James Henley Thornwell
American theologian (1812–1862)
James Henley Thornwell (December 9, 1812 – August 1, 1862) was an American Presbyterian preacher, slaveowner, and religious writer from the U.S. state of South Carolina during the 19th century. During the American Civil War, Thornwell supported the Confederacy. But contrary to many proponents of slavery, he preached that the Negro population were people created in the image of God just like whites and that they should call slaves their brothers. He became prominent in the Old School Presbyterian denomination in the south, preaching and writing on theological and social issues. He taught at South Carolina College, eventually served as its president, and went on to teach at Columbia Theological Seminary. He was a contemporary of Charles Hodge and represented the southern branch of the Presbyterian church in debates on ecclesiology with Hodge.
Career
Thornwell was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America's General Assembly in 1847 at the age of 35.
When the American Civil War broke out, Thornwell participated in the formation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. The PCCSA seceded from the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America over the Gardner Spring resolution, which made specific loyalty to the US Government a condition of polity. Thornwell preached the sermon at the 1861 General Assembly and wrote the first address for the new denomination.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6135856. VIAF identifies the subject as 1253638. The Library of Congress control number is n50013048. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1812, 1862, 1847 and 1861.
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This entry incorporates text from “James Henley Thornwell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.