Item #5567 Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper]. Austin A. Willey, Maine Anti-Slavery Society.
Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].
Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].
Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].
Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].
Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].
Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].

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Willey, Austin A., Editor; [Maine Anti-Slavery Society].

Advocate of Freedom, EXTRA [newspaper].

Hallowell, Maine: Thomas W. Newman, Printer, Saturday, June 12, 1841. 4to newspaper (19.5” x 12.75”). 4 pp. Ownership manuscript inscriptions, Ephraim Wadsworth and M. Wadsworth.

A rare abolitionist newspaper extra issued by the Maine Anti-Slavery Society on the occasion of the National Liberty Convention, covering the relation between abolitionism and U.S. politics; how the Friend of Liberty should vote; abolitionist news from across America; organizational proceedings; and more.

Over the course of its four years of existence between 1838 and 1841, the Advocate of Freedom was published in a variety of Maine locations, including Augusta, Hallowell, Cumberland, and Bowdoin, Maine. This extra was printed in Hallowell and consists chiefly of “Address of the National Liberty Convention of A.D. 1841,” which was delivered at this convention convened by the Friends of Liberty to decide upon nominees for President and Vice President in the election of 1844. Much of this text concerns the intricate relation between the history of American politics and slavery and deliberations on how the abolitionist should accordingly vote.

The address opens with the declaration: “We find the government of the United States, as a matter of existing fact, under the control of the slave power … No intelligent body of men will ever attempt to elect a President of the United States, without seeing in their candidate either one or the other of the two following qualifications, viz. First, that he shall promote the interests of slavery, or Second that he shall seek its constitutional overthrow.” Also included is a call for a Human Rights State Convention; lists of receipts for the Treasury of the Maine Anti-slavery Society and the Advocate of Freedom; and various meeting minutes. It is noted that the State Convention of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society in Winthrop, Maine regrettably conflicts with the Temperance Convention to be held in Portland. However, seeing “the friends of that cause are now so numerous,” the author expresses the hope that “abolitionists in that part of the state may feel it their duty to be at Winthrop.” Various pieces of abolitionist news are related, including the recent repeal of New York’s “nine months law,” which enabled slave-holders to bring their slaves into that state and hold them for nine months.

Minister and abolitionist Rev. Austin Willey (1806–1896) served as editor of the Advocate of Freedom between 1839 and 1841; the Liberty Standard (1842–1845); the Free Soil Republican; as well as the Portland Inquirer (1851–1854), which he also owned for a period. Willey later authored The History of the Anti-Slavery Cause in the State and Nation (1886). This appears to have been the final issue of the Advocate he edited. Born in Campton, New Hampshire, Willey attended Bangor Theological Seminary and was an early advocate of prohibition who worked to enact Maine’s prohibition law, which passed in 1851. Willey moved to Northfield, Minnesota in 1857 where he continued his antislavery and prohibition activities as a lecturer and author. The printer Thomas W. Newman—a Baptist—is also known to have printed the Annual Report of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society of 1839. Prior to Willey, one W. Smyth edited Advocate of Freedom from 1838 to 1839. Thomas E. Noyes is also credited with printing the newspaper for a period.

The Maine Anti-Slavery Society was founded in May 1833. Touching upon Willey’s activities, Candace Kanes writes:

Maine as a whole was ambivalent about abolitionism. The Anti-Slavery societies generally did not receive broad support from the press or the public. The groups sought to educate the public and rouse interest in their cause through lectures from notable abolitionists, meetings, and traveling agents. The response often was unenthusiastic. Austin Willey, an agent for the Liberty Party and later editor of anti-slavery newspapers in the state, met considerable resistance when he traveled around to speak about the evils of slavery. In some communities, no one wanted to provide him housing. In others, he was refused a meeting place and faced angry crowds.

This extra is not recorded in OCLC.

REFERENCES: Kanes, Candace. Slavery’s Defenders and Foes at mainememory.net

CONDITION: A few ink stains, a handful of medium-sized stains that have bled-through all four pages, old folds, clipped loss to bottom of p. 4 but no losses to text, only two minor losses to the text due to ink staining.

Item #5567

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