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Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) was from an aristocratic family. His father had been mayor of Boston. He was a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar. He came into contact with the abolitionists through his wife, Ann Terry Greene Phillips (Sterling 71). He supported Garrison and contributed to both the Liberator and the National Anti-Slavery Standard (Hart 652). When in 1837 Elijah Lovejoy, printer of an abolitionist newspaper, was murdered in Alton, Illinois, while defending his press, a protest meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, Boston. At the meeting Phillips, then 26 years of age, made his first speach, revealing his great oratorical powers. In addition to his abilities as a speaker, he was both handsome and tall, making for an attractive presence on the platform (Sterling 58, 71). He soon became general agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and perhaps their most powerful lecturer. Because Abby Kelley Foster was always urging him to write something she could sell after her lectures, he obligingly produced a pamphlet, The Constitution, a Pro-Slavery Document . He also wrote a witty summation of reasons not to vote, Can an Abolitionist Vote or Hold Office under the United States Constitution? (71,191). From 1865-70 he was president of the Anti-Slavery Society and, like a number of other prominent abolitionists, was in favor of prison reform, women's suffrage, prohibition, and organized labor (Webster 795). See chapters 12 and 23 for his attempt to defend the women delegates at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.

He supported the position that blacks should use physical force in opposition to slavery (Bailyn 563). In the 1850s Phillips, Theodore Parker, and others rescued fugitives from U.S. marshals and courthouses (Sterling 280-281).

As reported in a newspaper clipping found in one of Milo Townsend's scrapbooks, Phillips, being asked by a pro-slavery clergyman why he did not go to the South to preach his views on slavery, replied, "For the same reason, sir, that you do not go to hell to preach religion to sinners" (Scrapbook III 37).

Phillips' wife, Ann, was ill for most of their married life, and at times he could not leave her to lecture or do other antislavery work (Sterling154, 200, 280) He died of a heart attack February 2, 1884 (Sterling 379).

It is uncertain to whom the following letter was written, but Milo had it in his file. Phillips is apparently scheduled to deliver a lecture.

Letter 41

from Wendell Phillips

Dear T [?]

I shall be glad to do anything in the matter you deem best, especially to meet P & A Cary. I come directly from Boston, shall arrive dirty and dusty. Meet me at the depot.

If you will let me go half an hour to some hotel and dress there and to Miss Carys or let me get quietly down to Florence Hotel and you meet me there and we get to the meeting. Manage it as you please-- only give me some chance to dress and make myself decent after eight hours dirty ride.

Hurrah for the 31st. May it be a fair evening and full house.

Yr

W. Phillips