Introduction
 

Perhaps one of the aspects of Ellen White's writings that has been neglected the most is her thought on various social evils and issues of her day.  For her contemporaries, Ellen White was not only a spiritual woman or an inspired author; she was also a social reformer.
 

In her thought, social reform starts with the conversion of the individual and a deeply-felt repentance, it begins with one's consecration to do the will of God no matter what. Thus, as one realizes the will of God and, by God's grace, puts it into practice, Ellen White believes that evils in one's personal life and home will vanish.  But such changes do not stop there. Changed and converted people, dedicated to do the will of God, make a difference in their society and world.
 

(Note: The historical context given in the various sections of this lecture is taken from Gary Land, ed., The World of Ellen G. White [Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1987] and George R. Knight, Ellen White's World [Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1998].)
 
 
 

I. Slavery and Abolitionism
 

    A. The context
 

        1. Brief history of the beginning of Slavery in the United States

1619: First African Blacks arrive at Jamestown, Virginia, as Dutch slave trader exchange his human cargo for food.  The slave trade increased as farmers realized how profitable slaves would be to their economy and the production of tobacco and cotton.  Native Americans were also slaves.

In 1715, Black slaves comprise 24 percent of the Virginia colony’s population, up from less than 5 percent in 1671.

In 1756, the Virginia colony’s population reaches 250,000; more than 40 percent are slaves, up from 24 percent in 1715.

In 1790, according to the first census, there are 757,000 blacks in the United States, comprising 19% of the total population. Nine percent of blacks are free.  The population of the United States in 1790 was about 4 million, of whom 60,000 were free blacks and 400,000 were slaves.  Other studies say there were 697,897 slaves in the U.S. in 1790.

In 1830, there were more than 2 million African-American slaves in the U.S.
 
 

        2. Beginning of abolitionist societies in the US: 1830s and 1840s
 

            a. The American Anti-Slavery Society - 1833
 

While White abolitionist societies worked for the emancipation of Blacks in Southern states and considered slavery a social sin, most societies did not allow Blacks to join. William Lloyd Garrison was often criticized because he associated socially with Blacks.  Many White abolitionists assumed that Blacks were inferior humans who could be worked for and helped but not associated with.  Most White people working in favor of Blacks had been indoctrinated with a pre-cursor to social Darwinism which placed Caucasians at the top of the evolutionary scale and Africans at the bottom.

        3. Many Millerites were ardent supporters of abolitionism:

Joshua V. Himes, George Storrs, Charles Fitch, Joseph Bates

        4. Fugitive Slave Act - 1850

This act created much division among the population and set the stage for civil disobedience. The Fugitive Slave Act imposed heavy penalties on those who refused to help government slave catchers or who obstructed the recapture of a fugitive slave  (a fine of up to $1000 and imprisonment of up to six months).  Northerners were held directly responsible for helping recapture slaves who fled to the north.

        5. Emancipation Proclamation - January 1^st, 1863

Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, it read:  "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free . . . ."

        6. Post-Civil War gains
 

            a. Constitutional Amendments between 1865 and 1870:

                    1865 -- Abolition of slavery (Thirteenth Amendment).

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Proposed by Congress Jan. 31, 1865; ratified Dec. 6, 1865. The amendment, when first proposed by a resolution in Congress, was passed by the Senate, 38 to 6, on Apr. 8, 1864, but was defeated in the House, 95 to 66 on June 15, 1864. On reconsideration by the House, on Jan. 31, 1865, the resolution passed, 119 to 56.  (It was approved by President Lincoln on Feb. 1, 1865, although the Supreme Court had decided in 1798 that the President has nothing to do with the proposing of amendments to the Constitution, or their adoption.)

                    1868 -- Citizenship extended to Blacks (Fourteenth Amendment).

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

On June 13, 1866, Congress approved the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law to all citizens. The amendment would also grant citizenship to blacks.  The amendment was ratified on July 21, 1868.

                    1870 -- Right to vote granted to Blacks (Fifteenth Amendment).

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

On February 26, 1869, Congress sent the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution to the states for approval.  It was ratified on March 30, 1870.

             b. Two civil rights acts passed by Congress in 1866 and 1875.
 

             c. Establishment of the Freedman's Bureau in 1865 to help freed slaves.
 
 

             d. By 1900, Blacks in the Southern states had managed to send 15 Representatives and 2 Senators to Congress.
 
 

        7. Loss of Civil Rights after 1877 (end of Reconstruction period)
 

a. 1883: Supreme Court nullified a section of the 1875 Civil Rights Acts that prevented discrimination in public places and on public carriers.

 
b. 1890s: Disenfranchisement of Black voters in Southern states - through a poll tax, literacy test, and "grandfather clause" (Jan. 1, 1860).

