Perfectionist Politics

Perfectionist Politics is the story of an important but overlooked antebellum reform movement: ecclesiastical abolitionism. Douglas M. Strong examines radical evangelical Protestants who seceded from pro-slavery denominations and reorganized themselves into independent antislavery congregations.

Mirroring political abolitionist activity - particularly in the "burned-over district" of New York State - the ecclesiastical abolitionists formed a network of abolition churches that became the primary focus of Liberty Party electioneering strategy. Ecclesiastical abolitionists justified this clear connection between church and state through their experience of evangelical perfectionism. A vote for the Liberty Party became a mark of one's holiness.