About the final third of the speech deals with prejudice in the Southern church. Slavery is the cause of prejudice in the North, Douglass argues, but in the South—well, slavery's a way of life, and slaveholders and ministers use the Bible as a means of justifying slavery.
The fact that the entire economy of the South was completely dependent on the institution of slavery was just totally a huge coincidence, we're sure.
Southern churches used religion to argue that slavery is fine by God—in fact, God invented slavery as a means of keeping everyone happy, content, useful, and fulfilled in their right place. If you want to please God and go to heaven, say slaveholders, be a good slave and make life easy for your masters. Be grateful you don't have to do any thinking or worrying like your poor masters who lose sleep over thinking about how to take care of you.
Chew on that, Shmoopers.
Questions About Slavery
- What would you say to a slaveholder who is convinced that God ordained and approves of slavery? How would you argue against that position?
- How did people use their religious beliefs to defend slavery? To oppose it?
- Can you think of any situations today where people use religious beliefs to deny others rights?
- The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. What happens when some people's religious beliefs tell them to deny basic rights to other people?
Chew on This
Religious freedom doesn't give Americans the right to deny basic rights to other Americans; slavery was Exhibit A.
Shakespeare wrote that "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose." He wasn't kidding.