Letter from Samuel Edmund Sewall, Melrose, [Massachusetts], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1865 Dec[ember] 24

Item Information

Title:
Letter from Samuel Edmund Sewall, Melrose, [Massachusetts], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1865 Dec[ember] 24
Description:
In this letter to William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel Edmund Sewall congratulates him on the success of the Liberator as "its career is just closing." Sewall acknowledges that while many others have contributed to the antislavery cause, "still it seems to me certain, that you have done more than any other person towards effecting the absolute and unconditional abolition of American slavery, the grand event of the present age, and perhaps the grandest in the history of the world." He calls it a "fortunate coincidece" that the official adoption of the 13th Amendment is "simultaneous with the last words of the Liberator." Sewall discusses the prospects for Reconstruction in the South, considering the attempts "to hold blacks as an inferior caste" and quoting from the Declaration of Independence, calling Reconstruction "one of the most difficult problems ever presented to statesmen and philanthropists."
Author:
Sewall, Samuel E. (Samuel Edmund), 1799-1888
Addressee:
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Date:
December 24, 1865
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
United States. 13th Amendment
Abolitionists--United States--19th century--Correspondence
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Social reformers--United States--History--19th century
Abolitionists--United States--History--19th century
Antislavery movements--United States
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
Social reformers--United States
Sewall, Samuel E. (Samuel Edmund), 1799-1888
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Liberator (Boston, Mass. : 1831)
Extent:
1 leaf (3 p.) ; 25 x 20 cm.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/2v23x325j
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
Melrose, [Massachusetts]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
Title devised by cataloger.
Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) manuscript composed in black ink on white paper. Below the salutation, the number "179" is written in pencil. The second page is complete but is written on a smaller piece of paper, measuring only about 5 cm in height (but the same width).
Identifier:
4749879
Call #:
MS A.1.2 v.34, p.107
Barcode:
39999085438651