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| Affiliation | Labor Reform |
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| Name | Wendell Phillips |
| Address |
Boston, Massachusetts , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
November 29, 1811
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| Died | February 02, 1884
(72 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Thomas Walker
Nov 29, 2007 11:52am |
| Tags |
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| Info | Wendell Phillips was born in Boston on 29th November, 1811. Educated at the Harvard Law School, he open a law office in Boston in 1834.
Phillips was converted to the abolition of slavery cause when he heard William Lloyd Garrison speak at the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Phillips was particularly impressed by the bravery of these people and during the meeting a white mob attempted to lynch Garrison. Phillips was so outraged by what he saw that he decided to give up law and devote himself to obtaining the freedom of all slaves.
Phillips became a leading figure in the Anti-Slavery Society. A magnificent orator, Phillips was the society's most popular public speaker. Phillips also contributed to Garrison's Liberator and wrote numerous pamphlets on slavery.
During the Civil War, Phillips criticised Abraham Lincoln for his lack of commitment to the abolition of slavery. In 1865 Phillips replaced Garrison as president of the Anti-Slavery Society. After the passing of the 15th Amendment, Phillips concentrated on other issues such as women's rights, universal suffrage and temperance. Wendell Phillips died in Boston on 2nd February, 1884.
Cicero's definition of an eloquent orator is "a man who speaks in the forum and in civil causes in such a manner as to prove, to delight, and to persuade. To prove is necessary for him; to delight is a proof of his sweetness; to persuade is a token of victory, for that alone of all results is of the greatest weight towards gaining causes. But
there are as many kinds of speaking as there are separate duties of an orator. The orator, therefore, ought to be a man of great judgment and of great ability, and he ought to be a regulator, as it were, of this threefold variety of duty. For he will judge what is necessary for everyone; and he will be able to speak in whatever manner the cause requires. But the foundation of eloquence, as of all other things, is wisdom." Among the names of American orators of the present century, that of Wendell Phillips ranks with the most celebrated as a ripe scholar and as a fearless,
eloquent speaker and writer. "As a rhetorician, he possesses high merit. His style is polished and pointed; the matter of his discourses learned and philosophical, frequently enlivened by wit and sarcasm; his delivery calm, melodious, and effective." John Phillips was the first Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. His son Wendell was born in that city on the 29th of November, 1811. Young Phillips received his education at Harvard University, and was graduated before completing his twentieth year. Two years later he finished his course of study at the Cambridge
Law School and was admitted to the Suffolk bar. These incidents occurred simultaneously with the commencement of General Jackson's second presidential term, and while the agitation of the slavery question was at its height. In 1836, Mr. Phillips, who was already recognized as a lawyer of no ordinary ability, manifested his deep interest in the sympathy for the slaves by becoming a member of the new Garrison Abolition party. This faction refused to support the Constitution of the United States, abstained from voting, and advocated the dissolution of the Union, as the most effectual means of freeing the slaves. In 1839 he relinquished the practice of his profession from unwillingness to observe the oath of fealty to the Constitution required of him as an attorney. Earnestly devoting himself to the cause of emancipation, he eventually succeeded William Lloyd Garrison - the founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society - as president of that association, and retained the position until its dissolution. Mr. Phillips' first memorable speech was made in Faneuil Hall, in December, 1837, at a meeting convened to notice in a suitable manner the murder, in the city of Alton, Illinois, of the Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy, who fell in defense of the freedom of the press. At a moment when the purpose of the meeting seemed likely to be defeated, Mr. Phillips, who was among the audience, rose impulsively and in an eloquent and indignant outburst rebuked the leader of the opposition for the adverse sentiments he had just uttered. This well timed interposition secured the passage of the desired resolutions. From that hour Wendell Phillips became not only a prominent leader of the Abolition Party, but its most popular orator. At the commencement of the civil war, Mr. Phillips, though he occupied an ultra position in many respects, sustained the government for the same reasons that had formerly induced him to advocate it disunion. Throughout the war he delivered numberous orations, with very powerful and general popular effect. In 1863 and 1864 he advocated arming, educating, and enfranchising the freedmen. In 1870 he was the Temperance and Labor Reform candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, and received nearly twenty thousand votes. At a meeting in Faneuil Hall, in January, 1875, he made a powerful speech in favor of the Louisiana policy of President Grant. In a speech delivered in Boston, in March of that year, his peculiar financial views were fully explained. He has long been an advocate of Woman Suffrage, Prohibitory Liquor Laws, and Prison Reform, and has also earnestly opposed capital punishment. He is still (1877) a frequent public lecturer, and as such takes rank among the most gifted and prominent of his countrymen. Among the most celebrated of his popular lectures are "The Lost Arts" and "Toussaint L'Ouverture." He has contributed largely to the "Liberator" and "The Anti-Slavery Standard," in to numerous other periodicals and newspapers. A collection of his writings, entitled "Speeches, Lectures, and Letters by Wendell Phillips," was published at Boston, in 1863.
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