The Wrong Feeling of Feeling Right: Fanaticism and Sentiment in Anti-Abolitionist Novels

Abstract

This article examines the role that the polemical concept of religious fanaticism played in anti-abolitionist, pro-slavery literature, specifically anti-Tom novels written in the 1850s by white women protesting Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Through narrative arcs, character archetypes, and moral lessons, these authors portrayed abolitionism as a movement driven by excessive feeling, errant “facts,” a corrupted form of Christianity, and an undue sympathy for Black people. In leveraging the language of fanaticism to argue that abolitionism was based on “wrong feelings,” the novels worked to instill in readers an alternative sentimental regime based on love towards white Christian (often Protestant) families and the subjugation of Black people. This article concludes with a reflection on the role that sentiment plays in movements for and against social change.