Image Ownership: Public Domain On March 21, 1861, after seven states had seceded from the United States, two weeks after the inauguration of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, but three weeks before the firing on Fort Sumter, Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens delivered what would … Read More(1861) Alexander H. Stephens, “Cornerstone Speech”
By 1854 William Lloyd Garrison was the most prominent abolitionist in the United States. Beginning with his newspaper, the Liberator, which he established in Boston in 1831, Garrison led the effort to end slavery in the nation. In this 1854 speech in Boston which appears … Read More(1854) William Lloyd Garrison, “No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery”
On May 17, 1838, abolitionist Sara T. Smith addresses the second Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women which was originally scheduled to be held in Pennsylvania Hall. The meeting however was moved when anti-abolitionist mobs, upon learning of the Convention, burned the hall to the ground. … Read More(1838) Sara T. Smith, “Loosening the Bonds of Prejudice”
Image Ownership: Public Domain In February 1838, Angelina Grimke became the first woman in U.S. history to address the members of an American legislative body when she spoke to the members of the Massachusetts Legislature. Her subject was the demand for the immediate end of … Read More(1838) Angelina Grimke, “Address to the Massachusetts Legislature”
Image Ownership: Public Domain The Constitutional Convention in 1787 debated the institution of slavery. In the speech below Gouverneur Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate, described the negative impact of the institution on both North and South and in doing so made public at the highest level … Read More(1787) Gouverneur Morris, “The Curse of Slavery”
