Abraham Lincoln’s impending election (he was favored to win the presidency of the United States) escalated talk of secession in southern states. Underpinned by the institution of black slavery, southern states feared that Lincoln, the favored candidate of abolitionists, would take steps to eradicate slavery.
Few Baptist congregational records offer commentary regarding the crisis generated by the 1860 presidential election season, but Madison Baptist Church in Morgan County, Georgia on November 3, 1860 was one exception.
During a church meeting, an unidentified layman requests that the pastor “make the condition of our country as an object of special prayer on sabbath.” The motion passed.
