Lewis Tappan

Lewis Tappan (May 23, 1788 – June 21, 1873) was a

Convinced by Arthur to read a biography of William Wilberforce, who led the cause for abolition in Great Britain, Tappan started his quest for abolition in the United States. He is well known for his work to free the Africans from the Spanish ship Amistad.

Lewis Tappan married Susanna Aspinwall (sister of Col. Thomas Aspinwall, US consul in London) and cousin to other prominent abolitionists Samuel Aspinwall Goddard (SAG) and his nephew Rev. Samuel May of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, and who’s mother was SAG’s sister Mary Goddard May).

The birth of abolitionism

Despite his

The Tappan brothers created chapters of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AAS) throughout New York state and in other sympathetic areas. Although Tappan was popular among many, opponents of abolition attacked his homes and churches by arson and vandalism.

Lewis began a nationwide mailing of abolitionist material, which resulted in violent outrage in the South and denunciation by Democratic politicians, who accused him of trying to divide the Union. In the North, the mailings generated widespread sympathy and financial support for the American Anti-Slavery Society. By 1840, however, the anti-slavery program had expanded and the movement splintered.

After 1840, church-oriented abolitionism became dominant.^{[citation needed]} That year Tappan formed the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in disagreement with the AAS. The latter allowed a woman, Abby Kelley, to be elected to serve on the AAS business committee. Because of his strict religious beliefs, Tappan opposed the participation of women in an official capacity in the public society.^[6]

Tappan founded the abolitionist Human Rights journal and a children's anti-slavery magazine, The Slave's Friend.

The manual labor movement in education

"In July, 1831, Lewis Tappan,

Amistad case

In 1841, the

After achieving legal victory in the

In 1858, Tappan was the Treasurer of the AMA.[11] Under the leadership of President Lawrence Brainerd, Tappan, Foreign Corresponding Secretary Rev. George Whipple, and Home Missions Corresponding Secretary Rev. S. S. Jocelyn, the AMA opposed the long-established and powerful American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and American Home Missionary Society because of what the AMA alleged was their complicity with slavery. During and after the American Civil War, Tappan and his brother Arthur worked from New York with the AMA on behalf of freedmen in the South. In postwar efforts, it led the founding of numerous schools and colleges for freedmen, the historically black colleges and universities (HBCU).

Unwilling to reduce his commitment to U.S. government action against slavery in the southern states, Tappan and other radical political abolitionists denounced the Democratic Party as essentially pro-slavery. Though mistrustful of politicians, Tappan supported various antislavery parties that culminated in formation of the Republican Party. In both 1860 and 1864, Tappan voted for Abraham Lincoln.

Tappan supported the Emancipation Proclamation but believed that additional liberties were necessary. He wrote to Charles Sumner: "When will the poor negro have his rights? Not, I believe, until he has a musket in one hand and a ballot in the other."^[12]

Philanthropy

Recipients of aid from Lewis Tappan included:

• American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society^[13]
• American Anti-Slavery Society^[13][14]
• American Colonization Society^[13]
• American Missionary Association^[15]: 4
• Human Rights (journal)^[16]
• Lane Seminary^[14]
• Oberlin College^[13]
• Oneida Institute^[17]
• Amistad defendants^[18]

Legacy

In 2009 Tappan was inducted into the

• Tappan, Lewis (1828). Letter from a Gentleman in Boston to a Unitarian Clergyman of that City (2nd ed.). New York: T. R. Marvin, printer. Lewis Tappan.
• Tappan, Lewis (1831). Letter to Eleazar Lord, Esq. in defence of measures for promoting the observance of the Christian Sabbath. New York.
• Tappan, Lewis (1839). Proceedings of the session of Broadway Tabernacle, against Lewis Tappan, with the action of the Presbytery and General Assembly. New York.
• Tappan, Lewis (1843). Address to the non-slaveholders of the South : on the social and political evils of slavery. Address to the non slaveholders of the South. New York: S.W. Benedict.
• Tappan, Lewis (1848). Letters respecting a book "dropped from the catalogue" of the American Sunday School Union, in compliance with the dictation of the slave power. New York: American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.
• Tappan, Lewis (1850). The Fugitive slave bill : its history and unconstitutionality : with an account of the seizure and enslavement of James Hamlet, and his subsequent restoration to liberty. New York: William Harned.
• Tappan, Lewis (1852). Reply to charges brought against the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, &c., &c., &c. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Tappan, Lewis (1852). American slavery. New York.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Tappan, Lewis (1855). History of the American Missionary Association its constitution and principles, etc. New York.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Tappan, Lewis (1861). The war: its cause and remedy. New York.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Tappan, Lewis (1869). Is it right to be rich?. New York: Anson D, F. Randolph.
• Tappan, Lewis (1870). The Life of Arthur Tappan. New York:
  Hurd and Houghton
  . Lewis Tappan.

See also

• United States v. The Amistad, the United States Supreme Court case

References