author
Jonathan Ward
1769–1860
A New Hampshire minister and early antislavery writer, he published sermons and religious essays as well as a forceful 1840 argument against American slavery. His work reflects the moral and civic debates that shaped the early republic.
1 Audiobook
American slavery, and the means of its abolition
by Jonathan Ward
About the author
Known in print as Rev. Jonathan Ward, he was an American clergyman born in 1769 and died in 1860. Surviving records of his publications place him in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where he preached and published sermons, including an 1824 funeral sermon for Col. David Webster.
Ward is best remembered today for American Slavery, and the Means of Its Abolition (1840), a short but pointed work that argued against slavery on moral and national grounds. The book shows him writing not only as a minister, but also as a public voice engaged with one of the central conflicts of his time.
Although biographical details about his life are not easy to confirm online, the works attributed to him suggest a pastor deeply involved in religious life, public questions, and reform-minded debate in nineteenth-century New England.