title:
Letter to Cassius Clay from John G. Fee; 4 April 1844
creator:
Fee, John Gregg, 1816-1901
subject:
description:
Eleven years before Berea College held its first classes in the old district schoolhouse, John G. Fee began a correspondence with Cassius M. Clay, a prominent Madison County landholder, politician, and antislavery advocate. Clay, the son of a slaveholder, had been converted to the antislavery cause in 1832 when, as a student at Yale University, he was deeply impressed by a sermon given by the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Returning to Kentucky, Clay established an antislavery newspaper, The True American, in 1845. In this 1844 letter, Fee introduces himself to Clay, and discusses at length his vision for ending the institution of slavery in Kentucky. Fee became Clay's ally for free speech and a potential means of expanding Clay's political influence in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Clay published a number of Fee's antislavery articles in The True American.. In 1853, he invited Fee to hold a series of religious meetings in the Glade, an area of bottomland located north of the Berea ridge. One year later, thirteen local persons formed a free and nondenominational church and called Fee as their pastor. Clay provided a ten-acre site for a homestead, money toward a house, and additional land for a church and school. Fee, with his wife Matilda and their small children, moved to Madison County in the fall of 1854. ΓÇöby Shannon Wilson (May, 2006)
description:
Original Size: 7.75 x 12.5 in.
publisher:
Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College, Berea, Ky
contributor:
date:
1844-04-04
date:
type:
text
format:
pdf
identifier:
BC-0102-LTR-00011
identifier:
identifier:
source:
Berea College Records: RG 01.02 Papers of John G. Fee. Berea College Special Collections and Archives
language:
eng
relation:
Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College, Berea, Ky
rights:
Resource provided for educational purposes. Please cite all references to item. Materials used for any commercial purpose (as opposed to an educational, non-profit use) must have the prior permission of the Berea College Head of Special Collections and Archives or copyright holder.