When people think of slavery in America, they often picture plantation owners, politicians, and traders. Few imagine that some of slavery’s most passionate defenders stood behind church pulpits. One of the most influential was Benjamin Morgan Palmer, a celebrated American Presbyterian pastor whose sermons helped convince thousands of Christians that slavery was not only acceptable, but a sacred duty.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1818, Palmer became one of the most respected preachers in the American South. His influence extended far beyond his congregation. He was known as an eloquent speaker, theologian, and church leader, eventually becoming the first Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
But it was a sermon delivered on November 29, 1860, that cemented his place in history.
Just weeks after Abraham Lincoln’s election, Palmer stood before his congregation in New Orleans and delivered a sermon titled The South: Her Peril, and Her Duty. The sermon was later printed and circulated widely across the South.
In it, Palmer argued that the South had been entrusted by God with a special mission: to preserve slavery.
According to Palmer, slavery was not merely an economic system. He described it as a “providential trust” that Southerners had a duty to protect and perpetuate. He portrayed slaveholders as guardians of enslaved Africans and warned that abolitionists threatened both Christianity and civilization itself.
To modern readers, the argument is shocking.
Palmer was not claiming slavery was an unfortunate necessity. He was claiming that defending slavery was a moral obligation. In his view, Christians had a responsibility to preserve the institution because God had ordained it. He argued that the South’s very identity and civilization were built upon slavery and that ending it would destroy both.
His sermon became one of the most influential pro-slavery religious texts of the era. Historians note that it helped energize support for secession and the Confederate cause throughout the South. Some estimates suggest that tens of thousands of copies circulated during the crisis that preceded the Civil War.
The sermon itself was published as a pamphlet under the title:
The South: Her Peril, and Her Duty: A Discourse, Delivered in the First Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, on Thursday, November 29, 1860.
This remains Palmer’s most controversial publication and one of the clearest examples of a Christian minister using theology to defend slavery.
After the Civil War, Palmer remained a prominent church leader and continued preaching until his death in 1902. His influence was so great among white Southerners that New Orleans renamed Hamilton Square as Palmer Park shortly after his death. For more than a century, the park bore his name in recognition of his standing as a respected preacher and public figure.
Public attitudes, however, changed over time. As historians and residents reexamined Palmer’s legacy, many questioned why a public park should honor a man who had preached that slavery was a Christian duty and helped provide religious justification for the Confederacy. In 2021, the city removed his name from the park, renaming it Marsalis Harmony Park in honor of the renowned Marsalis family and their contributions to American music and culture.
Today, Palmer is remembered less for the sermons that made him famous than for the institution he worked so hard to defend. His story is a reminder that some of slavery’s most influential defenders spoke not from plantation houses or government offices, but from church pulpits.
Source:
https://locatinglegacies.org/s/hub/item/1118
https://www.hnoc.org/publications/first-draft/thanksgiving-1860-new-orleans-pastors-sermon-defending-slavery-rallied
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp100651
