Content Analysis - Essays in this Section
The five extant issues of The Unionist feature advertisements, but because this was an openly partisan paper in a community conflict, the content of these advertisements is more interesting than it would otherwise be. The Abolitionist pamphlets published by The Liberator were available for sale at The Unionist offices. These were mentioned in all issues after the first one. The single largest category of advertisements was for Free Produce stores. These were merchants who attempted to boycott all slave-made produce, selling only freely made goods. The four Free Produce stores that advertised consistently in The Unionist were William Grey in New York City, Joseph Beale, also in New York, and Lydia White in Philadelphia. Lydia White visited the Canterbury Female Academy in 1834. New York City merchants in Abolitionism included Philip A. Bell, who sold Abolitionist literature. New York was the largest center from which the students hailed, so this predominance may speak to their network. I am trying to determine if P.A. Bell is the same person as the African-American Philip A. Bell, which would make him the only known Black merchant advertising in The Unionist. There were ads for Temperance Hotels and Graham Boarding Houses, too – catering to the alliance of Temperance and Abolition causes. Another prominent advertiser is the Wool, Leather and Hides enterprise of George Benson, Jr. and William Chace, both Abolitionists, in Providence. There are some local advertisers – including the tailor S. Barrows – and amidst the pleas for returning lost horses, picking up wandering cows, and settling outstanding bills, the names I have been able to trace indicate some leaning towards the Abolition cause, at some point in their lives. There are frequent ads for the two male Academies in the area – Woodstock Academy and Plainfield Academy – both of which had connections to the Burleigh family. Educational literature – such as the famed Peter Parley, and other reading series – are present in every issue. While a smattering of ads for goods like insurance, clothing, and silverware can be found, the tenor of these pages leans towards Abolitionist community needs and education as the most important themes. Perhaps most desperate were The Unionist’s constant (and conventional) self-advertisements for printing of all kinds. The mechanics of newspaper production were not the strong suit of the Burleigh brothers, and while The Unionist met minimum standards, it was hardly a strong self-promotion for printing excellence. Once again, the fiscal beneficence of Arthur Tappan fortunately saved the Burleighs from having to generate a huge profit from this newspaper.
For Further Reference
- Garrison, Wendell Phillips. The Benson Family of Newport, Rhode Island, Together with an Appendix concerning the Benson Families in America of English Descent. New York: The Nation Press [Privately Printed], 1872.
- Glickman, Lawrence B. “’Buy for the Sake of the Slave’: Abolitionism and the Origins of American Consumer Activism.” American Quarterly, 56:4 (December 2004), 889-912.
- Holcomb, Julie. Moral CommerceL Quakers and the Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 2016.
- Nuermberger, Ruth Ketring. 1942. The Free Produce Movement: A Quaker Protest Against Slavery. Historical Papers of the Trinity College Historical Society. Series XXV. Durham NC: Duke University Press.
- Peterson, Carla L. Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Published on