Anne Warren Weston

“ You may be perhaps amused that an Annual Bazaar for the benefit of the Anti Slavery Course has been held in Boston for the last 15 years. The state of sentiment considered it has been very successful, & has furnished a large proportion of the funds by which Anti Slavery publications & Literature have been maintained sustained. For the last few years it has been held in Faneuil Hall and several of the evenings (for the Bazaar continues open ten days) have been devoted to addresses on Slavery from men distinguished in the cause such as Wendell Phillips, Garrison, W. H. Channing & others. ”

“ The Declaration of American Independence, says— 'That to secure these rights [those of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'] governments are instituted among men, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government,' &c. ”

“ To reaffirm the Constitutional right of Congress to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia. To declare that Congress has also the Constitutional right to abolish the Slave-trade in the District. To declare that the rights of humanity, the claims of justice, the honor of the nation, and 'the public good,' alike demand, that in each of these respects, Congress should immediately exercise said right. To send a copy of said declarations to each of the Senators and Representatives of this State, in Congress, to be, by them, laid before that body ”

“ Anti Slavery Women should be the last to forget this. The men who are labouring in the cause of Human Rights are not unaware the vast scope that those words embrace. As a class it will not be found that they are the people who are sorrowing over their aggrieved dignity. ”

“ I would have wished that the request I am about to make might have now the advantage of presentation by some one engaging the honour of a personal acquaintance & respect more than even the advice upon the courtesy of my dear friend Mrs Fuller upon who who could have asked your help without any of that fear of intrusion which a stranger must necessarily feel. ”

“ As Abolitionists, we have all, I presume, been subjected in greater or less degrees to misrepresentation, contempt & persecution; by identifying ourselves in a measure with the oppressed & degraded we have been exposed to a portion of the sufferings that have been heaped upon them; but at the present period we are called upon to meet reproach, not as Abolitionists merely, but as women. ”

“ Paul that Maria was not coming on as otherwise Susan would have waited for us. I suppose that we shall have a great chance of having Mary for the President and Lucretia Motts health puts it out of the question. We pressed Sarah Grimké last night very much but she does not think she knows enough of business. All the Philadelphia people appear right as to Denialism, but not sufficiently interested. Baileigh is the same right minded person. Maria leaves no stone unturned to please the Denial appeal before the minds of all. Maria's seeding worries Mary, I suppose. ”

“ Besides these, there is a multitude of abolitionists in the State, who are not members of any society. So that, upon the most moderate calculation, there are, in this State, at least 20,000 adults, who are immediate abolitionists, and therefore, upon this estimate, instead of fifteen thousand petitioners to the State Legislature, on the above subjects, there ought to have been, before this, at least TWENTY-THOUSAND;— and if there had been, who does not know that the Legislature would at once speak the voice of immediatism on each and all of the topics named? ”

“ Caroline had a letter from Sarah Ann the other day in which she says Mrs B is not materially better. Her mother is tho' very much as might be expected with Mrs B gone. Maria is going to ride out to Brookline to see the Grimkés next Thursday. May comes in town on Wed. Little Henry seems as good as pie. Mrs Park is gone, went last night. Women have got on quite well I believe. We went to meeting with C all day Sunday & we design to take him to the Monthly Concert this evening. ”

“ Dickens is surprised at finding every thing so like England, society & all. The folks he goes among are the very folks who are imitating English society. He has been invited to 40 different houses & every instance of their time is occupied when not in company with trying to answer notes & letters.
Caroline staid here all night & we had a cosy time. Thursday morning was a pouring rain. Nevertheless, she left for Roxbury & we had a quiet still day here nobody in till late in the afternoon when Bradburn & Rogers called. ”

“ The social intercourse that should exist between men & women as mutual teachers and aides is destroyed; destroyed however not by the fact of a posture of womankind occupying a false position, but mankind remaining in one. It may be said of women as was said of the West India Slaves "They are fit for emancipation but their Masters are not." The difficulty arises not because women are exercising their rights, but because men are trying to prevent them. ”

“ The house was thronged, fuller than it even been at any Abolition meeting known before. They and Stanton walked directly into the pulpit and after a few minutes, Stanton made one of the most excellent & to the purpose prayers that I ever heard. Angelina spoke on the topic that the South never has been ready or willing for Emancipation; that circumstances have never been tending that way at all, and that consequently the Abolitionists
(Crosshatched text)
The Grimkés are the pleasantest of people in conversation, the Dr. is perfectly charmed with them both. ”

“ The man who looks upon woman, merely from the fact of her being such, as a creature dependant & subordinate, is cherishing a belief that in the very nature of things, cannot fail to exert a most baneful effect on his own character. To render his actions & his opinions consistent, believing women to be inferior, he must ever remember to address them as such ”

“ All P. who know aught of Angelina are thrown into hysterics at the way she is going to be married & all manner of gossip is circulated about them. Those of the L (?) akers have called upon them since their return. The women of Philadelphia are in rather a low state with regard to women's speaking, save a few. Mary Grew (?) stands just where she did; has not moved a step. ”

“ Because ignorant women are forbidden to interrupt a meeting does it therefore follow that well instructed ones may not address a meeting of their own convening. Again St Paul in addressing Timothy says "I suffer not a woman to teach," not to usurp authority over the man." Does any one understand this command as literal. No it is conceded that she may teach her own sex, that is supposing she addresses them by twos & threes in her own drawing room. She is only out of her sphere when she attempts to teach men. ”

“ Call at once, a meeting of the officers or members of the Anti-Slavery Society in your place, or if there be no society, a meeting of several friends of the cause, read this circular to them, and adopt measures for the prompt and thorough circulation of the annexed memorial, in every school district in town.
2. Let adults only sign the memorial.
3. Let men and women sign separate memorials.
4. When the circulation is completed, let the signatures of all the men in each town, be united in one memorial, and the signatures of the women in another. ”

“ Maria approves my pastoral letter & I shall call a Board meeting on Wednesday next or another Thursday. Strengthen if possible, Aunt Priscilla to come in town. There never could be so good a time. Tell her no one is here & we would make her as cosy as could be. ”

“ The Chapel is little, but we are good pushers.
I have made up my mind to send this by Hatch [2] & shall send with it, the patterns, drawings I mean, & your collar which I mean to catch Caroline long enough to buy for I cannot take these vast responsibilities. Mrs Loring (?) came to me the other night I asked if I could not come & stay a day or two with her before I left Town. I told her I should like to, so if she sends a definite invitation I shall go; be the matter how it will, I suppose I shall go home some time the latter part of next week. ”