Threatening to Tar and Feather an Abolitionist in Boston

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/30/2014

An Important and Scarce Broadside, “Thompson, the Abolitionist. Boston, Wednesday 12 o’clock, [date added in manuscript: October 21, 1835]. 1 p., 12-1/4” x 9”. In full, Thompson, the Abolitionist. That infamous foreign scoundrel THOMPSON, will hold forth this afternoon, at the Liberator Office, No. 48 Washington Street. The present is a fair opportunity for the friends of the Union to snake Thompson out! It will be the contest between the Abolitionists and the friends of the Union. A purse of $100 has been raised by a number of patriotic citizens to reward the individual who shall first lay violent hands on Thompson, so that he may be brought to the tar kettle before dark. Friends of the Union, be vigilant! ...” George Thompson (1804-1878) was a leading British abolitionist. In 1832, he travelled to Scotland where he met William Lloyd Garrison. Two years later, he came to America on behalf of the Glasgow Ladies Emancipation Society and delivered lectures at American Anti-Slavery Society events. Like Garrison, Thompson was an “immediatist,” calling slavery a sin and demanding its immediate end. His lectures earned him the ire of anti-abolitionists throughout the Northeast. The Boston Commercial Advertiser warned that Thompson risked lynching should he appear as scheduled at the August 1835 annual meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. The society postponed their meeting until October 21, but as this letterpress broadside (possibly printed on the press of the Boston Commercial Advertiser) indicates, the controversy remained strong. As the October meeting approached, rumors spread that Thompson was to appear with Garrison at the antislavery meeting. The Commercial Advertiser suggested that his friend and colleague Garrison should be “thrown overboard.”This infamous handbill is often discussed in histories of the abolitionist movement, but only the Library of Congress copy is listed in WorldCat. No other examples have been seen in major auction records since 1963.

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