             (1) Louisiana: 130,344 Black registered voters in 1896; 1,342 in 1904

(2) Alabama: 181,471 Black registered voters in 1896; 3,000 in 1900

 
c. 1896: "separate but equal" doctrine adopted by Supreme Court

 
d. 1910: racial segregation mandated in federal office buildings in Washington.

    B. Ellen White's position on Slavery, Abolitionism, and Equality of the Races
 

As we might expect, Ellen White stood firmly against slavery and saw it as a moral evil.  But there are two schools of thought when it comes to Ellen White and race relations.

One viewpoint is that Ellen White should have been more proactive and vocal in her views about the Black race in the South in the years following the Civil War.  Another viewpoint is that she gave sufficient attention to this question.

        1. The equality of all races

The religion of the Bible recognizes no caste or color. It ignores rank, wealth, worldly honor. God estimates men as men. With Him, character decides their worth. And we are to recognize the Spirit of Christ in whomsoever it is revealed. No one need be ashamed to speak with an honest black man in any place or to shake him by the hand. He who is living in the atmosphere in which Christ lives will be taught of God and will learn to put His estimate on men (9T 223).

        2. Civil Disobedience in regard to the Fugitive Slave Act

I was shown that we have men placed over us for rulers, and laws to govern the people. Were it not for these laws, the world would be in a worse condition than it is now. Some of these laws are good, and some bad. The bad have been increasing, and we are yet to be brought into straight places. But God will sustain his people in being firm, and living up to the principles of his word. Where the laws of men conflict with God's word and law, we are to obey the word and law of God, whatever the consequences may be. The laws of our land requiring us to deliver a slave to his master, we are not to obey, and we must abide the consequences of the violation of this law. This slave is not the property of any man. God is his rightful Master, and man has no right to take God's workmanship into his hands, and claim his as his own. (Testimonies for the Church, 1:201-202)

        3. Slavery and the Civil War

God is punishing this nation for the high crime of slavery. He has the destiny of the nation in His hands. He will punish the South for the sin of slavery, and the North for so long suffering its overreaching and overbearing influence. (Testimonies for the Church, 1:264)

 
This scene was presented before me to illustrate the selfish love of slavery, and the desperate measures which the South would adopt to cherish the institution, and the dreadful lengths to which they would go before they would yield. The system of slavery has reduced and degraded human beings to the level of the brutes, and the majority of slave masters regard them as such. The consciences of these masters have become seared and hardened, as was Pharaoh's; and if compelled to release their slaves, their principles remain unchanged, and they would make the slave feel their oppressive power if possible. It looked to me like an impossibility now for slavery to be done away. God alone can wrench the slave from the hand of his desperate, relentless oppressor. All the abuse and cruelty exercised toward the slave is justly chargeable to the upholders of the slave system, whether they be Southern or Northern men. (Testimonies for the Church, 1:266)

        4. Healing of Racial Prejudice

Walls of separation have been built up between the whites and the blacks. These walls of prejudice will tumble down of themselves, as did the walls of Jericho, when Christians obey the Word of God, which enjoins on them supreme love to their Maker and impartial love to their neighbors. . . . Let every church whose members claim to believe the truth for this time, look at this neglected, downtrodden race, that as a result of slavery have been deprived of the privilege of thinking and acting for themselves. (Review and Herald, Dec. 17, 1895, also in Christian Service, 217-218).

        5. Restitution Needed

The law of God contained in the Ten Commandments reveals to man his duty to love God supremely and his neighbor as himself. The American nation owes a debt of love to the colored race, and God has ordained that they should make restitution for the wrong they have done them in the past. Those who have taken no active part in enforcing slavery upon the colored people are not relieved from the responsibility of making special efforts to remove, as far as possible, the sure result of their enslavement. (The Southern Work, 54)

 
God cares no less for the souls of the African race that may be won to serve Him, than He cared for Israel. He requires far more of His people than they have given Him in missionary work among the people of the South of all classes, and especially the colored race. Are we not under even greater obligation to labor for the colored people than for those who have been more highly favored? Who is it that held these people in servitude? Who kept them in ignorance?. . . If the race is degraded, if they are repulsive in habits and manners, who made them so? Is there not much due to them from the white people? After so great a wrong has been done them, should not an earnest effort be made to lift them up? The truth must be carried to them. They have souls to save as well as we. (The Southern Work, 11-12, written March 20, 1891; also in Christian Service, 218).

        6. Working for Blacks in the South

    Most decided efforts should be made to educate and train colored men and women to labor as missionaries in the Southern States of America. Christian colored students should be preparing to give the truth to their own race. Those who make the fear of the Lord the beginning of their wisdom and give heed to the counsel of men of experience can be a great blessing to the Negro race by carrying to their own people the light of present truth (9T 199).
 

