Wendell Phillips: “The Murder of Lovejoy”

Wendell Phillips’s calling was that of the political agitator, and his gifts were those of a compelling public speaker and intellectual. Since his speeches circulated widely in print, his audiences of readers were even more numerous and far-flung than those who heard him in person. In his speech announcing his commitment to immediate abolitionism, “The Murder of Lovejoy” (1837), Phillips defended the actions of the abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy, who had been murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois.