RECONSTRUCTION IN THE CHURCHES
SEC. 1. THE "DISINTEGRATION AND ABSORPTION" POLICY AND ITS FAILURE
The close of the war found the southern church organizations in a more or
less demoralized condition. Their property was destroyed, their buildings
were burned or badly in need of repair, and the church treasuries were
empty. It was doubtful whether some of them could survive the terrible
exhaustion that followed the war. The northern churches, "coming down to
divide the spoils," acted upon the principle that the question of separate
churches had been settled by the war along with that of state sovereignty,
and that it was now the right and the duty of the northern churches to
reconstruct the churches in the South. So preparations were made to
"disintegrate and absorb" the "schismatical" southern religious
bodies.[1805]
The Methodists
In 1864 the Northern Methodist Church declared the South a proper field
for mission work, and made preparations to enter it. None were to be
admitted to membership in the church who were slaveholders or who were
"tainted with treason."[1806] In 1865 the bishops of the northern
organization resolved that "we will occupy so far as practicable those
fields in the southern states which may be open to us ... for black and
white alike."[1807] The General Missionary Committee of the northern
church divided the South into departments for missionary work, and Alabama
was in the Middle Department. Bishop Clark of Ohio was sent (1886) to take
charge of the Georgia and Alabama Mission District. The declared purpose
of this mission work was to "disintegrate and absorb" the southern church,
the organization of which was generally believed to have been destroyed by
the war.[1808]
In August, 1865, three Southern Methodist bishops met at Columbus,
Georgia, to repair the shattered organization of the church and to infuse
new life into it. They stated that the questions of 1844 were not settled
by the war; that, "A large portion of the Northern Methodists has become
incurably radical.... They have incorporated social dogmas and political
tests into their church creeds." They condemned the northern church for
its action during the war in taking possession of southern church property
against the wishes of the people and retaining it as their own after the
war, and for its more recent attempts to destroy the southern
church.[1809]
In the confusion following the war, before the church administration was
again in working order, the Protestant Episcopal Church, especially the
northern section, attempted to secure the Southern Methodists. Some
Methodists wanted to go over in a body to the Episcopalians. The great
majority, however, were strongly opposed to such action, and the attempt
only caused more ill feeling against the North.[1810]
At the time there was a belief among the Northern Methodists that in 1845
thousands of members had been carried against their will into the southern
church, and that they would now gladly seize the opportunity to join the
northern body, which claimed to be the only Methodist Episcopal Church.
Those thousands proved to be as disappointing as the "southern loyalists"
had been, both in character and in numbers. The greatest gains were among
the negroes, and to the negroes the few whites secured were intensely
hostile. In 1866, A. S. Lakin was sent to Alabama to organize the Northern
Methodist Church.[1811] After two years' work the Alabama Conference was
organized, with 9431 members, black and white.[1812] In 1871, Lakin
reported 15,000 members, black and white.[1813] The whites were from the
"loyal" element of the population. There was great opposition by the white
people to the establishment of the northern church. Lakin and his
associates excited the negroes against the whites and kept both races in a
continual state of irritation. Governor Lindsay stated before the Ku Klux
Committee that in his opinion the people bore with Lakin and his church
with a remarkable degree of patience; that Lakin encouraged the negroes to
force themselves into congregations where they did not belong and to
obstruct the services; and that they also made attempts to get control of
church property belonging to the southern churches.[1814] No progress was
made among the whites, except in the white counties among the hills of
north Alabama and in the pine barrens of the southeast. The congregations
were small and were served by missionaries. Lakin and his assistants had a
political as well as a religious mission--General Clanton said that they
were "emissaries of Christ and of the Radical party." They claimed,
nevertheless, that they never talked politics in the pulpit. Lakin once
preached in Blountsville, and when he opened the doors of the church to
new members, he said that there was no northern church, no southern
church, there was only the Methodist Episcopal Church.[1815] But every
member of this church, he added, must be loyal, and therefore no
secessionist could join. He said that he had been ordered by his
conference not to receive "disloyal" men into the church.[1816]
The political activity of these missionaries resulted in visits from the
Ku Klux Klan. Some of the most violent ones were whipped or were warned to
moderate their sermons. Political camp-meetings were sometimes broken up,
and two or three church buildings used as Radical headquarters were
burned.[1817] Every Northern Methodist was a Republican; and to-day in
some sections of the state the Northern Methodists are known as
"Republican" Methodists, as distinguished from "Democratic" or Southern
Methodists.
