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Furman's Legacy of Slavery: A Digital Exhibition: Richard Furman's Legacy
"Yes, in a wise, prudent, and becoming manner. Perhaps we can do something for the general good of the churches and the benefit of the slaves. . . but it is my opinion that undertaking anything of this kind under the idea of leading to emancipation or representing the holding of Slaves to be a Sin, would destroy the influence of the Association in the community at large."
-Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, in response to the question: “Should our Association take slavery and the treatment of slaves into consideration?
Over the course of his fifty-one-year ministry (1774-1825), Richard Furman emerged as the leader of Baptists in South Carolina and, after his presidency of the 1813 Triennial Convention, the most prominent Baptist in the nation. His influence grew out of his role as a unifier. On the eve of the American Revolution, South Carolina’s revolutionary government sent Furman to persuade backcountry Tories to join the cause against Britain. In November 1775, Furman delivered an address to his “Friends, Brethren, and Fellow Subjects” between the “Broad and Saluda Rivers” setting forth “the justice, and righteousness of the [Revolutionary] cause.
After the Revolution, Furman's stance on the morality of slavery was shaped by his quest to unify the Baptists. At the start of Furman’s ministry, South Carolina Baptists were divided by a number of issues including slavery. After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton and slavery became more viable throughout South Carolina and both spread rapidly. Baptists looked to Richard Furman for guidance on matters of faith and slavery.
"They [the British] have taken away our birth-right; I mean trials by juries...For what the King does, contrary to the constitution, is not the power that is of God, spoken of in Scripture, and therefore ought not to be obeyed..."[FIND CITATION] Richard Furman
In this letter from the High Hills of Santee, a young Richard Furman attempts to quell a Loyalist rebellion against the colonial South Carolina government – not long after the battles of Lexington and Concord – by pleading the rebellious colonists’ case for all of South Carolina to support the growing rebellion.We invite you to examine Furman's address and how he defines "freedom".
Autographed letter of Richard Furman's Address on Freedom, 1806-1878
Furman University Special Collections and Archives
Examine the Address