Description

Holograph, signed.Title devised by cataloger.On verso the letter is addressed to "Wm Lloyd Garrison Boston" and the remains of a red seal are visible along the spine edge of the page.The letter is printed in the Liberator of May 20, 1850 (Vol. XX, No. 20).John Greenleaf Whittier writes to William Lloyd Garrison to express his "hearty sympathy" with Garrison after reading about the "disgraceful details of the outrage upon Free Speech at your late meeting in New York." Whittier says that while he and Garrison may not agree about every detail in the antislavery movement, "when the right to advocate emancipation in any shape is called in question, it is no time to split hairs". Whittier calls Garrison, along with Wendell Phillips and Frederick Douglass, "practical believers in the Declaration of Independence", and warns that "the great battle for free speech & free assembling is to be fought over." He also seees the popularity and "treachery of [Daniel] Webster & the backing he has received from Andover [Theological Seminary] and Harvard [University] show that we have nothing to hope for from the great political parties & religious sects" in the fight against slavery.

Record Contributed By

Boston Public Library

Record Harvested From

Digital Commonwealth