Advocates of Peace in Antebellum America

This book chronicles the political & intellectual development of the two major antebellum peace movements. The American Peace Society, a moderate peace group, aimed to work through the institutions of church & state to achieve peace. The New England Nonresistant Society constituted a radical group which advocated the individual's complete separation from all institutions & strict adherence to the example of Christ's' life & teachings. As Ziegler shows, the task of establishing peace in a culture where institutionalized violence such as slavery was legally protected proved endlessly frustrating for both groups. As they faced the questions raised by the lynching of abolitionists, the women's rights movement, the Mexican War, the Fugitive Slave Law, & John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, the advocates of peace faced the challenge of finding some way to reconcile peace, liberty, & social order Despite their differences in temperament, both groups were initially convinced that the New Testament's admonition to love one's enemies & to refuse to return evil for evil was an absolute command. They believed they were called to practice peace without regard for the consequences. As civil unrest raged over slavery, however, the advocates of peace discovered they did care about the consequences. They wanted to abolish slavery & create a just social order. With the coming of the Civil War, the peace activists faced their most difficult dilemma: choosing between a violent struggle to free the slaves & dutiful obedience to the Sermon on the Mount. Praise for The Advocates of Peace in Antebellum America: "Ziegler's exquisitely written study of antebellum pacifism represents the most important study of antislavery since Aileen Kraditor's Means & Ends in Abolitionism (1969). --Reviews in American History. "The Advocates of Peace in Antebellum America is intellectual history with narrative tautness & conceptual rigor."--Civil War History. "[A] substantial contribution to the literature of antebellum reform."--American Historical Review.Ziegler, Valerie H. is the author of 'Advocates of Peace in Antebellum America' with ISBN 9780865547261 and ISBN 0865547262.