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Amos Dresser

April 13, 2024

Amos Dresser (December 17, 1812 – February 4, 1904) was an abolitionist and pacifist minister, and one of the founders of Olivet College. His name was well-known in the Antebellum period due to a well-publicized incident: in 1835 he was arrested, tried, convicted, and publicly whipped in Nashville, Tennessee for the crime of possession of abolitionist publications. The incident was widely reported and became well-known. Dresser published an account of it,[1] and spoke of it frequently.

Amos Dresser
Born(1812-12-17)December 17, 1812
Peru, Massachusetts
DiedFebruary 4, 1904(1904-02-04) (aged 91)
Lawrence, Kansas
Alma materOneida Institute, Lane Theological Seminary, Oberlin Collegiate Institute
Occupation(s)Minister, missionary, abolitionist activist (paid), abolition and temperance lecturer.
Known forPublic whipping for possessing abolitionist publications

Amos Dresser's early life edit

Dresser was born in Peru, Massachusetts,[2] and was a descendant of Robert Cushman, a Mayflower pilgrim.[3] His father died when he was an infant; he lived with his mother, Minerva Cushman, and his mother's second husband, Henry Pierce, until his mother’s death in 1826, when Amos was 13.[2] "He was for a time engaged in a store; he then taught a school."[4] To prepare for the ministry, in 1830 he enrolled in the new Oneida Institute of Science and Industry, a manual labor school near Utica, New York, predecessor of Oberlin, and briefly the most abolitionist school in the country.

He was one of the first to join a group, led by Theodore Weld, that left Oneida, eventually enrolling as students at the new Lane Seminary near Cincinnati, Ohio.[5] This was the first organized student activism in the country.[citation needed] Dresser was active in the initiative among the group to teach Negroes in Cincinnati.[6] He remained part of the Weld group, now called the Lane Rebels, when it withdrew en masse in 1834 after Lane prohibited student discussion of slavery.[1]: 5 [7]: 255 [5][8]: 51  However, unlike others at the time, he did not enroll immediately in the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, as it was called until 1866.[2]

The whipping in Nashville edit

During the summer of 1835, in order to raise money to further his education, Dresser traveled around the South selling the Cottage Bible.[1][7]: 255  In Nashville, Tennessee, by unfortunate accident he was discovered to have abolitionist literature with him. He was taken before an extra-legal vigilance committee[6] of sixty prominent citizens.[1]: 2  Dresser openly denounced the kangaroo court and the institution of slavery altogether.[7]: 261  From his "papers, pamphlets, correspondence and statements", the self-appointed Committee found him guilty of:

  1. Being an "active member" of an anti-slavery society in Ohio.
  2. Having in his possession "sundry pamphlets of a most violent and pernicious tendency, and which if generally disseminated, would in all human possibility, cause an insurrection or rebellion among the slaves."
  3. "That he published and exposed to public view the said pamphlets."[9][1]: 4 [7]: 256–260 

A newspaper reporting the case commented editorially that Dresser's crime "might possibly lead to the violation by blacks of our wives and daughters."[10] He was sentenced to "twenty stripes on his bare back," which were carried out in public. The Committee claimed that were it not for them, he would have been lynched.[10][9] Dresser then hurriedly left Nashville, without his luggage and horse, which he never recovered, although "I have frequently written to my friends concerning them."[1]

The Nashville Republican published a special issue on the incident.[11]

Dresser published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette the story of what had happened to him, twice had it reprinted in pamphlets, plus the American Anti-Slavery Society issued it the following year, accompanied by other testimony on slavery.[1] He later spoke of it many times, in the course of abolitionist lectures.[12] In January, 1837, he spoke on it to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, forced to meet in the hay-loft of a barn.[13][14] Descriptions in Southern newspapers support his account, although they call the Bible-selling a sham obscuring what according to them was his alleged real purpose: distributing abolitionist literature and fomenting a slave insurrection.

In 1836, he became a successful lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society. He worked for abolitionist leader Henry B. Stanton in Worcester County, Massachusetts, lecturing at Athol, Massachusetts, Ashburn, and Slatersville, Rhode Island. He then went to Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and in 1839 to Jamaica to assist another Lane Rebel, David Ingraham, in missionary work among the Negroes.

