Conflicting Anglo Puritan views on Slavery

Perhaps the darkest days our nation has seen dates back to the age when Southern

plantations were painted black with West Africans forcibly removed from their homes,

subjugated to slavery courtesy of the tyrannical hands of Europeans looking to fatten

their pockets. Puritanism was alive and well during these times, observing such an

inhumane institution with a spectator’s eye, passively commenting on slavery in the

comforts of their homes. William Sewall and Cotton Mather were two Puritans who had

fundamental differences in thought concerning slavery. One man, William Sewall,

condemned slavery based on his belief that one must not enslave fellow human beings,

brothers and sisters spawned from the “Offspring of GOD.” (417)1 On the other hand,

the more popular perspective came from Cotton Mather, a man who saw no

immediate flaw in slavery and deemed black slaves “Negroes” of “the Blackest Instances

of Blindness and Baseness.” (441) Sewall’s “The Selling of Joseph” compared to

Mather’s “The Negro Christianized” illustrate how distinct differences in thought ca

unto Liberty, and all other outward Comforts of Life.” (413) This basic, yet rare idea for

darker skin tone. Mather says it is “a Gay sort of argument” (444) to discount the blacks

the early English/European Americans who were responsible for the slaughter and

disposable animals. Cotton Mather fits the bill of a white English supremacist who

Some topics in this essay:
Sewall Mather, Cotton Mather, William Sewall, Comforts Life”, Sewall It’s, Similarly Helfrich, Christian Servants”, West Africans, Negro Christianized”, Peopling Land, william sewall, cotton mather, negro christianized”, “the negro, “the selling, “the negro christianized”, selling joseph”, “the selling joseph”, anthology american literature, racist ideas, skin color, heath anthology, anthology american, heath anthology american, paul lauter et,