Nell, William Cooper. Letter to Amy Kirby ? Post.

Title

Nell, William Cooper. Letter to Amy Kirby ? Post.

Creator

Nell, William Cooper

Contributor

Amy Kirby ? Post

Date

[185 ?- 02-03]

Description

Handwritten letter from William Cooper Nell to Amy Kirby Post. Nell writes to Post about the ongoing ideological debate between abolitionists, William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.

Subject

Post, Amy Kirby, b. 1802

Is Part Of

Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Rights

The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Identifier

1012

Location

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

Transcription

(Page 1)

Mr Garrison made a grand Speech =not however
maKing any reference to Mr Douglass = Charles
Lenox Remond Closed the meeting with one of
his happiest efforts= = being warmly cheesed.
and he made no reference to Mr. D –
    Douglas remarKed to Some one near the door
that he had expected to be pitched into (a
Something of that Kind)=     He left next day for
Pawtucket = Providence and New Bedford =
we passed each other in the meeting but of
Course without SpeaKing = indeed I cannot
easily imagine the circumstances that would
result in my speaKing to him –
I can remember his Sunny Side = and only wish I
Could forget the shady side of his Character
         I have Just recieved [sic] a letter from J.D. Bonner of
Chicago -Ill = thanKing me for the Liberator which I
occasionally forward him =but expressing his
Anti Garrisonian = = or what he calls the Dogmas
I. shall not be slow in giving a reasons funny
belief                           Friday Feb 3-
         I dreamed last night of Amy Post Sarah Hallowell
and others of the Rochester Circle = a few days since Dr
Halsted Called in = He Knew me and we had some
conversation
                    Douglass was at Providence last night –
Lecturer this evening at Worcester = then goes to New Bedford
What will You thinK of this medley of a letter-
but I will not Stop and apologize for You
wont demand it = I have been expecting
a communication = from You = Remember me
Kindly to all = and believe me as ever Your
How is Sarah Birney Grateful Friend Wm C Nell

(Page 2)

[Two lines of text aligned upside down along top margin of Page 2]

                                  Friday
Rev Edwd Beecher is here now with Mr Garrison
arranging for the Boston course of antislavery [sic] lectures

and one person White or Black had even been
excluded = The man replaced That for himself he
needed not to have asKed the question but these were
reasons why he had asKed for the information of
others = Some persons in the Gallery and a few seated
near Mr Douglass calling his name again = Francis Jackson
and that Called them to order saying that if
Mr Douglass wanted the floor he Knew how to get it
So there being no presentation of Frederick Douglass
no Capital was made out   of the movement
Mr Douglass came forward = and spoKe a few words
on the resolutions narrated 2 anecdotes == I can not
remember the time when he done so poorly
and I thinK his special friends must have been
disappointed =it reminded me of his JoKe
Saying = Toc big a boo for so small a Colt
Mr Quincy followed     without dry reference to
Mr Douglass = = Douglass was sitting Cheekly
[Joul?] with Geo W. Putman of Lynn who has
been renewing her last Years effort = = Just as
Mr Garrison rose to speaK Mr Douglass also rose
and made an explanation = to the effect that
one of the resolutions Seemed to imply that the
Bible Sanctioned Slavery =and which he
(How pious) could not assent to even by
   implication = C=C Burleigh remarKed very
opportunely that the resolution was
Substituted for one which might convey the
idea = but the one offered avoided any such
interpretation== So this attempt of Mr D-
to make Anti Infidel Capital failed

Annotations

William Cooper Nell, an abolitionist and former slave, is writing from Boston to fellow activist, Amy Post. William Lloyd Garrison was the editor of the newspaper, the Liberator, and a radical abolitionist. Nell refers to the recent split in the anti-slavery movement between Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Douglass no longer believed that the United States Constitution was pro-slavery- unlike Garrison- he believed it was anti-slavery. Charles Lenox Raymond was an abolitionist leader. Pawtucket is a town in Rhode Island. J.D. Bonner was an abolitionist. Sarah Hallowell was Post's sister. Sarah Birney was an activist and a mutual friend of Nell and Post. Reverend Edward Beecher was the brother of author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and a noted theologian, who helped to organize the first anti-slavery society in Illinois. Francis Jackson was an abolitionist. Edmund Quincy was a member of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. George Putnam was abolitionist. Charles Calistus Burleigh was an abolitionist, and a woman’s rights activist.

Tags

Abolitionism; Personal

Collection

D.93 Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Citation

Nell, William Cooper, “Nell, William Cooper. Letter to Amy Kirby ? Post.,” RBSCP Exhibits, accessed November 23, 2024, https://rbscpexhibits.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/3302.

Transcribe This Item