PBA Galleries

Broadside, printed in black on white paper. The central portion of the text surrounded by nine Biblical quotes from both the Old and New Testaments, and at upper left a quote from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “An’t yer mine now, Tom; body and soul?” 26.5x21 cm (10½x8½").

An important broadside concerning the stance of the Methodist Church and the liberated slaves. During the Civil War the British dominions including the colony of Australia were officially neutral. However, there did remain in Australia sympathy for both the Union and the Confederacy. As for the Wesleyan Methodist Church, from its founding in 1800, it had testified against slavery as a moral evil. Printed ephemera with an Australian connection to the American Civil War is very rarely encountered. This broadside represents that link between British political thought, the American Civil War, the emancipation of four million African-American slaves and the Methodist church.