Description
Book SynopsisThis text tells the story of the American reform movement known as ecclesiastical abolitionism. Reconciling church and state through the ethical experience of evangelical perfectionism, these radical Protestants formed a network of abolition churches and campaigned for the Liberty party.
Trade ReviewThe struggle among the most radical religions to purge their churches and society of sin, especially slavery, and their uncompromising efforts to force morality into political discourse are nowhere better told than in historian Strong’s informed exegesis of perfectionist ideas and personalities and his careful mapping of the schisms and political awakenings across western New York. . . . Strong reminds us that ethical issues were part of American politics long before the Civil Rights crusades and the Moral Majority." Strong masterfully establishes a clear and specific tie between the revivalism of upstate New York’s ‘burned-over district’ and the abolitionist Liberty Party.
