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The Great Question Answered Chapter Summary

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James Sloan’s book The Great Question Answered presents an abhorrent perspective of the institution of slavery within 19th-century American society. Throughout the book, themes of authority, classification, and essentialism give rise to how Sloan attempts to protect this damaging societal construction that breeds hatred and distrust. This narrative pushes forward a Christian view that gives light to several perspectives that come to the defense of slavery; using the Christian religion as his primary tool. By projecting his values, Sloan can exploit absent authorities to defend the institution of slavery, perpetuating White supremacist ideals through a Christian perspective.
Christianity is the only way to “understand [man's] relation to each …show more content…

By using the Bible as an authoritative text, Sloan liberally uses the absent authority to project his own (and confederate) views on slavery. Moreover, he exploits the Bible “by ascribing radically new ideas to ancient figures'' (cited in Martin 2017, 124 ) to justify slavery. Furthermore, he presents several views such as slavery being a sin and the Christian right to sustain a social hierarchy to maintain the natural order. Further reinforcing his ideals of White supremacy. Subsequently, it becomes mandatory for slave owners to perpetuate the slave-master relationship as part of God's intelligent device. Likewise, he promotes his classifications of human races based on the biblical stories of Ham, Japeth, and Sham. Through the curse of Canaan, Sloan extrapolates that it is a Christian moral obligation to follow the suit of their forefathers in demanding servitude from the descendants of Ham, which once again becomes a justification for slavery. Moreover, from the Christian perspective, the Bible sheds light on the creation of a favored race by God which is deeply rooted in the White supremacist ideals that justify this social race theory for the author and many others who also similarly align their views. Together, these arguments presented by Sloan take upon a Christian perspective and attempt to protect the damaging institution of slavery. They further perpetuate White supremacist ideals that develop a societal classification based on the labels dictated by biblical stories, further fostering a sense of inferiority amongst other races and oppression; negatively impacting the identities of everyone within society. Moreover, “social facts are nevertheless real facts for the community that recognizes them as such” (Martin 2017, 39). Hence, for Sloan, the social facts that support and defend his view of racial

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