led to the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at the convention of the delegates of the Southern Methodist churches in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1845.[26]

The purpose of this brief sketch of the anti-slavery history of Methodism in general is, first, to give a reflection of Tennessee Methodism, which, like that in the nation generally, was divided on the slavery question; and, secondly, to form a background for a comparative study of Tennessee Methodists in particular.

The Methodists were among the pioneers of Tennessee, when it was customary to attend church with the shot-pouch well filled and the rifle in trim. Among their pioneer preachers were Jeremiah Lambert, who came to Holston circuit in 1783, Rev. Benjamin Ogden, who in 1786 carried Methodism to John Donelson’s settlement on the Cumberland, and Rev. John McGee, who arrived in Tennessee in 1798.[27] The Methodists were leaders in the famous revivals from 1800 to 1810.[28]

In 1797, one-fourth of the membership of the Methodist church was negroes. Of the 11,280 negroes in the church in 1797, 10,824 were in the Southern States. There were 42 slaves in the Methodist church in Tennessee in 1797.[29]

The Tennessee Methodists were a part of the Kentucky conference until 1801, and were strongly anti-slavery, because only the mountainous portion of these states was settled at this time. In 1801, Tennessee became a part of the Western Conference, and remained so until 1812. It was in the first meeting of this conference in 1808 that Tennessee Methodists first expressed themselves on the question of slavery.[30]

It will be remembered that the General Conference of 1808 gave the annual conference the power to legislate on the question of slavery.[31] In accordance with this plan, the Western Conference, which met at Liberty Hill, near Nashville, Tennessee, in 1808, took the most drastic action against slaveholding to be found in the annals of Methodism. This conference instructed the Quarterly Conference to summon before them all persons speculating in slaves and expel from the church those found guilty. It further declared that any member of the church “who should buy or sell a slave unjustly, inhumanly, or covetously,” was subject to excommunication.[32] This rule of the conference prevailed until 1812.[33] Some of the presiding elders and circuit riders were even more strongly anti-slavery than was the conference. Rev. James Axley and Rev. Enoch Moore refused to license slaveholders to preach, or even to grant them the privilege of exhorting or leading in prayer. They denounced slaveholders as thieves and robbers.

The Tennessee Conference, which was a division of the Western Conference, held its first annual meeting at Fountain Head, Tennessee, in 1812. This conference made some interesting changes in the regulations for slaveholders that remind one of the compromise policy of the general conferences.[34] The phrase, “unjustly, inhumanly, and covetously,” used by the conference of 1808 with reference to the buying and selling of slaves, was changed to “justice and mercy.” The slaves of officers of the church were to be emancipated when practicable.[35]

An elaborate system of trial for violations was established. The quarterly conference was made the court of first instance. If the president of this conference differed from the majority, he could refer the case to the annual conference, or the accused could appeal his case to the annual conference. At this conference, a slaveholder made application to preach, but he was not admitted to the ministry until he had given security that he would emancipate his slaves as soon as it was practicable.[36]

The conferences of 1813 and 1814 did not raise the question of slavery, but in 1815, the conference held at Bethlehem Meeting House in Wilson County, Tennessee, adopted a policy with the laws of the states. This was simply a recognition of the fact that the church should not undertake to control civil matters. The committee on slavery made the following report:

We most sincerely believe, and declare it as our opinion, that slavery is a moral evil. But as the laws of our country do not admit of emancipation without a special act of the Legislature, in some places, nor admit of the slave so liberated to enjoy freedom, we cannot adopt any rule by which we can compel our members to liberate their slaves; and as the nature of cases in buying and selling are various and complex, we do not think it possible to devise any rule sufficiently specific to meet them. But to go as far as we can, consistent with the laws of our country and the nature of things, to do away with the evil, and remove the curse from the Church of God, it is the resolution of this conference that the following resolutions shall be adopted:

“1. If any member of our Society shall buy or sell a slave or slaves in order to make gain, or shall sell to any person who buys to sell again for that purpose, such member shall be called to an account as the Discipline directs, and expelled from our Church; nevertheless, the above rule does not affect any person in our Society, if he or she make it appear that they bought or sold to keep man and wife, parents and children, together.

“2. No person, traveling or local, shall be eligible to the office of a deacon in our church, unless he assures us sentimentally, in person or by letter, that he disapproves slavery and declares his willingness and intention to execute, whenever it is practicable, a legal emancipation of such slave or slaves, conformably to the laws of the State in which he lives.”[37]

This report was adopted and ordered to be copied into the Steward’s Book of the Circuit.

The Conference of 1817 dealt very extensively with slavery.[38] It made provision for the buying and selling of slaves. It prohibited the selling of slaves into perpetual bondage on penalty of forfeiture of membership in the church. The quarterly conference was given the power to regulate the term of slavery for which a member of the church could sell his slave. The preacher of each congregation was empowered to appoint a committee of three to judge of the length of service that slaves purchased by members could be required to render. All of these requirements were conditioned on practicability, the consent of the state, violation of justice and mercy, and assumption of financial responsibility against charge of emancipated slaves. The conditions of the execution of these regulations show what a travesty the whole procedure was.

The case of Hardy M. Cryer, which came before the conference of 1817, illustrates the difficulty that the church faced in trying to enforce its policy. Mr. Cryer was secretary of the conference of 1817. He had failed to emancipate his slaves according to a promise made the previous conference. He had in the meantime bought a negro boy. He was able to make satisfactory explanation of his conduct to the conference, and was appointed elder. In other words, he was able to show the conference that his conduct had been consistent with “justice and mercy” and that its requirements as to emancipation were “impracticable.”[39]

One of the most eminent of Tennessee historians made the following comment on the action of the church in the conference of 1817:

Such was the legislation of a body of ministers with reference to a subject over which they had no control, provided the laws themselves did not admit of emancipation, which they themselves assumed to be the fact. Hence, the adoption of a proviso which in every case, taking things as they were, either nullified the rule or made it easy for a member or a minister to retain his slaves; for whenever he determined to own slaves it was easy to make it appear that it was in accordance with justice and mercy to retain those already in possession, or that under the law it was impracticable to set them free. Such legislation would seem to be sufficiently absurd, but it is amazing that an intelligent body of men should gravely attempt to compel a preacher or member to emancipate a slave at an expiration of a term of years after having surrendered ownership and control of same. The only theory conceivable that can relieve the conference of the accomplishment of a solemn mockery is the supposition that they, having confidence in the justice of the future, must have believed themselves to be anticipating civil legislation—that the legal emancipation of the slave was an event which the immediate future must produce. However, the attitude of the conference on this subject is of great historical value, bringing into clear relief, as it does, the strong conviction of the Methodist body of Christians that slavery was a great moral evil, the existence of which was deplorable, and to be opposed by every means attached to which there was any hope of its gradual abolishment.[40]

The conference of 1818, which met at Nashville, repealed the regulations of the conference of 1817, and decided that the “printed rules on slavery, in the form of discipline” was full and sufficient on that subject.[41]

The conference of 1819 also met at Nashville and decided “that no man who is known to hold slaves is to be admitted to the office of deacon or elder.”[42] Peter Burum and Gilbert D. Taylor, who were recommended for admission to the ministry, were rejected by this conference because they were slaveholders.[43] Several applicants for deacon’s orders were rejected for the same reason.

The conference of 1819 witnessed a determined contest between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, caused by an accusation made by Peter Cartwright,[44] that a number of ministers in the state were “living in constant violation of the discipline of the church.”[45] Felix Grundy and Andrew Jackson represented the two factions. “The discussion of the subject of slavery,” said Peter Cartwright, “worked up some bad feeling, and as we had at this conference to elect our delegates to the general conference which was to hold its session in Baltimore in May, 1820, these slaveholding preachers determined to form a ticket to exclude every one of us who were for the Methodist Discipline as it was, and is to this day. As soon as we found out their plans we formed an opposite ticket, excluding all advocates of slavery, and we elected every man on the ticket.”[46]

Sixteen local preachers filed the following protest against the action of the conference in refusing to admit slaveholders to the office of deacon or elder:

We deprecate the course taken as oppressively severe in itself and ruinous in its consequences, and we disapprove of the principle as contrary to and in violation of the order and discipline of our church. We, therefore, do most solemnly, and in the fear of God, as members of this conference, enter our protest against the proceedings of the conference as it related to the above-mentioned course and principle.[47]

This protest was supported by the slaveholders, and laid before the general conference in 1820, but no definite action was ever taken on it.[48]

The period from 1819 to 1824 was a transition period to some extent. There was no important action by any of the conferences during this period. Rev. John Johnson in 1820 proposed that the church recognize slavery as a municipal institution and try to humanize it.[49] This was the position that most of the churches had already taken on slavery. The struggle over slavery in Missouri revealed the earnestness of the forces on both sides. Anti-slavery leaders began to leave the state. Among the Methodists were Wesley Harrison, an influential layman, who went to Ohio; James Axley, a presiding elder; and Enoch Moore, a strong anti-slavery preacher.[50] It was in this period, says McFerrin, that “the church came to a standstill, and was in a measure paralyzed and powerless for good. As a means of averting greater evils, and saving the church if possible, colonization and emancipation societies were formed, and it was believed by many that such organizations did a great deal to prevent a serious rupture in the church till the storm passed over.”[51]

The conference of 1824, in response to a memorial on slavery presented by the Moral and Religious Manumission Society of West Tennessee, declared “that slavery is an evil to be deplored and that it should be counteracted by every judicious and religious exertion.”[52] It is noticed that while slavery was condemned as an evil, it was to be handled “judiciously.” What did “judiciously” mean in the eyes of the slaveholders? “This resolution,” says McFerrin, “was proposed by two members, who themselves or their parents were slaveholders.”[53] Evidently, this was a modified attitude of the church. “What a misfortune,” says McFerrin, “that this sentiment had not always obtained, treating the matter in a religious manner, and not intermeddling with it as a civil question.”[54]

From 1824 to 1834 was a period of growth of pro-slavery sentiment in Tennessee. Anti-slavery workers from all denominations left the state. Manumission societies died. The colonization movement was a failure. Abolition literature was discontinued. Exclusion policy was adopted in 1831.[55] Slaveholders began to advocate preaching to the slaves, and made heavy contributions for this purpose. Separate negro churches were established after the master ceased to be suspicious of the preachers, and missions were established among the slaves at the expense of the masters. “Owners of large plantations,” says Harrison, “coming to the knowledge of this change in the disposition of the Methodist preachers, and finding many of them following the example of the illustrious bishop, then Mr. Capers, and seeing the good effects produced by the preaching to the negroes on the plantations of their neighbors, ultimately gave their consent to permit their slaves to hear the gospel from the lips of capable white missionaries.”[56]

The Methodist Church had always had slave members in it. In 1791, there were 12,844; in 1803, there were 22,453, most of whom were in the South.[57] In 1824, there were 1749 negro members in the Methodist church in Tennessee; in 1840, there were 8,820; and in 1846, there were 18,122.[58] Following the lead of the missionary movement to slaves begun by Bishop Capers in 1829,[59] the Tennessee annual conference of 1832 established two missions to which were sent Thomas M. King and Gilbert D. Taylor. By the close of 1832 these missions numbered 190 members.[60] Missionary work among the slaves in Tennessee expanded conservatively until 1844. By 1839, Tennessee had nine missions with 2,316 members and ten missionaries, and was paying $2,700 to missions among the slaves.[61]

Some very strong preachers developed among the slaves. Probably the greatest negro preacher in all Methodism, if not in all Christendom, was Pompey. He was probably a native of Africa, and in his youth was a slave of Rev. N. Moore, brother-in-law of Bishop McKendree. He traveled as a servant with Rev. Moore, and at one of his revivals was converted. He then became interested in the Gospel, and soon learned to read. He gave close attention to his master’s sermons and sometimes suggested improvements. “He ventured to tell his master one day,” says Rev. H. H. Montgomery, “that he felt, or believed, he could have made a better sermon than he did the day before. ‘Pomp, do you think you could preach?’ ‘Yes, master, I have felt and thought a great deal about it.’ ‘Then, Pompey, you shall preach tomorrow.’ He preached the next day and his master thought so well of the sermon that he set Pompey free.”[62]