Dresser's later life edit

Dresser returned to Ohio and, along with other Lane Rebels, enrolled at the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, where he obtained a degree in 1839.[15] While a student at Oberlin he supported himself by working for the American Anti-Slavery Society as a lecturer. After completing his studies, he married Adeline Smith, also a former Oberlin student, and from 1839 to 1841 they were missionaries in Jamaica. Among their children was Amos Dresser, Jr.[2]

For two years they lived in Batavia, Ohio, where he was pastor of two churches. From 1843 to 1846 he taught at the Olivet Institution in Olivet, Michigan, founded by Oberlin graduates. He then worked for Elihu Burritt and the League of Universal Brotherhood.[2] In 1849 he published The Bible Against War.[16][2]

His wife died in 1850, and in 1851 he married another former Oberlin student, Ann Jane Gray; Adeline Minerva Dresser was their daughter. They toured Europe, where Dresser gave lectures on temperance and abolition. When they returned to the United States, they settled in Farmington, Ohio, where Dresser worked as a pastor.[2] He served as minister of the Cranston Memorial Presbyterian Church in New Harmony, Indiana.[17] From 1852 to 1865 Dresser was pastor of churches in Trumbull and Ashtabula Counties, Ohio,[18] in the Western Reserve, Underground Railroad center and the most anti-slavery region of the country.[citation needed] From 1865 to 1869 he was pastor of three churches in Oceana County, Michigan. In 1869 he went to Butler County, Nebraska, where he had the “whole county for a parish.” In 1879 he went to Red Willow County, Nebraska. At some point towards the end of his life Dresser and his wife went to live in Lawrence, Kansas, with one of their children, and both Amos and Ann Jane died there.[2]

Writings edit

  • Dresser, Amos (August 25, 1835). "The Narrative of Amos Dresser". Cincinnati Gazette. The date is that on Dresser's letter, not the date of the newspaper.
    • Dresser, Amos (September 17, 1835). "Amos Dresser's Case [first page]". Evening Post (New York). p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
    • Dresser, Amos (September 17, 1835). "Amos Dresser's Case [concluding page]". Evening Post (New York). p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
    • Dresser, Amos (September 26, 1835). "Amos Dresser's Own Narrative". The Liberator. p. 4 – via newspapers.com.
    • Dresser, Amos (c. 1835). Narrative. "[By the request of many of my friends, I re-publish the following narrative of my "Nashville experience".]" Link is to a reprinting in the collection Slave Rebels, Abolitionists, and Southern Courts. The Lawbook Exchange. ISBN 9781584777441.
    • Dresser, Amos (c. 1835). Amos Dresser's Narrative.
    • Dresser, Amos (1836). The narrative of Amos Dresser : with Stone's letters from Natchez, an obituary notice of the writer, and two letters from Tallahassee, relating to the treatment of slaves. Link is to a reprinting in the collection Slave Rebels, Abolitionists, and Southern Courts. New-York: American Anti-Slavery Society.
    • Dresser, Amos (1883). "Narrative of Personal Experience". In Ballantine, W. G. (ed.). The Oberlin Jubilee 1833–1883. Oberlin, Ohio: E. J. Goodrich. pp. 236–250.
  • Dresser, Amos (1846). The Bible Against War. Oberlin, Ohio: The author. Extensive excerpts were reprinted in The Liberator on March 1, March 29, and April 5, 1850. They received a lengthy response in a letter published in The Liberator on April 26.[19] He spoke on this topic to the Ashtabula (Ohio) Bible Society in 1858.[20]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Dresser, Amos (1836) [August 25, 1835]. The narrative of Amos Dresser : with Stone's letters from Natchez : an obituary notice of the writer, and two letters from Tallahassee, relating to the treatment of slaves. "From the Cincinnati Daily Gazette". New York: American Anti-Slavery Society. from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Amos Dresser". Oberlin College. from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  3. ^ "Sixty Years in the Ministry". Lawrence Weekly World (Lawrence, Kansas). February 18, 1904. p. 2. from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Amos Dresser". The Watchman (Connersville, Indiana). September 12, 1835. p. 1. from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  5. ^ a b Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015). Civil Disobedience: An Encyclopedic History of Dissidence in the United States. Routledge. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-317-47441-8. from the original on 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  6. ^ a b Dumond, Dwight L. (1949). "The Mississippi: Valley of Decision". Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 36 (1): 3–26, at p. 10. doi:10.2307/1895693. ISSN 0161-391X. JSTOR 1895693.
  7. ^ a b c d Finkelman, Paul (2007). Slave Rebels, Abolitionists, and Southern Courts: The Pamphlet Literature. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-58477-744-1. from the original on 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  8. ^ Fletcher, Robert Samuel (1943). History of Oberlin College from its foundation through the Civil War. Oberlin College.
  9. ^ a b "An Abolitionist Caught!". The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee). August 11, 1835. p. 3.
  10. ^ a b "Abolition". Sangamo Journal (Springfield, Illinois). August 29, 1835. p. 3. from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021 – via Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.
  11. ^ "(Untitled)". National Banner and Nashville Whig (Nashville, Tennessee). Reprinted from the Cincinnati Whig. 19 Aug 1835. p. 3 – via newspapers.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ "(Untitled)". Vermont Telegraph (Brandon, Vermont). February 14, 1838. p. 2. from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2020 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  13. ^ Wilson, Henry (1872). History of the rise and fall of the slave power in America. Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 357.
  14. ^ "Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Fifth Annual Meeting". The Liberator. February 4, 1837. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Garrison, William Lloyd (1971). The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison. Volume II: A House Dividing Against Itself, 1836–1840. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-674-52661-7. from the original on 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  16. ^ Dresser, Amos (1849). The Bible against War. Oberlin, Ohio: The author.
  17. ^ Rudowski, Joyce (October 13, 2005). "Driving tips take you through scenic slice of freedom's history". Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio). p. 37 (E3). from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "(Untitled)". Oberlin Evangelist. Apr 1, 1857. p. 3 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  19. ^ Grew, Henry (April 26, 1850) [April 10, 1850]. "Civil Government". The Liberator. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 4. from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Ashtabula County Bible Society". Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph (Ashtabula, Ohio). November 20, 1858. p. 3. from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-07-30 – via Chronicling America.

