Van Every, in his phrase "Party managers and land speculators manipulated the growing excitement... Press and pulpit whipped up the frenzy," uses the word "pulpit" to refer to the moral and ideological authority exerted by religious leaders and institutions. The "pulpit" here signifies the church podium from which preachers delivered sermons that helped to escalate and legitimize the widespread enthusiasm and aggressive actions related to land and political ambitions.
Quoting Zinn:
The forces that led to removal did not come, Van Every insists, from the poor white frontiersmen who were neighbors of the Indians. They came from industrialization and commerce, the growth of populations, of railroads and cities, the rise in value of land, and the greed of businessmen. "Party managers and land speculators manipulated the growing excitement. . . . Press and pulpit whipped up the frenzy." Out of that frenzy the Indians were to end up dead or exiled, the land speculators richer, the politicians more powerful.
Quoting Perplexity.ai:
Van Every, in his phrase "Party managers and land speculators manipulated the growing excitement... Press and pulpit whipped up the frenzy," uses the word "pulpit" to refer to the moral and ideological authority exerted by religious leaders and institutions. The "pulpit" here signifies the church podium from which preachers delivered sermons that helped to escalate and legitimize the widespread enthusiasm and aggressive actions related to land and political ambitions.
The pulpit played a significant role in shaping public opinion and justifying actions through religious rhetoric. For example, as Van Every's context shows (drawing from Howard Zinn's work), the Puritans used biblical references from the pulpit, such as Psalms 2:8 ("Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance") and Romans 13:2 ("Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God"), to legitimize the seizure of Indian lands and suppress resistance. This religious justification from the pulpit helped fuel the frenzy for land acquisition and control by portraying it as divinely sanctioned.
Thus, Van Every's use of "pulpit" emphasizes how religious leaders and sermons contributed to stirring public excitement and justifying exploitative and violent actions by aligning them with divine will and moral righteousness. The pulpit was not neutral but actively engaged in promoting the ideological framework that supported land speculation and political manipulation.
Excerpt From
A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn
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