Mar 12, 2016 8 min read

Alexander Campbell was a man larger than life, even though he lived in the tiny village of Bethany in what was then Virginia. He was the key leader of the 19th-century religious reformation coming out of the Second Great Awakening, a “restoration movement” that incorporated the democratic spirit of the American frontier. He preached, taught, debated, travelled and founded a college to train new leaders for all walks of life including lay leaders and ministers for his expanding network of congregations.

Campbell, who died 150 years ago this month, was a major mover and shaker in the shaping of American religion and culture whose ideas still inspire us today.

One aspect of Campbell’s life that has not received a lot of attention yet is so timely is the response of the American restoration churches to the “Great Irish Famine.” A blight infected the potato crop in Ireland from 1845-1850. Ireland was disproportionately affected because the majority of the Irish people depended on the potato as their main daily staple. The famine reduced Ireland’s population by 25 percent as 1 million died of starvation and disease and as many as 2 million emigrated through 1851.

The famine was the first major humanitarian crisis to evoke an international response. No doubt attention to this crisis came from many sources. It was front-page news in the national and international press.

A strong movement for a direct humanitarian assistance appropriation of $500,000 by the U. S. government was proposed by congressional leaders, including Campbell’s friend, Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky. Legislation passed the House but did not clear the Senate. However, Congress did approve the loan of two warships, the USS Jamestown and the USS Macedonian, laden with food aid donated by the Irish Relief Committees and sent directly to the ports of Cork and Cove, Ireland.

As news of the famine spread, assistance poured into Ireland from around the globe; from the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from Calcutta, and even from the Choctaw Indians in Oklahoma. Irish Relief Committees were set up in most major U.S. cities, and more than 100 ships sailed from the U.S. with assistance.

Campbell was a preacher who was hesitant to be drawn into political conflict when he felt the Bible did not provide a clear blueprint for action. But he and the leaders of the Restoration movement quickly grasped both the human, economic, and political dimensions of the famine and developed a quick plan of action.

The April 1847 Millennial Harbinger reports that a meeting for the relief of the Irish was called in Bethany, “to take into consideration the deplorable condition of the afflicted poor of Ireland…. The meeting was then addressed by the following gentlemen, Alexander Campbell, R. Richardson and W. K. Pendleton…. It was unanimously resolved that “it becomes our duty to contribute each one according to his ability, for the relief of the suffering poor of Ireland.” The Bethany Irish Relief Fund would deliver funds that were raised through the Pittsburgh Irish Relief Fund.

Awareness of the Famine in the Bethany community was no doubt heightened by the large number of Scots-Irish immigrants and their descendants in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. Many early Restoration leaders had their roots in this community, including young Irish immigrant Alexander Campbell. In the May 1847 Millennial Harbinger, Maria Edgeworth wrote from Ireland to the ladies of America: “I never knew of distress equal to the present. Famine, disease, deaths innumerable, are in all parts of this kingdom – putrefaction and pestilence in some – and if the people are not immediately relieved by supplies of food, and enabled by supplies of seed to sow the land, the famine, diseases, deaths, and pestilence must be still more dreadful next year. At the moment a vast quantity of the land in Ireland lies untilled for want both of men to till and of seed to sow it.”

In the midst of the crisis, Campbell traveled to the British Isles in 1847 to support the growing network of churches that identified with the Restoration Movement and to solicit funds for Bethany College. At 59, he was at the height of his career. He had left Ulster just 38 years earlier and had found professional success and growing acceptance of his religious ideas in the new world. As a mature religious leader, he wanted to strengthen the Restoration Movement overseas. He was no doubt eager to see old sights and old friends in his homeland as well as to be accepted as something of a celebrity from the halls of Parliament to historic universities and large lecture halls.

The Bethany Irish Relief Committee raised about $1,200 for Campbell to take on his trip for famine relief, especially through the Irish and Scottish churches.

Campbell made a special two-week trip to Northern Ireland in September 1847 to assess the humanitarian situation firsthand. There was a lot of conflicting information carried in the press. Much of the British press was critical of the famine relief. A change in the British government resulted in a change of famine policy. A government soup kitchen network, which fed three million people, was shut down, and paupers with a quarter acre of land were expected to abandon it before entering a workhouse – something many of the poor would not do. The British government announced that the famine was over even though it continued another three years. Campbell concluded that the situation was worse in southern and western Ireland, the predominately Roman Catholic areas, than in the Protestant areas of Ulster. He was pleased to learn that the wealthier took care of those who needed their assistance. He wrote that “a large number of the real objects of distress, from that region, had fled to England and Scotland during the period of the greatest famine: hence a large portion of the most destitute and famished Irish were to be found in the cities and large towns of Scotland and England. With all the vigilance and benevolence of both the English and Scotch communities, some of the wretched pilgrims, beggars, and absolutely destitute, literally died of hunger in Liverpool and other great resorts.”

Campbell’s impression was that the distribution of aid fell short of Christian benevolence. He decided to use most of the funds entrusted to him for income supplementation.

It is clear that his Irish background and his religion colored his view of the crisis. And he complained that because the British governing system was in part in charge of the distribution of the large and liberal contributions for Ireland, “much of our provisions were needlessly squandered.” Still he concludes that “it was still better to give than to withhold, even under this mal-administration.”

In regard to the donations of aid that were being sent to hard hit areas of Roman Catholic Ireland, “I leave everyone to act as he pleases; but, certainly, while I would give to either Romanist or Protestant, when in distress, without ever asking him what his creed or tenets are.” But Campbell was firm in his belief that an appropriate and Christian way to distribute aid is to assist the poor to be able to work at a decent wage.

It is useful to note that Campbell did not engage in two other types of response to famine that some evangelical and Anglican religious leaders did, like forcing destitute Catholics to convert to Protestantism and proffering soup kitchens and food aid in return for their conversion. The so-called “soupers” boasted of the number of converts they were able to make due to the famine. And Campbell did not consider the famine an “act of God” that was punishment for the wickedness and laziness of the Irish people. Campbell adopted a novel approach that fit his theological approach to addressing social problems. He conducted an on-the-ground assessment of the problem; opted to work in the areas where he had the most familiarity and relationships; decided that the most effective means of assistance was through local congregations in the affected areas; decided to concentrate his resources where he felt it would do the most good, among the emigrants; he provided supplementary assistance to people who had jobs that did not pay enough to earn a living wage; he was transparent about the source of the funds contributed and distributed; and he concluded that direct food assistance was necessary for victims who face starvation, but decided to use his limited resources in a more targeted manner.

These are all methods that private humanitarian organizations, United Nations agencies, International Red Cross/Red Crescent societies and U.S. government agencies use today to address complex food-insecure areas.

The Sage of Bethany, Alexander Campbell, helped shape American culture and religion. And he still speaks to us today. The example of his engagement with one of the major humanitarian crises of his time is a challenge to us to engage the humanitarian crises of our time, even if we live in small villages.

Dr. Arthur B. Keys Jr. is a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister, founder of International Relief Development and a member of Bethany College’s Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Jasna, operate a farm near Lone Pine.