Pompey studied the Scriptures very closely, and became able to quote freely from them. He was a very popular preacher to both whites and blacks. He preached in both Tennessee and Mississippi. Rev. Montgomery gives the following account of his preaching:

The first time I remember to have seen him was in the Christmas holidays of 1832. The weather was very cold, but the congregation was so large that old “Center” church could not hold the people by one-half. So they adjourned to the campground, where the vast congregation listened attentively to an evangelical and powerful sermon for an hour from him. I was a boy of thirteen years, but a very deep impression was made on my mind. He related the circumstances of his awakening, repentance, and conversion. There seemed to be scarcely one that was not weeping. And when he described the simplicity of that faith by which he received pardon and salvation, and the great change of heart and feeling which he realized, and everything was new—so new that he could hardly realize that it was Pompey, till he looked at his hands and felt of his wool, and found it was Pompey’s skin and Pompey’s wool, but it was Pompey with a new heart—there was a burst of glory and praise that went up from many of that congregation.[63]

There were, in the state, other negro preachers of unusual ability, among them Emanuel Mark of Fayette County. He was given a pass by his master to preach anywhere. He preached to both white and black. Silas Phillips of La Grange, Tennessee, was another remarkable negro preacher. Simeon Hunt was also a negro preacher of wonderful eloquence.[64]

After the defeat of the anti-slavery forces in 1834, it was recognized that slavery was a fixed institution in society, and that it would require violence to overthrow it. The Methodists had gradually been reaching this conclusion. It was easy for them, therefore, to adopt a slightly different attitude toward it. Their position was well phrased by Dr. A. L. P. Green, who said he favored the institution, “when it was properly controlled, and regarded it as a blessing to the slave. He believed the negro incompetent and unfitted for self-government, and hence a wise, good master was a necessity.”[65] The Methodists were forced either to adopt this attitude or see the slaveholders withdraw their slaves to churches whose attitude toward slavery was more favorable. The missionary spirit of the church saw that the slaves offered a great field for domestic missions, and the Christian slaveholder came to be regarded as a blessing.[66]

The eleven delegates from the three conferences in Tennessee—Holston, Tennessee, and Memphis—to the general conference in 1844, sharing the above feeling, voted solidly against the Finley Resolution. These annual conferences at their next meeting sustained the action of their delegates. The Holston conference said, “That our delegates to the last General convention merit the warmest expression of our thanks, for their prudent, yet firm, course in sustaining the interests of our beloved Methodism in the South.”[67] The Tennessee conference said, “That we do most cordially approve the course of our delegates, in the late general conference.”[68] The Memphis conference said, “That we do heartily approve the entire course pursued by our delegates at the late general conference.”[69] These resolutions also demanded that the convention at Louisville establish a coördinate branch of Methodism under a general conference in accordance with the plan adopted by the conference of 1844, “and, in so doing,” they said, “we positively disavow secession, but declare ourselves, by the act of the general conference, a coördinate branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church.”[70]

Tennessee Methodists sent twenty-two delegates to the Louisville convention of 1845.[71] They voted for the following resolution, which the conference adopted without a dissenting vote, as its interpretation of the law of the church on slavery:

That under the provisional exception of the general rule (or law) of the church, on the subject of slavery, the simple holding of slaves, or mere ownership of slave property in states or territories where the laws do not admit of emancipation and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom, constitutes no legal barrier to the election or ordination of ministers to the various grades of office known in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and cannot, therefore, be considered as operating any forfeiture of rights, in view of such election and ordination.[72]

After the organization of the Southern branch of Methodism, strong efforts were made along the border conferences to induce them to go with the Northern branch. The Holston Conference, which included East Tennessee, with only one dissenting vote, resolved to cast its lot with the new organization. This one dissenter later joined the M. E. Church, South.[73] There was no question of loyalty in the other conferences. There were Methodists throughout the state who still adhered to the “Old Church.” Even in West Tennessee, in certain counties there were strong organizations of the “Old Church” that still persist.

