[Letter to] My dear Miss Carpenter
Contributors: Carpenter, Mary, 1807-1877, recipient
Series: Samuel May Correspondence
Published: 1844
Place of publication: Leicester, Mass
Language: eng
Format: [manuscript]
Number of pages: 10
Subjects: Correspondence; History; Antislavery movements; Abolitionists
Description: May praises the Dissenters' Chapel Bill very highly. He then discusses the anti-slavery situation in the United States, including the past history of the abolition movement, its internal dissensions, and its conflict with the American churches, who May feels acted as the chief supports of slavery. He mentions particularly the Calvinist ministers' dislike of William Lloyd Garrison, and the part played by women in the abolitionist movement, referring specifically to Lydia M. Child, the Grimke sisters, and Abbey Kelly Foster.  May also speaks of the Liberty party in highly derogatory terms. The latter part of the letter concerns the Anti-Slavery fair, Dr. Channing's biography, and the memoirs of Mr. Acton, Dr. Samuel Henry Dickson, and Dr. James McCune Smith, a colored minister.
Notes: Holograph, signed.

Title supplied by cataloger.

After a delay in mailing the letter dated October 28, May adds additional pages, dated November 8. On page two of the second letter, May says, "my letter is spreading itself out to a most unexpected, and I fear you will think unwarrantable length."