Thomas Campbell’s Epigram on the American Flag and Abolitionist Oratory: Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, and William Lloyd Garrison

Authors

Patrick Scott, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Michael C. Weisenburg, University of South CarolinaFollow

Abstract

Describes the background to a brief epigram written in 1836 by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell about the American flag and American slavery, which circulated widely in contemporary newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, and discusses the use made of Campbell's epigram over the next decades by three leading American anti-slavery orators, Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, and William Lloyd Garrison. The contemporary impact of the epigram is illustrated by an early non-authorial transcript recently acquired for the G. Ross Roy Collection.

Recommended Citation

Scott, Patrick and Weisenburg, Michael C. (2021) "Thomas Campbell’s Epigram on the American Flag and Abolitionist Oratory: Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, and William Lloyd Garrison," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 47: Iss. 1, 160–168.
Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol47/iss1/13