(PDF) Elijah Lovejoy

- ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EMANCIPATION AND ABOLITION IN THE TRANSATLANTIC WORLD VOLUME Two EDITED BY JUNIUS RODRIGUEZ f-.\ ,::-1 i. t· i r·i !.~/ f ( .1 l r /S_ -..,1 (::~ i-; ~ .1 r? f)!_J1·1(:"/c:r::.:l it.· f_;n-1 ·1 f.·'.J .. 'Jl!-~)(,i SHARPE REFERENCE an imprtnt of c?\tl.E. Sharpe, Inc. SHARPE REFERENCE Sharpe Reference is an imprint of r!}vl.E. Sharpe, Inc. tM.E. Sharpe, Inc. 80 Busi~ess Park Drive Armonk, NY 10504 © 2007 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc. · All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holders. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Encyclopedia of emancipation and abolition in the transatlantic world/ Junius Rodriguez, editor. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978~0-7656-1257-1 (alk. paper) 1. Slavery-History-Encyclopedias. 2. Liberty-History-Encyclopedias. I. Rodriguez, Junius P. HT985.E53 2008 2006035834 306.3' 6203-dc22 Cover images: Clockwise from top left comer, provided by Getty Images and the following: English School/The Bridgeman Art Library; MPI/Stringer/Hulton Archive; PPG/Taxi; Stringer/ Hulton Archive; MPI/Stringer/Hulton Archive; Henry Guttmann/Stringer/Hulton Archive; MPI/Stringer/Hulton Archive. Printed and bound in the United States The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48.1984. BM (c) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Publisher: Myron E. Sharpe . Vice President and Editorial Director: Patricia Kolb Vice President and Production Director: Carmen Chetti Executive Editor and Manager of Reference: Todd Hallman Senior Development Editor: Jeff Hacker · Development Editor: Gina Misiroglu Project Editor: Laura Brengelman Program Coordinator: Cathleen Prisco Text Design: Carmen Chetti and Jesse Sanchez Cover Design: Jesse Sanchez Lovejoy, Owen 345 Proslavery militants attack and burn the press building of the Alton (Illinois) Observer, an abolitionist newspaper, on November 7, 1837. Publisher Elijah Lovejoy, killed in the incident, became a martyr to the antislavery cause. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) where Lovejoy and about twenty supporters had gath- Curtis, Michael Kent. "The 1837 Killing of Elijah Lovejoy by an Anti-Abolition Mob: Free Speech, Republican Gov- ered to defend the new press from enemies who had ernment, and the Privileges of American Citizens." UCLA vowed to destroy it. Despite Lovejoy's belief in paci- Law Review 44 (April 1997): 1109-84. fism, he had decided to defend his press, if necessary, Mabee, Carlton. Black Freedom: The Nonviolent AbolitioniJts by force of arms against those enemies who were at- From 1830 Through the Civil Wt-tr. New York: Macmillan, tempting to silence him. Lovejoy died during the 1970. ensuing battle. Merideth, Robert. "A Conservative Abolitionist at Alton: Edward Beecher's Narrative." Pts. 1 and 2.jo11rna! of Pres- Symbolically, Lovejoy's abolitionist voice was byterian History 42 (March 1964): 39-53; 42 (June 1964): more strident in death than it ever had been through 92-103. his editorial pen. Abolitionists around the country Richards, Leonard L. Gentlemen of Property and Standing: Anti- held memorial services to honor their fallen comrade. Abolition Mobs in Jacksonian America. New York: Oxford In the process, a new generation of recruits was drawn University Press, 1970. into the antislavery cause. Junius P. Rodriguez Lovejoy, Owen (1811-1864) See also: Anti-Abolition Riots; Lovejoy, Owen. The American memory readily associates the name Lovejoy with abolitionism and freedom of the press Further Reading because of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, the Alton, Illinois, activist killed by an anti-abolition mob in 1837. Beecher, Edward. Narrative of Riots at Alton. New York: E.P. Owen Lovejoy, embracing the mantle of his martyred Dutton, 1965. Blight, David W. "The Martyrdom of Elijah P. Lovejoy." brother, was a self-described "ultra-abolitionist." For American HiJtory 12 (November 1977): 20-27. him, the slave system denigrated and dehumanized 346 Lovejoy, Owen the master as well as the slave. He believed that the the territories did not advance the abolitionist cause responsibilities of the abolitionist included aiding strongly enough. In the early years of the Republican runaway slaves, preaching and lecturing against slav- Party, Lovejoy sought to draw Abraham Lincoln into ery, and seeking political, legal, and social change. . its ranks, with little success. He eventually succeeded, His home was an advertised stop on the Underground . but the party remained divided between the former Railroad, and his runaway-aiding