Come-outer is a phrase coined in the 1830s which denotes a person who withdraws from an established organization, or one who advocates political reform.

History

The term was first applied during the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestantism, Protestant religious Christian revival, revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparke ...

to a small group of American

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

who dissented from religious orthodoxy, who withdrew from a number of established churches because the churches were not progressive enough on the issue of abolition. A come-outer would not join a church which held a neutral position on the issue of slavery, and he would not vote, or run for office, or otherwise take part in a government that let slavery happen. The phrase was derived from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

verse, II Corinthians 6:17 which read "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."

Garrisonian anti-institutionalism

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper ''The Liberator'', which he foun ...

was an influential

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

abolitionist who founded the

New England Anti-Slavery Society The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, headquartered in Boston, was organized as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Its roots were in the New England Anti-Slavery Society, organized by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of ...

and the

American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this soc ...

in the early 1830s. Garrison advocated an immediate end to slavery, rather than a step-by-step process working through the political system. In 1832, he printed an anti-slavery tract called ''Thoughts on African Colonization'' which included the "come out from among them" verse from the

Second Epistle to the Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in t ...

, and a quote from a recently deceased Reverend Doctor Thomson of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

: "To say that we will only come out of the sin by degrees—that we will only forsake it slowly, and step by step... is to trample on the demands of moral obligation..." At the New England Anti-Slavery Convention in 1836, Garrison proposed that only churches willing to help fight slavery should be considered "the true and real church of God."Putnam, Mary Burnham
''The Baptists and Slavery, 1840–1845''
George Wahr, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1913. Retrieved on April 11, 2009. This was viewed by many as too divisive, so other means were tried until the 1837 convention when a resolution was adopted urging abolitionists to leave unresponsive churches, "to come out from among them and be separate." Garrison's radical ideas defined a strong split within the anti-slavery societies, and Garrison was abandoned by all but a dedicated core group of like-minded abolitionists. The Boston-based group of reformers began to be called "come-outers". Garrison's newspaper, '' The Liberator'', served to spread his view of abolition and anti-institutionalism. From time to time, news items about come-outers would appear, some culled from other journals. In 1851, Garrison quoted an article entitled "Come-outers in jail" which appeared in ''

The Barnstable Patriot ''The Barnstable Patriot'' is a weekly newspaper published in and for the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. Although it bills itself as "an independent voice since 1830", ''The Patriot'' has been owned, since 2019, by Gannett. ...

'': "Several of these poor deluded beings in Barnstable, whose actions we have before noticed, are now on trial in that town for an assault upon a constable when in the discharge of his duty…the poor creatures are insane, and can hardly be held responsible for their acts. ….the most fitting place for these unfortunate beings is in the Insane Hospital."''The Liberator'', January 31, 1851
''Come-outers in jail''
. Retrieved on April 12, 2009. Garrison offered his opinion that the 'poor deluded beings' were quite properly "laboring under religious insanity." Other regions of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

that held pockets of "come-outerism" included

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mon ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Abolition and church reform

Come-outers themselves split further into those who, like Garrison, were against any institution at all, and those who believed that political systems and churches could be reformed into anti-slavery organizations. Non-Garrisonian come-outers split from

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

churches to form new church doctrines that were either completely free of slavery or focused on anti-slavery. The American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840 brought the issue to the fore, defining a split among Baptists. The American Baptist Free Mission Society formed in 1843 in Boston when 17 Baptists led by

William Henry Brisbane William Henry Brisbane (October 12, 1806 Beaufort County, South Carolina – April 5, 1878 Arena, Wisconsin) was a Baptist minister of the southern United States who, having convinced himself of the immorality of slavery, freed and settled a group ...

left their church to create a non-racist, anti-slavery evangelical group with missions to Haiti, Burma and Africa. James G. Birney and

Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candida ...

were among those who left the Presbyterian church.Ferrell, Claudine L
''The Abolitionist Movement''
Greenwood Press, 2006. pp. 75–77. The integrated

American Missionary Association The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on in Albany, New York. The main purpose of the organization was abolition of slavery, education of African Americans, promotion of racial equality, ...

, a non-denominational group, formed in 1846 mostly of Presbyterian and Congregational members who were unable to get their churches to commit to fight slavery. The Wesleyan Methodist Connection was organized in 1843 and grew to some 15,000 members, many of whom were formerly not Methodist. By 1850, membership in come-outer churches, combined with those in religious denominations such as

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

who had long been against slavery, reached 241,000 in America.

Tax resistance

Some come-outers engaged in

tax resistance Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax ...

because of their unwillingness to fund a government that did not work to end slavery. Henry David Thoreau and

Amos Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...

both used tax resistance in this way. Utopian

Brook Farm Brook Farm, also called the Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and EducationFelton, 124 or the Brook Farm Association for Industry and Education,Rose, 140 was a utopian experiment in communal living in the United States in the 1840s. It was f ...

has been described as "a come-outer enterprise".

People

* Maria Weston Chapman *

Stephen Symonds Foster Stephen Symonds Foster (November 17, 1809 – September 13, 1881) was a radical American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist known for his dramatic and aggressive style of public speaking, and for his stance against those in the church ...

called the clergy "a brotherhood of thieves". * Timothy Gilbert left his unresponsive Baptist church to join the Free Baptist Church in Boston. *

Abby Kelley Abby Kelley Foster (January 15, 1811 – January 14, 1887) was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer active from the 1830s to 1870s. She became a fundraiser, lecturer and committee organizer for the influential American Anti-Slav ...

left her

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

church in 1841, "feeling it a duty to 'come out and be separate'. *

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whit ...

Parker Pillsbury Parker Pillsbury (September 22, 1809 – July 7, 1898) was an American minister and advocate for abolition and women's rights. Life Pillsbury was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts. He moved to Henniker, New Hampshire where he later farmed and wo ...

Sterling, 1991, p.129. *

Nathaniel P. Rogers Nathaniel Peabody Rogers (June 3, 1794 – October 16, 1846) was an American attorney turned abolitionist writer, who served, from June 1838 until June 1846, as editor of the New England anti-slavery newspaper '' Herald of Freedom''. He was als ...

, once introduced to it, held to the "come-outer" doctrine more strongly than Garrison.Perry, Lewis. '' Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought'' . University of Tennessee Press, 1993, 1973.

References

External links

{{wikiquote Political activism Political movements in the United States Criticism of Christianity 19th century in the United States Abolitionism in the United States