October 11, 1850
“We solemnly appeal to Christians of every name, to all sober and humane men, unwrenched by party feelings, to all that love man, to behold and ponder this iniquity which is done among us! Shall an army of wretched victims, without a crime, unconvicted of wrong, pursuing honest occupations, be sent back to a loathed and detestable slavery? Here is no ‘abstract’ question …. I shall cheerfully take the pains and penalties of this Bill. Bonds and fines shall be honors; imprisonment and suffering will be passports to fame not long to linger!”
January 7, 1853
As he begins the twenty-third volume of the paper, Garrison includes here one letter from a person who cancels his subscription, and two new subscriptions. One of the two is from Henry Ward Beecher. Beecher says he wants the paper in part, “because it is one of the few papers in which I can find a fair representation of the sentiments of those who do not agree, as well as a representation of the views of those who do agree with you.” The editor comments: “This tribute to the fairness and impartiality of The Liberator is certainly deserved; and when it ceases to be, may every subscriber drop the paper as unworthy of his patronage, and place its editor in the ranks of the unjust and cowardly!”
June 2, 1854
The Washington Sentinel, referring to an offer which has been extended for Henry Ward Beecher to settle in that city: “We know not what pay his Northern admirers might give him, though we can assure him that if, under pretence of preaching the Gospel, he undertakes to malign us after his old fashion, in our very midst, the people of Washington will pay him in tar and feathers, or some other similar currency. If he courts martyrdom, let him try the experiment.”
November 17, 1854
Here is an item which indicates that Beecher has recently, in a lecture, avowed himself “a convert to the doctrine in women’s voting !!!” He indicated ” that though we might not live to see this reform, “it was certain to come as the earth to continue its motion.”… “The only inconsistency in his remarks was his expressing hope that his wife and sisters would never wish to speak in public, though he would not oppose it if they did.” The article then comments that “Women need no one to assert their right to speak in public, for they have secured that already.”
February 9, 1855
Excerpts from Henry Ward Beecher’s lecture at Broadway Tabernacle (N.Y.)
“The struggle between the North and the South is not one of sections, and of parties, but of Principles — of principles that cannot coalesce, nor compromise; that must hate each other, and contend, until the one shall drive the other out.” ….the speech comments on the need for a restructuring of the political parties ….he commends the Governor, who has recommended that new-comers to the country go through a period of probation before they become citizens…. “But I ask you, fellow citizens, whether the simple accident of birth is a basis broad enough for a permanent National party? Is it a principle, even? Is it a mere fact?…..Ought we not to look a little at what a man is, after he is born, as well as at the place where? Especially when we remember that Arnold was born in Connecticut, and LaFayette in France. …If then a party is American, ought it not to be because it represents those principles which are fundamental to American Institutions, and to American policy?…..Which of these two theories, the Northern or Southern, is the American? The North has one theory, the South another; which of them is to be called the American idea? .. that which declares all men free, or that which declares the superior races free, and the inferior, slaves?…..”
January 21, 1859
Parker and Beecher have recently participated in a lecture series in the city. Beecher has been assailed by the New York Examinar, an orthodox journal, “subjecting to suspicion the soundness of his own orthodoxy! and Parker as an “infidel”. The editor comes to the defense of the two preachers.
May 12, 1865
This is a talk delivered by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. He comments on a “first-work” to be done for freed people now that slavery is abolished. “If I were to be put into one single sentence a prescription for that people, it would be this: Make them full American Citizens. Take away whatever hinders it, and add whatever is needful to it. Make them citizens, and they are safe, and you are safe…”
