Wendell Phillips in Abolitionists

Wendell Phillips in Abolitionists

Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) was a wealthy Harvard Law School graduate who gave up his career and social prestige in order to join up with the abolitionist cause in 1835. He became one of its most stirring orators.

Phillips joined up with the antislavery cause after witnessing a hostile mob dragging William Lloyd Garrison through the streets of Boston in 1835, and they later became close friends and associates.

Phillips opposed both the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War. Like Garrison, he refused to identify with any political party and condemned the Constitution as a proslavery document. He thought that, in addition to freedom itself, the government owed Blacks land, education, and all civil rights.

Phillips blasted President Lincoln for his moderate stance on emancipation and after the Civil War, he continued to call for other reforms, such as women's rights, temperance, and the Greenback Party.