The Baptists
The organization of the Baptist church into separate congregations saved
it from much of the annoyance suffered by such churches as the Methodist
and the Episcopal, with their more elaborate systems of government. Yet in
north Alabama, there was trouble when the negro members were encouraged by
political and ecclesiastical emissaries to assert their rights under the
democratic form of government by taking part in all church affairs, in the
election of pastors and other officers. Often there were more negro
members than white, and under the guidance of a missionary from the North
these could elect their own candidate for pastor, regardless of the wishes
of the whites and of the character of the would-be pastor. This danger,
however, was soon avoided by the organization of separate negro
congregations.[1818]
The Southern Baptist Convention, organized in 1845, continued its separate
existence. The northern Baptists demanded, as a prerequisite to
coöperation and fellowship, a profession of loyalty to the government.
During 1865 the southern associations expressed themselves in favor of
continuing the former separate societies, and severely censured the
northern Baptists for their action in obtaining authority from the Federal
government to take possession of southern church property against the
wishes of the owners and trustees, and for trying to organize independent
churches within the bounds of southern associations. They were not in
favor of fraternal relations with the northern Baptist societies.[1819]
The Presbyterians
In May, 1865, the Presbyterian General Assembly (New School) voted to
place on probation the southern ministers of the United Synod South who
had supported the Confederacy.[1820] Few, if any, offered themselves for
probation, while as a body the United Synod joined the Southern
Presbyterians (Old School). The General Assembly (O. S.) of the northern
church in 1865 stigmatized "secession as a crime and the withdrawal of the
southern churches as a schism." The South, the Assembly decided, was to be
treated as a missionary field, and loyal ministers to be employed without
presbyterial recommendation. Southern ministers and members were offered
restoration if they would apply for it, and submit to certain tests,
namely, proof of loyalty or a profession of repentance for disloyalty to
the government, and a repudiation of former opinions concerning
slavery.[1821] Naturally this policy was not very successful in
reconstructing their organization in the South. The General Assembly (O.
S.) of the Presbyterian Church in the South met in the fall of 1865 at
Macon, Georgia, and warned the churches against the efforts of the
northern Presbyterians to sow seeds of dissension and strife in their
congregations.[1822] A union was formed with the United Synod South (N.
S.), and the "Presbyterian Church in the United States," popularly known
as the Southern Presbyterian Church, was formed. To this acceded in 1867
the Associate Reformed Church of Alabama.[1823]
The Episcopal Church in the United States during the war had held
consistently to the same theory in regard to the withdrawal of the
southern dioceses that the Washington administration held in regard to the
secession of the southern states. There was no recognition of a
withdrawal, nor of a southern organization. The Confederate church was
called a schismatic body, and its actions considered as illegal. The roll
in the General Convention was called as usual, beginning with
Alabama.[1824] But after the war a generous policy of conciliation was
pursued; the southern churchmen were asked to come back; no tests or
conditions were imposed; the House of Bishops of the northern church
upheld Wilmer in his trouble with the military authorities. The acts of
the southern church during the war were recognized and accepted as valid
by the northern church. Such a policy easily resulted in reunion.
The attempt at Reconstruction in the churches had practically failed. Only
the Episcopal Church, one of the weakest in numbers, had reunited.[1825]
The others seemed farther apart than ever.
The other denominations had recognized the legal division of their
churches before the war. Now they acted on the principle that territory
conquered for the United States was also conquered for the northern
churches. Southern ministers and members were asked to submit to degrading
conditions in order to be restored to good standing. They must repudiate
their former opinions, and renouncing their sins, ask for pardon and
restoration. Naturally no reunion resulted.
SEC. 2. THE CHURCHES AND THE NEGRO DURING RECONSTRUCTION
At the end of the war nearly every congregation had black members as well
as white, the blacks often being the more numerous. With the changed
conditions, the various denominations felt it necessary to make
declarations of policy in regard to the former slaves. General Swayne,
Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama, in his report
for 1866, stated that at an early date the several denominations expressed
themselves as being strongly in favor of the education of the negro. "The
principal argument," he said, "was an appeal to sectional and sectarian
prejudice, lest, the work being inevitable, the influence which must come
from it be realized by others; but it is believed that this was the shield
and weapon which men of unselfish principle found necessary at
first."[1826]
The Baptists and the Negroes
The Alabama Baptist Convention, in 1865, passed the following resolution
in regard to the relations between the white and black members:--
"_Resolved_, That the changed civil status of our late slaves does not
necessitate any change in their relations to our churches; and while we
recognize their right to withdraw from our churches and form organizations
of their own, we nevertheless believe that their highest good will be
subserved by their retaining their present relation to those who know
them, who love them, and who will labor for the promotion of their
welfare."
