White, William A. Letter to Isaac Post.

1843-01-09

Handwritten letter from William A White to Isaac Post, January 9, 1843.

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Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

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         At a full meeting of some of the warmest advocates of
the Anti-Slavery cause in Boston & the adjacent towns, who
are at the same time members & friends of the Massachusetts
& the American Anti-Slavery Societies convened at the house of
Francis Jackson to take into consideration the most effectual mode
of action at the present time for the promotion of the cause.
Francis Jackson of Boston was chosen chairman & W^m A White of
Watertown Secretary.                The following expression of sentiment
was then unanimously adopted.
  Resolved, that the Liberator, as the earliest, the ablest, the most
powerful & the most successful Anti-Slavery instrumentality though the
experience, fidelity, devotedness, genius & general high character of its
editor William Lloyd Garrison, has a claim on all the friends of the Anti-
Slavery cause for their constant & strenuous exertions to extend its circulation
         Resolved, That Francis Jackson, Maria Weston Chapman,
Ellis Gray Loring, Samuel Philbrick, Maukful Southwick, William Jenkins
Abner Sanger [Sanger], W^m Ashby Jr. Geo. Bradburn, John A Collins
Wendell Phillips Mary A W Johnson, Christopher Robinson John Rogers
& Edmund Quincy, be a committee to prepare a communication
on behalf of this meeting to the friends of the cause throughout the
Country, presenting to them a plan to extend the circulation of the
Liberator & exhorting them to aid us in carrying it into energetic &
effectual operation.
         Hereupon the above named committee presented the following
letter, which was adopted by the meeting as a means of communicating
with you & all other faithful friends of the cause; with earnest expressions
of determination to carry the course of action it recommends into
effect urging the adoption of the same throughout the Country & the World.

Dear Friend,          Hollis Street. Boston Jan^y 9 1843
                  It is probably know to you that great exertions
have recently been put forth, to make the Liberator as complete a
medium of intelligence from the seat of our pro-slavery government as
it has ever been of Anti-Slavery feeling & action from the headquarters of
Freedom in Boston.         With M^r Garrison at the post of action
here, for which his entire devotedness, eminent ability & experience &
rare union of enthusiasm & good judgement in the conduct of the
movement he originated, so peculiarly qualify him, by securing the
confidence of Abolitionists, the respect even of Slaveholders, & the
freedom of the enterprise from all embarrassing connection with
their apologists;– with M^r Child at the post of observation at the
South, for which his extensive historical & legal knowledge, his compre-
hensive & states man like mind, & long proved love for the cause make him
so fit an occupant; – At so important a juncture, when a favoring –
wind & current direct us to stretch every sheet to their impulse, ought not the
friends of the Slave to do more in behalf of the Liberator, that
merely to pay up the last years arrears?           It is in the conviction that
we as abolitionists are morally bound to requite the benefits which
our cause & our own souls have received from this instrumentality by
sharing them with as many as possible, that we make the following
suggestions, earnestly urging upon you the importance of doing this
work whatever else in the cause remains, the while undone.
We propose simultaneous private meetings for the Liberator
throughout the Country to be called by your writing notes of
invitation to those persons in your immediate neighborhood
who already take the Liberator, & whose friendliness to it is
undoubted, & who will therefore feel it their duty to obtain new participants
in the pleasure & the profit they receive begging them to meet on the
day of          for joint action in this behalf
Being together, to appoint two of the most devoted & responsible
of your number as treasures, & to resolve yourselves into a commit
-tee of the whole, each pledging him or herself to obtain all the
obtainable subscribers the place affords by making personal

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application to each individual, dividing among you this labour of
presenting opportunity of subscription, either by streets, denominations,
or the adaptation of individual to individual, as you find best calculated
to increase the chance of success.         We earnestly advise you to unite
in this effort both the men & the women of the cause as half the ability,
half the zeal, & often more than half the time & means which our cause
might command are lost for want of united action in its behalf.
Having commenced action yourselves you might do much by corres-
pondence with neighboring towns, to stir their sleeping embers to a
flame.          A letter from you would deepen the effect or prepare the way
for one from us, according as it chanced to follow or precede us.
Where the latent enthusiasm for the Liberator which never
fails to rouse at the signal, can effect most by a more public effort,
[obliterated]
                                                                        in the cause
To as what [of ^the^ quantity?], setting aside the fact that it is very
desirable to the majority of persons, to have their subscriptions commence
with the year, the need to do with all our might was never more im-
perative. An important session of Congress – a deeply interesting
period in Massachusetts Legislation – A crisis hour in the Anti-
Slavery cause – An evident yielding in the public mind to its
pressure – A daily increasing obligation to communicate needful
knowledge & indispensable intelligence to the minds that are just
shaking off their prejudices, & their enmity, & which in the very warmth
of their desire to atone for past delay, are liable to be duped by
designing professors of Abolitionism; – all these things call loudly
for dispatch in the work of increasing the subscription list of the Liberator.
                  Submitting these suggestions, on ^which^ we have all resolved
to act, with the hope of receiving your strenuous co-operation in
carrying [out] them into effect, & soliciting in turn any which
may present themselves to your mind as likely to promote our
common cause,

White, William A, “White, William A. Letter to Isaac Post.,” RBSCP Exhibits, accessed March 17, 2025, https://rbscpexhibits.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/2885.