The Furnace of Affliction: Prisons and Religion in Antebellum America

Abstract

The Furnace of Affliction examines the role of religion in the first decades of the nation’s penitentiaries. Specifically, Jennifer Graber sets out to determine whether or not religion was at the heart of reformative incarceration in the early prisons of New York State. Close connections between New York and Philadelphia reformers is immediately apparent, beginning with Quaker Thomas Eddy, who lead efforts at New York’s Newgate Prison. Eddy took great inspiration from his Philadelphia friends who advocated nonviolence, spacious gardens, and a paternalistic philosophy. Eddy’s efforts in New York failed and his influence had peaked and waned by 1804.