The Emancipator (newspaper) Facts for Kids

This page is about the anti-slavery newspaper established in 1833. For the anti-slavery newspaper named in 1820, see The Emancipator (1820). For the 21st-century online newspaper, see The Emancipator (website).

Quick facts for kids
The Emancipator
(nameplate) Genius of Universal Emancipation Vol. 3, No. 12 (Whole No. 288) (third series) October 1833
Type	Weekly newspaper
Owner(s)	American Anti-Slavery Society (1833–1836) Liberty Party (1840–1850)
Founder(s)	Arthur Tappan
Founded	March 1833; 191 years ago (March 1833)
Political alignment	Abolitionist
Language	English
Ceased publication	December 26, 1850; 173 years ago (1850-12-26)
City	New York City (1833–March 1844) Boston (1842–1850)
Country	United States

The Emancipator (1833–1850) was an American abolitionist newspaper, at first published in New York City and later in Boston. It was founded as the official newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). From 1840 to 1850 it was published by the Liberty Party; the publication changed names several times as it merged with other abolitionist newspapers in Boston.

Contributors to the paper included Lewis Tappan (of the Amistad case), James McCune Smith (who also co-edited The Colored American), Joseph Cammett Lovejoy, Samuel Edmund Sewall, Henry Brewster Stanton, Horace Edwin Smith, William Ellery Channing, and William Stevens Robinson.

History
Timelines
Gallery
Extant holdings, re-prints, and digital facsimiles
See also

History

The Emancipator was founded in March 1833 in New York City by Arthur Tappan, a wealthy abolitionist and president of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The March 1833 publication marked the beginning of the abolitionist movement in New York state. The Emancipator's first editor was Charles Wheeler Denison.

African-American sales agents selected to represent the new publication included:

David Ruggles, New York City, who was the general agent
John D. Closson, Newark, New Jersey
Thomas Van Rensslear, Princeton, New Jersey
Abraham Doras Shadd, Pennsylvania
John Carlisle, Pennsylvania

On October 25, 1835, in a nationally publicized spectacle, a Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, grand jury issued a true bill against Robert G. Williams, agent and publisher of The Emancipator, for allegedly "circulating seditious pamphlets in Alabama" ... "tending to excite our slave population to insurrection and murder." On November 14, 1835, the Alabama Governor, John Gayle demanded that New York Governor William Learned Marcy extradite Williams, "a fugitive," to stand trial. Marcy refused.

From 1836 to 1840, the editor was Theodore Dwight Weld. After Weld left this position, Joshua Leavitt succeeded him as editor.

In 1840, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society splintered from the American Anti-Slavery Society. The Emancipator then became Leavitt's personal publication and a leading journal of the Liberty Party, with Leavitt continuing as the editor of the newspaper until 1848.

The newspaper underwent several name changes between 1842 and 1848 as it slowly merged with other abolitionist newspapers located in Boston. Throughout this period, the publication was a continual exponent of abolitionism. In January 1842, the publication merged with The Free American, the official newspaper of the Massachusetts Abolition Society, and was published weekly as The Emancipator and Free American. Leavitt (New York) and Elizur Wright (Boston) served as co-editors until March 1844, when Wright left and the journal moved its headquarters to Boston.

The publication (at that point known as the Emancipator & Republican) published its final issue on December 26, 1850.

Timelines

Editors

1833–1834	Charles Wheeler Denison
1834–1835	William Goodell
1836	Amos Augustus Phelps
1836–1840	Theodore Dwight Weld
1840–1841	Joshua Leavitt
1842–1844	Joshua Leavitt (New York) and Elizur Wright (Boston)
1844	John Greenleaf Whittier (for a short period)
1845–1848	Joshua Leavitt
March 1848	Curtis C. Nichols
1848–1850	Henry Wilson, followed by Lucius Edwin Smith

Publication name

Mar. 1833–Jan. 1842	The Emancipator
Jan. 1842–Mar. 1844	The Emancipator and Free American
Mar. 27, 1844–Oct. 8, 1845	The Emancipator and Weekly Chronicle
Oct. 15, 1845–Sept. 13, 1848	The Emancipator
Sept. 20, 1848–Nov. 8, 1848	The Emancipator and Free Soil Press, organ of the Free Soil Party (ending Vol. 8, No. 29, Whole No. 653)
Nov. 17, 1848–Dec. 26, 1850	Emancipator & Republican (Vol. 4, No. 6; ending Vol. 15, No. 35).

Publishers

The Emancipator
1835–1841	Robert G. Williams (né Ransom Goss Williams), publisher in New York City
1845–1848	Rev. Hiram Cummings, publisher in Boston
Emancipator & Republican
1849	Henry Wilson, publisher in Boston, February 9, 1849 – August 16, 1849
1849–1850	Wilson & Bent – Henry Wilson and John Bent, publishers in Boston, August 23, 1849 – December 26, 1850