Freedom's champion--Elijah Lovejoy

435 Pages·1994·1.19 MB·English

by  Paul Simon

title: Freedom's Champion--Elijah Lovejoy
author: Simon, Paul.
publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
isbn10 | asin: 0809319411
print isbn13: 9780809319411
ebook isbn13: 9780585030296
language: English
Lovejoy, Elijah P.--(Elijah Parish),--1802-
subject 1837, Abolitionists--Illinois--Alton--
Biography, Riots--Illinois--Alton--History-
-19th century, Alton (Ill.)--Biography.
publication date: 1994
lcc: F549.A4L72 1994eb
ddc: 973.5/092
Lovejoy, Elijah P.--(Elijah Parish),--1802-
1837, Abolitionists--Illinois--Alton--
subject:
Biography, Riots--Illinois--Alton--History-
-19th century, Alton (Ill.)--Biography.
Page iii
Freedom's Champion
Elijah Lovejoy
Paul Simon
With a Foreword by Clarence Page
Southern Illinois University Press
Carbondale and Edwardsville
Page iv
Copyright © 1994 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Designed by Dariel Mayer
Production supervised by Natalia Nadraga
97 96 95 4 3 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Simon, Paul, date.
Freedom's championElijah Lovejoy / Paul Simon : with a
foreword by Clarence Page.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Lovejoy, martyr to freedom. 1964.
Includes index.
1. Lovejoy, Elijah P. (Elijah Parish), 18021837. 2.
AbolitionistsIllinoisAlton
Biography. 3. RiotsIllinoisAltonHistory19th century.
4. Alton (Ill.)Biography. I. Simon,
Paul, date, Lovejoy, martyr to freedom. II. Title.
F549.A4L72 1994
973.5´092dc20
[B] 93-45581
ISBN 0-8093-1940-3 CIP
ISBN 0-8093-1941-1 pbk.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Page v
To Howard Metzenbaum,
like Elijah Lovejoy, a courageous
champion of opportunity and justice
Page vii
We don't need to do anything to history to make it better, sexier, happier, safer,
more relevant. We need only listen to it, accept it, even in its seemingly
unbearable moments, and trust in its lessons.
Ken Burns, filmmaker and producer of "The Civil War"
Page ix
Contents
Illustrations xi
Foreword, Clarence Page xiii
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xix
1. From Maine to the Frontier 1
2. Editor, Preacher, and Fighter 18
3. A Horrible Murder 43
4. A Press in the River 61
5. Danger and Violence 77
6. Prelude to Death 96
7. Death 118
8. Injustice and Aftermath 136
9. The Nation Is Stirred 154
Postcript 171
Notes 179
Index 197
Page xi
Illustrations
Following page 76
Monument at the site of the birthplace of Elijah Lovejoy in Albion,
Maine
Elijah Lovejoy, silhouette
Lovejoy's house in Alton, wood engraving by Louis Hofman
Lovejoy's printing office in Alton, engraving
Alton, Illinois, watercolor by Henry Lewis, 1848
Section of Lovejoy's printing press
Proslavery riot of November 7, 1837, wood engraving, 1837
Lovejoy memorial plate
Lovejoy monument in Alton
Page xiii
Foreword
Ever since Paul Simon published a shorter book on the martyred
abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy in 1964, the two seemed to me to be an
appropriate match. Both built formidable reputations as teachers,
humanitarians, and crusading editorial writers. Simon's reputation
came quite early. Long before the nation got to know him as a U.S.
senator and a 1988 candidate for the Democratic presidential
nomination, Simon, at nineteen, took over what would eventually be a
chain of thirteen southern Illinois newspapers. He immediately
embarked on a relentless crusade against local gangsters and machine
politicians, a battle that carried considerable risks with it, just as
Lovejoy's crusade against slavery proved fatal for him and his printing
presses. Like Lovejoy, Simon, the son of a Lutheran minister, is
closely associated with sober Yankee virtues of hard work and charity,
a virtually spotless reputation that helped him get elected to the
Illinois General Assembly in 1954 despite opposition from party
regulars, to the state Senate in 1963, to lieutenant governor in 1966
(the only to be elected while the other party won the governorship), to
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1975, and to the U.S. Senate in
1984.
In a political age of breathtaking scandals and rampant cynicism,
Simon stands out among friends and foes alike in his trademark bow
ties and monotone voice as refreshingly modest and dull. His idea of a
"wild time," a congressional colleague once quipped, is "dinner and a
discussion of history."