The Emancipator

The Emancipator (1833–1850) of New York City (later Boston) was an American abolitionist newspaper. It was the official newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). From 1840 to 1850 it was published by the Liberty Party and changed names several times as it merged with other abolitionist newspapers in Boston.

For other uses, see The Emancipator (disambiguation).
(nameplate)
Genius of Universal Emancipation
Vol. 3, No. 12 (Whole No. 288)
(third series)
October 1833

History

The Emancipator was founded in March 1833 in New York City by Arthur Tappan (1786–1865), a wealthy abolitionist. Until 1836, it was the official publication of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). From 1836 to 1840, the editor was Theodore Dwight Weld. After Weld left this position, Joshua Leavitt succeeded him as editor.

After the American Anti-Slavery Society split in 1840, The Emancipator became a publication of the Liberty Party and Leavitt continued as the editor of the newspaper until 1848. The newspaper underwent several name changes between 1840 and 1848 as it slowly merged with other abolitionist newspapers located in Boston. These publications were continually exponents of abolitionism.[1]

Contributors included Lewis Tappan (1788–1873) of the Amistad case, James McCune Smith (1813–1865) who also co-edited The Colored American, Joseph Cammett Lovejoy (1805–1871), Samuel Edmund Sewall (1799–1888), Henry Brewster Stanton (1805–1887), Joseph Cammett Lovejoy, Horace Edwin Smith (1817–1902), William Ellery Channing (1818–1901), and William Stevens Robinson (1818–1876)[2]

Timeline

Editors
1833–1834 The Emancipator was founded in New York City in March 1833 under the editorship of Charles Wheeler Denison (1809–1881). The March 1833 publication marked the beginning of the abolitionist movement in New York state.[3]
1834–1835 William Goodell (1792–1878), editor
1836 Amos Augustus Phelps (1805–1847), editor
1836–1840 Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1893), editor
1840–1841 Joshua Leavitt (1794–1873), editor
1840 The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society splintered from the AASS. The Emancipator then became Leavitt's personal publication and a leading journal of the Liberty Party.[4]
1841–1844 The publication is merged with The Free American, the official newspaper of the Massachusetts Abolition Society, and was published as weekly The Emancipator and Free American. Joshua Leavitt (New York) and Elizur Wright (Boston) served as co-editors until March 1842, when Wright left and it was published only in Boston.
1844–1845 Retitled The Emancipator and Weekly Chronicle. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) contributed as editor for a short period in 1844.
1945–1948 Retitled The Emancipator. Leavitt continued as editor until March 1848, when replaced by Curtis C. Nichols (1814–1896).
1848 Briefly retitled The Emancipator and Free Soil Press, organ of the Free Soil Party.
1848–1850 Retitled Emancipator & Republican with editor Henry Wilson (1812–1875) followed by Lucius Edwin Smith (1822–1900)[2]

Publishers
The Emancipator
1835–1841 Robert G. Williams (né Ransom Goss Williams; 1811–1851), publisher in New York City[5]
1845–1848: Rev. Hiram Cummings (1810–1887), publisher in Boston[6]
Emancipator & Republican
1849 Henry Wilson, publisher in Boston, February 9, 1849 – August 16, 1949
1849–1850 Wilson & Bent[7] – Henry Wilson and John Bent (1809–1882), publisher in Boston, August 23, 1849 – December 26, 1850

Agents

In 1833, African-American agents selected to represent the publication included:

David Ruggles, who was bookseller and publisher, advertised for additional agents to distribute anti-slavery newspapers.[8]

See also

Literature
  • Vaughn, Stephen L. (ed.). Encyclopedia of American Journalism. Routledge (2009) pps. 4–5 ("Abolitionist Press: Newspaper Chronology"); OCLC 759036346 (digital format)

