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separately or together as long as Alla was being looked after; more often it was Abby Kelley Foster who left her husband watching the girl. Once when Alla was three, and her mother was out on a speaking tour, Stephen
Symonds Foster was asked by Alla to buy her a harmonica and a churn, and Foster responded that he had little money, and could only buy her the necessities. Foster himself was about to leave on a speaking engagement and intended to send the girl to be cared for by her grandparents. Foster anticipated that she would be lonely and might need a toy wagon. Foster wrote to his wife, saying "I got the harmonica & wagon, & received for them a whole wagon load of kisses. She was careful, however, as she always is, to save some "for mother". I am struck with the fact that she always insists on your right to an equal part of every thing which I possess, if she attaches any value to it. One would almost think her specially commissioned to look after your rights, in your absence."
295:. The words of Foster and Douglass served to define a major split which separated women's rights activists into two camps: those like Stanton and Anthony who felt that educated women deserved the right to vote before or at the same time as uneducated men, and those like Stone, Douglass, and Foster, who felt that the political situation called for a drive to achieve suffrage for the African-American man, followed by a new focus on suffrage for women of all races.
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swarming with rats, lice, and fleas. From prison, Foster wrote a letter of protest which was published in a local paper. His friends raised bail after two weeks, but Foster's letter aroused indignation among citizens who later cleaned out the jail and then passed a law which banned imprisonment for debt. Foster redoubled his efforts in school, especially his rhetoric and public speaking courses, and graduated in 1838 third in his class.
189:", a phrase which denoted a person who dissented from religious orthodoxy. More specifically, it meant that Foster would not join a church which held a neutral position on the issue of slavery, and he would not take part in a government that let slavery happen. The phrase was derived from the Bible verse
303:
In 1874, Worcester city officials put
Liberty Farm up for auction to pay back taxes. In a manner similar to prior protests made by women's rights activists such as Lucy Stone, the Fosters refused to pay taxes on the 65-acre (260,000 m) farm because Abby Kelley Foster was not given the right to
128:
from speaking. When the mob attacked, Foster took twenty blows to the head and had his coat torn in half. He was pulled from the crowd by women of the
Portland Anti-Slavery Society who helped him escape through a back window. Spear was beaten nearly to death on the front steps of the meeting house.
100:
in New York City. There, he was forbidden by faculty to host an anti-slavery meeting he had scheduled. He was offered a scholarship if he would quit speaking of abolition, but Foster rejected this, saying he "could not be bought to hold his peace." In the spring of 1839, he left New York to take a
231:
On May 19, 1847, Paulina Wright "Alla" Foster was born at
Liberty Farm, the only child that the couple would have. To care for the infant, Abby Kelley Foster stayed home at first, helped occasionally by her sister-in-law Caroline Foster. The young girl's parents soon found that they could lecture
92:
to speak to the Young Men's Anti-Slavery
Society. During his senior year, Foster was arrested and put in prison for not paying a debt of $ 12.14 (~$ 359.00 in 2023) to a local clockmaker; Foster was shocked to find that debtors were locked up with violent criminals and thieves, in common cells
200:, in June 1858, Foster spoke after Pillsbury to say "any law, constitution, court, or government, any church, priesthood, creed, or Bible, any Christ, or any God, that, by silence or otherwise, authorizes man to enslave man, merits the scorn and contempt of mankind."
264:, to help plan for a women's rights convention. They determined that it would be held near their Liberty Farm in Worcester. That October, both Foster and his wife were among the featured speakers at the first
668:
Duncan, Troy, and Chris Dixon. ""Denouncing the
Brotherhood of Thieves: Stephen Symonds Foster and the Abolitionist Critique of the Anti-abolitionist Clergy," Civil War History, 47 (2001): 97ā117.
676:
212:, a more famous social activist and a dynamic speaker who had occasionally joined with him on the abolitionist lecture circuit. They continued to travel and lecture together until the
319:, of Leicester, Massachusetts, presiding. Tributes to Foster's life and works were presented by Lucy Stone, Wendell Phillips, Reverend Henry T. Cheever, and Parker Pillsbury.
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308:. A sympathetic neighbor bid on the property and then allowed Foster to buy it back from him. This became a yearly event, as the Fosters never paid their taxes directly.
