The Freedom Ring

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher Date: April 13, 1862 Exactly one year after the Civil War broke out, the famous minister and abolitionist, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, gave a powerful sermon on the definition and success of America's democracy. It was rapidly printed and distributed throughout the nation as an effort to embolden and sustain the righteousness of the American commonwealth. America was in the middle of a Civil War and the nation leaned on Beecher to guide their moral senses. Abraham Lincoln was grateful to have the support of Beecher, his famous family, and his millions of devout followers. Lincoln referred to the reverend's older sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe , as "...the little lady who started this big war" due to the wild success of her book,  "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Lincoln's nickname for Henry, her younger brother, was simply, "the most influential man in America." Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was one of America's first mega preacher...

  Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in Liverpool WHEN the secession movement first assumed serious proportions in the South,  the sympathy of England was with the secessionists . There were many reasons for this. The political control of England was in the hands of the English aristocracy. Feudal England had always looked with both suspicion and aversion on her democratic daughter. The strongest argument against feudalism was the unparalleled growth of democratic America. Commercial England saw in the republic across the sea a rival who would soon contest with the mother country her claim to commercial supremacy, and she was not unwilling to see that rival dismembered, and her own commercial supremacy thus secured to her.  For more than a quarter of a century England had seen the South aggressive and successful, the North timid and retreating. It was not strange that she believed the South brave, the North timid; and England admires pluck and despises cowardice. During the four mon...

The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress in September 1850, which increased federal and free-state responsibility for the recovery of fugitive slaves . The Story of How Henry Ward Beecher became an Anti-Slavery Activist Adapted passages from “Henry Ward Beecher: An American Portrait” published in 1887. Henry Ward Beecher was asked by a group of abolitionists to help in presenting two slave girls who were sisters, the Edmonson sisters, to a large audience at the Brooklyn Tabernacle , to present their case with the objective of purchasing their freedom. It was said that these girls had previously experienced some traumatizing incident and those abolitionist who found out about it, wanted to purchase their freedom before they were sold off “down the river.” At the time, Henry Ward Beecher did not talk publicly much about politics or anti-slavery themes. However, that all started to change once he stepped foot on that stage at the Tabernacle. Below we find the story of that night: It...

President Abraham Lincoln gesturing as he delivers the Gettysburg Address Preached by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, March 9th, 1862, at the time of the Emancipation Message from President Lincoln “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."   - Isaiah lXII. 10, 11, 12. Message from President Lincoln  GREAT reformations in morals can never stop with individuals. Just as corruption of the citizen soon infects the institutions and the laws of the land, similarly the reformation of the citizen reforms laws and usages. It is this sort of reformation that the prophet cele...

  The Sinfulness of Racism and Slavery 6 examples of the harm caused to America, by Henry Ward Beecher American Slave Auction “Let us take a look and see if there is any testimony, under God’s great moral government, on the subject of the sinfulness of racism and slavery.” The following words of this article were originally spoken by the abolitionist pastor of Brooklyn, Henry Ward Beecher. They were delivered in one of his weekly sermons at Plymouth Church, this one called “National Injustice and Penalty.” I have lightly adapted the text in order to modernize the victorian style language. This was no ordinary Sunday in our nation’s history. There was a high level of intensity in the air. Possibly thicker than that of 1960 and 2020. This one God given Sunday took place during May of 1861. The American Civil War had broken out one month earlier on April 12th, 1861. Let's take a look at how Mr. Beecher lays out six examples of how racism and slavery in America violates ...