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Many of you probably don't know Albion's contribution to Civil
Rights as well as Human Rights. Things we take for granted today
didn't always seem to be that way back in Elijah Parish Lovejoy's
day. The Rev. Elijah Parish Lovejoy born in Albion, Maine -- then
known as Freetown Plantation -- on November 9, 1802 became a martyr
of civil rights and freedom of speech on November 7, 1837 when he
was killed in Alton, Illinois trying to protect his printing press
from an angry pro-slavery mob.
"Lovejoy's
tragic death for Freedom in every sense marked his sad
ending
as the most important single event that ever happened in
the
new world."
Abraham
Lincoln
Elijah grew up
overlooking Lovejoy Pond which now shares his name but is named
after his father, the Rev. Daniel Lovejoy who in his own right has
a proud standing in Albion's History. Elijah was described as an
extremely intelligent child with a strong desire to learn. Reading
everything he could he developed a keen sense of right and wrong.
These views would carry him throughout his entire life.
Elijah attended
Waterville College--now known as Colby College-- graduating top of
his class in 1826. After graduating he began teaching locally but
soon set his sights on the west. In 1827 Elijah took a
teaching position in St. Louis and soon thereafter became the
editor for a local newspaper. During this time Elijah joined the
congregation of the First Presbyterian church. Feeding his desire
to learn and his love of the church he left his editing position in
St. Louis and headed back east to study at Princeton. There he
studied theology and in 1833 he was ordained as a Presbyterian
minister.
Heading back to St.
Louis he took up an editing position with the “Observer”, a
religious journal. One day while sitting in his office at the
“Observer”, Elijah witnessed an angry mob bind a black
slave/prisoner to a tree and then burn him to death for a crime he
was believed to have committed. In time the instigators of the mob
were brought to trial but the judge ruled that because of a mob’s
makeup the instigators were not guilty. This enraged Rev. Lovejoy.
Taking advantage of his position with the “Observer” he began
publishing a column that spoke outwardly against the actions
of the mob, the courts and slavery in general. As a result of
Rev. Lovejoy’s column, a pro-slavery mob in St. Louis destroyed the
printing press and offices of the “Observer”. It was then that Rev.
Lovejoy decided to move to Alton, Illinois and continue his
campaign against slavery.
The pro-slavery elements
in Alton hearing of Rev. Lovejoy's pending arrival in August 1837
destroyed the awaiting printing press. This did not deter Rev.
Lovejoy, soon he procured another printing press but a pro-slavery
mob destroyed it before it could even be set up. This enraged the
law abiding citizens of Alton who gathered around Rev. Lovejoy and
procured for him yet another printing press stating, “...the cause
of human rights, the liberty of speech and the press imperatively
demand that the press of the “Observer” be reestablished at Alton
with its present editor.” This time Rev. Lovejoy’s supporters vowed
to protect the new press by taking up arms against those who wished
to destroy it. Rev. Lovejoy, who utterly believed in his
cause vowed to help his supporters defend the newly acquired press
and took up position to do so.
On November 7th, 1837
near midnight a rowdy, drunken pro-slavery mob gathered and began
throwing stones and insults at the building housing the press and
the men inside determined to protect it. Hostilities from the mob
escalated until they threatened to burn the building suggesting
that the defenders should leave to save their own lives. The
defenders refused to leave determined to protect the press from the
intensifying mob. The mob intending to stand behind the threat and
challenged by the defenders shouted, “Fire the building and shoot
every abolitionist as he leaves.” The mob proceeded to raise a
ladder to the roof intending to send someone up and torch the
roof. The defenders, noticing the intent of the mob,
stealthily climbed to the roof and pushed the ladder over. This
further enraged the mob who set about to raise the ladder again.
Once again the defenders, Rev. Lovejoy being one, snuck back onto
the roof to attempt to push the ladder over once again.
This time they were fired upon by the mob. Rev. Lovejoy thus
received the fatal wound that would forever mark him as a martyr in
the name of Freedom of Speech and Press.
The actions of the mob
that fateful night are considered by many historians to be the
first battle of the civil war. The Rev. Elijah Parish Lovejoy was
buried on his birthday, November 9th, at the age of 35 in Alton,
Illinois The old cellar of the house where the Rev. Elijah Lovejoy
was born is still visible and should be the “Mecca of all
liberty-loving people to keep in memory all those who have fallen
in the defense of human rights.”
Bibliography
Rev. Nelson Miles Heikes, Sketch of the Life of Rev. Elijah Parish
Lovejoy (Published by the Ladies of the G.A.R.,
Albion, Maine 1923) Unknown, “Elijah Parish Lovejoy, “a Martyr on
the Altar of American Liberty 1802-1837” Alton Observer, November
7, 1837.
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