WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 06/21/1847 - HFSID 86176

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON
The social reformer finally replies to correspondence from O.A. Bowe in this signed letter
Autograph Letter Signed: "Wm. Lloyd Garrison", 2p, 7½x9¼, front and verso (letter is hinged to show both sides -- first page and address leaf on front, second page on verso; transcription plate under hinged portion). Boston, June 21, 1847. On engraved letterhead to O.A. Bowe. Begins: "Dear Sir". In full: "Be assured that I have not intended to avoid giving an answer to your friendly epistles, inviting me to visit your place, on my way to or my return from Ohio, and deliver one or more lectures on the great question of the times, American slavery. Your first letter was duly received, but got mislaid, and was forgotten amid my many cares until I received your second, which I was just designing to answer, having at length determined upon the route I should take to Ohio, when I received your third pressing invitation. It is now my purpose to leave Boston on the 2d of August, and proceed to Ohio via Pennsylvania, and to return by the way of Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, &c. Consider me pledged (Deo volente) to visit Little Falls, say about the 20th of September, (you shall be duly apprised as to the precise time,) when I hope to see you in good health, and to give you a cordial grasp of the hand. I remember our meeting together when I visited western New-York, a few years since, and from that time to the present have admired the fidelity with which you have advocated the course of the slave, with much self-sacrifice, and with all honesty of purpose and independence of spirit. If, in regard to the utility of the Liberty party, or the duty of withdrawing from the national compact, I have not seen eye to eye with you, I have never for a moment doubted either your sincerity, or moral courage to carry out your real convictions of duty. Apologizing for my unintentional silence, I remain, Yours, for the deliverance of the captive". Integral address leaf addressed by Garrison to: "O.A. Bowe, Editor of the Herkimer Freeman, Little Falls, N.Y." "Paid" stamp above writing. Docketed (unknown hand, possibly Bowe's). The engraving on this letterhead, depicting a female slave in bondage and the slogan "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?", first appeared in 1837 in "Slavery Illustrated in Its Effects Upon Woman". Variations of this seal were used by anti-slavery organizations, such as the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. At the time he wrote this letter, Garrison, President of the American Anti-Slavery Society, saw many of his followers split into new factions: the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society and the Liberty Party. These splits had occurred over Garrison's anti-government theories and admission of women into the organization. At the time of this letter, Garrison was planning a tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio to lecture on the ills of U.S. citizens owning three million slaves. In 1844, Garrison had taken his anti-government stand of "No Union With Slaveholders", thereby denouncing the U.S. government and its Constitution, which allowed the perpetuation of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) was the founder and publisher (1831-1865) of the antislavery journal "The Liberator". In 1833, he founded the American Anti-Slavery Society, serving as its President from 1843-1865. After the Civil War, he campaigned against liquor, prostitution, and injustice in the treatment of Indians, and in favor of woman suffrage. Garrison was a complete social reformer who sought equal rights for all people, no matter their race, religion, or gender. Garrison did not always agree with his contemporary social reformers (particularly Frederick Douglass and Wendell Phillips, both of whom were close friends), by the time of his death he could look back at their friendships fondly. Lightly creased with folds. Pinhead-size holes at cross-folds of integral leaf. Stained at blank areas of integral leaf, pinhead-size stain at upper right margin of first page, which is slightly soiled. Light show through of ink at lower portion of first page. ½- and 1-inch tears at right margin, touching 1 word of writing, nicked at lower right blank edge. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 41x21.