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Theodore Weld Crusader for Freedom
Theodore Weld: Crusader for Freedom, by Benjamin P. Thomas, is a well-regarded 1950 biography that reintroduces the influential but obscure abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld, highlighting his foundational role in the American Anti-Slavery Movement through powerful oratory, influential pamphlets like American Slavery as It Is, and a knack for organizing grassroots efforts, despite his deliberate avoidance of public office, making it a key work for understanding 19th-century American reform. Reviews praise it as a dynamic, illuminating portrait of a "great man" whose impact far exceeded his public fame, revealing him as central to awakening consciences and mobilizing communities against slavery.
329 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1973
About the author
Benjamin P. Thomas
36 books7 followersThe son of a storekeeper, Benjamin Platt Thomas was two years old when his father died. After his mother's remarriage to a Baptist minister, Thomas moved frequently throughout the mid-Atlantic states. He earned his bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, and returned after a brief period as a teacher and bond salesman to earn his doctorate. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in 1929 Thomas taught as an associate professor of history at Birmingham-Southern College, in Birmingham, Alabama.
In 1932, Thomas accepted an offer to become executive secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Association. In that role he edited the organization's quarterly publication and wrote two books published by the Association. Thomas left the Association in 1937 and worked in insurance and as a farmer for several years. He returned to the Abraham Lincoln Association in 1939 by becoming a director, and took up the position of the body's treasurer three years later. Thomas sold his insurance business in 1944 to focus on scholarship, and wrote a series of books, the most notable of which, his 1952 biography of Abraham Lincoln, became a national bestseller. He was working on a biography of Lincoln's second secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, when he committed suicide after receiving a diagnosis of throat cancer.
In 1932, Thomas accepted an offer to become executive secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Association. In that role he edited the organization's quarterly publication and wrote two books published by the Association. Thomas left the Association in 1937 and worked in insurance and as a farmer for several years. He returned to the Abraham Lincoln Association in 1939 by becoming a director, and took up the position of the body's treasurer three years later. Thomas sold his insurance business in 1944 to focus on scholarship, and wrote a series of books, the most notable of which, his 1952 biography of Abraham Lincoln, became a national bestseller. He was working on a biography of Lincoln's second secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, when he committed suicide after receiving a diagnosis of throat cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 29, 2018
I first learned of the Abolitionist Thedore Weld when I read Sue Monk Kidd's historical novel a few years ago about Sarah and Angelina Grimke called The Invention of Wings. He was part of their story because he married Angelina. While he was not the focus of Kidd's book, she portrayed him to be a very important part of the lives of these two remarkable women. He was also noted in the nonfiction account of these two fascinating and important sisters by Gerda Lerner called The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina.
Thus, my curiosity was piqued. But I never got around to reading anything more about him until I happened upon this book at my local library. As it was published in 1950 by a historian whose name I was not familiar with I was not sure what to expect. Being less than 300 pages long made it initially appealing. So I took a quick glance at the first page: what a pleasant, direct and straightforward and thus readable prose it was written in. Like a finely woven tapestry the author Thomas balanced lush descriptions of people's dress, mannerisms, and speech patterns with thorough and yet still reasonably concise explications of their thinking, point of view, and actions. The latter were based on solid scholarship: thorough and well documented reviews of correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets and books written by Weld and other Abolitionists of that era, etc.
I came away with a wonderfully rich and in-depth sense of how Weld played a very significant role in the Abolitionist movement from its inception in the late 1820's right up until the outbreak of the Civil War.
Thomas' account justifies why he called Weld a (courageous in my opinion) 'crusader.' He worked tirelessly as a powerful speech giver sometimes putting his own safety in jeopardy, an inspirational educator and trainer of others coming into the movment, a behind the scenes organizer, and a writer and researcher. People like Harriet Beecher Stowe relied on his books in writing Uncle Tom's Cabin. John Qunicy Adams benefitted from Weld's research in making anti-slavery speeches in the House of Representatives in the early and mid 1840's. And politicians like Joshua Giddings and James Birney were inspired by him to join in the efforts to end of slavery and eventually for the formation of the Republican Party. Weld's many years of devoted Abolitionism also resulted in his getting to know such famous literary figures as John Greenleaf Whittier and Henry David Thoreau.
I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants to learn about a heroic, albeit largely unsung, man who made very important contributions at a pivotal time in our country's history. For those who want to learn more about other Abolitionists the books by Kidd and Lerner noted above are worthwhile. So are others by Dillon, Stauffer, Levine, and Yee which I have read in the last year or so. My reviews of these latter books can be found under my name here on Goodreads.
