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Life and correspondence of Theodore Parker
Life and correspondence of Theodore Parker Author:John Weiss Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XVIII. Anti-elayery—His Position and Tendency—Early Speeches—Letters from Slaveholdi Mexican War. To trace the life of Mr. Parker through the gr... more »eat agitation for anti-slavery principles, which commenced nearly thirty years ago, would be almost equivalent to writing the history of the anti- slavery movement since 1845, when he first became connected with it. From the annexation of Texas to the last day of his intellectual and moral activity, he was identified with every critical movement in the national politics, and in the local troubles which they occasioned. His life is written in his speeches, lectures, and sermons ; they form a body of anti- slavery literature of great value for clear statements, abundance of facts, and supremacy of conscience. The same industry to gather material, and skill in organizing it, which gave him such practical efficiency in handling other subjects, made him preeminent in this. Whether you desire a simple and perfectly intelligible narrative of the development of the Southern policy, from its original acquiescence in the evil of slavery to its present attitude, or a noble statement of the American idea which gives to the Constitution and the Union their value and glory, or a stern impeachment of the men who were betraying that idea, and with it their country's safety and prosperity ; whether you seek the facts, the history, the patriotism, the religion, the bold invective, or the personal indignation, which are the body and soul of anti-slavery—say rather, the thought, passion, and threatening youth of Americanism, suddenly awake, righteously angry, and with the light of a glorious future upon its countenance—you will find what you seek in those speeches and discourses, and that vigorous "Defence," into which Mr. Parker emptied the ...« less