for the Propagation of the Gospel and local associations for promoting dis-ciplined spirituality. Methodist co-option of the form built a bridge to evangelicalism. In Britain the Baptist (1792), London (1795), and Church (1799) Missionary Societies, the Religious Tract Society (1799) and, supremely, the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804) offered Americans well-publicized examples for how rapidly, how effectively and with what reach lay-influenced societies could mobilize to address specific religious and social needs. A few small-scale voluntary societies had been formed in America before the turn of the nineteenth century, but it was only after about 1810 that voluntary societies – as self-created vehicles for preaching the Christian message, distributing Christian literature and bringing scattered Christian exertions together – fuelled the dramatic spread of evangelical religion in America. Many of the new societies were formed within denominations and a few were organized outside the boundaries of evangelicalism, like the American Unitarian Association of 1825. But the most important ones were organized by interdenominational teams of evangelicals for evangelical pur-poses. Charles Foster’s helpful (but admittedly incomplete) compilation of 159 American societies from this era finds 24 founded between 1801 and 1812, and another 32 between 1813 and 1816, with an astounding 15 in 1814 alone. After a short pause caused by the Bank Panic of 1819, the pace of for-mation picked up once again through the 1820s. The best funded and most

doi:10.4324/9780203166505-76

Chapter

for the Propagation of the Gospel and local associations for promoting dis-ciplined spirituality. Methodist co-option of the form built a bridge to evangelicalism. In Britain the Baptist (1792), London (1795), and Church (1799) Missionary Societies, the Religious Tract Society (1799) and, supremely, the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804) offered Americans well-publicized examples for how rapidly, how effectively and with what reach lay-influenced societies could mobilize to address specific religious and social needs. A few small-scale voluntary societies had been formed in America before the turn of the nineteenth century, but it was only after about 1810 that voluntary societies – as self-created vehicles for preaching the Christian message, distributing Christian literature and bringing scattered Christian exertions together – fuelled the dramatic spread of evangelical religion in America. Many of the new societies were formed within denominations and a few were organized outside the boundaries of evangelicalism, like the American Unitarian Association of 1825. But the most important ones were organized by interdenominational teams of evangelicals for evangelical pur-poses. Charles Foster’s helpful (but admittedly incomplete) compilation of 159 American societies from this era finds 24 founded between 1801 and 1812, and another 32 between 1813 and 1816, with an astounding 15 in 1814 alone. After a short pause caused by the Bank Panic of 1819, the pace of for-mation picked up once again through the 1820s. The best funded and most

Chapter

for the Propagation of the Gospel and local associations for promoting dis-ciplined spirituality. Methodist co-option of the form built a bridge to evangelicalism. In Britain the Baptist (1792), London (1795), and Church (1799) Missionary Societies, the Religious Tract Society (1799) and, supremely, the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804) offered Americans well-publicized examples for how rapidly, how effectively and with what reach lay-influenced societies could mobilize to address specific religious and social needs. A few small-scale voluntary societies had been formed in America before the turn of the nineteenth century, but it was only after about 1810 that voluntary societies – as self-created vehicles for preaching the Christian message, distributing Christian literature and bringing scattered Christian exertions together – fuelled the dramatic spread of evangelical religion in America. Many of the new societies were formed within denominations and a few were organized outside the boundaries of evangelicalism, like the American Unitarian Association of 1825. But the most important ones were organized by interdenominational teams of evangelicals for evangelical pur-poses. Charles Foster’s helpful (but admittedly incomplete) compilation of 159 American societies from this era finds 24 founded between 1801 and 1812, and another 32 between 1813 and 1816, with an astounding 15 in 1814 alone. After a short pause caused by the Bank Panic of 1819, the pace of for-mation picked up once again through the 1820s. The best funded and most

ABSTRACT

The Grimkés were raised as slave-holding Episcopalians in early national South Carolina, but when the family moved to Philadelphia and the sisters joined the Quakers, who were coming under strong evangelical influence at the time, they began to speak out against slavery and other social ills. Angelina Grimké’s tract arguing for the end of slavery, An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836), won her immediate recognition in the new abolitionist movement, but also led many in both north and south to consider her a dangerous radical. Later both sisters became public speakers for the American Anti-Slavery Society. When such speaking in public by women was attacked, Sarah responded with a biblically-based defence in her Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Women (1838). The avenue for service provided to the Grimké sisters by voluntary associations under evangelical influence was an avenue opened up for many other women who had earlier performed religious tasks only in private.