Further reading edit

April 13, 2024
amos, dresser, december, 1812, february, 1904, abolitionist, pacifist, minister, founders, olivet, college, name, well, known, antebellum, period, well, publicized, incident, 1835, arrested, tried, convicted, publicly, whipped, nashville, tennessee, crime, pos. Amos Dresser December 17 1812 February 4 1904 was an abolitionist and pacifist minister and one of the founders of Olivet College His name was well known in the Antebellum period due to a well publicized incident in 1835 he was arrested tried convicted and publicly whipped in Nashville Tennessee for the crime of possession of abolitionist publications The incident was widely reported and became well known Dresser published an account of it 1 and spoke of it frequently Amos DresserBorn 1812 12 17 December 17 1812Peru MassachusettsDiedFebruary 4 1904 1904 02 04 aged 91 Lawrence KansasAlma materOneida Institute Lane Theological Seminary Oberlin Collegiate InstituteOccupation s Minister missionary abolitionist activist paid abolition and temperance lecturer Known forPublic whipping for possessing abolitionist publications Contents 1 Amos Dresser s early life 2 The whipping in Nashville 3 Dresser s later life 3 1 Writings 4 References 5 Further readingAmos Dresser s early life editDresser was born in Peru Massachusetts 2 and was a descendant of Robert Cushman a Mayflower pilgrim 3 His father died when he was an infant he lived with his mother Minerva Cushman and his mother s second husband Henry Pierce until his mother s death in 1826 when Amos was 13 2 He was for a time engaged in a store he then taught a school 4 To prepare for the ministry in 1830 he enrolled in the new Oneida Institute of Science and Industry a manual labor school near Utica New York predecessor of Oberlin and briefly the most abolitionist school in the country He was one of the first to join a group led by Theodore Weld that left Oneida eventually enrolling as students at the new Lane Seminary near Cincinnati Ohio 5 This was the first organized student activism in the country citation needed Dresser was active in the initiative among the group to teach Negroes in Cincinnati 6 He remained part of the Weld group now called the Lane Rebels when it withdrew en masse in 1834 after Lane prohibited student discussion of slavery 1 5 7 255 5 8 51 However unlike others at the time he did not enroll immediately in the Oberlin Collegiate Institute as it was called until 1866 2 The whipping in Nashville editDuring the summer of 1835 in order to raise money to further his education Dresser traveled around the South selling the Cottage Bible 1 7 255 In Nashville Tennessee by unfortunate accident he was discovered to have abolitionist literature with him He was taken before an extra legal vigilance committee 6 of sixty prominent citizens 1 2 Dresser openly denounced the kangaroo court and the institution of slavery altogether 7 261 From his papers pamphlets correspondence and statements the self appointed Committee found him guilty of Being an active member of an anti slavery society in Ohio Having in his possession sundry pamphlets of a most violent and pernicious tendency and which if generally disseminated would in all human possibility cause an insurrection or rebellion among the slaves That he published and exposed to public view the said pamphlets 9 1 4 7 256 260 A newspaper reporting the case commented editorially that Dresser s crime might possibly lead to the violation by blacks of our wives and daughters 10 He was sentenced to twenty stripes on his bare back which were carried out in public The Committee claimed that were it not for them he would have been lynched 10 9 Dresser then hurriedly left Nashville without his luggage and horse which he never recovered although I have frequently written to my friends concerning them 1 The Nashville Republican published a special issue on the incident 11 Dresser published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette the story of what had happened to him twice