Extant holdings, re-prints, and digital facsimiles
  • The Emancipator (1820)
Benjamin Harrison Murphy (1889–1878) (1932 re-print); OCLC 1019811804, 191233606, 173718223; 82972841
Benjamin Harrison Murphy (1889–1878) (1932 re-print; 1970 Chicago: Library of American Resources; Library Resources, Inc., microfilm); OCLC 11110026
Benjamin Harrison Murphy (1889–1878) (1932 re-print; 1970 Chicago: Library of American Resources; Library Resources, Inc., microfiche); OCLC 433665821
Embreeville Publications (1995 re-print); OCLC 430322644
  • Genius of Universal Emancipation
(microfilm); OCLC 724131743
OCLC 33288934, 8044567
Filmed from the New York Public Library (microfiche); OCLC 29802581
ProQuest (microfilm); OCLC 1101004651
Gale (microfiche); OCLC 80908750
Gale (online); OCLC 607363086
OCLC 503837629, 191121541
  • Genius of Universal Emancipation and Baltimore Courier
ProQuest (online); OCLC 50282266
  • The Genius of Universal Emancipation and Quarterly Anti-Slavery Review (1837–1839)
OCLC 30553799
  • The Emancipator (–1834)
  • The Emancipator, and Journal of Public Morals (1834–1835)
The Historical Society of Wisconsin (microfilm 1966); OCLC 318814260
Gale (online); OCLC 865521505
  • The Emancipator (1833–1848)
Gale (online); OCLC 865521587
  • The Emancipator (1835–1840)
Filmed from the Schomberg Collection (1967 microfilm); OCLC 4996989
  • The Emancipator (1845–1848)
NewsBank (online); OCLC 10352375
Gale (online); OCLC 824798074
  • Emancipator and Free American (1842–1844)
Gale (online); OCLC 192107281, 723812438, 1060722598
(microform); OCLC 32651685
  • Emancipator and Weekly Chronicle (1844–1845)
Filmed from the New York Public Library (microfilm); OCLC 32651724
  • Emancipator and Free Soil Press
NewsBank (online); OCLC 10352445
Gale (online); OCLC 865521597
  • Emancipator & Republican
Microfilm; OCLC 38872229
Gale (online); OCLC 1100208152, 723812372
Serials Solutions (online); OCLC 1060831572
Note: The shortlived Commonwealth and Emancipator, launched in 1851, had no connection to the Emancipator & Republican. It was first published in Boston January 4, 1851 (Vol. 1, No. 1) – William S. Damrell & Co. (publisher) and Joseph Lyman (editor).

Controversy

In a nationally publicized spectacle, a Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, grand jury issued a true bill on October 25, 1835, against Robert G. Williams, agent and publisher of The Emancipator, for allegedly "circulating seditious pamphlets in Alabama" ... "tending to excite our slave population to insurrection and murder." On November 14, 1835, the Alabama Governor, John Gayle (1772–1859) demanded the New York Governor, William Learned Marcy (1786–1857), to extradite Williams, "a fugitive", to stand trial. Marcy refused.[9]

References
  1. Mielnik, Tara Mitchell (1 January 2010). "The Emancipator". Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. University of Tennessee Press. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  2. Encyclopedia of African American History, (Vol. 1 of 3), Leslie M. Alexander, PhD, Walter C. Rucker, PhD (eds.), ABC-CLIO (2010); OCLC 758736958, 10352375
  3. "New York and the National Slavery Problem," by Leo H. Hirsch, Jr., The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 16, No. 4, October 1931, pps. 454–473 (accessible via JSTOR)
  4. "The Fight Against the Gag Rule: Joshua Leavitt and Antislavery Insurgency in the Whig Party, 1839–1842," by James M. McPherson, PhD (born 1936), The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 48, No. 3, July 1963, pps. 177–195 (accessible via JSTOR)
  5. "About The Emancipator (New-York) 1835–1841," Library of Congress
  6. "About The Emancipator (Boston) 1845–1848," Library of Congress
  7. Boston Post, August 16, 1849, p. 2 (accessible via Newspaperarchive.com, subscription required)
  8. The Emancipator
    Vol. 1, No.   6, June 8, 1833, p. 21
    Vol. 2, No. 19, May 13, 1834
    Vol. 2, No. 21, May 17, 1834
    Vol. 2, No. 32, August 12, 1834
  9. "Refuge of Oppression," "The Liberator, January 23, 1836, p. 1 (accessible via Newspapers.com, subscription required)
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