January 4, 1861 “We commence a new decade with the same confidence in the principles we espouse, the same assurance of success in the cause we advocate, that we felt…
Category: <span>1861</span>
January 11, 1861 Virginia, Orange County —- People from this county in Virginia pass resolutions, including: “the cotton states will secede; that their destiny is our destiny; and that Virginia…
January 11, 1861 “The Editor has been too ill to be able to give any attention to the Liberator this week.”
January 18, 1861 Charles C. Burleigh writes from Florence, telling of two evenings in succession when he was accosted by a mob when giving anti-slavery speeches. On the second evening,…
January 18, 1861 “The ship Lesbia, under French colors, (supposed to be the ship Montauk of New York,) was recently taken by a Spanish steamer of war, and brought into…
January 25, 1861 An urgent call for people to return signed petitions against Slave-hunting in Massachusetts, to then be laid before the legislature. “Now, while the concessionists are at work……
February 1, 1861 Garrison’s letter indicates that he has been ill eighteen days, and that today’s meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society will be the first of its annual meetings…
February 8, 1861 This article recounts a debate in the Massachusetts House of Representatives over a motion to allow the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society the use of Representatives Hall, in consequence…
February 8, 1861 There is one brief article from Parker Pillsbury, telling of a mob which interrupted an abolition meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a second letter from Susan…
February 15, 1861 “The Union formed in 1789 is at last dissolved through the secession, without cause, of six of the slave States, the complicity of the remainder, and the…
March 1, 1861 Notice that the New York legislature has incorporated the college, begun about a year ago.
March 8, 1861 Commenting on the address, which appears in preceding columns, the article makes several points. “His argument against Southern secessionists is compact and conclusive.” “The position of the…
March 8, 1861 A report of actions taken by the group, meeting in Boston, in Allston Hall, on the 26th of February. Resolutions include an assertion that there is no…
March 15, 1861 Meeting at the Joy Street Church, with John J. Smith presiding, the group celebrates “the release of John Anderson, the fugitive slave in Canada”.
March 22, 1861 Here is a letter from Garrison, to John S. Rarey, Esq. The editor affirms a recent speech in which Rarey has spoken about the humane treatment of…
April 12, 1861 In the Refuge of Oppression column, from the Savannah Republican, is a brief article in which a slave, Harrison Berry, is cited as having written why “slavery…
April 19, 1861 A two-column article differentiates between the two, asking how the one group can be condemned, the other, justified? The last paragraph gives the conclusion: “Such is Northern…
April 19, 1861 Other headlines for this article are: The Federal Capital in Danger, Thousands of Troops Mustering, The North United At Last. “Hostilities have for the present ceased, and…
April 19, 1861 Here the President calls forth the militia of the states, and convenes both houses of Congress into special session.
April 19, 1861 The Manifesto of the Emperor Alexander, and a Fraternal Letter from the Emperor are included here in full.
April 26, 1861 Notice is given that the scheduled meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society has been postponed. “The reason given includes factors “arising from the treasonable attempt of the…
April 26, 1861 A meeting, held at the Twelfth Baptist Church brings people together to discuss “sentiments upon the war”. John J. Smith said he was ready to defend the…
May 3, 1861 A meeting was held at the corner of Joy and Cambridge Streets, to form a drill company. John Rock, Lewis Hayden, Robert Morris, and others speak. One…
May 10, 1861 Here is an extract, near to the conclusion of the article. “It is alleged that the Administration is endeavoring to uphold the Union, the Constitution, and the…
May 10, 1861 A letter to Garrison is signed “M”. The author decries the information that Millard Fillmore has accepted an invitation to preside at the Unitarian’s Annual Festival, to…
May 17, 1861 The letter is from Garrison, addressed to a meeting to be held at the Joy Street Church, by colored citizens, some of whom have asked for his…
May 17, 1861 An account of an “animated and protracted” meeting at the Joy Street church, at which the gathered colored people pass resolutions clearly opposing the emigration “scheme”.
June 7, 1861 This notice lists the reasons why Douglas “had been all that the South desired”. “a more unscrupulous politician, however, has never made his appearance on the American…
June 14, 1861 An unsigned article responds to the question raised “by those whose military ardor is now at white heat”. Near the end of the article comes this: “But…
June 14, 1861 Comment is made on recent attempts in the Mass. legislature to remove the word “white” from the militia law. Though those efforts have not yet been successful,…
June 21, 1861 Addressed to Garrison, from Central City, Colorado Territory, the author affirms that though Lincoln and his army “will not avow to the world that the abolition of…
June 28, 1861 Writing to Garrison, from London, Thompson affirms that he is “not discouraged because the abolition of slavery is not one of the declared objects of the President…
June 28, 1861 The building at the corner of Washington and Franklin Streets, which housed both the Liberator and the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, has been taken down. It causes Nell…
July 12, 1861 A small item at the bottom of a page: “The President’s Message was communicated to Congress on Friday last. It is of moderate length, dispassionate but firm…
July 26, 1861 Under the Refuge of Oppression column, from the Bloomington (Ill) Times, is a sarcastic article about “this barbarous civil war”… “Let’s smash up things generally, and return…
August 23, 1861 From the New Bedford Republican Standard, the article asserts that “Twelve thousand slaves, we are told, are employed by the traitors at Manassas, in building their fortifications…
August 23, 1861 Signed by “A.W.”, this brief article asserts that, “All the leading journals in the loyal States deny that the slavery question has any thing to do with…
September 6, 1861 The article is by “C.K.W.”, and is written in response to a correspondent of the Independent, who has “argued against a proposal that the President proclaim freedom…
September 20, 1861 The article first commends the action of Gen. Fremont, “emancipating under martial law all the slaves belonging to the rebel slaveholders in Missouri”. It then notes that…
September 27, 1861 Here is the text of the memorial, addressed to the Congress of the United States. It includes: “.your honorable body is urgently implored to lose no time…
October 11, 1861 The story comes from the New York Tribune; it tells of a fugitive, who swam across the river and came to Camp Holt, by the Falls of…
October 18, 1861 The meeting includes many speeches, urging people to support the war effort of the Union. Anticipating that the Massachusetts legislature will soon remove the word “white” from…
October 25, 1861 Julia Ward Howe, identified here as a correspondent of the New York Tribune, tells of listening to a speech, by someone who, in his speech, describes the…
November 15, 1861 A speech, delivered by Smith, at Rev. Dr. Cheever’s church, in New York, fills over two columns here. The theme is clear. “AS GOD LIVES AND REIGNS,…
November 22, 1861 The account of the funeral includes words from Samuel May, Jr., Garrison, Phillips, a letter from L. Maria Child, and appropriate resolutions.
November 22, 1861 William Cooper Nell writes to Garrison, and encloses a petition, to the General Court of Massachusetts, printed here. The petition calls for the legislature to strike the…
November 29, 1861 The present Mayor, Joseph M. Wightman, is a candidate for re-election. He is characterized here as “pro-slavery in spirit and purpose, and demoralized and vulgar in character.” …
December 13, 1861 At a recent meeting of the School Committee, Charles W. Slack, who had submitted the report and bill by which “separate schools” had been abolished six years…