History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as CitizensWilliams, George Washington
History
History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens
Williams, George Washington
African Americans -- History; Liberia; Sierra Leone
"I have, within the period above mentioned (ten years),
sacrificed several thousands of dollars of my own hard earnings;
I have travelled upwards of five thousand miles on foot and more
than twenty thousand in other ways; have visited nineteen States
of this Union, and held more than two hundred public meetings;
have performed two voyages to the West Indies, by which means the
emancipation of a considerable number of slaves has been
effected, and I hope the way paved for the enfranchisement of
many more."
He was a slight-built, wiry figure; but inflamed by a holy zeal for
the cause of the oppressed, he was almost unconscious of the vast
amount of work he was accomplishing. As a Quaker his methods were
moderate. His journalistic voice was not a whirlwind nor the fire, but
the still, small voice of persuasiveness. Though it was published in a
slave mart, his paper, a monthly, was regarded as perfectly harmless.
But away up in Vermont there was being edited, at Bennington, a paper
called "The Journal of the Times." It was started chiefly to advocate
the claims of John Quincy Adams to the Presidency, but much space was
devoted to the subject of anti-slavery. The young editor of the
above-named journal had had experience with several other papers
previous to this--"The Free Press," of Newburyport, Mass., and "The
National Philanthropist," of Boston. "The Genius of Universal
Emancipation," was among the exchanges of "The Journal of the Times,"
and its sentiments greatly enthused the heart of the Vermont editor,
who, under God, was destined to become the indefatigable leader of the
Anti-slavery Movement in America, _William Lloyd Garrison_! To his
advocacy of "temperance and peace" young Garrison added another
excellent principle, intense hatred of slavery. He penned a petition
for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, which he
sent to all the postmasters in Vermont, beseeching them to secure
signatures. As the postmasters of those days paid no postage for their
letters, many names were secured. The petition created a genuine
sensation in Congress. The "Journal of Commerce" about this time said:
"It appears from an article in 'The Journal of the Times,' a
newspaper of some promise, just established in Bennington, Vt.,
that a petition to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia is about to be put in circulation in that
State.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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