activities landed Whigs and abolitionists. him in court on several occasions. A:, his state term ended, Lovejoy pursued a seat Lovejoy was born on January 6, 1811, in Al- in the U.S. Congress. Drawing on his strong oratory bion, Maine, the sixth of eight children of Elizabeth skills, which he had acquired as a preacher and an Gordon Pattee and Daniel B. Lovejoy. He attended antislavery lecturer, Lovejoy campaigned successfully Bowdoin College but, after his father's death in 1833, and was elected in 1856 as a Republican to the 35th failed to graduate. Congress, where he served from the following Janu- In 1836, Lovejoy moved to Alton, Illinois, to ary until his death. Although the districts in Illinois pursue theological studies. Following a period of would change over the next decade, Lovejoy was study, he sought ordination in the Episcopal Church; re-elected three times, representing Illinois's Third, however, he was asked to pledge not to preach on the Fourth, and Fifth districts. Once he assumed his seat, subject of slavery. He refused, and his ordination was Lovejoy wasted no time in distinguishing himself, deferred. debating on the House floor within his first weeks in After considering ordination under the Pres- Washington. With some of his antislavery speeches bytery of Alton, Lovejoy heard from the Reverend reprinted nationally, Lovejoy rose in prominence. Edward Beecher of a temporary pastoral position at By 1858, the Republican Party had begun to the Hampshire Colony Congregational Church in solidify, and Lovejoy continued to be a firebrand in Princeton, Illinois. Initially appointed as minister for Congress. In April 1860, a bitter battle erupted as one year in summer 1838, Lovejoy went on to hold Lovejoy debated the slavery question. Southern leg- the position for seventeen years. Ignoring the Illinois islators resented his debating an issue that was not · state law prohibiting abolitionist meetings, he spoke linked to any specific matter before the House. An- boldly from his pulpit and in meeting halls on the gry exchanges ensued, during which Lovejoy became antislavery cause, often experiencing open hostility entangled in a shoving match with some of his South- from agitated crowds. ern colleagues. While working with the Illinois Anti-Slavery Meanwhile, Lovejoy's relationship with Lincoln Society, Lovejoy realized the need to use the political grew stronger, so much so that Lovejoy worked unceas- system to advance the cause of abolitionism in state ingly for Lincoln's presidential nomination and elec- and national legislatures. In Illinois, Lovejoy helped tion in 1860, neglecting his own campaign. Despite establish the short-lived Liberty Party during the his militant abolitionism, during the 1862 campaign, early 1840s. Because of its singular focus on aboli- Lovejoy expressed his exigent political moderation by tionism, the Liberty Party failed to make any signifi- stressing that the U.S. Civil War was meant to quell cant political advances and had begun to dissolve by the Southern rebellion, not strictly to end slavery. Dur- 1848, as. members were absorbed into the Free Soil ing this tumultuous period, Lovejoy became one of Party. Lincoln's confidants. Following the creation of the Republican Party Lovejoy's election to the 38th Congress in 1862 in 1854, Lovejoy was elected to the Illinois House of would be his last. Although the Southern states had Representatives. As a resident of the state's Third Con- seceded, political wrangling still occupied the House, gressional District, he presided over the most popu- and Lovejoy continued to fight for freedom for the lated district in the country, which included much of enslaved. In 1863, he introduced House Resolutions northern Illinois. 21 and 22, bills proposing universal emancipation and Seeing the decline of the Whig and Liberty par- freedmen's protection. He also submitted a resolu- ties.. Lovejoy encouraged abolitionists, particularly tion calling for equal pay among soldiers without dis- those in Illinois, to broaden their perspectives and tinction of color. · join the Republican ranks, although he believed the Throughout his last session of Congress, Love- Republican platform of gradual emancipation and joy's health failed, at one point causing him to return the moderate position of nonextension of slavery into to Illinois. He returned to Congress but died while Lundy, Benjamin 347 recuperating in Brooklyn, New York, on March 25, 1821, generated much controversy. Lundy wrote pas- 1864. sionately about his opposition to slavery, showing little coricern for the feelings of slaveholders and ex- David B. Malone pressing