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Chapter 4: American Transcendentalism
Wendell
Phillips
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Wendell Phillips was born on November 29, 1811, in Boston. Phillips graduated from Harvard Law School, but gave up a life of status and wealth in order to join the anti-slavery movement.
He worked closely with his friend, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Phillips contributed to the anti-slavery campaign by writing pamphlets and editorials in Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator. He first spoke publicly on December 8, 1837, at a gathering in Boston protesting the death of Elijah Lovejoy, a newspaper owner and abolitionist who had been murdered in Alton, Illinois. His passionate speech and fiery spirit led many to say that he should be the leading speaker for the abolitionist movement. Both Phillips and Garrison denounced the Constitution because it upheld slavery. Phillips went a step further and recommended that the South should be expelled from the Union until slavery was abolished. After the Emancipation Proclamation, Phillips worked to better the lives of the newly freed men and women.
After the war ended, Phillips worked for the women's movement, civil rights, voter's rights and temperance.
Wendell Phillips died February 2, 1884, in Boston.
Source: McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack. Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? NPS