newbedfordhistory/?p=157 Lincoln protecting slave owners.... I love history.. esp when it isnt one sided. Lincoln arrived on September 14, 1848, from Worcester at the Pearl Street railroad station. While New Bedford was a Whig city, Taylor was not popular here since he was a slave owner who did not support the anti-slavery movement of many of the city’s Quakers. Lincoln spoke at Liberty Hall at the corner of Purchase and William streets, swaying the crowd. The Daily Mercury reported that his two-hour speech “was marked by a great originality, clear, conclusive, convincing rendering and enlivened by frequent flashes of genuine, racy western wit,” and when Lincoln finished, “the audience gave him three hearty cheers, and repeated with rousing cheers for Taylor”. Less enthusiastically, Samuel Rodman wrote in his diary: “It was pretty sound, but not a tasteful speech.” The future 16th president spent the night in New Bedford at Grinnell’s mansion on County Street and departed the next morning for Boston.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 16:21:00 +0000
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