906:
113:
Foster was known to interrupt church services to denounce organized religion's complicity in slavery. In 1841, he was expelled from his
Congregationalist church in
88:
where his brother Asa had graduated and studied the classics, including Greek and Latin. Foster embraced abolitionism at this time, and in his third year invited
279:
of advocating "educated suffrage"āthe right of upper-class white women to vote. Foster implied strongly that
Stanton should step down as president of AERA.
26:
known for his dramatic and aggressive style of public speaking, and for his stance against those in the church who failed to fight slavery. His marriage to
97:
316:
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6:17, which reads "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, said the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."
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921:
871:
901:
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in 1842, Foster was wounded in a riot outside a meetinghouse. Pro-slavery supporters wished to prevent Foster and the radical abolitionist
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73:, on November 17, 1809. His parents Sarah and Asa Foster had twelve children, Stephen was the ninth. The family attended the local
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271:
In 1869, amid tensions building up between factions of women's rights activists, Foster spoke out at a national meeting of the
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147:
in the other. He said "Behold here a specimen of the religion of this land, the handiwork of the
American church and clergy."
49:. Foster wrote anti-slavery tracts and published in 1843 a widely discussed book that met with protest and critical response:
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The
Brotherhood of Thieves; or A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy: A Letter to Nathaniel Barney, of Nantucket.
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The Brotherhood of Thieves; or A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy: A Letter to Nathaniel Barney, of Nantucket
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134:
The Brotherhood of Thieves; or A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy: A Letter to Nathaniel Barney, of Nantucket
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In 1844, Foster appeared in front of the New England Antislavery Convention holding an iron collar in one hand and iron
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widened the gap when he stood up and stated his position against Stanton's use in her address of the pejorative term
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23:
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911:
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224:; there they lived until Foster's death in 1881. The Fosters used the farm to shelter escaping slaves on the
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46:
545:
Letter from Stephen S. Foster to Abby Kelley Foster, written on August 15, 1850. Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
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257:
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Cirillo, Frank J. "Waiting for the Perfect Moment: Abby Kelley Foster and Stephen Fosterās Union War" in
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114:
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Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women's Movement in America, 1848ā1869.
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The Late Stephen S. Foster; Sketch of the Veteran Anti-Slavery Worker and Temperance Orator.
268:. The two spoke again at the annual convention in Cleveland, 1853, and in New York in 1856.
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published it through the Boston Anti-Slavery Office. The book went through twenty editions.
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Foster died at Liberty Farm on September 12, 1881. A memorial service was held at the
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38:, and agitated against any government, including his own, that would condone slavery.
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504:āA Convention of āMoral Lunaticsāā: The Rutland, Vermont, Free Convention of 1858
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The Brotherhood of Thieves, or, A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy
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started in 1861. In early 1847, anticipating a family, the two bought a farm in
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edited by Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth R. Varon (Fordham UP, 2019) pp. 9-38
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The First Parish in Portland, Maine; Unitarian Universalist. History, page 3.
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tried to calm the waters by saying that all present, including Stanton and
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Foster apprenticed to a carpenter but left at age 22 to study to become a
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In May 1850, Abby Kelley Foster went to Boston to take part in an annual
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Local abolitionists took the men in and tended to their recuperation.
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All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery
45:, and belonged to the 'New Hampshire radicals' group within the
22:(November 17, 1809 ā September 13, 1881) was a radical American
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Ahead of Her Time: Abbey Kelly and The Politics of Antislavery
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Seneca Falls and the origins of the women's rights movement
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The Worcester Book of Noteworthy Events: From 1657 to 1883.
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where they lived, Foster and his wife formed a link on the
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meeting. Afterward, Abby met with ten others, including
61:, and helped fugitive slaves reach Canada and freedom.
77:, and took part in Canterbury's anti-slavery society.
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In 1845, after a four-year courtship, Foster married
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Burials at Hope Cemetery (Worcester, Massachusetts)
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610:Franklin P. Rice, Worcester Society of Antiquity.
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507:, Thomas L. Altherr. Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
178:. The state society had been founded in 1836 in
907:History of women's rights in the United States
849:between Stephen Symonds Foster and Abby Kelley
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665:Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978.
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744:The Puritan origins of American patriotism
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30:brought his energetic activism to bear on
136:and in 1844 Foster's fellow abolitionist
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101:position as traveling lecturer for the
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678:Revolution the Only Remedy for Slavery
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636:The concise history of woman suffrage.
