Letter from Samuel Joseph May, Brooklyn, [Connecticut], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1831 Feb[ruary] 6

Samuel Joseph May writes to William Lloyd Garrison sending him money to pay for the Liberator and commenting that it was best Garrison did not come to Brooklyn to lecture, as May had requested, because the "roads have been so bad that few persons would have given you audience." He fears Garrison did not receive his letter but praises the newly founded Liberator as "edited with great spirit, and in the main with a good spirit." May says the subject of slavery is "of momentous and immediate consequence to our nation" and the world, stating, "we shall do but little for their instruction in liberty until we have ourselves learnt to pay respect to old first principles." Before ending the letter, May tells Garrison "your influence will be felt - you will accomplish something in the great cause you have espoused" and again invites him to lecture in Brooklyn in March.

Courtesy of Boston Public Library

anti slavery collection boston public library rare books department abolitionists united states 19th century correspondence antislavery movements history social reformers garrison william lloyd 1805 1879 may samuel j samuel joseph 1797 1871 liberator boston mass 1831 letters correspondence manuscripts english samuel j samuel joseph may 1797 1871 samuel joseph may william lloyd garrison ultra high resolution high resolution slavery

1831

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