Life span: 06/24/1813 to 03/08/1887Dickinson Connection: Friend and associate of Horatio Collins King - edited the Christian Associate when King was publisherTabsLife SummaryFull name: Henry Ward BeecherPlace of Birth: Litchfield, CTBurial Place: Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NYBirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Children: 10Family: Lyman Beecher (father), Roxana Foote Beecher (mother), Harriet Beecher Stowe (sister), Isabella Beecher Hooker (half-sister), Eunice Bullard (wife)Education: OtherOther Education: Boston Latis School; Amherst College, MA; Lane Theological Seminary, OHOccupation: ClergyRelation to Slavery: White non-slaveholderChurch or Religious Denomination: PresbyterianOtherOther Religion: CongregationalistPolitical Parties: Free SoilRepublicanOther Affiliations: Abolitionists (Anti-Slavery Society) Note Cards Henry Ward Beecher (American National Biography) ScholarshipAs his fame as a dramatic preacher spread, Beecher in the 1850s also gained a reputation as an abolitionist. An early critic of the expansion of slavery into the western territories, he protested the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law (1850), supported his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe in her publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, and became an early campaigner for the Republican party. Guns sent to Kansas in 1855 during the dispute over the new territory became known as "Beecher's Bibles," an ironic reference to them as a force for moral suasion. By 1861 he had become a power within the Republican party. As editor of The Independent between 1861 and 1864, he campaigned for the party, supported the war effort, urged Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and undertook a popular speaking tour of England that helped keep that country from joining the side of the Confederates. Beecher's political speeches, published as Freedom and War (1863) and Patriotic Addresses (1887), identified the northern war effort with God's mission: moral duty would support national destiny. Clifford E. Clark, "Beecher, Henry Ward," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/08/08-00112.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 01/04/1859 01/04/1859 Annual "renting of the pews" at Rev. Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn brings record return 02/05/1860 02/05/1860 "Slave auction" at Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's Brooklyn church frees nine-year old slave girl 02/08/1860 02/08/1860 Wife of Henry Ward Beecher has narrow escape in carriage accident 02/17/1860 02/17/1860 Large gathering of leading New Yorkers demonstrate their support of Italian liberty 11/17/1863 11/17/1863 Henry Ward Beecher's church members welcome him home from a lengthy trip to Europe 04/14/1865 04/14/1865 In Charleston Harbor, General Robert Anderson re-hoists the United States flag over Fort Sumter 09/17/1866 09/19/1866 In Cleveland, Ohio, the Democratic-aligned Soldiers and Sailors Union, holds its first annual convention. Major TopicsBleeding KansasFugitive Slave LawUncle Tom’s Cabin Documents Author Docs Date Title 04/14/1865 Reverend Henry Ward Beecher's remarks at the ceremony restoring the flag to Fort Sumter, South Carolina, April 14, 1865 Subject Docs Date Title 01/03/1857 Richmond (VA) Dispatch, "A Case in Point," January 3, 1857 10/22/1857 Washington (DC) National Era, “Collapse of Abolitionists,” October 22, 1857 08/17/1858 New York Times, “Bringing Men Together,” August 17, 1858 07/01/1859 New York Times, “The Underground Railroad in Orange County,” July 1, 1859 10/24/1859 Richmond (VA) Dispatch, "Northern Impertinences with Regard to the Late Affair at Harpers Ferry," October 24, 1859 11/03/1859 Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Tenderly Sensitive," November 3, 1859 11/27/1859 New York Herald, “A Suggestion to Governor Wise About Old Brown,” November 27, 1859 10/28/1860 New York Herald, “Helper and His Black Republican Endorsers,” October 28, 1860 02/03/1861 New York Herald, “Greeley for Senator, Why Not?,” February 3, 1861 04/19/1861 Boston (MA) Liberator, “An Ancient and A Modern Compromise,” April 19, 1861 04/19/1861 Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Henry Ward Beecher on War,” April 19, 1861 03/27/1865 Edwin Stanton, Orders for ceremonies at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina Images Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher, detail Henry Ward Beecher, engraving Henry Ward Beecher, engraving, detail Henry Ward Beecher, circa 1876 Henry Ward Beecher, circa 1876, detail Henry Ward Beecher, April 1866, Thomas Nast cartoon Henry Ward Beecher on the Speakers' Platform, Flag Raising at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, April 14, 1865, zoomable photograph Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York Welcome Home for Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York, November 17, 1863, artist's impression Welcome Home for Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York, November 17, 1863, artist's impression, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Williams, William R., Henry Ward Beecher, Henry W. Bellows, Stephen H. Tyng, Charles S. Robinson, William Ives Budington, and John McClintock. Our Martyr President, Abraham Lincoln: Voices from the Pulpit of New York and Brooklyn. New York: Tibbals & Whiting, 1865. View Record Rugoff, Milton Allan. The Beechers: An American Family in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. View Record
Henry Ward Beecher (American National Biography) ScholarshipAs his fame as a dramatic preacher spread, Beecher in the 1850s also gained a reputation as an abolitionist. An early critic of the expansion of slavery into the western territories, he protested the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law (1850), supported his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe in her publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, and became an early campaigner for the Republican party. Guns sent to Kansas in 1855 during the dispute over the new territory became known as "Beecher's Bibles," an ironic reference to them as a force for moral suasion. By 1861 he had become a power within the Republican party. As editor of The Independent between 1861 and 1864, he campaigned for the party, supported the war effort, urged Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and undertook a popular speaking tour of England that helped keep that country from joining the side of the Confederates. Beecher's political speeches, published as Freedom and War (1863) and Patriotic Addresses (1887), identified the northern war effort with God's mission: moral duty would support national destiny. Clifford E. Clark, "Beecher, Henry Ward," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/08/08-00112.html.
Henry Ward Beecher on the Speakers' Platform, Flag Raising at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, April 14, 1865, zoomable photograph
Welcome Home for Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York, November 17, 1863, artist's impression
Welcome Home for Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York, November 17, 1863, artist's impression, detail