Description
- Abstract:
- The growing controversy over the morality of the transatlantic slave trade in the late eighteenth century spilled onto the campus of the College of Rhode Island, what is today Brown University. At the 1798 commencement ceremony, a senior at the College, James Tallmadge, delivered this "oration upon the infringement of the rights of man." In the speech, Tallmadge mocked the various claims of the trade's defenders (some of whom were doubtless sitting in the audience), dismissing such arguments as feeble rationalizations designed to disguise "avarice" and "appease a corroding conscience." Tallmadge later earned distinction in the U.S. House of Representatives for his opposition to the extension of slavery into the western territories.
Access Conditions
- Rights
- No Copyright - United States
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
Tallmadge, James,
"An oration upon the infringement of the rights of man, to be delivered at the commencement of Rhode Island College:
September 5th, 1798
"
(1798).
Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:303643/
Relations
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Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice
An archive of a wide array of historical documents, from the records of slaving voyages to student commencement orations, digitized in support of the work of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The collection contains over one hundred …...