Abolitionist Publisher Spoke Out Against Slavery, Lost His Life for Principle of Freedom of Speech
America was built in part by ordinary Americans who put themselves and their lives on the line for eternal principles such as equality and justice. People like Elijah Parrish Lovejoy (1802-1837). He “was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor, and abolitionist. He was shot and killed by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, during their attack on the warehouse of Benjamin Godfrey and W. S. Gillman, where Lovejoy’s press and abolitionist materials were stored.” (More from Wikipedia.)
Above, the History Guy explains that after Lovejoy was “driven out of St. Louis for expressing controversial views, city leaders in Alton, Illinois, tried to tell (him) what he was allowed to discuss in his newspaper. What happened next made Lovejoy one of the first men to die defending the freedom of the press. He has also been called the first death of the American Civil War. It is history that deserves to be remembered.”
Elijah P Lovejoy and John Brown in November 1837. Excerpt from “The Civil War” by Ken Burns.
William Dean Hamilton posted a short bio of Lovejoy and included a chapter on him in his book on great Christian leaders of the past. “Would you do what they did?” he asked.
Hat tip for mentioning Lovejoy to Boston College History Professor Heather Cox Richardson in her “Letter from an American.”
She later pointed out that the murder of Lovejoy was one of the inspirations for Abraham Lincoln’s prophetic 1838 speech warning that the only way the United States could be destroyed is by suicide, if Americans become so filled with passion that they abandon reason and the rule of law.