The Liberator Files

Jan. 5, 1838

The meeting was held on Dec 22, 1837, at Marlboro Chapel and is reported here at length.  Speeches  by A.A. Phelps, and Wendell Phillips, and Garrison are included.

Garrison, in his remarks comments on restrictions against speaking about slavery at Faneuil Hall.   He says, that while the occasion is one which should be a Faneuil Hall, as the Cradle of Liberty, and he regrets not meeting there, but still he rejoices that the meeting is not there:

” I rejoice at it, because I cannot, for one, consent to go into that Hall, with a padlock upon my lips.  Liberty of speech, on the subject of American slavery, may not be indulged in Faneuil Hall, or in any of the meeting houses of this city, with perhaps, one exception. Here, and here alone, in the Marlboro Chapel, it has been tonight, and I trust may ever, be freely indulged.”…  Then again, in reference to Faneuil Hall:
“Yet we did not go into that Hall as freemen, in the full exercise of the freedom of speech. No, sir!  On the one topic we were restricted to say nothing, even by a pledge; and that topic was slavery!……. And that, Sir, is the freedom we enjoy in Boston!  That is our liberty of speech in Faneuil Hall!….”

February 2, 1838

Under Refuge of Oppression, there is a letter from the Southern Christian Advocate, which says of the Lovejoy incident:….”…he has so suffered under a strong conviction in the public mind that he was an incendiary, plotting against the peace of society, and unworthy of the protection of the laws.”

The Editor, in acknowledging the source as the Southern Christian Advocate,  does so by adding an exclamation mark, as follows:  Southern Christian (!) Advocate.

There is an item addressed to Mr. Garrison, and titled CLAPPING AT A PRAYER MEETING ,  from someone who complains that, at a recent concert at Lyceum Hall,  when a colored man addressed a white audience in great excitement,  he was joined by a burst of clapping from those assembled.  The writer is gratified, that the speaker then “turned upon the audience in a sharp and cutting rebuke.”

February 2, 1838

Report of a very full meeting of people at the Hall, Jan 25, meeting chaired by Francis Jackson.   (The magazine at this time and for weeks before has contained a great deal on the subject of Annexation)

February 9, 1838

Jan 15, 1838, from the National Intelligencer, comes the report of an address by Robert Barnwell Rhett, to the people of Beaufort and Colleton Districts, upon the Subject of Abolition.

The speech includes:   “That the south has a right, under the Constitution, to the peaceable enjoyment of her slave institutions,  no one will deny;  and if the Constitution is perverted from the purposes for which it was made, and proves inadequate to protect the South from aggression upon this vital institution, none but an abolitionist, open or secret, in the North, or a traitor in the South, could fail to come to the conclusion that the Constitution ought to be amended, or the Union be dissolved.  To acknowledge the right, or to tolerate the interference at all with this institution, is to GIVE IT UP  –TO ABANDON  IT  ENTIRELY;  and as this must be the consummation of any interference, the sooner it is reached, the better.  …..”

February 9, 1838

An article here is a reminder that many issues of this period Liberator carry articles by Sarah Grimke

February 23, 1838

Resolutions adopted, include the following:
     “Resolved, that we view slavery as a civil and domestic institution, and one with which, as ministers of Christ, we have nothing to do, further than to ameliorate the condition of the slave by endeavoring to impart to him, and to his master, the benign influences of the religion of Christ, and aiding both in their way to heaven.”

March 16, 1838

Maria Chapman sends an article from the London Sun, which encourages women to “no longer remain satisfied in the circumscribed limits with which corrupt custom and a perverted application of Scripture have encircled her……”

March 23, 1838

A long letter to Garrison from a James Boyle, from Rome, Ashtabula Co. Ohio

The letter supports Garrison in his divisions with some clergy over issues of the Sabbath, in particular, but also in other aspects of his abolitionist position.  The writer affirms the importance of moral suasion in these words:  ” …We are to exert no other than a moral influence on the slaveholder.  We can effect nothing unless we can bring him to see his sin, and voluntarily to renounce it.  But, to me, insurmountable difficulties are in the way, so far as mere moral suasion is concerned.  The oppressor, with the obstinacy and desperation of a demon, has closed up every avenue of access to his understanding and his conscience, so far as this has been within his power.  He has transformed the pages of the Bible into brazen shields, to ward of every arrow of truth…..” (Here this idea is expanded to attack a “Judas-like” priesthood.  Boyle goes on to acknowledge faith that the Lord can overcome these obstacles, but then wonders, ” what reason have we to expect, that he will interpose his all-conquering arm to rescue such a nation as this?…”
…..  then continues with a long excoriation of the nation, and concludes with a conviction that abolition is a great “moral school” for the nation.)  Of course, Garrison responds with “a thousand blessings on you and yours.  Amen.”

April 13, 1838

“These societies have been formed in many places and are astonishing their friends with their success.  Many little bands of female collectors are thus raising $50 to $100 a year, in places where little would be done on any other plan…”    The item goes on to indicate that any who want to join this effort can secure cards and explanatory tracts at the Liberator office.   “Never was there a time when we had such encouragement to labor.  The slaves are sinking…..”

April 20, 1838

A list of 232 AA Societies, shown by Massachusetts Counties, and towns, with Pres., and Sec. names for each, and number of members in each