In Honor Of John Brown Late Of Harpers Ferry-1859- *Samuel Gridley Howe- Stiff-Necked Boston Abolitionist

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for stiff-necked abolitionist, Samuel Gridley Howe.

BOOK REVIEW

Samuel Gridley Howe, Social Reformer, Harold Swartz, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1956

Those readers who have followed the doings in this space know that I have placed the name of Captain John Brown, late of Harper's Ferry, the pre-American Civil War revolutionary abolitionist very high in my pantheon of political heroes. That remains so, but today I wish to add another, perhaps lesser figure to that pantheon from the same period and who ultimately is tied to John Brown by the same strong links of abhorrence to slavery- and, did something about it-even if not as courageously as old Brown himself.

There has always been a certain amount of talk among historians about John Brown’s financial and political backers, the so-called "Secret Six". Among those so designated is one Samuel Gridley Howe, the subject of this biography. The presently reviewed book represents an earlier (1950's) attempt to estimate the influence of Howe in the pre-Civil War anti-slavery struggle. The book details the wide range of Howe’s activities, including his early military service in aid of the Greek liberation struggle of the 1820’s. Also highlighted is his reforming zeal in his founding of the world famous Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and his somewhat less famous founding of the Fernald School for the Mentally-challenged (to use today’s kinder expression of the condition). I should also note his marriage to Julia Ward Howe of 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' fame. However the parts of his biography that remain of abiding interest concern his increasing involvement in the anti-slavery struggles of the 1840’s, particularly his opposition to the Mexican Wars, his latter fight against the Fugitive Slave Law and his aid to Brown.

A quick perusal of Howe’s early resume, as detailed above, places him squarely in the mold of the classic pre- Civil War Boston Brahmin school of social reformer. That circle included such men as Charles Sumner, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and later, as the struggle against slavery intensified a veritable who’s who of gentile Northern society. For our purposes, however, what is important is the way the slavery issue played out on the political field in this milieu, centrally through the splitting of the old national Whig party that left the stage without a whimper as the new Republican Party came to dominate a part of Northern politics in the mid 1850’s. However beyond that parliamentary expression of the anti-slavery fight Howe was among those ‘extremists’ who were looking for extra-parliamentary ways to force the issue. Samuel Gridley Howe, at that time, seemed an unlikely candidate for such a role but nevertheless represented the personification of a very important historical political trend –in times of social stress when the old political consensus no longer holds contradictory elements together some elements of the old elite move in the new direction.

The Boston milieu of which Howe was an intricate part is a classic case study of the above-mentioned phenomena. The tensions between the 'Conscience' Whigs (those who opposed slavery in some way) and 'Cotton' Whigs (both the Southern planters ands their Northern supporters) began to appear early. I previously mentioned the Mexican War. Opposition to that war, a war fought essentially to increase slavery’s domain, appears to have been a litmus test. It is only a short way from that to the establishment of the Free Soil Party (with the unlikely political hack/wizard Martin Van Buren as its presidential candidate in 1848), the break up of the national Whig Party in the early 1850’s and the establishment of the Republican Party as a catchall for those opposed to slavery and in favor of a unified national capitalist expansion.

However, for those like Howe, who were driven by religious conviction and righteous zeal the parliamentary field was too narrow a place to resolve this slavery issue. Hence the support of John Brown in his endeavors. I have dealt with the political and military implications of Brown’s actions elsewhere in this space so I do not wish to do so here. The only point I wish to make is a comment on Howe’s fleeing to Canada in the wake of the frenzy in the South and the halls of Congress over the Brown raid, an action that seems to be contrary to his character. Later generations, who have faced this same kind of persecution and its consequences, can relate to that tension. One can name the Palmer Raids after World War I and the 'red scare' after World War II. Frankly there is no general rule on how one is suppose to act. However, contradictory that flight was in this instance Howe for his forthright efforts in the struggle against slavery still warrants a lesser place in the pantheon of our political forbears.