The Southern Methodists increased their activities among the slaves after 1845. The slaveholders were now assured that no insurrectionary doctrines would be taught to their slaves. “Masters and mistresses, even little children,” says Harrison, “helped with the work.”[74] In 1846, the Southern Methodists had 29 missions in Tennessee with 7,100 members in charge of 34 missionaries who received $7,762;[75] in 1863 there were 41 missions with 5,947 members in charge of 39 missionaries receiving $11,748.46.[76] The difference in the attitude of the Methodist slaveholders after the organization of the Southern church is shown by the fact that from 1829 to 1844 Tennessee Methodist spent $23,208.01 on slave missions, but from 1844 to 1864 they spent $213,736.62.[77] The Southern Methodists numbered 18,122 negro members in 1846;[78] 18,045 in 1848;[79] 18,940 in 1850;[80] 18,748 in 1842; 19,239 in 1860.[81] From 1860 to 1864 there was a gradual loss of negro membership, due, of course, to the various influences and tendencies of the war period.[82] Some of the conferences did not meet regularly during the war, and some met in other states. The statistics are incomplete and inaccurate.[83]

The interpretation of the laws of the church on slavery remained unchanged to 1858. In that year, the General Conference of the M. E. Church, South, met in the House of Representatives at Nashville, with 151 accredited delegates. This conference declared “that slavery is not a subject of ecclesiastical legislation. It is not the province of the church to deal with civil institutions in her legislative capacity.... We have surrendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and holding ourselves to be debtors to the wise and the unwise, the bond and the free. We can now preach Christ alike to master and the servant, secure in the confidence and affection of the one and the other.... The salvation of the colored race in our midst, as far as human instrumentality can secure it, is the primary duty of the southern church.”[84] They struck from their Discipline at this meeting by a vote of 140 to 8 the rule forbidding “the buying and selling of men, women, and children, with intention to enslave them.”[85]

The social side of the relations of the two races in their religious life is very interesting. The two races came very close together. The negroes were called together by a horn or a bell once a day for family prayer in which the master, mistress, and the children participated. Sometimes the master conducted the services, and sometimes a slave would do it. Slaves sang at these services, and frequently became so religious as to embrace their master and mistress before the close of service. In their religious life, slaves became little children indeed.

On Sunday as a rule, the slaves attended church with the white folks. They either sat in the galleries or had a special portion of the church set apart for them. They were given the communion after the white people had been served. There was usually in the afternoon on Sunday a special service for the slaves, conducted by the pastor of the church, and there was generally a separate business meeting for the slaves. At these separate services, the slaves practically had charge. Their own leaders, exhorters, and preachers were merely directed by the white pastor. It was in these meetings that they received their greatest training and had their truest religious experience.[86]

Few men knew the negro so well as the Methodist preacher, or did so much to elevate his character. He presided at their church trials, of which one of their number was secretary. He was the general umpire to whom all their church difficulties were referred. He baptized them, married them, visited them in their cabins, comforted them in their distress, prayed with them when on beds of sickness, was their counsellor, friend, and spiritual guide, and he preached their funerals when they died.[87]

The Methodist people did more for the negro than any other denomination, whether for abolition or for their general improvement. Peter Cartwright once said that the Methodist Episcopal Church had “been the cause of the emancipation of more slaves in these United States than all other religious denominations put together.”[88] “It is a notorious fact,” said Cartwright, “that all the preachers from the slaveholding states denounced slavery as a moral evil; but asked of the General Conference mercy and forbearance on account of the civil disabilities they labored under so that we got along tolerably smooth. I do not recollect a single Methodist preacher at that day that justified slavery.... Methodist preachers in those days made it a matter of conscience not to hold their fellow creatures in bondage, if it was practicable to emancipate them, conformably to the laws of the state in which they lived. Methodism increased and spread, and many Methodist preachers, taken from comparative poverty, not able to own a negro, and who preached loudly against it, improved and became popular among slaveholding families, and became personally interested in slave property. They then began to apologize for the evil; then to justify it, on legal principles; then on Bible principles.”[89]