Theodore Dwight Weld
Reformer, Educator, Author
Early Life
Born on November 23, 1803, in Hampton, Connecticut. At the age of 16 Weld enrolled in the Phillips Andover Academy, however he was forced to leave due to health problems.
Marriage
Weld would later marry a fellow abolitionist Angelina Grimké at her Philidelphia home. Weld a stout supporter of Women's Rights rejected the idea that the husband should have legal power over their wife, and as such no minister or judge attended.
Pennsylvania Hall
The abolitionists of Pennsylvania raised $40,000 to build the hall which they would use to hold pro-abolitionist events without persecution. That goal was never reached as just days after the opening the Hall was burnt down by angered mobs. The hall would never be rebuilt and marked the end Weld's career as an anti-slavery lecturer due to health problems.
Slavery
Weld was a devoted abolitionist leaving the Lane Theological Seminary in 1833 after they barred him from speaking out against slavery and proceeded to become a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society. He continued being an outspoken abolitionist writing such things The Bible Against Slavery, a rebuttal against the common Pro-Slavery argument that claimed the Bible supported slavery that converted people such as William Brisbane to the side of the abolitionists as well as writing pamphlets that detailed the inhumane conditions slaves lived in.
Goverment
Weld not only was a devoted to the end of slavery he held heavy concern of the government as best shown in his pamphlet The Power of Congress Over the District of Columbia. In the pamphlet Weld describes the power Congress had over the government as well as explains that no government can authorize inhumane actions or punish virtuous ones.
Later Life
While Weld did end his career as a lecturer he did not end his search for equality. Alongside his wife Angelina and his sister Sarah he wrote American Slaver As It Is, which was sent alongside newspapers in the south much to their outrage. The pamphlet not only exposed the cruelty of slaveholders to the general populace it influenced Harriet Beecher's writing in Uncle Tom's Cabin considered to be on of the influential writing in 19th century America. They then went on to open a school on their own farm before becoming the headmasters of a Utopian School that accepted those of all races and genders until 1862. After years of seeking reforms in America & outliving loved ones Weld died on February 3, 1895 at the age of 92.