The Convention also ordered renewed exertions in the work among the
negroes by means of lectures, private instruction, and
Sunday-schools.[1827] In 1866 the North Alabama Baptist Association
directed that provision be made for the religious welfare of the negroes
and for their education in the common schools. The negroes were to be
allowed to choose their own pastors and teachers from among the
whites.[1828] But soon the results of the work of the northern
missionaries and political emissaries were seen in the separation of the
two races in religious matters. The negroes were taught that the whites
were their enemies, and that they must have their own separate churches.
They were encouraged to assert their rights by obstructing in all the
affairs of the churches, and in the north Alabama Baptist churches, where
they were in the majority, there was danger that they would take
advantage of the democratic system of the church government and, prompted
by emissaries from the North, control the administration. They were,
therefore, assisted by the whites to form separate congregations and
associations.[1829]
The principal work of the northern Baptists in central and south Alabama
was to separate the blacks into independent churches, and the second
Colored Baptist Convention in the United States was organized in Alabama
in 1867. The free form of government of this church attracted both
ministers and members. In 1868 Bethel Association (white) reported that a
large number of the negroes desired no religious instruction from the
whites, although they were in great need of it, and that this opposition
was caused by ignorance and prejudice. But, the report stated, there
should be no relaxation in the effort to impart to them a knowledge of the
Gospel; that the first duty of the church was to instruct the ignorant and
superstitious at home before sending missionaries to the far-off heathen;
that all self-constituted negro preachers who claimed personal interviews
with God and personal instruction from Him should be discouraged, and only
the best men selected as pastors. Advice and assistance were now given to
the negro congregations, which were organized into associations as soon as
possible. In 1872 three negro churches with a white pastor applied for
admission to Bethel Association. But it was thought best to maintain
separate associations.[1830] For years the white Baptists of Alabama
exercised a watchful care over the colored Baptists, whom they assisted in
the work of organizing congregations and associations, and in the erection
of schoolhouses and churches. Church and school buildings destroyed by the
Ku Klux Klan were rebuilt by the whites, even when the colored
congregation was only moderately well behaved. The whites in Montgomery
contributed to build the first negro Baptist church in that city, and a
white minister preached the sermon when the church was dedicated and
turned over to the blacks. A number of white ladies were present at the
services.[1831] For fifteen years Dr. I. T. Tichenor was pastor of the
First Baptist Church in Montgomery. During that time he baptized over 500
negroes into its fellowship. At the end of the war there were 300 white
and 600 negro members. Dr. Tichenor tells the story of the separation as
follows: "When a separation of the two bodies was deemed desirable, it was
done by the colored brethren, in conference assembled, passing a
resolution, couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the
division, and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action.
The white church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies
united in erecting a suitable house of worship for the colored brethren.
Until it was finished they continued to occupy jointly with the white
brethren their house of worship, as they had done previous to this action.
The new house was paid for in large measure by the white members of the
church and individuals in the community. As soon as it was completed the
colored church moved into it with its organization all perfected, their
pastor, board of deacons, committees of all sorts; and the whole machinery
of church life went into action without a jar. Similar things occurred in
all the states of the South."[1832]
The old plantation preachers were ordained and others called and regularly
ordained to the ministry by the whites. But good negro preachers were
overwhelmed by an influx of "self-called" pastors who were often
incompetent and often immoral. At last the whites seem to have given up as
hopeless their work for the negroes. In 1885 an urgent appeal from the
Colored Baptist Convention for advice and assistance met with no response
from the white convention. Politics and prejudice, imprudent and immoral
leaders, had completed the work of separation. Still something was done by
the Home Mission Board towards instructing negro preachers and deacons,
and in 1895 this Board and the Home Mission Board of the northern Baptists
agreed to coöperate and aid such negro conventions as might desire it.
But the Alabama negro convention has not yet asked for assistance.[1833]
The Presbyterians and the Negroes
In 1869, encouraged by the white members, the negro members of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Tennessee and north Alabama asked for
and received separate organization and were henceforth known as the
African Cumberland Presbyterian Church.[1834]
It is this division of the Cumberland Presbyterians that is now (1905)
hindering somewhat the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian with the
Northern Presbyterian organization. The blacks demanded the separation of
the races; the whites now demand that it be continued.
Various branches of the Northern Presbyterian organizations worked in
Alabama among the negroes. The principal result of their work was the
separation of the blacks into independent churches. The Southern
Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in the United States) made
earnest efforts for the negro after the war, and with some success. The
Institute at Tuscaloosa for the education of colored Presbyterian
ministers is now the only school in the South for negroes which is
conducted entirely by southern white teachers.[1835] The work of the
Presbyterians among the negroes has continued to the present day, though
in 1898 a movement was started to separate the blacks of the Southern
Presbyterian Church into an independent church. This movement was not
successful, as not a majority of the negro preachers desired separation.
But the number of colored Presbyterians has always been small.[1836]
The Roman Catholics
The Roman Catholic Church did much work among the negroes in the cities
and at first with a fair degree of success. It was strongly opposed by all
Protestant denominations, both northern and southern, and especially by
the Northern Methodist Church. It seemed to be dreadful news to the
Methodists when it was reported that the Catholic Church was about to open
fifteen schools in Alabama for the negro, where free board and tuition
would be given.[1837] The American Missionary Association, supported in
Alabama mainly by money from the Freedmen's Bureau, used its influence
among the negroes against the Catholic Church, which, the Association
stated in a report, "was making extraordinary efforts to enshroud forever
this class of the unfortunate race in Popish superstition and
darkness."[1838]
But the Catholic Church had no place for the negro preacher of little
education and less character who desired to hold a high position in the
negro church. There was better prospect for promotion in the Baptist and
Methodist churches, and to those churches went the would-be negro preacher
and, through his influence, the majority of his people.[1839]
The Episcopalians
The Protestant Episcopal Church did nearly all of its work among the
negroes in the cities and among the negroes on the large plantations of
the Black Belt. This church offered little more hope of advancement to the
average negro preacher than the Roman Catholic, and the hostility of the
military authorities to this church in 1865 and 1866 and the efforts of
the missionaries and politicians caused a loss of most of the negro
members that it had. In 1866 the laity of the State Convention seemed
rather unenthusiastic in regard to work among the negroes, and left it to
be managed by the bishop and clergy. The General Convention established
the "Freedmen's Commission" to assist in the work, which was not to be
under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Bishop Wilmer stated that he was
unwilling to accept this "schism-breeding proposition," but would be glad
of assistance which would be under his direction as bishop. No such aid
was forthcoming. In 1867 only two congregations of negroes were left, one
in Mobile and one in Marengo County. A few solitary blacks were to be
found in the white congregations, and during Reconstruction these suffered
real martyrdom on account of their loyalty to their old churches. They
were ostracized by the other negroes, were called heathen and traitors,
and were left alone in sickness and death. Under such treatment, the
majority of the negro members were forced to withdraw from the Episcopal
churches.[1840]
The Methodists and the Negroes
In 1861 the Methodist Episcopal Church South had more than 200,000 colored
members and 180,000 children under instruction. One year after the
surrender of Lee only 78,000 remained.[1841] The Montgomery Conference, in
November, 1865, decided that there was no necessity for a change in the
church relations of white and black; that in the church there should be no
distinction on account of color and race; and that the negro had special
claims on the whites. Presiding elders and preachers were directed to do
all that lay in their power for the colored congregations, and establish
Sunday-schools and day schools for them when practicable.[1842] The
Methodist Protestants announced a similar policy.[1843] General Swayne of
the Freedmen's Bureau reported that he received much assistance toward
negro education from the Southern Methodist Church, and especially from
Reverend H. N. McTyeire (afterwards bishop).[1844]
The Southern Methodist congregations lost their negro members from the
same causes that brought about the separation of the races in other
churches. The negroes were told by their new leaders that for their safety
they must consider the southerners as their natural enemies;[1845] they
were convinced that there was spiritual safety only in the northern or in
independent churches. All the forces of social ostracism were employed
against those who chose to remain in the old churches. The southern
planter was not able to support the missionary who formerly preached to
his slaves, the negroes would not pay; and the church treasury was
empty.[1846] In 1866 the General Conference directed that the colored
members be organized as separate charges when they so desired; that
colored preachers and presiding elders be appointed by the bishop, annual
conferences organized when necessary, and especial attention be directed
towards Sunday-schools for the negroes.[1847]
Against all efforts of the Southern Methodists to work among the negroes,
the Northern Methodists struggled with a persistence worthy of a better
cause. Missionaries were sent South, narrow and prejudiced, though
sincere, men and women, who were possessed with the fixed conviction that
no good could come to the negro except from the North; in this conviction
schools were established and churches organized. The injudicious and
