Methodist Leaders Changed Their Position on Slavery
Southern Methodist leaders like William Capers deliberately abandoned John Wesley’s strong anti-slavery teachings when they became economically inconvenient in the plantation South. They published materials like the 1854 “Catechism for Slaves” specifically teaching submission as a religious duty for enslaved converts. This approach directly contradicted Methodism’s early principled opposition to human bondage under Wesley’s leadership. The Methodist denomination’s bitter 1844 split over slavery accurately reflected the broader national tensions, which soon led to civil war, permanently altering American religious geography.
