Christian Abolitionists Have Always Disobeyed Laws

It might seem like the mission to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement is unique, but there are important parallels between this movement and the 19th-century fight to abolish slavery. As we seek to follow the gospel and make a new world, it is worth turning to abolitionists from the 19th century as we look for examples of how to win the fight against tyranny and wickedness, even if it takes longer than our lifetime.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required U.S. marshals in free states to capture people who were attempting to liberate themselves from slavery. While the act was meant to assuage the Southern malcontent at the admission of California as a free state in the same year, it prompted widespread protests in Northern cities from abolitionists who sought to prevent the enforcement of what they saw as a fundamentally evil law.

The fight against ICE has taken place in cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Charlotte, where many of the same tactics used by abolitionists in the 19th century have been deployed. Then, like now, abolitionists would surround federal agents and demand that they leave town, organizing themselves into bands and engaging in secret communication—even going so far as to de-arrest individuals captured by federal agents. In 1851, Black abolitionists banded together to storm a Boston courthouse to liberate Shadrach Minkins, while in 1858, students and residents of Oberlin, Ohio, forcibly removed John Price from federal custody and sent him to safety in Canada.

Another way that the two moments parallel one another is the rise of religious resistance to federal law. Christians played a prominent role in the abolitionist movement, and their critiques of the state’s unjust laws resonate across the centuries and have become especially relevant to our moment. It seems like history is repeating itself, and if that’s the case, then Christians opposing ICE have plenty to learn from the abolitionists of the 19th century.

One case from the 19th century stands out to me as particularly resonant in this moment. In 1860, John Hossack was put on trial for his opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act. When an enslaved person, Jim Gray, attempted to liberate himself by escaping to Illinois, he was apprehended by U.S. Marshal Wm. H. Dougherty, who had to seek court approval to return him to a life of slavery in the South. Hossack and his fellow abolitionists surrounded those looking to arrest Gray and shouted to him, “If you want your liberty, come!” while abolitionists ushered Gray to a carriage waiting to take him to safety. This is perhaps a slightly more dramatic rendering of something I have seen several times, where ICE agents have been surrounded by concerned residents and, instead of detaining someone, ended up fleeing in their vehicles.

READ MORE: The Christian Case for Open Borders

Hossack was convicted of violating the Fugitive Slave Act, but not before he gave a powerful speech to the judge. Hossack drew upon his Christian faith to repudiate the very basis for his conviction:

Sir, the whole system of slavery originated in man-stealing, and is perpetuated by fraud and violence and plunder. Others may have their doubts as to their duty under this law; I, Sir, have none. This law is just as binding on me as was the law of Egypt to slaughter Hebrew children; just as binding as the law that said, Worship the golden image, worship not God; just as binding as the law forbidding Christ and his Apostles to preach the Gospel. Send me a law bidding me rob or murder my neighbor, I must decline to obey it. I can suffer, but I must not do wrong. Send me a law bidding me join hands in robbing my fellow-men of their freedom, I cannot do so great a wrong.

Hossack’s ability to clearly elucidate the ways that unjust laws cannot command obedience is just the sort of critique that we need today. It’s the same critique that Augustine made in the fourth century, and which Martin Luther King Jr. later built on in 1963, arguing, “There are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” In times of great evil, Christians must choose which law they will follow: God’s or the state’s.

In times of great evil, Christians must choose which law they will follow: God’s or the state’s.

In addition to this foundational critique, abolitionists in the 19th century understood that this fight was long, and many did not see success in their lifetimes.

Take Unitarian preacher Theodore Parker, for example. Parker was a Unitarian minister and abolitionist. He was also the one to give us the idea that King made famous: that the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. In Parker’s 1852 sermon “Justice and the Conscience,” he said the following: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” Parker did not live to see the victory of his cause. He died in 1860.

In addition, abolitionists were quite clear about their goals. They knew that there was no reforming the institution of slavery because its very foundation was built on an affront to God’s vision of justice. Present polling shows that only 29% of Americans support abolishing ICE. As that number gains ground after the brutal murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Silverio Villegas González, we have to remain clear that abolition means a complete abolishing of ICE, not a rebranding or a kinder, softer form of immigration enforcement. The rot at the core of this institution is so great that only a willingness to rethink our entire approach to immigration will suffice.

As we seek to gain momentum to abolish ICE, we do not have to reinvent the wheel. We can instead turn to history and learn from figures like Hossack, who showed us that radical action on behalf of the gospel is worth it. This fight is going to be a long one, but like the abolitionists of the 19th century, we must believe that victory is possible. A new world is coming; we only have to help bring it into being.