Staunton Spectator, "Another Division in the M. E. Church Expected," June 12, 1860 Summary
The Whig editor parsed the meaning of the Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference in Buffalo position on slavery.
The editor suggested that some slaveholders were better than others, that some slaveholders debased their slaves as chattel,
thinking no more of them than cattle. Still, the editor ended with a question to his readers--whether "we" can remain in
a union in which slavery is deemed a sin.
EXCERPT:
"The old chapter declared slavery to be a great evil--but carefully abstained from calling it a sin. . . The new chapter declares
that the buying, selling, or holding of human beings as chattels is inconsistent with the law of Christ . . . This is a plain
declaration, that slaveholding is a sin against God and the Discipline."
Full-text web version of newspaper Points of Analysis to this Data:
"Augusta's Whig Party emphasized that slavery was safer within the Union than without and that in the 1860 election slavery
had become needlessly politicized. The Augusta Whigs moved to develop a new party around Constitutional Unionism."
Citation: Key = E107
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