Preceding any War Essay

As the antebellum period began, America was approaching its opulent anniversary as an self-governing political state, but it was not hitherto a nation. There was considerable disagreement among the residents of its numerous geographical sections concerning the conduct limits of the relationship between the Federal government, the over-the-hiller states, and the individual citizen. In this regard, many factions invoked concepts of state sovereignty, centralized banking, nullification, popular sovereignty, secession, all-Americanism, or manifest destiny.However, the majority deemed republicanism, amicable pluralism, and constitutionalism the primary characteristics of antebellum America. Slavery, abolition, and the possibility of future disunion were considered secondary issues. The history and sociopolitical entice of the black church service documents an interminable struggle for liberation against the exploitative forces of European domination. Although Black religion is p redominantly Judeo-Christian, its essence is not simply blanched religion with a cosmetic face lift.Rather the quintessence of African-American spiritual mindedness is grounded in the social and political experience of Black people, and, although most over the years have acquiesced to the dominant order, many have utter a passionate demand for freedom now. The history of the African-American church demonstrates that the institution has contributed four indispensable elements to the Black struggle for ideological emancipation, which embarrass a self-sustaining culture, a structured community, a prophetic tradition, and a persuasive leadership.The church of knuckle wipe outry, which began in the mid-eighteenth century, started as an underground organization and essential to become a pulpit for radicals akin Richard Allen, (discussed in detail) and the platform for revolutionaries like David Walker. For over one hundred ears, African slaves created their own unique and accred ited religious culture that was parallel to, but not reflective of the slave-owners Christianity from which they borrowed. Meeting on the quiet as the invisible church, they created a self-preserving judgement system by Africanizing European religion.Commenting on this experience, Alice Sewell, a former slave of Montgomery, Alabama, states, We used to slip off in de woods in de old slave days on Sunday evening way down in de swamps to sing and pray to our own liking (Simms, 1970, p. 263). During the late 1700s, when thralldom was being dismantled in the North, free Black Methodists courageously uncaring from the patronizing control of the white denomination and established their own independent assemblies. This marked the genesis of African-American resistance as a across the nation structured, mass-based movement.In 1787, Richard Allen, after suffering racist humiliation at Philadelphias St. George Methodist Episcopal Church, separated from the white congregation and led diffe rent Blacks, who had been similarly disgraced, to form the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A. M. E. ) in 1816. The new group flowered. By 1820 it numbered 4,000 in Philadelphia alone, while another 2,000 claimed membership in Baltimore. The church immediately spread as far western United States as Pittsburgh and as far south as Charleston as African-Americans organized to resist domination.Through community groups, they contributed political consciousness, economic direction, and clean-living discipline to the struggle for freedom in their local districts. Moreover, Black Methodists sponsored promote societies that provided loans, business advice, insurance, and a host of social services to their fellow-believers and the community at large. In sum the A. M. E. Churches functioned in concert to organize African-Americans throughout the verdant to protect them selves from exploitation and to ready them for political emancipation.