had it reprinted in pamphlets plus the American Anti Slavery Society issued it the following year accompanied by other testimony on slavery 1 He later spoke of it many times in the course of abolitionist lectures 12 In January 1837 he spoke on it to the Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society forced to meet in the hay loft of a barn 13 14 Descriptions in Southern newspapers support his account although they call the Bible selling a sham obscuring what according to them was his alleged real purpose distributing abolitionist literature and fomenting a slave insurrection In 1836 he became a successful lecturer for the American Anti Slavery Society He worked for abolitionist leader Henry B Stanton in Worcester County Massachusetts lecturing at Athol Massachusetts Ashburn and Slatersville Rhode Island He then went to Berkshire County Massachusetts and in 1839 to Jamaica to assist another Lane Rebel David Ingraham in missionary work among the Negroes Dresser s later life editDresser returned to Ohio and along with other Lane Rebels enrolled at the Oberlin Collegiate Institute where he obtained a degree in 1839 15 While a student at Oberlin he supported himself by working for the American Anti Slavery Society as a lecturer After completing his studies he married Adeline Smith also a former Oberlin student and from 1839 to 1841 they were missionaries in Jamaica Among their children was Amos Dresser Jr 2 For two years they lived in Batavia Ohio where he was pastor of two churches From 1843 to 1846 he taught at the Olivet Institution in Olivet Michigan founded by Oberlin graduates He then worked for Elihu Burritt and the League of Universal Brotherhood 2 In 1849 he published The Bible Against War 16 2 His wife died in 1850 and in 1851 he married another former Oberlin student Ann Jane Gray Adeline Minerva Dresser was their daughter They toured Europe where Dresser gave lectures on temperance and abolition When they returned to the United States they settled in Farmington Ohio where Dresser worked as a pastor 2 He served as minister of the Cranston Memorial Presbyterian Church in New Harmony Indiana 17 From 1852 to 1865 Dresser was pastor of churches in Trumbull and Ashtabula Counties Ohio 18 in the Western Reserve Underground Railroad center and the most anti slavery region of the country citation needed From 1865 to 1869 he was pastor of three churches in Oceana County Michigan In 1869 he went to Butler County Nebraska where he had the whole county for a parish In 1879 he went to Red Willow County Nebraska At some point towards the end of his life Dresser and his wife went to live in Lawrence Kansas with one of their children and both Amos and Ann Jane died there 2 Writings edit Dresser Amos August 25 1835 The Narrative of Amos Dresser Cincinnati Gazette The date is that on Dresser s letter not the date of the newspaper Dresser Amos September 17 1835 Amos Dresser s Case first page Evening Post New York p 1 via newspapers com Dresser Amos September 17 1835 Amos Dresser s Case concluding page Evening Post New York p 2 via newspapers com Dresser Amos September 26 1835 Amos Dresser s Own Narrative The Liberator p 4 via newspapers com Dresser Amos c 1835 Narrative By the request of many of my friends I re publish the following narrative of my Nashville experience Link is to a reprinting in the collection Slave Rebels Abolitionists and Southern Courts The Lawbook Exchange ISBN 9781584777441 Dresser Amos c 1835 Amos Dresser s Narrative Dresser Amos 1836 The narrative of Amos Dresser with Stone s letters from Natchez an obituary notice of the writer and two letters from Tallahassee relating to the treatment of slaves Link is to a reprinting in the collection Slave Rebels Abolitionists and Southern Courts New York American Anti Slavery Society Dresser Amos 1883 Narrative of Personal Experience In Ballantine W G ed The Oberlin Jubilee 1833 1883 Oberlin Ohio E J Goodrich pp 236 250 Dresser Amos 1846 The Bible Against War Oberlin Ohio The author Extensive excerpts