''The National Era'' was an

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 ...

newspaper published weekly in Washington, D.C., from 1847 to 1860.

Gamaliel Bailey Gamaliel Bailey (December 3, 1807June 5, 1859) was an American physician who left that career to become an abolitionist journalist, editor, and publisher, working primarily in Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C. Anti-abolitionist mobs attacked his ...

was its editor in its first year. ''The National Era Prospectus'' stated in 1847: Each number contained four pages of seven (later eight) columns each. ''The National Era'' was noted for its large size and unique type. It featured the works of

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

, who served as associate editor, and the first publication, as a serial, of

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel '' Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the har ...

's ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

'' (1851). It was also the setting for the first publication of

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

's The Great Stone Face.Mellow, James R. ''Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980: 292. In 1859, after Mr. Bailey's decease, his wife,

Margaret Lucy Shands Bailey Margaret L. Bailey (, Shands; December 12, 1812 – 1888) was an American anti-slavery writer, poet, lyricist, as well as newspaper editor and publisher. She served as editor of ''The Youth's Monthly Visitor'', a children's magazine, and as the pu ...

, served as publisher until the time of its suspension, February, 1860.

"The Soft Answer"

Two months after the establishment of ''The National Era'', "The Soft Answer" was published on its back page by

Timothy Shay Arthur Timothy Shay Arthur (June 6, 1809 – March 6, 1885) — known as T. S. Arthur — was a popular 19th-century American author. He is famously known for his temperance novel ''Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There'' (1854), which helped d ...

. The short story was based on a business disagreement between two former friends, Mr. Singleton and Mr. Williams, set to be mediated by a Lawyer named Mr. Trueman. After receiving an unacceptable settlement offer from Williams, Singleton prepares an angry reply, only to be dissuaded from sending it by his lawyer. Singleton instead assents to signing a far more tactful and conciliatory reply composed by Trueman. That tactful and conciliatory reply, which reconciled two former friends, is what is now known as "The Soft Answer". That idea suggested a gradualist approach to abolish slavery. This idea of gradual steps to get two sides to agree is something that many felt that the North and South could use to abolish slavery and integrate the African Americans into society.

References

External links

''National Era'' archive
(1847–60) via

Fultonhistory.com Fultonhistory.com or Old Fulton NY Postcards is an archival historic newspaper website of over 1,000 New York newspapers, along with collections from other states and Canada. As of February 2018, the website had almost 50 million scanned newspap ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Era, The Abolitionist newspapers published in the United States Newspapers established in 1847 Publications disestablished in 1860 1847 establishments in Washington, D.C. Uncle Tom's Cabin Defunct newspapers published in Washington, D.C.

"The Soft Answer"

See also

References

External links