1811-1884
Courtesy of The Federal Observer website
Giving up his practice of law to become a leading abolitionist, Phillips used his forceful and uncompromising oratorical skills to gain support for abolitionism, prohibition, woman suffrage, penal reform, better treatment for Indians, regulation of corporations, and the labor-union movement.
A close friend of Abby Kelley and Stephen Foster, Phillips attended the 1850 National Woman’s Rights Convention which was held in Worcester, MA.
Phillips was a frequent contributor to The Liberator and joined William Lloyd Garrison in calling for a division of the union.
- Born November 29, 1811 in Boston, MA
- Died February 2, 1884 in Boston, MA
- Buried in the Granary Burying Ground, Boston, MA
- Education: Attended Boston Latin school and graduated Harvard College in 1831 and went on to Harvard Law School.
- Married Ann Terry Greene ( -1885) of Boston on October 12, 1837
- No Children
- In 1864 he broke from Garrison’s too moderate support of Abraham Lincoln for a second term.
- In 1870 he unsuccessfully ran for Massachusetts governor.
Sources
- Bartlett, Irving H. Wendell Phillips, Brahmin Radical. Boston, 1961.
- Great American Speeches. The Federal Observer.
- Malone, Dumas, Ed. Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964.
- “The Murder of Lovejoy, December 8, 1837”. Liberty Story.
- Van Doren, Charles, Ed. Webster’s American Biographies. Springfield, MA: G. & G. Merriam, 1974.