violent methods of these persons and their bitter prejudices caused their
exclusion from all desirable society, and naturally they became more
violent and prejudiced than ever. Their letters written to their homes
showed that they believed the native white to be possessed by an inhuman
hatred of the blacks, and that on the slightest provocation the whites
would slaughter the entire negro population.[1848] They favored at least a
partial confiscation in behalf of the negro. Through the Freedmen's Aid
Society the northern church entered upon work among the whites also,
opposing the southern church on the ground that it was sectional and
condemning all its efforts among the blacks as useless and harmful. For
years there was not a word of recognition of the work done by the southern
churches among the slaves.[1849] The missionaries were afraid of "the old
feudal forces" which were still working, they thought, under various
disguises such as "Historical Societies, Memorial Days, and monuments to
the Confederate dead."[1850] Their work was thoroughly done. Two negro
Methodist churches, organized in the North, secured the greater part of
the negroes.[1851] Some joined the Northern Methodist Church, "which also
came down to divide the spoils."[1852]
After 1866 the colored congregations still adhering to the Southern
Methodists had been divided into circuits, districts, and conferences. By
1870 political differences and the efforts of other churches had so
alienated the races that it was thought best to set up an independent
organization for the negroes, for their own protection. This was done in
1870 by the General Conference. Two negro bishops were ordained, and all
church property that had ever been used for negro congregations was turned
over to the new organization, which was called the Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church. A few negroes refused to leave the white church, and in
1892 there were still 357 colored members on its rolls.[1853] Until
recently there has been strong opposition on the part of the other African
churches to the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church because of its
relations to the Southern Methodist Church. The latter has continued to
aid and direct its protégé, and the opposition is gradually
subsiding.[1854]
After thirty years' experience, most people who have knowledge of the
subject agree that the religious interests of the negro have suffered from
the separation of the races in the churches and from the enforced
withdrawal of the native whites from religious work among the blacks. The
influence of the master's family is no longer felt, and instead of the
white minister came the negro preacher, with "ninety-five superstitions to
five eternal truths,"--superstitions, many of them reminiscences from
Africa.[1855] There have been too many negro churches; every one who could
read and write wanted to preach,[1856] and many of them claimed direct
communication with the Supreme Being; every one who applied was admitted
to the churches; morality and religion were only remotely connected;
leaders of the _demi-monde_ were stout pillars of the church. A
Presbyterian minister in charge of negro interests has stated that in his
church the personnel of the independent negro congregations is inferior in
character and morality to the congregations under the supervision of the
whites. In the colored Baptist associations it is reported that frequent
and radical changes have been the custom. Discontented churches secede and
form new associations, which exist for a short while, and are then
absorbed by other associations. The boundaries of the associations also
change frequently; the church government seems to be in a kind of fluid
state. Thoughtful religious leaders now believe that the southern white,
for the good of both races, should again take part in the religious
training of the negro.[1857] But the difficulties in the way of such a
course are almost insurmountable and date back to forced separation of the
races in the churches.
* * * * *
An editorial in the _Nation_ in 1866 expressed the situation from one
point of view very clearly and forcibly: The northern churches claim that
the South is determined to make the religious division permanent, though
"slavery no longer furnishes a pretext for separation." Too much pains are
taken to bring about an ecclesiastical reunion, and irritating offers of
reconciliation are made by the northern churches, all based on the
assumption that the South has not only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in
slavery and in war. We expect them to be penitent and to gladly accept our
offers of forgiveness. But the southern people look upon a "loyal"
missionary as a political emissary, and "loyal" men do not at present
possess the necessary qualifications for evangelizing the southerners or
softening their hearts, and are sure not to succeed in doing so. We look
upon their defeat as retribution and expect them to do the same. It will
do no good if we tell the southerners that "we will forgive them if they
will confess that they are criminals, offer to pray with them, preach with
them, and labor with them over their hideous sins."[1858]
"Reconstruction" in the church was closely related to "Reconstruction" in
the state, and was so considered at the time by the reconstructionists of
both.[1859] The same mistaken, intolerant policy was followed, on the
theory that the southern whites were as incapable of good action in church
as in state. Irritating and impossible tests and conditions of readmission
were proposed before reconciliation. Later the efforts to weaken and
destroy the southern churches after attempts at reunion had failed
completed the alienation, which in several organizations seems to be
permanent. There was a Solid South in church as well as in politics.