November 10, 1854
A notice to the Friends of the paper, signed by Wendell Phillips, and Francis Jackson, and an action of the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, indicates the desire to engage larger numbers of people in the movement. It is circulating twenty tracts for wide distribution. They are “concise, pithy, and stringent, and specially adapted to the present crisis ….the work must not be postponed…”
November 3, 1854
The Christian Ambassador, the organ of the Universalists of New York, urges that Tufts College, “soon to be opened near Boston” be “opened freely to both sexes”. It points with pride to Antioch College, as an example of a flourishing College which is open to female students.
October 27, 1854
Notice of a Petition to the Mass. House and Senate, asking for the removal of Judge Edward Greeley Loring, from the office of a Judge of Suffolk County., because of his “infamous act in sending Anthony Burns into slavery.”
October 27, 1854
Correspondence from the N.Y. Tribune, indicate that the Genesee Annual Conference has taken strong action against the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Kansas and Nebraska Act, and against the holding of slavery by any member of the Church
October 6, 1854
This account tells of the meeting of the Liberty party, indicating that attendance was small, unenthusiastic, “proceedings not animated”, etc and then tells of subsequent meetings of the American Anti-Slavery Society, in the same city, which it claims to be well attended. There is an account of animated discussion between Gerrit Smith and the Editor about whether to interpret the Constitution as an anti-slavery or pro-slavery .
October 6, 1854
A column-long article by Theodore Parker which begins, “Slavery is unprofitable for the people. America is poorer for slavery. …If three and a quarter million slaves were freemen, how much richer would she be? There is no state in the Union but is poorer for slavery. It is a bad tool to work with. The educated freeman is the best working power in the world….Compare the North and the South, and see what a difference in riches, comfort, education. See the superiority of the North….” The rest of the article gives substance by which Parker proves his point.
September 29, 1854
Under the title (above), here is an answer to a letter from a subscriber who asks if The Liberator opposes political action. Here is an excerpt from the answer made: “..We must not be seduced from our course by the cry of political expediency. It is very desirable to prevent the extension of slavery; it is more desirable to abolish it. Abolition is our object - non-extension is but an incident, the natural fruit of the tree. To leave the tree untouched, to nourish and protect it as it stands, and at the same time to protest against its bitter fruits, is to be given over to a fatal delusion. Let the axe be laid at the root of the tree, and every man wield it with lusty vigor, until it be cut down and given to the consuming fire. …Believing all war to be sinful, we shall never vote that Congress shall have power to declare war, and to provide for an army and navy,’ etc. Believing slaveholding to be criminal, we shall never vote to allow a slave representation in Congress, nor to suppress a slave insurrection, nor to make the whole country slave hunting-ground. Is this to throw away the staff of accomplishment, or to wield it with moral potency?…”
September 22, 1854
In the Refuge of Oppression column, there is this word from the Charleston Mercury:
“The South no longer regards slavery as a necessary evil — it no longer dreams of emancipation as a pleasing prospect. But, soberly and laboriously, in the lights of religion, morals, politics and a growing experience, the question has been examined, and she now stand up before the world, and asserts her institution to be a positive good….”
September 8, 1854
Extracts from a letter, included here, come from the New York Tribune. It claims the letter was never before published; it was dated May 6, 1794. In the letter Washington indicates that he wants to reduce his income, “to specialities, that the remainder of my days may thereby be more tranquil and free from care; ….Besides these, I have another motive which makes me earnestly wish for these things - it is, indeed, more powerful than all the rest -namely: to liberate a certain species of property which I possess very repugnantly to my own feelings, but which imperious necessity compels, until I can substitute some other expedient, by which expenses, not in my power to avoid, (however well-disposed I may be to do it), can be defrayed.”
August 25, 1854
Under the Refuge of Oppression column, from the Norfolk (VA) Daily News: “The nigger statesman of the North, is, we learn, to be brought forward for Congress in the Monroe district of New York. His advent in the capitol, as a representative of the people, is doubtless anticipated with pride and pleasure by Greeley and Giddings, Garrison, and Gerrit Smith, and a host of other kindred spirits, whose Anglo-Saxon skins belie the nigger nature within…”