Edward Palmer writes to William Lloyd Garrison that he has stayed in Bangor longer than planned hoping to see his brother who should be returning from the South. Palmer says he was "an abolitionist before he went there" and he fears "it very likely he might come back with his eye put out." Palmer then discusses a speech he is preparing "on Liberty ... the liberty which belongs to all the children of God." He argues that both the "nominal church and the institution of human governments stand directly in the way of this liberty" and should be abolished along with all other "anti-Christian instituttions." He tells Garrison about an address he delivered in Bangor to a small audience, believing that most of his listeners "probably considered it the effusion of a fanatic's brain, not worth regarding." He comments that many other abolitionists have distanced themselves from Garrison's and Henry Clarke Wright's ideas "relative to human governments," but that "those who have faith in God ... will not long care to be known as favoring such institutitions." In the postscript, Palmer says he will be leaving Bangor this week and heading westward.
- By Palmer, Edward, 1802-1886, Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
- Dated August 9, 1837
- Held by Boston Public Library
- Part of Anti-Slavery Collection
- Rights: No known copyright restrictions.