Benjamin Lundy (January 4, 1789August 22, 1839) was an American Quaker

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

from New Jersey of the United States who established several anti-slavery newspapers and traveled widely. He lectured and published seeking to limit

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

's expansion and tried to find a place outside the United States to establish a colony in which freed slaves might relocate. As

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...

pointed out in a

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...

, Lundy was not the first American abolitionist, but "he was the first of our countrymen who devoted his life and all his power exclusively to the cause of the slaves."

Early and family life

Lundy was born to Joseph and Elizabeth Shotwell Lundy, both Quakers, at Greensville, Hardwick Township,

Sussex County, New Jersey Sussex County is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton. As a boy, he worked on his father's farm, attending school for only brief periods. In 1804, New Jersey passed a law allowing gradual emancipation of slaves, although the 1810 census in Sussex County showed that more than half of the 758 Negroes were still enslaved. However, by that time, young Lundy had moved to Wheeling, Virginia (now in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

). In 1808 he was apprenticed to a saddler. On the Ohio River, Wheeling was on important transit point of the interstate slave trade, with coffles of slaves often marched through town. Many would be shipped down the Ohio River toward Kentucky (a slave state) and additional slave states down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. In Wheeling, Lundy saw firsthand many iniquities inherent in the institution of slavery, including the use of horsewhips and bludgeons to force barefoot human beings to walk through mud and snow. He determined to devote his life to the cause of abolition. Lundy also became acquainted with a local Quaker family, the Stantons, who lived a dozen miles west from Wheeling, in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. Ohio did not permit slavery, and

Benjamin Stanton Benjamin Stanton (June 4, 1809 – June 2, 1872) was an American politician who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1862 to 1864. Early life The son of Elias & Martha (Wilson) Stanton, he was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, Stanton ...

would become a U.S. Congressman from that district, and two decades after Lundy's death, his brother

Edwin Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...

would become

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

under President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. In December 1814 Lundy and Esther Lewis declared their intent to marry in the local Quaker meeting, and did so on February 13, 1815. Her brother William married Lydia Stanton, sister of David Stanton (Edwin Stanton's father). On November 18, 1815 they had their first child, Susan Maria Lundy Wierman (d. 1899). In the following decades, Esther bore two more sons, Charles Tallmadge Lundy (1821-1870) and Benjamin Clarkson Lundy (1826-1861), and two additional daughters, Elizabeth (1818-1879) and Esther (1826-1917).

Career

The young family settled in

Saint Clairsville, Ohio St. Clairsville is a city in and the county seat of Belmont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,096 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. History The seat of justice of Belmont County was originally know ...

, where Lundy soon built up a profitable saddlery business along the highway west (that later became

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

). In 1815, he and five others also organized an anti-slavery association, known as the Union Humane Society, which within a few months had a membership of more than 500. Prominent members included lawyer journalist Charles Hammond,

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

(grandfather of President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

) and Joseph Howells (father of

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...

). Fellow Quaker Charles Osborne, who editing the ''Philanthropist'' (later moved to Cincinnati), also showed him journalism and printing basics. Benjamin Lundy House

On his birthday, January 4, 1816, Lundy published a circular indicating his intent to found a national anti-slavery society to focus antislavery sentiment and activity. That became his life's work. He named his first son to honor James Tallmadge, whose antislavery speech in the U.S. House on February 16, 1819, Lundy printed in full.

Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee

Lundy decided to liquidate his saddlery business in favor of a publishing business. He and three apprentices moved their stock to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, then the center of a national slavery controversy. However, that area too was gripped by a national depression since the

Panic of 1819 The Panic of 1819 was the first widespread and durable financial crisis in the United States that slowed westward expansion in the Cotton Belt and was followed by a general collapse of the American economy that persisted through 1821. The Panic ...

. His side lost—Missouri was admitted as a slave state as a result of the

Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise was a federal legislation of the United States that balanced desires of northern states to prevent expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand it. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and ...

of 1820. The intrepid activist lost goods he valued at over $1000, then trudged 700 miles back to St. Clairville, only to find that Osborne had sold his printing business to Elisha Bates, who did not need additional help. Lundy then established his own anti-slavery paper, the ''

Genius of Universal Emancipation The ''Genius of Universal Emancipation'' was an abolitionist newspaper founded by Benjamin Lundy in 1821, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. History The newspaper was originally Elihu Embree's '' The Emancipator'' in 1820, before Lundy purchased it t ...

