author
Conn. Anti-slavery Society of Meriden
A local abolitionist group in 1830s Connecticut helped put the anti-slavery case into plain, urgent language for ordinary readers. This collective voice behind An Apology for Abolitionists reflects the moral energy and civic argument that powered early American abolitionism.
1 Audiobook
An apology for abolitionists addressed by the anti-slavery society of Meriden, Conn., to their fellow citizens
by Conn. Anti-slavery Society of Meriden, Philo Pratt, Isaac I. Tibbals, Walter Webb
About the author
Published in 1837, An Apology for Abolitionists is credited to the Anti-slavery Society of Meriden, Connecticut, with Philo Pratt, Isaac I. Tibbals, and Walter Webb also listed as authors. Rather than a single literary figure, this entry represents a community of activists writing together during the years when the American abolition movement was rapidly organizing and arguing for immediate action against slavery.
The book presents abolitionism as both a moral duty and a public question, aiming to answer critics and explain the movement's principles to fellow citizens. In that sense, the society's "authorial voice" is part of what makes the work interesting today: it preserves how local reformers in Connecticut spoke to their own neighbors about slavery, justice, and national responsibility.
Little biographical information is readily confirmed about the society as a distinct group beyond its role in creating this work, so the most reliable portrait is the one left in the text itself: a small-town anti-slavery organization using print to persuade, defend, and mobilize.