William
Cullen Bryant
was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, on 3rd November, 1794. He studied
law in Bridgewater before being admitted to the bar in 1815.
While working as an attorney in Plainfield and Great Barrington, Bryant
established himself as a literary figure with The
Embargo (1808), Thanatopsis
(1817) and Poems (1821). In 1825
Bryant moved to New York City where he
become co-editor of the New York Review.
In 1827 Bryant was recruited by the New
York Evening Post and became editor two years later. Bryant,
who remained in control for the next fifty years, was a strong opponent
of slavery and gave support to the emerging
trade union movement. In June, 1836, Bryant
defended the striking Society of Journeyman Tailors by linking the
issue with slavery: "They are condemned because they are determined
not to work for the wages offered them. If this is not slavery, we
have forgotten its definition."
Originally a member of the Free Soil Party,
he helped establish the Republican Party
was established at Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854. William Cullen Bryant
remained editor of the New York Evening
Post until his death on 12th June, 1878.
(1)
William
Cullen Bryant, New York Evening Post (13th June, 1836)
They are condemned because
they are determined not to work for the wages offered them. If this
is not slavery, we have forgotten its definition. Strike the right
of associating for the sale of labour from the privileges of a freeman,
and you may as well as once bind him to a master.
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