Antislavery Activism in Lowell
Document 35

Document 35: “To the Honorable Linus Child,” Letter from Reverend Charles Adams to Linus Child on Fugitive Slave Act, Lowell Tri-Weekly American, November 15, 1850

Reverend Charles Adams, pastor of Lowell’s Worthen Street Methodist-Episcopal Church in the early 1850s, was one of several abolitionist clergymen in the city. Adams understood the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in September 1850 divided the Whigs into two camps – those who believed the FSA morally and constitutionally wrong and those who believed the law must be upheld despite the moral questions it raised. Linus Child, agent for the Boott Cotton Mills and an important Whig politician, assumed the latter position, much to Adams’ dismay. Perhaps Adams felt like Child should be doing more for the antislavery cause. In this open letter, Reverend Adams expresses his views not only to Linus Child, but also to readers of the Lowell American. Adams presents a dramatic scene in which the "voice" supporting the Fugitive Slave Act and the "voice" supporting religious law compete for the attention of a person harboring a fugitive slave.

Vocabulary

Whigs: Members of a conservative political party that existed in the United States during the mid-19th century
Tempest: A violent storm of wind, usually accompanied by a downfall of rain, hail, or snow, or by thunder
Multitudes: A substantial number
Confound: To throw into confusion or disorder

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Transcript

To the Hon. Linus Child.

MY DEAR SIR: While sitting in my room, on Saturday evening last, a friend came in and whispered in my ear that there was a political gathering at the depot, and that you were, at that moment, addressing the assembly. . . . [I expected to agree with your comments regarding the Fugitive Slave Law,] but these expectations of mine were . . . disappointed.

. . . Should I not greatly insult you, Sir, by undertaking to inform you that none of this present excitement with which the country is rocked as with the fury of a tempest--none of it grows out of any quarrel with the Constitution of the country? It arises, rather, from the fact that . . . a law has been sprung upon the good people of this country, which large multitudes of them believe to be as unconstitutional as it is anti-scriptural and wicked; and it is this--only this, against which their deadly hostility is directed. And needs the honorable Linus Child to be informed of this fact? . . . Why confound the Constitution with that most base--that most infamous statute entitled the "Fugitive Slave bill?" . . . [When a citizen harboring a fugitive is ordered to turn over the enslaved person,] the "higher law"--the law which, as a Christian man, he loves, will be sounding, that moment, in his ears;--and when some hoarse and godless voice--a voice of authority and law though it be--shall grate upon his ears, saying, "Deliver up the fugitive bondsman to his master!" another, and a more authoritative voice will at once respond in his hearing, "Thou shalt not deliver up unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee!" And when the grim and godless voice is heard again, saying, "Bear back the fugitive to the place and bondage whence he escaped!" the heavenly voice will be heard answered again, "He shall dwell with thee, even among you--in that place which he shall choose . . . thou shall not oppress him!"

Text-Dependent Questions

What are Reverend Adams’ concerns about the Fugitive Slave Act?
Which document does Adams seem to think has more authority—the Constitution or Scripture?

Discussion Questions

Read this article along with the article titled, "Purchase of a Slave’s Freedom” (Document 22c). What do you think caused Linus Child to have a change of heart about participating in the antislavery movement by taking it upon himself to organize a fundraising campaign to secure the freedom of an enslaved man?
Why might a high-ranking mill official such as Linus Child hesitate to participate openly in the antislavery movement?
How have national events resonated in your community? How has your community rallied behind national events, or have events created a divide between neighbors?
Have you ever been torn between your ethics or beliefs and a rule or law?

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Citation
Reverend Charles Adams to Linus Child, Lowell Tri-Weekly American, November 15, 1850.Boston Public Library

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