A Baptist resolution helped precipitate Alabama’s secession from the Union.

Evidence

At the 1860 Alabama State Baptist Convention, he introduced a successful resolution declaring that Alabama Baptists believed they could “no longer hope for justice, protection, or safety” with reference “to our peculiar property recognized by the constitution.” The resolution concluded boldly: “Before mankind and before our God, that we hold ourselves subject to the call to proper authority in defense of the sovereignty and independence of the state of Alabama, and of her sacred right as a sovereignty to withdraw from this union.” Prominent nineteenth-century historian Benjamin F. Riley argued that this declaration by the most populous religion in the state did “more to precipitate the secession of Alabama than any other one cause.” — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 107

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Southern Baptist Convention’s white supremacist founding and its current racial reckoning, the book’s overarching thesis. — connects to: Baptist clergy helped draft the Confederacy’s religious constitution. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 109; Black business success in 1947 Alabama invited lethal white retaliation. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 888

Broader Connections

• Baptist clergy helped draft the Confederacy’s religious constitution. #corroborates (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 109
• Black business success in 1947 Alabama invited lethal white retaliation. #complicates (0.75) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 888