were reprinted in The Liberator on March 1 March 29 and April 5 1850 They received a lengthy response in a letter published in The Liberator on April 26 19 He spoke on this topic to the Ashtabula Ohio Bible Society in 1858 20 References edit a b c d e f g Dresser Amos 1836 August 25 1835 The narrative of Amos Dresser with Stone s letters from Natchez an obituary notice of the writer and two letters from Tallahassee relating to the treatment of slaves From the Cincinnati Daily Gazette New York American Anti Slavery Society Archived from the original on April 23 2021 Retrieved April 23 2021 a b c d e f g h Amos Dresser Oberlin College Archived from the original on February 10 2021 Retrieved June 20 2021 Sixty Years in the Ministry Lawrence Weekly World Lawrence Kansas February 18 1904 p 2 Archived from the original on December 31 2019 Retrieved July 29 2021 via newspapers com Amos Dresser The Watchman Connersville Indiana September 12 1835 p 1 Archived from the original on July 29 2021 Retrieved July 29 2021 via newspaperarchive com a b Snodgrass Mary Ellen 2015 Civil Disobedience An Encyclopedic History of Dissidence in the United States Routledge p 5 ISBN 978 1 317 47441 8 Archived from the original on 2021 10 09 Retrieved 2020 12 06 a b Dumond Dwight L 1949 The Mississippi Valley of Decision Mississippi Valley Historical Review 36 1 3 26 at p 10 doi 10 2307 1895693 ISSN 0161 391X JSTOR 1895693 a b c d Finkelman Paul 2007 Slave Rebels Abolitionists and Southern Courts The Pamphlet Literature The Lawbook Exchange Ltd ISBN 978 1 58477 744 1 Archived from the original on 2021 10 09 Retrieved 2021 10 09 Fletcher Robert Samuel 1943 History of Oberlin College from its foundation through the Civil War Oberlin College a b An Abolitionist Caught The Tennessean Nashville Tennessee August 11 1835 p 3 a b Abolition Sangamo Journal Springfield Illinois August 29 1835 p 3 Archived from the original on July 30 2021 Retrieved July 30 2021 via Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections Untitled National Banner and Nashville Whig Nashville Tennessee Reprinted from the Cincinnati Whig 19 Aug 1835 p 3 via newspapers com a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint others link Untitled Vermont Telegraph Brandon Vermont February 14 1838 p 2 Archived from the original on October 9 2021 Retrieved September 11 2020 via newspaperarchive com Wilson Henry 1872 History of the rise and fall of the slave power in America Vol 1 Boston Houghton Mifflin p 357 Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society Fifth Annual Meeting The Liberator February 4 1837 p 1 via newspapers com Garrison William Lloyd 1971 The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison Volume II A House Dividing Against Itself 1836 1840 Belknap Press of Harvard University Press p 202 ISBN 978 0 674 52661 7 Archived from the original on 2021 06 27 Retrieved 2020 12 06 Dresser Amos 1849 The Bible against War Oberlin Ohio The author Rudowski Joyce October 13 2005 Driving tips take you through scenic slice of freedom s history Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati Ohio p 37 E3 Archived from the original on April 23 2021 Retrieved April 23 2021 via newspapers com Untitled Oberlin Evangelist Apr 1 1857 p 3 via newspaperarchive com Grew Henry April 26 1850 April 10 1850 Civil Government The Liberator Boston Massachusetts p 4 Archived from the original on July 29 2021 Retrieved July 29 2021 via newspapers com Ashtabula County Bible Society Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph Ashtabula Ohio November 20 1858 p 3 Archived from the original on 2021 07 30 Retrieved 2021 07 30 via Chronicling America Further reading editEaton Clement 1942 Mob Violence in the Old South Mississippi Valley Historical Review 29 3 351 370 doi 10 2307 1897915 ISSN 0161 391X JSTOR 1897915 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Amos Dresser amp oldid 1209740437, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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