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408:"The Underground Railroad In Michigan"
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922:People from Canterbury, New Hampshire
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902:People from Worcester, Massachusetts
595:New York Times. September 13, 1881.
845:Worcester Women's History Project.
803:History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I
539:Worcester Women's History Project.
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472:Abolitionism and American Religion,
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196:At the eclectic Free Convention in
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266:National Women's Rights Convention
103:New Hampshire Anti-Slavery Society
43:New Hampshire Anti-Slavery Society
14:
958:
872:American women's rights activists
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651:New Perspectives on the Union War
306:"taxation without representation"
273:American Equal Rights Association
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762:McMillen, Sally Gregory (2008).
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287:, believed in "negro suffrage".
96:Foster subsequently enrolled at
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315:on September 24, with Reverend
892:Suffragists from Massachusetts
711:. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office.
639:University of Illinois, 1978.
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937:American temperance activists
683:American Anti-Slavery Society
530:. Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
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304:vote and was thus subject to
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172:Michigan Anti-Slavery Society
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47:American Anti-Slavery Society
16:American radical abolitionist
614:Putnam, Davis and Co., 1884.
563:Stanton, 1881, pp. 140, 224.
488:The trials of Anthony Burns,
365:Sterling, 1991, pp. 130ā131.
313:Worcester Horticultural Hall
258:Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis
108:
41:Foster helped establish the
7:
932:Underground Railroad people
770:. Oxford University Press.
601:Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
542:Alla Paulina Wright Foster.
492:Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
476:Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
387:Retrieved on April 6, 2009.
132:In 1843, he wrote the book
10:
963:
451:Ann Arbor District Library
98:Union Theological Seminary
501:Vermont History Journal.
71:Canterbury, New Hampshire
917:Dartmouth College alumni
741:McKenna, George (2007).
406:Coggan, Blanche (1964).
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218:Worcester, Massachusetts
927:American male feminists
786:Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
703:Foster, Stephen Symonds
673:Foster, Stephen Symonds
554:McMillen, 2008, p. 106.
519:National Park Service.
342:Sterling, 1991, p. 130.
204:Marriage and fatherhood
947:American abolitionists
877:American tax resisters
858:, by Stephen S. Foster
847:Sample of love letters
661:DuBois, Ellen Carol.
412:Negro History Bulletin
396:McKenna, 2007, p. 136.
351:Sterling, 1991, p. 131
277:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
250:William Lloyd Garrison
115:Hanover, New Hampshire
20:Stephen Symonds Foster
716:Mayer, Henry (1998).
586:DuBois, 1978, p. 114.
485:Von Frank, Albert J.
281:Henry Brown Blackwell
185:Foster was called a "
75:Congregational church
912:Feminism and history
577:Buhle, 1978, p. 258.
242:Anti-Slavery Society
226:Underground Railroad
59:Underground Railroad
806:. Susan B. Anthony.
794:Matilda Joslyn Gage
747:. Yale University.
469:McKivigan, John R.
447:"Signal of Liberty"
180:Ann Arbor, Michigan
69:Foster was born in
34:. He spoke out for
897:American feminists
724:St. Martin's Press
689:on October 6, 2009
526:2015-01-13 at the
434:– via Jstor.
383:2008-05-13 at the
289:Frederick Douglass
254:Harriot Kezia Hunt
152:Abby Kelley Foster
812:Sterling, Dorothy
798:Ida Husted Harper
777:978-0-19-518265-1
754:978-0-300-10099-0
275:(AERA) to accuse
170:āreorganized the
126:John Murray Spear
86:Dartmouth College
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176:Adrian, Michigan
138:Parker Pillsbury
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24:abolitionist
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887:1881 deaths
882:1809 births
822:W.W. Norton
631:Buhle, Paul
210:Abby Kelley
174:in 1853 in
150:Foster and
28:Abby Kelley
866:Categories
456:2022-03-30
323:References
299:Later life
262:Lucy Stone
187:come-outer
82:missionary
65:Early life
36:temperance
424:0028-2529
214:Civil War
109:Abolition
814:(1991).
800:(1881).
705:(1843).
693:April 6,
675:(1855).
524:Archived
432:44174961
381:Archived
145:manacles
490:p. 338.
474:p. 153.
293:'Sambo'
856:(1843)
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655:online
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260:, and
166:, and
428:JSTOR
328:Notes
826:ISBN
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728:ISBN
695:2009
641:ISBN
420:ISSN
120:In
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