    There is the greatest need for all kinds of missionary work in the South. Without delay, workers must be prepared for this field. Our people should provide a fund for the education of men and women in the Southern States who, being accustomed to the climate, can work there without endangering their health.
    Promising young men and young women should be educated to become teachers. They should have the very best advantages. Schoolhouses and meetinghouses should be built in different places, and teachers employed.
    Those who for years have been working to help the colored people are well fitted to give counsel in regard to the opening of such schools. So far as possible these schools should be established outside the cities. But in the cities there are many children who could not attend schools away from the cities; and for the benefit of these, schools should be opened in the cities as well as in the country (9T 200-201).
 

II. Prohibition and Temperance
 

    A. The Context
 

If one reform movement above others caught the imagination and energies of the late-nineteenth-century reformers it was abstinence from alcohol. Temperance became a virtual crusade.

            a. Before the 1820s few Americans, including clergy, saw anything wrong with drinking.
 

            b. 1825 - Lyman Beecher preached 6 sermons on Intemperance.

"Intemperance is the sin of the land, . . . and if anything shall defeat the hopes of the world, which hang upon our [American] experience in civil liberty, it is that river of fire, which is rolling through the land, destroying the vital air, and extending all around an atmosphere of death."

            c. 1826 - Organization of the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, or American Temperance Society
 

            d. 1851 - State of Maine is the first state to legislate total abstinence.
 

            e. Most temperance laws are declared unconstitutional before the Civil War.
 

        2. Second stage - 1869-1895
 

            a. 1869 - Organization of the national Prohibition Party
 

            b. 1874 - Women's Christian Temperance Union

                (1) The main technique of the WCTU was the "pray-in."

        (2) "To make ready on earth for the Holy City coming down from heaven, all the distilleries and drink shops must needs be removed; ONE such - successfully continued - would mar the millennium."

        3. Third stage - 1895-1919
 

            a. 1895 - Organization of the Anti-Saloon League

                (1) Motto: "The Saloon Must Go!"
 

"We feel, as an organization, that we can well run over to the churches, the schools, the temperance organizations, the consciences, and common sense of men, the final removal of the drink habit by means of instruction and moral suasion, if we can only eradicate the open saloon. It is the saloon that is the chief source of crime. . . . The Anti-Saloon League believes, as an organization, that if we get rid of the saloons, we could trust time, and education, and the spread of morality and religions to discourage and remove whatever private use of liquor as a beverage there may be."

                (2) The main agent in doing the League's work was the church.
 

        4. 1919 - Nineteenth Amendment prohibiting the sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors.
 

            a. Amendment took effect at midnight, January 16-17, 1920.
 
 
 

    B. Ellen White's thought on Temperance and Prohibition
 

    [Her thought on the evils of alcoholic drinks are best found in Ministry of Healing, pp. 337-348, and in Temperance, pp. 23-54.]
 

        1. It is a spiritual issue

Thus he [Satan] works when he entices men to sell the soul for liquor. He takes possession of body, mind, and soul, and it is no longer the man, but Satan, who acts. And the cruelty of Satan is expressed as the drunkard lifts his hand to strike down the wife he has promised to love and cherish as long as life shall last. The deeds of the drunkard are an expression of Satan's violence. (Medical Ministry, p. 114; Temperance, p. 32)

Indulgence in intoxicating liquor places a man wholly under the control of the demon who devised this stimulant in order to deface and destroy the moral image of God. (Manuscript 1, 1899; Temperance, p. 32)

Keep the work of health reform to the front, is the message I am instructed to bear. Show so plainly its value that a widespread need for it will be felt. Abstinence from all hurtful food and drink is the fruit of true religion. He who is thoroughly converted will abandon every injurious habit and appetite. By total abstinence he will overcome his desire for health-destroying indulgences. (CD 457)

        2. Social evil

This scripture [Jeremiah 22:13-17] pictures the work of those who manufacture and who sell intoxicating liquor. Their business means robbery. For the money they receive, no equivalent is returned. Every dollar they add to their gains has brought a curse to the spender. (MH 337)

Every year millions upon millions of gallons of intoxicating liquors are consumed. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent in buying wretchedness, poverty, disease, degradation, lust, crime, and death. For the sake of gain, the liquor seller deals out to his victims that which corrupts and destroys mind and body. He entails on the drunkard's family poverty and wretchedness. (MH 338)

When his victim is dead, the rum seller's exactions do not cease. He robs the widow and brings children to beggary. He does not hesitate to take the very necessaries of life from the destitute family, to pay the drink bill of the husband and father. The cries of the suffering children, the tears of the agonized mother, serve only to exasperate him. What is it to him if these suffering ones starve? What is it to him if they, too, are driven to degradation and ruin? He grows rich on the pittances of those whom he is leading to perdition. (MH 338)

