Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 4B

23. Carlos Martyn, “Wendell Phillips as an Orator,” Forum (November 1889): 305-16.

Detailed analysis of Wendell Phillips’ oratorical skills, which he employed in as a spokesperson for the abolitionist cause. The author concludes with this assessment. “The greatest of compliments is imitation. The whole school of anti-slavery speakers echoed the manner, and especially the intonations, of Wendell Phillips. More important than this, his style set a fashion. It taught the bar, the pulpit, the platform the value of high-bred conversationalism as the most effective vehicle of thought and emotion. With his advent, roar and rant went out of date; the era of trained naturalism opened. Thus he made every speaker and every audience his debtor.”