The Liberator Files

December 28, 1838

John Williams, and John Williams Scott are the names of the fugitive slaves, and there is a description of their escape from their master, Samuel Ferguson.

December 7, 1838

Here is a call to a meeting, addressed to the Colored Citizens of Boston, asking them to attend a meeting to be held in the Infant Room of the Belknap Street school.  Purpose of the meeting is ‘to bear testimony afresh against that mischievous and unrighteous association, the American Colonization Society, the deadliest foe of the colored race….”
Signers are  Hilton, Pitts, Scarlett, John Robinson, Leonard Black, Alexander, Hanson.

Sept 28, 1838

The preamble and constitution of the Society is included, with names of people from Mass., Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.   An asterisk by several names indicates that these are men who withdrew “on account of the admission of women.”

Sept 21, 1838

Under “Miscellaneous”, here is a summary of a study of Garrison by L..N. Fowler, a distinguished Phrenologist, who examined Garrison.  The article claims the study is one of striking accuracy in delineating Garrison’s character.  Here are a few of the findings of the study:
                He has an active mind, quick perception, strong investigative powers, great imagination, great determination and pride of character, capable of undergoing great mental excitement…..His courage is moral, not physical… He is sarcastic when excited,  thinks for himself,  his firmness sometimes makes him obstinate, united with large self-esteem…..puts no confidence in anything supernatural or strange ……..

August 10, 1838

Addressed to the Abolitionists of Massachusetts, signed by Francis Jackson, here is a recommendation  to abolitionists in relation to the “exercise of political privileges”.

Here are pertinent excerpts:   “There are those who disapprove of every form of  political  action, on the part of abolitionists…….We cannot yield to this reasoning. It proceeds, we think, upon a narrow view of the subject.  Politics, rightly considered, is a branch of morals, and cannot be deserted innocently. …..We, however, view political action, chiefly as a means of agitating the subject……Is it then our purpose to recommend to abolitionists the formation of a distinct political party?  So far from this, we think such a policy would be in the highest degree dangerous., if not fatal to the efficiency of our organization. ….. To conclude this part of the subject, our true policy is not to turn party politicians, but in politics as elsewhere to stand firm by our principles, and let the politicians come to us…..”   The article then goes on to give advice how abolitionists might proceed in three forms of political action, petitioning, interrogating candidates, and suffrage.

August 3, 1838

Here is notice of the first annual meeting of this society in Nantucket, includes a list of Officers, a notice of resolutions adopted, and a collection of $20 sent to support of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

July 20, 1838

Here is an ad from a Free Labor Store, in Philadelphia, listing a supply of  Free Labor Cotton goods, for sale.

July 13, 1838

This issue is largely devoted to the speech.  Some of the headings which highlight the speech include:  Immediate Abolition Demanded,  Sedition, Danger of Insurrection, The ‘Recreant American’,  Who are Wild Beasts,  Moral Suasion, Horrors of Slavery,  An Unequal Country,  What Shall Be Done,  Pacific Views of the Abolitionists…..

June 29, 1838

Here is a piece taken from Martineau’s Retrospect of Western Travel

June 15, 1838

Under Refuge of Oppression column, and unsigned letter, dated May 17, 1838, from Philadelphia, give indication of the violent feelings about Pennsylvania Hall.  It is called an edifice “sacred to the cause of amalgamation”, and a “tabernacle of mischief and fanaticism”, and speaks of abolitionists as “fanatics and moral paricides.”