Phillips, Wendell

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Wendell (1811-1884), a noted American orator and abolitionist. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, November 29, 1811, and died there February 2, 1884. He was educated at Harvard and was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1834. He opened an office in Boston but took little interest in his profession. It is said that his interest in the anti-slavery movement dated from October 31, 1835, when he saw Garrison dragged through the streets of Boston. At all events he became a prominent abolitionist. He even went so far as to withdraw from the bar, declaring that his conscience would not allow him to take the oath of fealty to a constitution that permitted human slavery. He became a noted platform orator, ranking with Everett and Webster. His style is described as being less ornate and his delivery less sonorous than theirs. He had a pleasing, easy, colloquial method of utterance that gained for him the sobriquet of the silver-tongued orator. His lectures were enlivened by flashes of wit that seemed to come spontaneously. He was a prominent member of the Anti-Slavery Society, and later took an interest in the education of the Indian. The Irish Question, The Lost Arts, Toussaint l' Ouverture, Daniel O'Connell, Theodore Parker, and The Scholar in a Republic were some of the topics that called forth his best platform efforts. The wronged and oppressed everywhere attracted his attention and called forth utterance. He was a member of the Phillips family connected with the founding of the academies of that name. See Abolitionist; Toussaint