Date of Award
Fall 2025
Project Type
Thesis
Program or Major
History
Degree Name
Master of Arts
First Advisor
Eliga Gould
Second Advisor
Jessica Lepler
Third Advisor
Jason Sokol
Abstract
In the mid-eighteenth century, the number of enslaved people baptized into the Protestant church increased in the British Atlantic. Many historians have argued that the increase occurred by highlighting scriptural debates between slave owners and missionaries. Many slave owners believed that being Christian was synonymous with being free, but missionaries staunchly opposed this view. To change slave owners’ minds, missionaries argued that Protestantism made enslaved people “better behaved.” However, I believe that the reason slave owners became more willing to baptize enslaved people had more to do with external factors. The British were surrounded by many antagonistic Native tribes and Catholic enemies, and these two groups often interacted with enslaved people to incite rebellion in British colonies. By highlighting that Protestantism could be a vessel for spiritual control, missionaries ultimately convinced slave owners to allow the baptism of enslaved people to increase the slave owners’ security, both socially and economically.
Recommended Citation
Taylor, Benjamin, "The Catholic Terror: A History of the Baptism of Enslaved Populations in the Colonial Protestant Atlantic" (2025). Master's Theses and Capstones. 2002.
https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/2002