Elijah Parish Lovejoy | |
|---|---|
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| Born | November 9, 1802 |
| Died | November 7, 1837 (aged 34) Alton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Murder by mob |
| Education | Waterville College |
| Spouse |
Celia Ann French (m. 1835) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives |
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| Signature | |
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- Northwest Ordinance
- Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
- End of Atlantic slave trade
- Missouri Compromise
- Tariff of 1828
- Nat Turner's Rebellion
- Nullification crisis
- End of slavery in British colonies
- Texas Revolution
- United States v. Crandall
- Gag rule
- Commonwealth v. Aves
- Murder of Elijah Lovejoy
- Burning of Pennsylvania Hall
- American Slavery As It Is
- United States v. The Amistad
- Prigg v. Pennsylvania
- Texas annexation
- Mexican–American War
- Wilmot Proviso
- Nashville Convention
- Compromise of 1850
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Recapture of Anthony Burns
- Kansas–Nebraska Act
- Ostend Manifesto
- Bleeding Kansas
- Caning of Charles Sumner
- Dred Scott v. Sandford
- The Impending Crisis of the South
- Panic of 1857
- Lincoln–Douglas debates
- Oberlin–Wellington Rescue
- John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
- Virginia v. John Brown
- 1860 presidential election
- Crittenden Compromise
- Secession of Southern states
- Peace Conference of 1861
- Corwin Amendment
- Battle of Fort Sumter
Elijah Parish Lovejoy (November 9, 1802 – November 7, 1837) was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor, and abolitionist. After his murder by a mob, he became a martyr to the abolitionist cause opposing slavery in the United States.[1] He was also hailed as a defender of free speech and freedom of the press.[1][2][3]
Lovejoy was born in New England and graduated from what is today Colby College. Unsatisfied with a teaching career, he was drawn to journalism and decided to 'go west'. In 1827, he reached St. Louis, Missouri. Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Missouri entered the United States as a slave state. Lovejoy edited a newspaper but returned east for a time to study for the ministry at Princeton University. On his return to St. Louis, he founded the St. Louis Observer, in which he became increasingly critical of slavery and the powerful interests protecting slavery. Facing threats and violent attacks, Lovejoy decided to move across the river to Alton in Illinois, a free state. However, Alton was also tied to the Mississippi River economy, easily reachable by anti-Lovejoy Missourians, and badly split over abolitionism.
In Alton, Lovejoy was fatally shot during an attack by a pro-slavery mob. The mob was seeking to destroy a warehouse owned by Winthrop Sargent Gilman and Benjamin Godfrey, which held Lovejoy's printing press and abolitionist materials.[4] According to John Quincy Adams, the murder "[gave] a shock as of an earthquake throughout this country."[5] The Boston Recorder wrote that "these events called forth from every part of the land 'a burst of indignation which has not had its parallel in this country since the Battle of Lexington.'"[6] When informed about the murder, John Brown said publicly: "Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery."[7] Lovejoy is often seen as a martyr to the abolitionist cause and to a free press. The Lovejoy Monument was erected in Alton in 1897.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
:5was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Merriam, Allen H. (November 1987). Elijah Lovejoy and Free Speech. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022 – via ERIC – Institute of Education Sciences.
- ^ Rabban, David M. (November 1992). "The Free Speech League, the ACLU, and Changing Conceptions of Free Speech in American History". Stanford Law Review. 45 (1): 71. doi:10.2307/1228985. JSTOR 1228985. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ Wilson & Fiske 1900, p. 34.
- ^ Brown 1916, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Brown 1916, p. 98.
- ^ Brown 1916, p. 101.