Letter from Samuel Joseph May, South Scituate, [Massachusetts], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1837 Dec[ember] 18

Item Information

Title:
Letter from Samuel Joseph May, South Scituate, [Massachusetts], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1837 Dec[ember] 18
Description:
Samuel Joseph May writes to William Lloyd Garrison informing him he expects to visit Boston for a few days in January. He then shares his dissapointment that "the anti slavery cause is to me more gloomy and unpromising than it has every been." May adds that he fears "the evangelical character of our enterprise is or soon will be lost sight of." He discusses a letter he wrote to Beriah Green criticizing the conduct of the American Anti-Slavery Society's Executive Committee for "the course they have pursued respecting the lamentable death of Br[other Elijah P.] Lovejoy." May asks Garrison to publish it in the Liberator so that the public will be aware "that some of us do heartily disapprove the course of Lovejoy and his associates." He also provides his views "of the meeting held, and the speeches made at Faneuil Hall" and is outraged that "we hear from men in high stations, such sentiments as were uttered there by Mr. [James Trecothick] Austin!" May is critical of the Boston city government for objecting to using the space for an antislavery meeting sponsored by William Ellery Channing, and declares, "The Dr. [Channing] deserves our thanks, and the blessings of the enslaved, for what he has done." May then describes a lecture he gave in Hanson, Massachusetts, and "several manuscripts" related to slavery he received "from the son of the late revered Dr. Worcester of Brighton." May proposes to publish them and assures Garrison, "they will do good". In the postscript, May comments on his Thansgiving sermon and states that Amos A. Phelps will "maintain his integrity and be as upright and strong a pillar in our cause as ever." He also says he is "anxious to see Mrs. [Maria Weston] Chapman's 'Right and Wrong' No. 3"
Author:
May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph), 1797-1871
Addressee:
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Date:
December 18, 1837
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
Abolitionists--United States--19th century--Correspondence
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Antislavery movements--Lectures and lecturing--United States--History--19th century
Social reformers--United States--History--19th century
Abolitionists--United States--History--19th century
Antislavery movements--United States
Lectures and lecturing
Social reformers--United States
American Anti-Slavery Society. Executive Committee
May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph), 1797-1871
Austin, James Trecothick, 1784-1870
Green, Beriah, 1795-1874
Lovejoy, Elijah P. (Elijah Parish), 1802-1837
Phelps, Amos A. (Amos Augustus), 1805-1847
Worcester, Noah, 1758-1837
Channing, William Ellery, 1780-1842
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Liberator (Boston, Mass. : 1831)
Extent:
1 leaf (4 p.) ; 26 cm.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/2z10zg25p
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
South Scituate, [Massachusetts]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
Title devised by cataloger.
Extracts from this letter are printed in Liberator of December 29, 1837 (Vol. VII, no. 53).
On verso, the letter is addressed to "Mr. Wm Lloyd Garrison. Editor of the Liberator. 25 Cornhill. Boston."
Identifier:
5143526
Call #:
MS A.1.2 v.6, p.96
Barcode:
39999085506226