Letters to Catharine E. Beecher in Reply….to A.E. Grimke.
Grimké, A. E. Letters to Catharine E. Beecher in Reply to An Essay on Slavery and Addressed to A.E. Grimke. Revised by the Author. Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838.
8vo; endpapers supplied; pages lightly browned; tan half-cloth, paper cover label; minor restoration to extremities. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition. After early hopes of training at Catharine Beecher’s school in Hartford to become a teacher were dashed by her disapproving suitor, Quaker Edward Bettle (who died shortly thereafter), Grimké turned to writing. Her influential Appeal To The Christian Women Of The South led to the publication of Beecher’s Essay On Slavery And Abolitionism With Reference To The Duty Of American Females (1837). Further criticism of the Grimkés’ activities came with the Congressional ministerial association issuing a “Pastoral Letter” objecting to their unwomanly behavior. On the suggestion of Mary Parker that the Grimkés write a reply to the “Pastoral Letter,” Sarah penned a response, as Angelina was already occupied with editing her letters to Catharine Beecher. “This cannot be denied, for Paxton, a Virginia slaveholder, says, ‘the best blood in Virginia flows in the veins of slaves!’ …Yes, even the blood of a Jefferson.” This was a subject not spoken about or addressed in writing and certainly not by a woman. A haunting book written by a spiritual woman with unwavering convictions of her spiritual mission on earth.
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