In his novel, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass spoke of many hardships during his years as a slave. One thing he mentioned in his narrative was that religious slave owners were always much more cruel than those that were not religious. There are a few reasons that religious slave owners acted in such a manner, such as their strong belief that they were doing the right thing, or perhaps that many people were just and often still are, hypocrites. .
It was a commonly held belief that religious slave owners were crueler than slave owners who were not religious. More than once Douglass commented about the connection between religion and brutality. When he lived with Captain Auld, he wrote, .
"I have said my master found religious sanction for his cruelty. As an example, I will state one of many facts going to prove the charge. I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture--"He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes."" (Ch. 9).
The slave owners would take scriptures and construe them to what they wanted, although that could be argued for any interpretation of the Bible. Most would think of a religious person as someone who is a good and moral person, someone who would never participate in the horrible things Douglass saw in his lifetime. But this view did not come upon until the Great Awakenings. Although the first Awakening was between the 1740's and 1780's, "old habits die hard," as the saying goes. Things did not immediately begin to change. .
In Douglass's time, all religious groups in the United States, excluding the Society of Friends, supported slavery. Many believed that the Bible itself supported slavery. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America once said, .
