Negative Reception for The Unionist
"Andover"
Columbian Register (New Haven), August 24, 1833
Negative notice
Transcription
“FOR THE REGISTER”
“THE UNIONIST”
“A Distinguished gentleman from Windham County, recently in this city, informs that the Unionist, printed at Brooklyn, is distributed gratis throughout the country. Arthur Tappan, a few days before issuing the first number, went to Brooklyn, and conferred with the Rev. Mr. May, the Unitarian clergyman there—both proceeded to Canterbury, on a visit to Miss Crandall, and returned to Brooklyn; the printing house was set in order, and the new paper appeared.
It seems this paper is a joint effort of Abolitionism and Anti-Masonry, Unitarianism and Temperance—a rare union of valuable elements.
Will the Congregational Clergy and the ultra orthodox range themselves with Arthur Tappan and his heretical compeer? We shall see.
The Litchfield Enquirer is endeavoring to raise an excitement on the subject of the Canterbury law, thinking perhaps, that if the question were put to the inhabitants of Litchfield, whether they would consent to the establishment of a negro school among them, in addition to their present schools, they would answer in the affirmative. But in this he may be mistaken.
The shouting horn of federal sedition this year, is to be the Canterbury negro school, and the dissection law.
ANDOVER
About this Item
Note here the attempt to paint Unitarianism as suspect, and to indicate that Tappan's alliance with Samuel J. May is likewise suspicious – conversely it points to the wide range of religious tolerance and coexistence in the ranks of the Abolitionists. The Columbian Register, based in New Haven, had been a leading voice of opposition to the proposed Manual Labor College for Black men in 1831.