no interest in seeking a middle ground on See also: Amendments, Reconstruction; Lincoln, Abraham; the slavery question. One of the earliest abolitionist Lovejoy, Elijah P. periodicals, the Genius was dedicated to describing the evils of slavery and emphasizing the need for po- Eur th er Reading litical pressure to bring an end to the institution. The Magdol, Edward. Owen Lovejoy: Abolitionist in Congress. New Genius reflected Lundy's basic belief that a widely cir- Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1967. culated and effectively edited newspaper could influ- ence public opinion in the direction of antislavery. In 1829, Garrison, who was inspired by Lundy's Lundy, Benjamin (1789-1839) antislavery rhetoric, was named co-editor of the Ge- Benjamin Lundy was a publisher of several antislav- nius. Because of disagreements and a lawsuit against ery newspapers and a leading Quaker abolitionist the co-editors of the periodical by slaveholders, Garri- during the 1820s and l 830s. He worked to limit the son moved to Boston the next year to publish a new expansion of slavery and explored the feasibility of es- periodical, The Liberator (1831-1865), which would tablishing a colony of freed slaves outside the United later emerge as the most prominent abolitionist peri- States. His ideas inspired William Lloyd Garrison, odi~al. Lundy remained with the Genius until it ceased another prominent abolitionist and newspaper editor. publication in late 1835. Lundy was born on January 4, 1789, in Sussex Lundy subscribed to the view that settling free County, New Jersey. Raised as a devout Quaker, he was blacks in rural ·regions could effectively solve the slav- exposed early on to the antislavery sentiment of the So- ery problem. As a proponent of gradual emancipation, ciety of Friends' teachings, which emphasized strong he saw the need to establish settlements of freed slaves opposition to the practice of slavery. At age nineteen, until full national emancipation could be achieved. He· he relocated to Wheeling, Virginia, and spent eigh- visited Haiti on two occasions and the Wilberforce teen months working as an apprentice saddle maker. Colony of fugitive slaves in Canada, and he made three His passion for the abolitionist cause was fueled by his trips to Texas between 1830 and 1835 in the hopes of experiences in Virginia, where he observed slavery first- obtaining land for a settlement of freed slaves. hand, as slave traders traversed the route from Virginia While in Texas, Lundy visited with free blacks, and Maryland to the lower Mississippi River Valley farmers, and Mexican officials. He traveled to Nacog- region. doches, San Antonio, the Brazos region, and Rio Grande After completing his apprenticeship, Lundy region. He concluded that several areas of Texas, es- moved to Mount Pleasant, Ohio, a community of de- pecially the Corpus Christi and Laredo areas, were ide- vout Quakers and an important link on the Under- ally suited to his colonization experiment. The Mexican ground Railroad, which smuggled slaves from the government responded favorably to his proposal. The Southern states to freedom in the North. Four years start of the Texas Revolution; however, prevented later, he moved a short distance to Saint Clairsville, Lundy from implementing his plans. Soon after the Ohio. There, he organized the Union Humane Soci- revolution, ·the Republic of Texas legalized slavery. ety, an antislavery association, in 1815. Lundy viewed the outcome of the Texas Revolution as In 1819, Lundy established the Philanthropist, a a slaveholders' plot to remove Texas from Mexico and short-lived antislavery periodical. That same year, he to add slave territory to the United States. In 1836, relocated to Saint Louis, Missouri, where he worked he began another newspaper in Philadelphia, the Na- to prevent the expansion of slavery in that state. As a tional Enquirer and Constitutional Advocate of Universal result of his experience in Missouri, Lundy recog- Liberty, which was dedicated to exposing this plot. nized that it was possible to influence public opinion In August 1836, he published The \Ulr in Texas, a in the direction of an antislavery majority. In 1821, pamphlet highlighting his arguments against the an- he returned to Mount Pleasant. nexation of Texas by the United States. Lundy won over At this time, Lundy founded the periodical the many with his arguments, including former president Genius of Universal Emancipation as a forum for his abo- and then-congressmanJohn Quincy Adams, who artic- litionist writings. The first issue, published in June ulated his views in the U.S. House of Representatives.