In the early 19th century, religion often stood at the center of every moral debate in America, and slavery was no exception. While countless ministers preached freedom, love, and equality in the eyes of God, others used the scripture to defend one of the darkest institutions in human history. Among them was Reverend Alexander McCaine, a Methodist preacher who became known for using the Bible to justify and defend the enslavement of africans.
For McCaine, as for many of his contemporaries, the Bible was not just a religious text but a tool for control. By wrapping slavery in divine approval, men like him sought to quiet growing abolitionist movements and reassure slaveholders that their actions were righteous in the eyes of God. His teachings reflected a wider belief that questioning slavery was the same as questioning God’s will.
In 1842, before the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church in Baltimore, McCaine delivered one of the boldest defenses of slavery ever uttered by a man of God. In his address, later published as Slavery Defended from Scripture, he didn’t hesitate or speak with guilt, he preached with conviction. To him, slavery was not a crime against humanity, but a sacred institution that God Himself had sanctioned.
McCaine began his argument with the “Curse of Ham,” claiming that when Noah condemned Canaan to be “a servant of servants,” he was announcing God’s eternal approval of slavery. He then marched through the Old Testament, pointing out that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, men blessed by God, all owned servants. Even Job, described as “perfect and upright,” was a slaveholder. To McCaine, this was irrefutable proof. “Would the Holy Spirit call such men righteous if they practiced a great sin?” he asked. “Impossible.”
When challenged with the teachings of Jesus, McCaine used another familiar argument, silence as approval. He noted that Christ never directly condemned slavery, and the Apostle Paul even instructed servants to obey their masters. Paul’s decision to send the runaway slave Onesimus back to his owner, McCaine argued, showed that even the early church accepted the institution.
Then came what he considered his strongest proof: the Tenth Commandment. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant.” To McCaine, this meant one thing, God Himself recognized that one person could be another’s legal property.
McCaine’s greatest anger was aimed not at the enslaved, but at Northern abolitionists, even those within his own church. He accused them of hypocrisy, claiming they wanted to “steal” Southern property under the guise of morality. He warned that their interference would lead to bloodshed and destroy the Union. He even told stories of enslaved Africans inspired by abolitionists to rise against their masters, calling such acts proof that antislavery activism was dangerous and ungodly.
What makes McCaine’s story so haunting is not just what he said, but what it represents. The Bible is a complex book, one that can be used to defend almost anything, depending on the reader’s heart and purpose. For every verse that teaches mercy, there is another that can be twisted into justification for domination. And in McCaine’s time, far too many preachers chose the verses that kept slaveholders comfortable while keeping enslaved Africans in chains.
Slavery defenders like McCaine read the Bible not as a message of freedom, but as a rulebook for control. They quoted scripture to defend what their conscience should have condemned, and they used faith to make cruelty look holy.
Reverend Alexander McCaine never wavered in his convictions. Until the end of his life, he stood by his belief that slavery was sanctioned by God. He never retracted his views, nor did he express regret for the moral and spiritual harm they caused. McCaine died on June 1, 1856, at the age of 83, still convinced that the institution of slavery was not a sin, but a divine order.
Sources:
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LHG7-N9L/rev-alexander-mccaine-1773-1856
https://archive.org/details/DKC0184
