During the second great awakening that began in the early 1800s abolitionist set out to end slavery in america. The second great awakening was a religious movement that happened in the early 1800s it was basically the idea that you could get saved or a revival of who you are. This religious revival inspired people to go out on their own where they discovered new denominations of religion which sparked an urge to discover a new found freedom. The sudden availability to express your own beliefs in the early 1800s paved the way for African Americans to speak their opinions and become independent of the harsh connections that African American slaves lived under. There are several scriptures in the bible that states how slaves should be disciplined by their master and that there will be a better future and that there will be happiness brought upon them.
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is full of owners that bluffs their religious devotion. Douglass’s experience often shows that the white southerners who participate the most in religious activities are often the same ones who treat slaves the worst. These disgraceful people are quick to condemn slaves for the slightest violations, but are all willing to twist scripture into justifying their own dirty deeds. For example, during the time Douglass spent time at St. Michael’s, a white man named Mr. Wilson starts up a Sabbath school designed to teach slaves how to read the New Testament(ch.9).This reading group is violently broken up by Mr. West and Mr. Fairbanks, two men who led classes to teach scripture to whites, on the grounds that they don't want slaves to learn to read at all. One of Douglass’s masters Thomas Auld even quotes scripture to justify giving a brutal whipping to a crippled woman: “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.”(Luke 12:47) Religious slaveholders believe they have divine moral sanction for the cruel things they have
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is full of owners that bluffs their religious devotion. Douglass’s experience often shows that the white southerners who participate the most in religious activities are often the same ones who treat slaves the worst. These disgraceful people are quick to condemn slaves for the slightest violations, but are all willing to twist scripture into justifying their own dirty deeds. For example, during the time Douglass spent time at St. Michael’s, a white man named Mr. Wilson starts up a Sabbath school designed to teach slaves how to read the New Testament(ch.9).This reading group is violently broken up by Mr. West and Mr. Fairbanks, two men who led classes to teach scripture to whites, on the grounds that they don't want slaves to learn to read at all. One of Douglass’s masters Thomas Auld even quotes scripture to justify giving a brutal whipping to a crippled woman: “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.”(Luke 12:47) Religious slaveholders believe they have divine moral sanction for the cruel things they have