- Elijah P. Lovejoy (1802–1837) Commemorative Side Plate
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This plate commemorates the death of Presbyterian minister, abolitionist, and journalist Elijah Parish Lovejoy. In St. Louis during the 1830s, his writing grew more and more critical of slavery. He moved to nearby Alton, Illinois (a free state) in 1836, but he did not escape violent proslavery opposition. On November 7, 1837, Lovejoy was murdered by a proslavery mob seeking to destroy his printing press. Lovejoy’s death made him an international martyr to the antislavery cause.
The plate includes texts from the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bible, combining the appeals to freedom of the press and racial equality. At the top, an enslaved man kneels next to Liberty, who stands next to a printing press. The image of the kneeling man is adapted from an emblem popular in the British abolitionist movement during the late 1700s.
Provenance[American Memories Antiques, Wyncote, Pennsylania, May 2, 1994]; purchased by Chester Creutzburg and David Martin; [Northeast Auctions, March 5–6, 2016, lot 103]; purchased by MFAH, 2016.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Center top:
LOVEJOY
The first MARTYR to American
LIBERTY
at ALTON NOV. 7 1873
Center left:
WE HOLD
THAT ALL MEN
ARE CREATED
EQUAL
Center right:
OF ONE BLOOD
ARE ALL
NATIONS OF
MEN.
Center:
CONGRESS
SHALL MAKE NO LAW
RESPECTING
AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION;
OR PROHIBITING
THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF:
OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH,
OR OF THE PRESS;
OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY
TO ASSEMBLE;
AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT
FOR A REDRESS OF
GRIEVANCES.
CONSTITUTION
U.S.
Label in ink on bottom: 5326-17 (2)
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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