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James Henley Thornwell

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This article is about the minister. For the orphanage, see Thornwell Orphanage.
James Henley Thornwell
Born(1812-12-09)December 9, 1812
DiedAugust 1, 1862(1862-08-01) (aged 49)
OccupationTheologian
SpouseNancy Witherspoon
Children9[1]

James Henley Thornwell (December 9, 1812 – August 1, 1862) was an American Presbyterian preacher, slaveowner, and religious writer from the U.S. state of South Carolina during the 19th century. During the American Civil War, Thornwell supported the Confederacy and preached a doctrine that claimed slavery to be morally right and justified by the tenets of Christianity. But contrary to many proponents of slavery, he preached that the African American population were people created in the image of God just like whites and that they should call slaves their brothers.[2][3] He became prominent in the Old School Presbyterian denomination in the south, preaching and writing on theological and social issues. He taught at South Carolina College, eventually served as its president, and went on to teach at Columbia Theological Seminary. He was a contemporary of Charles Hodge and represented the southern branch of the Presbyterian church in debates on ecclesiology with Hodge.

Career

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When the American Civil War broke out, Thornwell supported the Confederacy. He founded the Southern Presbyterian Review, edited the Southern Quarterly Review, and had a prominent role in establishing the Presbyterian Church in the Confederacy. Thornwell preached the first sermon and wrote the first address for the new denomination.

As a supporter of the Confederacy, Thornwell held the view that slavery was morally right and justified under the Christian religion. He accused those who viewed slavery as being morally wrong, namely the Republicans, as being opposed to Christianity:

The parties in the conflict are not merely abolitionists and slaveholders. They are atheists, socialists, communists, red republicans, Jacobins on the one side, and friends of order and regulated freedom on the other. In one word, the world is the battleground – Christianity and Atheism the combatants; and the progress of humanity at stake.

— James Henley Thornwell, [2]

Death

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Thornwell died on August 1, 1862, after a long struggle with tuberculosis. Thornwell is buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina.

Legacy

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An administrative building at University of South Carolina is named in his honor.[4] In July 2021, the university's Presidential Commission on University History recommended removing his name from the building.[4]

Thornwell, in the words of Professor Eugene Genovese, attempted "to envision a Christian society that could reconcile – so far as possible in a world haunted by evil – the conflicting claims of a social order with social justice and both with the freedom and dignity of the individual."[5]

Unlike capitalism or communism, which Thornwell believed altered social norms, he avowed that slavery was part of the social fabric and, therefore, unalterable.

— Jamie Diane Wilson: Transatlantic Encounters and the Origins of James Henly Thornwell's Proslavery Ideology, [6]

Thornwell believed in a collectivist vision of society in which all individuals were connected with each other and with God.[7]

Thornwell owned slaves.[8] He constantly cited the Bible to argue against abolitionists that slavery was sanctioned by Biblical authority.[9] Being an orphan himself, Thornwell considered slaves should be treated with loving care and paternalistic guidance. He advocated a limited slavery which was humane and in line with God's precepts.[10] This was because Thornwell thought free labor left the poor in a state of misery and threatened society with revolution and upheaval. Therefore, he believed a reformed and more Christian version of slavery to be a preferable alternative.[11] Thornwell's disdain for the absolute power of slave masters and subsequent attempts to reconcile Christianity, paternalism, and slavery produced a vision for society which some historians have described as fascist.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Thornwell, James Henley". South Carolina Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Rhea, Gordon (January 25, 2011). "Why Non-Slaveholding Southerners Fought". Civil War Trust. Archived from the original on March 21, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 669.
  4. ^ a b "Appendix 11: Research Reports on Building Names: Thornwell College". Presidential Commission on University History. University of South Carolina. July 16, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  5. ^ Eugene Genovese, "James Henley Thornwell and Southern Religion" in Abbeville Review, May 5, 2015.
  6. ^ Jamie Diane Wilson, Transatlantic Encounters and the Origins of James Henly Thornwell's Proslavery Ideology, Slavery and Abolition 37, no. 1 (2016): 130
  7. ^ O'Brien, Michael (2004). Conjectures of order : intellectual life and the American South, 1810–1860. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 1142–1143. ISBN 0-8078-6373-4. OCLC 57759012.
  8. ^ Roberts, Timothy Mason (2009). Distant revolutions : 1848 and the challenge to American exceptionalism. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-8139-2818-0. OCLC 753976368.
  9. ^ Freehling, William W. (1990–2007). The road to disunion. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 152–153. ISBN 0-19-505814-3. OCLC 20670363.
  10. ^ Freehling, William W. (1991). "James Henley Thornwell's Mysterious Antislavery Moment". The Journal of Southern History. 57 (3): 383–406, page 391. doi:10.2307/2209929. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 2209929.
  11. ^ The collected writings of James Henley Thornwell. pp. 540–541.
  12. ^ Roel Reyes, Stefan (November 24, 2021). "'Christian Patriots': The Intersection Between Proto-fascism and Clerical Fascism in the Antebellum South". International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity. -1 (aop): 82–110. doi:10.1163/22130624-00219121. ISSN 2213-0624.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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Religious titles
Preceded by
The Rev. Charles Hodge
 Moderator of the 59th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (Old School)
1847–1848 		Succeeded by
The Rev. Alexander T. McGill
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