author
Jonathan Ward
1769–1860
An early New Hampshire minister and abolitionist, this writer used sermons, letters, and public addresses to argue that slavery was morally wrong and had to end. His best-known work brings a plainspoken, deeply religious voice to one of the fiercest debates of 19th-century America.
1 Audiobook
American slavery, and the means of its abolition
by Jonathan Ward
About the author
Ordained as a Congregational minister, Jonathan Ward served for many years in Plymouth, New Hampshire. His published work includes sermons, religious controversy, and antislavery writing, showing him as a clergyman who was active well beyond the pulpit.
Ward is especially remembered for American Slavery, and the Means of Its Abolition (1840), based on an address delivered at Plymouth. In it, he argued from both Christian conviction and public morality against slavery, placing him among the religious voices who pressed the issue in the years before the Civil War.
Records and memorial sources identify him as living from 1769 to 1860. A memorial volume published after his death suggests the respect he inspired in his community, while surviving letters show him wrestling seriously with the abolition movement and its tactics.