Esther
An excerpt from the Bible’s Book of Esther opens the text and from there Esther becomes a major symbolic figure helping to further the persuasive elements of the story. She will later be joined a host of likewise strong female figures from the Bible ranging from Miriam, brother of Moses, to Mary Magdalene. The key line from the document here is when the author reminds her predominantly female audience:
“It was a woman; Esther the Queen; yes, weak and trembling woman was the instrument appointed by God, to reverse the bloody mandate of the eastern monarch, and save the whole visible church from destruction.”
Abraham
The author throws considerable doubt upon the already specious argument that the institution of slavery in America is supportable because the great Biblical patriarchs owned slaves and therefore, or so the argument goes the Bible—meaning God—condones slavery. She then proceeds to systematically deconstruct this conclusion by proving that slavery as portrayed in the Bible is barely recognizable from the slavery practiced in Dixie.
George Thompson
George Thompson was a member of the British Parliament, human rights activist, and devout and devoted anti-slavery abolitionist. The author devotes a sizable chunk to informing readers of his efforts to “war against the giant sin of slavery, not with the sword and the pistol” but with oratory. She spends considerable effort in the need to defend his honor which had already come under destructive fire through the concerted efforts by the pro-slavery faction to defame him and smear his name.
Jesus Christ
The central character here is Jesus Christ. When he is not a central character in the actual text, His presence still looms over every single word because ultimately the foundation of the author’s argument that targets a very specific audience that would be almost universally open to such a thesis is that if supporting slavery is essentially synonymous with denying Christ. Or, as she plainly spells it out:
“Read the Bible then, it contains the words of Jesus, and they are spirit and life. Judge for yourselves whether he sanctioned such a system of oppression and crime.”
