Joshua Marsden never penned a petition against slavery, wrote a representative in favor of abolition, nor joined an antislavery society. Despite describing slavery as “the bane of man, and the abomination of God” and earnestly yearning “that this scandal of humanity were annihilated,” this Methodist missionary did nothing more than write these seven sentences, buried in a lengthy autobiography designed to celebrate missionary work. Yet he was not alone in his seeming hypocrisy. Even as the early abolitionist movement scored victories for freedom, few American Christians took organized action against slavery. Marsden and countless others watched on the sidelines as the evil institution grew. How did American Christianity enable this inaction, and what changed to inspire the later, larger, more active, biracial Christian abolitionist movement?