Send Back the Money! : The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery

An investigation of Scotland’s role in the abolition of slavery, focussing on the Free Church of Scotland schism over funding from American slave states.

An investigation of Scotland’s role in the abolition of slavery, focussing on the Free Church of Scotland schism over funding from American slave states.


When the Free Church broke from the Church of Scotland in 1843 they sought money and support from inside and outside Scotland. A delegation which went to America in 1844 brought some money back gifted by sympathisers in the Southern slave states. A huge row broke out amongst abolitionists in Scotland and America and a campaign to ‘Send Back the Money’ was launched.

‘Send Back the Money!’ is a thorough and gripping examination of a fascinating and forgotten aspect of Scottish and American relations and Church history, recreating a seminal episode in the history of nineteenth-century abolitionism that divided families, communities, and the Free Church itself.

Iain Whyte’s examination of the Free Church of Scotland’s early involvement with American Presbyterianism reveals the ethical furore caused by a Church wishing to emancipate itself from the domination of a state-sanctioned established religion. The Free Church therefore found a ready affinity with those oppressed elsewhere, but subsequently found itself financially supported by the Southern slave states of America. Whyte sensitively handles this inherent contradiction in the political, ecclesiastical, and theological institutions, while informing the reader of the roles of charismatic characters such as Thomas Chalmers and Frederick Douglass, key individuals who did much to shape contemporary culture with action, great oratory, and rhetoric. The author adroitly draws parallels from the twentieth century onwards, leading the reader to a fuller and more nuanced understanding of the historic and topical issues within global Christianity, and the contentious topic of slavery.

‘Send back the Money!’ throws light upon nineteenth-century culture, the British and American Abolitionist movements, and the ecclesiastical politics of the day, and is written in a clear and engaging style that makes the book ideal for both scholars and general readers.