Drawing of the 1835 Garrison Riot

Artwork

[1835?]

Anti-Slavery Collection, Boston Public Library, Digital Commonwealth

A color image in sepia tones of a hand-inked sketch titled the "Downfal of Abolition." The drawing features a rowdy group of men in tailcoats and top hats. In the center of the image, two of the men are climbing up a ladder to remove a sign from the front of a two story building. The sign says "antislavery office." Two men without top hats on are throwing the "Holy Bible" out of the second story window of the antislavery office. One man in the crowd flinches as the office sign is about to land right on top of him. His right foot is stepping on a paper with the title "Human Rights." One man to the left of him in the crowd is saying "Down with the damned abolitionists! The peace of the city is destroyed by them! Lynch them! Lynch them!" To the far right, a man in a jacket with an angry expression on his face walks towards the crowd, lifts his top hat from his head, and says "Hurrah for the Constitution! Down with the Abolitionists! The morals of the community are in danger through them! Our liberties must be preserved! Lynch the rascals!" Right in front of him is a man in tattered pants, tailcoat, and top hat, with a bottle of alchohol in his left hand. He is saying "Here

This ink drawing depicts the Garrison riot of October 21, 1835. Some of the rioters cheer for anti-abolitionist politicians Harrison Gray Otis and Peleg Sprague. Mayor Theodore Lyman Jr., who took Garrison into protective custody, was himself a vocal anti-abolitionist. Lyman, Otis, and other notable Bostonians spoke at an August proslavery meeting in Faneuil Hall aimed at placating the South.

This illustration in ink, titled “Downfall of abolition,” depicts the anti-Garrison riot which occurred in Boston on October 21, 1835. It shows the rioters removing the sign from the Anti-Slavery Office and condemning the abolitionists. They also cheer for the Constitution and celebrate Harrison Gray Otis and Peleg Sprague, with one rioter calling them, “men after my own heart – damn me!”

Abolitionism

Demonstration

Words

Artwork