The Liberator Files

December 25. 1957

Notice of Rock’s failing health, his general declining condition.  He hopes to “gain relief from a change of climate”, and “he asks the generous to aid him”. Donations can be left at the anti-slavery office.

December 11, 1857

William Cooper Nell calls again for abandonment of separate schools for colored children, including in his appeal, reference to an article in the Providence Journal, which speaks of the proficiency of colored children in a school in that city. Nell asks,  “Why should such scholars be denied the facilities of schools in their respective districts, and be compelled to congregate into an exclusive school?….”

December 4, 1857

The death of Birney is recognized, with a recounting of his major accomplishments. He was highly courteous and dignified in his manners, less able as a speaker than as a writer, true to his convictions, and devoid of sectarian malevolence.”
On another page of this issue is a New York Herald story of Birney’s death.

November 20, 1857

In the Refuge of Oppression column, from the Richmond South, comes an article which says, in part:  “As Southern men, we look with great equanimity upon this financial revulsion.  It will tend to elucidate the great problem, whether the North or the South is most dependant on each other. We have had elaborate essays from Northern authors, stuffed with statistics, to prove the dependence of the South upon the North…..The present crisis will show that the slave labor staples of the South will furnish the means of extrication from commercial indebtedness….”

November 6, 1957

Here is a report from the Convention which was held.  Addresses were made by C. L. Remond,  Parker Pillsbury, and A. K. Foster.  Resolutions were passed in favor of Disunion, and one which says it “is the duty of the slaves to strike down their master by force and arms, whenever the blow can be made effective…”

November 6, 1957

Notwithstanding the official postponement of the National Convention, there is an account here of a “highly interesting and spirited gathering” of delegates from Indiana, Michigan, southern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and other states.  There were resolutions passed, one of which reflected “some severity” upon the Committee on Arrangements, for the postponement. The Committee here offers defense for the action in postponing the Convention, and takes the opportunity to urge disunion, “because the Union is the bulwark of the slave system…”

October 30, 1857

Three lines tell that Burns is now a student in the Fairmount Theological Seminary, and that he has studied  a year or so at Oberlin.

October 23, 1857

Here is announcement of postponement of the Convention, “in view of the sudden paralytic shock which has fallen upon the whole country, in regard to its financial and business operations  — which at the present time, absorbs the attention and tries the resources of all classes..”

October 23, 1857

The full first page of this issue is devoted to quotations from historical documents, or national leaders, designed to support the proposition in the title. There are quotations from Hamilton, Madison, Webster, John Quincy Adams, and others.
The second page of this edition includes comment by Garrison.

October 2, 1857

In this issue the Call for the Northern Convention, lists names of those who urge attendance.  Names are listed from seventeen states, and a note at the end of the article indicates that more than 6400 names of endorsers have been received by the Committee on Arrangements.  Members of the Committee include, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Wendell Phillips, and Garrison.