'', at

Mount Pleasant, Ohio Mount Pleasant is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in southern Jefferson County, Ohio, Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. The population was 394 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville met ...

, with the first issue published in January 1821. This periodical, first a monthly and later a weekly, was published successively in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Greenville, Tennessee Greeneville is a town in and the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 15,479. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, and it is the second oldest town i ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. It appeared irregularly, and at times, when Lundy was away on lecturing tours, was issued from any office that he could access. Newspapers including the ''

Niles Weekly Register The ''Weekly Register'' (also called the ''Niles Weekly Register'' and ''Niles' Register'') was a national magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Hezekiah Niles from 1811 to 1848. The most widely circulated magazine of its time, the ''Regis ...

'', the ''New York Spectator'' and papers from Connecticut and

Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,808. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then Governor of the Illinois Territory. ...

reprinted Lundy's exposés. However, anti-slavery activism did not pay well, and slaveholders did not believe Lundy's arguments that slavery stifled progress, despite his comparisons of the relative prosperity of New York and Pennsylvania with Virginia. Lundy had been recruited to Greenville, Tennessee to work against slavery in a slave state after the death of Elihu Embree, but he found the hostility formidable. Lundy used the equipment purchased from Embree's estate to begin publishing the ''American Economist and Weekly Political Reporter'' with more standard farm prices, business and political news in 1822. He also continued to lecture against slavery, and in 1824 attended the American Convention for the Abolition of Slavery, in

, where he connected with other activists, including

Robert Purvis Robert Purvis (August 4, 1810 – April 15, 1898) was an American abolitionist in the United States. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and was likely educated at Amherst Academy, a secondary school in Amherst, Massachusetts. He ...

. He also traveled to New York to meet with Quaker activist

Elias Hicks Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the second major schism within the Religious Soc ...

and to lecture against slavery in North Carolina.

Baltimore and the District of Columbia

After selecting Baltimore to re-establish his business after deciding to move from Tennessee, Lundy moved his family to Maryland in October, 1825. This enabled Lundy to print his newspaper weekly instead of monthly or even less frequently. Lundy also published a biography of Harford County, Maryland, philanthropist and abolitionist

Elisha Tyson Elisha Tyson (December 18, 1750February 16, 1824) was an American colonial millionaire and philanthropist who was active in the abolition movement, Underground Railroad, and African colonization movement. He helped black people escape slavery by e ...

, as well as a proposal for the gradual emancipation of slaves. In 1826, a slaveowner offered to free twelve slaves if Lundy would accompany them to Haiti. He did so, but found on his return that his wife Esther had died giving birth to twins, and his children were scattered among friends. On January 9, 1827 Baltimore's most notorious slave-trader, Austin Woolfolk, whom Lundy had been investigating in public records since his move to Baltimore and severely criticizing, assaulted Lundy as he walked along a downtown street. Head-kicks and other injuries until bystanders pulled the strapping Woolfolk off his slightly-built victim confined Lundy to his bed for several days. Woolfolk pleaded guilty to assault, but Judge Nicholas Brice agreed with Woolfolk's lawyers that Lundy had provoked it by criticizing Woolfolk's lawful occupation, and therefore sentenced the slave trader to a one-dollar fine and court costs. He also urged Woolfolk to bring criminal libel charges against Lundy, but a grand jury refused to indict him. From September 1829 until March 1830, Wm. Lloyd Garrison assisted Lundy in editing the ''Genius''. At this time, the paper was located in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Both deplored slavery, but Garrison advocated immediate emancipation on American soil, while Lundy was committed to schemes of colonization abroad. Within a few months, while Lundy traveled in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Garrison published an exposé of an October slaving voyage of a ship owned by his former neighbor, Francis Todd of Newburyport, Massachusetts, in a deal brokered by Woolfolk. Garrison also published radical articles demanding immediate emancipation, and asserting that the domestic slave trade was as piratical as the foreign. His column the "Black List" detailing atrocities brought trouble, since Garrison was not as careful as Lundy had been at avoiding libels. In February 1830 Maryland charged Garrison with criminal libel, and Woolfolk's ally Judge Brice sentenced Garrison to a fifty dollar fine plus court costs, and a six-month jail term if he did not pay. This so reduced the ''Genius's'' circulation that a friendly dissolution of the partnership between Lundy and Garrison took place after Garrison finished his jail term (where he was treated as a political prisoner and dined with the warden and his wife, as well as wrote extensively). However, Garrison returned to Boston (where he suffered a mob attack in 1835), although Woolfolk's trade also diminished, supplanted by

Franklin & Armfield The Franklin and Armfield Office, which houses the Freedom House Museum, is a historic commercial building in Alexandria, Virginia ( until 1846, the District of Columbia). Built c. 1810–20, it was first used as a private residence before bein ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

(at the time in the

). Lundy followed the trade, shortly afterwards moving his newspaper paper to Washington, D.C., where, after some years under different ownership, it failed.

Haiti, Canada, Texas and Mexico—and Philadelphia

Besides traveling through many states of the United States to deliver anti-slavery lectures (reportedly the first to do so), Lundy visited Haiti twice (in 1825 and 1829); the

Wilberforce Colony Wilberforce Colony was a colony established in the year 1829 by free African American citizens, north of present-day London, Ontario, Canada. It was an effort by American Blacks to create a place where they could live in political freedom. When Am ...

of freedmen and refugee slaves in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1830-1831 (perhaps in part avoiding controversy after publishing about

Nat Turner's Rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831.Schwarz, Frederic D.1831 Nat Turner's Rebellion" ''American Her ...

); and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, in 1832 and again in 1833. Lundy also sought to find a suitable place outside the United States where emancipated slaves might be sent. Between 1820 and 1830, he traveled “more than 5000 miles on foot and 20,000 in other ways, visited 19 states of the Union, and held more than 200 public meetings.” Slaveholders bitterly denounced him, and many non-slaveholders disapproved his anti-slavery agitation. In 1836-1838 Lundy edited a new anti-slavery weekly, ''The National Enquirer'', which the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society had founded in Philadelphia, as well as wrote extensively about the troubles in Texas and Mexico, especially as they related to slavery. Lundy became a leading voice in denouncing the Texas Revolution as a method to perpetuate slavery in Texas in defiance of Mexico's ban on it. When former president

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...

came to Philadelphia on his birthday, July 11, 1836, Lundy escorted him to meet other Quakers, including James Mott and his wife

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...

. Under the editorship of John G. Whittier, Lundy's successor, that paper became ''The Pennsylvania Freeman''. Lundy purchased a farm near the Clear Creek Meeting House (the westernmost establishment of the Hicksite Friends), as well as the new village of

Lowell, Illinois Lowell is an unincorporated community in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. Lowell is located on Illinois Route 178, southeast of Oglesby. The town was laid out around 1830 by William Seeley. It once thrived due its location on the Peoria- ...

. He printed several issues of the re-established ''Genius of Universal Emancipation'' on a borrowed press in nearly

Hennepin, Illinois Hennepin is a village located on the Illinois River in Putnam County, Illinois, United States. The population was 757 in 2010, an increase of 50 since the 2000 census. It is the county seat and second largest village in Putnam County. Hennepin is ...

Death and legacy

Lundy died after an August fever and brief illness at his farm in Lowell, aged fifty. He was buried in the Quaker cemetery in

Putnam County, Illinois Putnam County is the least extensive county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 6,006. The county seat is Hennepin. The county was formed in 1825 out of Fulton County and named after Israel Putn ...

. Shortly after his death, his family and friends in Philadelphia published his autobiographical ''Life Travels and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy.'' Lucretia Mott remembered him in her 1848 speech to the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York. One hundred years later, a bronze plaque was dedicated to the pioneer abolitionist and placed at his gravesite. The tribute reads, "It was his lot to struggle, for years almost alone, a solitary voice crying in the wilderness, and, amidst all, faithful to his one great purpose, the emancipation of the slaves." His house in Mount Pleasant is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Early and family life

Career

Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee

Baltimore and the District of Columbia

Haiti, Canada, Texas and Mexico—and Philadelphia

Death and legacy

Publications

Notes

References

Further reading