Charles Spear (May 1, 1803 – April 13, 1863) was a Universalist minister who advocated for the abolishment of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, supported prison reform, and founded the newspaper ''Prisoner's Friend''. The ''Prisoner's Friend'' was advertised as "the only journal known in the world that is wholly devoted to the abolition of capital punishment and the reformation of the criminal." Charles was born in Boston on May 1, 1803, and was a member of the Universalist Church of America. Charles Spear was the younger brother of

John Murray Spear John Murray Spear (September 16, 1804 – October 5, 1887) was an American Spiritualist minister who was most known for his attempts to construct an electrically powered Messiah which he referred to as the "New Motive Power". Early life Spea ...

. Charles studied for the Universalist ministry in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Later in life he began to criticize the death penalty. In 1830 he fought against the death penalty, the harsh treatment of prisoners, the conditions of jails, and struggled for a change from the prevailing philosophy of vindication to rehabilitation. Through Spear's efforts, prison conditions improved significantly, the death penalty was abolished in three states and imposed less often in others.Howe, Charles A. The Larger Faith: A Short History of American Universalism. Boston: Skinner House, 1993. Print. Page 59. He and his wife would frequently visit the Centre School in Dedham. Spear died on April 13, 1863, and held funeral services in Washington D.C.

References

External links

The Universalist Heritage
Keynote addresses on Universalist History, Ethics, and Theology, 1976-1992
Papers
of Charles Spear are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Charles Spear
Clergy from Boston 1803 births 1863 deaths American religious leaders 19th-century American clergy {{US-reli-bio-stub