Wendell Phillips and the Abolitionist Movement

Wendell Phillips was an important part of the abolitionist movement before and after the Civil War.  He was the epitome of the radical wing of political thinking at the time.  Hofstadter comments that historians have shortchanged Phillips’ intellectual prowess and portrayed him as a narrow minded radical.  Philips was much more than most historians credit him as.  The title of Hofstadter’s essay “Wendell Phillips: The Patrician as Agitator” paints a distinct picture of Wendell Phillips’ place in history.  Wendell Phillips also illustrates the importance of a radical element of democracy to counteract extreme complacency.  Wendell Phillip’s influence in historical events provides a fertile ground to examine radicalism as a whole.

Hofstadter titled his essay “Wendell Phillips: The Patrician as Agitator” for very specific reasons.  Wendell Phillips was a patrician.  A patrician is an aristocrat or member of an elite class.  Wendell Phillips was not born into poverty, but rather into a privileged, well-established family.  He grew up imbibed in revolutionary glory, and valued the basic principles of the constitution for all people.  Phillips was certainly an agitator.  He incurred the wrath of mobs around the country by steadfastly proclaiming his controversial agenda to supporters and hecklers alike.  It is obvious that Wendell Phillips was both an agitator and a patrician; however Hofstadter had more than two adjectives in mind when he titled his essay.  The importance of the title lies in how the two adjectives relate.  Wendell Phillips was a patrician who was an agitator.  By today’s standards he was somewhat of a “limousine liberal”.  Phillips’ opinions and agenda were not typical of the elite class of his day.  The issues that he stood for were not ones that directly affected him, yet he defended them with rigor and resolve.  This is the true significance of the title of the essay.

Wendell Phillips is the epitome of radicalism before, during, and after the Civil War.  Radical ideas were and are an important part of democratic politics.   They provide a direct foil to the complacency that can develop in a government.  Radical ideas are not always correct, but they do promote change.  The prospect of change forces people to confront issues that they would have otherwise not confronted in a meaningful way.  Radical ideas are the impetus of modern politics, demanding change and forcing compromises that benefit both sides.  However, a majority of any idealistic group is dangerous.  If radicals controlled the government, unfavorable results would follow because they would work to serve only their own agenda.  In a balanced governmental system, however, radicals play an important, integral, and irreplaceable part in democracy.

In conclusion, Wendell Phillips is very representative of radicalism at its finest.  He was, as Hofstadter described him, an agitator and patrician.  This description of Phillips is much more accurate and relevant than most historians’ descriptions of Phillips as a closed minded extremist.  Phillips also accurately represents the importance of radicalism in a democratic society.  Phillips played a much more important part in history than he is credited for and was much more aware of his actions and shortcomings than historians formerly believed he had been.