Thus, my curiosity was piqued. But I never got around to reading anything more about him until I happened upon this book at my local library. As it was published in 1950 by a historian whose name I was not familiar with I was not sure what to expect. Being less than 300 pages long made it initially appealing. So I took a quick glance at the first page: what a pleasant, direct and straightforward and thus readable prose it was written in. Like a finely woven tapestry the author Thomas balanced lush descriptions of people's dress, mannerisms, and speech patterns with thorough and yet still reasonably concise explications of their thinking, point of view, and actions. The latter were based on solid scholarship: thorough and well documented reviews of correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets and books written by Weld and other Abolitionists of that era, etc.
I came away with a wonderfully rich and in-depth sense of how Weld played a very significant role in the Abolitionist movement from its inception in the late 1820's right up until the outbreak of the Civil War.
Thomas' account justifies why he called Weld a (courageous in my opinion) 'crusader.' He worked tirelessly as a powerful speech giver sometimes putting his own safety in jeopardy, an inspirational educator and trainer of others coming into the movment, a behind the scenes organizer, and a writer and researcher. People like Harriet Beecher Stowe relied on his books in writing Uncle Tom's Cabin. John Qunicy Adams benefitted from Weld's research in making anti-slavery speeches in the House of Representatives in the early and mid 1840's. And politicians like Joshua Giddings and James Birney were inspired by him to join in the efforts to end of slavery and eventually for the formation of the Republican Party. Weld's many years of devoted Abolitionism also resulted in his getting to know such famous literary figures as John Greenleaf Whittier and Henry David Thoreau.
I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants to learn about a heroic, albeit largely unsung, man who made very important contributions at a pivotal time in our country's history. For those who want to learn more about other Abolitionists the books by Kidd and Lerner noted above are worthwhile. So are others by Dillon, Stauffer, Levine, and Yee which I have read in the last year or so. My reviews of these latter books can be found under my name here on Goodreads.
March 30, 2021
The connection of Oneida County, where I live, to abolitionism has fascinated me. This region, now considered (unfairly) as rather unremarkable, was in the mid-19th century a hotbed of social and cultural reform. Rev. George Washington Gale, who preached at our little village church, was the nation's instigator of the Manual Labor educational movement that provided higher education for students who could not afford tuition in exchange for their labor that offset costs of education. Gale founded the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry, a pioneering model of the Manual Labor method that flourished; it became one of the first to admit blacks in the student body. Gale went on to Illinois where he and others from Oneida County founded Knox College. Gale also introduced the famous evangelist Charles Grandison Finney to the upstate NY region from which Finney's renown spread far and wide.
Theodore Dwight Weld became an acolyte of Finney's He was educated at the Oneida Institute under Beriah Greene who had replaced Gale. Weld took up the charge of spreading the message of the Manual Labor model across the country with the support of the Tappan brothers' "Society for Promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions". He traveled thousands of miles across the country extolling the merits of Manual Labor. Later, he moved on to the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati with other students of the Oneida Institute where, after a contentious fight with the seminary's trustees over promoting abolitionism, Weld and his fellow students departed Lane for the newly formed Oberlin College.
Weld became a leading light in the mid-century's abolition movement, one of the "immediatists" who lit the fires of fervent abolitionism throughout the nation. Weld was inexhaustible in orating and writing and is squarely in the pantheon of leading lights of the era's causes. While working in Washington, he became a close ally and aide to John Quincy Adams, the scourge of the "Southern Slave Power" in Congress.
For Weld, freedom for the slave was not the only desired end, that full civil and social equality of Blacks was a paramount goal. Weld, in productive collaboration with his wife, Angelina Grimke Weld, and sister-in-law Sarah Grimke recognized the importance of women's rights in a just society. Weld is also well-known for his campaigns for the temperance movement.
This out-of-print book published in 1950 provides a well-researched and thoughtful analysis of this giant of the abolitionist and social justice movement of the 19th century.
Theodore Dwight Weld became an acolyte of Finney's He was educated at the Oneida Institute under Beriah Greene who had replaced Gale. Weld took up the charge of spreading the message of the Manual Labor model across the country with the support of the Tappan brothers' "Society for Promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions". He traveled thousands of miles across the country extolling the merits of Manual Labor. Later, he moved on to the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati with other students of the Oneida Institute where, after a contentious fight with the seminary's trustees over promoting abolitionism, Weld and his fellow students departed Lane for the newly formed Oberlin College.
Weld became a leading light in the mid-century's abolition movement, one of the "immediatists" who lit the fires of fervent abolitionism throughout the nation. Weld was inexhaustible in orating and writing and is squarely in the pantheon of leading lights of the era's causes. While working in Washington, he became a close ally and aide to John Quincy Adams, the scourge of the "Southern Slave Power" in Congress.
For Weld, freedom for the slave was not the only desired end, that full civil and social equality of Blacks was a paramount goal. Weld, in productive collaboration with his wife, Angelina Grimke Weld, and sister-in-law Sarah Grimke recognized the importance of women's rights in a just society. Weld is also well-known for his campaigns for the temperance movement.
This out-of-print book published in 1950 provides a well-researched and thoughtful analysis of this giant of the abolitionist and social justice movement of the 19th century.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews