Free Republic

.....But what began to radicalize American anti-slavery activists? First, it was Evangelical Christianity. Some of the radicalism they took from their faith. They took from the so-called Second Great Awakening. They took from this idea that somehow, it was their duty, it was their place in the world--many of them were the sons and daughters of ministers--to save souls. And if you'd been inspired by Charles Grandison Finney out in Oberlin, Ohio, or--as Theodore Weld had--or a number of other ministers across the North, that it was your duty to go save souls, it was only one step further--and Finney...