Letter to Angelina and Sarah Moore Grimke- 1837-08-14

Letter to Angelina and Sarah Moore Grimke- 1837-08-14

Slavery and Abolition

Letter from John Greenleaf Whittier on the importance of the ant-slavery cause in relationship to the women's rights movement.

ContentDM Collection - Quakers and Slavery

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Whittier- John Greenleaf- 1807-1892

Primary Source

1837-8-14

Multiple Pages

HC09-10083

Office of Am. A.S. Soc. 14th of 8th mo. 1837. My Dear Sisters I have been waiting for an opportunity to answer the letter which has been so kindly sent me. I am anxious too for an opportunity to hold a long conversation with you on the subject of War, human governments, & Church & family governments. The more I reflect upon this subject, the more difficulty I find: and th emore decidedly am I of opinion that we ought to hold all these matters far aloof from the casue of Abolition. Our good friend H.C. Wright, with the best intentions in the world, is doing great injury, by a different course. He is making the Am. A.A. Soc. responsible in a great degree for his, to say the least, startling opinions. I do not censure him for his opinions, although I cannot subscribe to them in all their length & breadth. But let him keep them distinct from the cause of Emancipation. This is his duty. Those who subscribe money to the anti-Slavery Society do it in the belief that it will be spent in the propagation, not of quakerism, or Presbyterianism, but of the doctrines of Immediate Emancipation. To employ an agent who devotes half his time & talents to the propagation of "no human or no family government doctrines," is in connection, intimate connection, [Along left edge: Our dear bro. Chas. Stewart sends his love to you, with the assurance that his prayers & sympathies are with you in your mission of mercy. He is just leaving for England.]