Houses of prostitution, dens of vice, criminal courts, prisons, almshouses, insane asylums, hospitals, all are, to a great degree, filled as a result of the liquor seller's work. Like the mystic Babylon of the Apocalypse, he is dealing in "slaves, and souls of men." Behind the liquor seller stands the mighty destroyer of souls, and every art which earth or hell can devise is employed to draw human beings under his power. In the city and the country, on the railway trains, on the great steamers, in places of business, in the halls of pleasure, in the medical dispensary, even in the church, on the sacred Communion table, his traps are set. Nothing is left undone to create and to foster the desire for intoxicants. On almost every corner stands the public house, with its brilliant lights, its welcome and good cheer, inviting the working man, the wealthy idler, and the unsuspecting youth. (MH 338)

Look upon the drunkard's home. Mark the squalid poverty, the wretchedness, the unutterable woe that are reigning there. See the once happy wife fleeing before her maniac husband. Hear her plead for mercy as the cruel blows fall on her shrinking form. Where are the sacred vows made at the marriage altar? where is the love to cherish, the strength to protect her now? Alas, these have been melted like precious pearls in the fiery liquid, the cup of abominations! Look upon those half-naked children. Once they were cherished tenderly. No wintry storm, nor the cold breath of the world's contempt and scorn, was permitted to approach them. A father's care, a mother's love, made their home a paradise. Now all is changed. Day by day the cries of agony wrenched from the lips of the drunkard's wife and children go up to Heaven. And all this that the liquor-seller may add to his gains! And his hellish work is performed under the broad seal of the law! Thus society is corrupted, work-houses and prisons are crowded with paupers and criminals, and the gallows is supplied with victims. The evil ends not with the drunkard and his unhappy family. The burdens of taxation are increased, the morals of the young are imperiled, the property and even the life of every member of society is endangered. But the picture may be presented never so vividly, and yet it falls short of the reality. No human pen or pencil can fully delineate the horrors of intemperance. (RH, November 8, 1881)

        3. Social responsibilities of Christians

            a. In the Churches

The liquor interest is a power in the world. It has on its side the combined strength of money, habit, appetite. Its power is felt even in the church. Men whose money has been made, directly or indirectly, in the liquor traffic, are members of churches, "in good and regular standing." Many of them give liberally to popular charities. Their contributions help to support the enterprises of the church and to sustain its ministers. They command the consideration shown to the money power. Churches that accept such members are virtually sustaining the liquor traffic. Too often the minister has not the courage to stand for the right. He does not declare to his people what God has said concerning the work of the liquor seller. To speak plainly would mean the offending of his congregation, the sacrifice of his popularity, the loss of his salary. (MH 340)

But above the tribunal of the church is the tribunal of God. He who declared to the first murderer, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10), will not accept for His altar the gifts of the liquor dealer. His anger is kindled against those who attempt to cover their guilt with a cloak of liberality. Their money is stained with blood. A curse is upon it. (MH 340)

            b. In Society

We talk of the results, tremble at the results, and wonder what we can do with the terrible results, while too often we tolerate and even sanction the cause. The advocates of temperance fail to do their whole duty unless they exert their influence by precept and example--by voice and pen and vote--in favor of prohibition and total abstinence. We need not expect that God will work a miracle to bring about this reform, and thus remove the necessity for our exertion. We ourselves must grapple with this giant foe, our motto, No compromise and no cessation of our efforts till the victory is gained. (RH, Oct. 15, 1914; also in GW 387, 388, and Te 253)

'Shall we vote for prohibition?' she [Ellen White] asked. 'Yes, to a man, everywhere,' she replied, 'and perhaps I shall shock some of you if I say, If necessary, vote on the Sabbath day for prohibition if you cannot at any other time.' (3Bio 160)

Conclusion
 

Perhaps none other than A.G. Daniells, president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1901-1922, summarized better Ellen G. White's thoughts on social issues. At her funeral in Battle Creek on July 24, 1915, Daniells spoke these words:
 

Through the light and counsel given her, Mrs. White held and advocated broad, progressive views regarding vital questions that affect the betterment and uplift of the human family, from the moral, intellectual, physical, and social standpoint as well as the spiritual. Her writings are full of instruction, clear and positive, in behalf of a broad, practical, Christian education for every young man and young woman. In response to her earnest counsels, the denomination with which she was associated now maintains a system of education for all its children and young people.

Her writings present most comprehensive views regarding temperance reform, the laws of life and health, and the use of rational, effective remedies for the treatment of disease. The adoption of these principles has placed the people with whom she worked, in the front ranks with others who are advocating sane temperance reforms and working for the physical improvement of mankind.

Nor is the social status of the human family lost sight of. Slavery, the caste system, unjust racial prejudices, the oppression of the poor, the neglect of the unfortunate,-- these all are set forth as unchristian and a serious menace to the well-being of the human race, and as evils which the church of Christ is appointed by her Lord to overthrow. (Life Sketches, 473)