Free Religion as Spiritual Abolitionism

This project reexamines the rise of the Free Religion movement and frames it as an outgrowth of both liberal religion and abolitionism. It argues that, rather than being a simple continuation of Transcendentalism, Free Religion represented a continuation of abolitionism during Reconstruction – a new “spiritual abolitionism.” Led by notable ministers like Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Francis Ellingwood Abbot, and William J. Potter, the Free Religion movement sought to overcome the divisions of creed and dogma and to unite people from diverse denominations and religions within one spiritual movement. This project draws on a number of MHS collections, including the papers of Henry W. Bellows and John Weiss.