Walkers Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life | Page 2

in the cultivation of his mind. Before the Anti-Slavery
Reformation had assumed a form, he was ardently engaged in the work.
His hands were always open to contribute to the wants of the fugitive.
His house was the shelter and the home of the poor and needy. Mr.
Walker is known principally by his "APPEAL," but it was in his private
walks, and by his unceasing labors in the cause of freedom, that he has
made his memory sacred.
With an overflowing heart, he published his "Appeal" in 1829. This
little book produced more commotion among slaveholders than any
volume of its size that was ever issued from an American press. They
saw that it was a bold attack upon their idolatry, and that too by a black
man who once lived among them. It was merely a smooth stone which
this David took up, yet it terrified a host of Goliaths. When the fame of
this book reached the South, the poor, cowardly, pusillanimous tyrants,
grew pale behind their cotton bags, and armed themselves to the teeth.
They set watches to look after their happy and contented slaves. The
Governor of GEORGIA wrote to the Hon. Harrison Grey Otis, the
Mayor of Boston, requesting him to suppress the Appeal. His Honor
replied to the Southern Censor, that he had no power nor disposition to
hinder Mr. Walker from pursuing a lawful course in the utterance of his
thoughts. A company of Georgia men then bound themselves by an
oath, that they would eat as little as possible until they had killed the
youthful author. They also offered a reward of a thousand dollars for
his head, and ten times as much for the live Walker. His consort, with
the solicitude of an affectionate wife, together with some friends,
advised him to go to Canada, lest he should be abducted. Walker said
that he had nothing to fear from such a pack of coward blood-hounds;
but if he did go, he would hurl back such thunder across the great lakes,
that would cause them to tremble in their strong holds. Said he, "I will

stand my ground. _Somebody must die in this cause._ I may be
doomed to the stake and the fire, or to the scaffold tree, but it is not in
me to falter if I can promote the work of emancipation." He did not
leave the country, but was soon laid in the grave. It was the opinion of
many that he was hurried out of life by the means of poison, but
whether this was the case or not, the writer is not prepared to affirm.
He had many enemies, and not a few were his brethren whose cause he
espoused. They said that he went too far, and was making trouble. So
the Jews spoke of Moses. They valued the flesh-pots of Egypt more
than the milk and honey of Canaan. He died 1830 in Bridge street, at
the hopeful and enthusiastic age of 34 years. His ruling passion blazed
up in the hour of death, and threw an indescribable grandeur over the
last dark scene. The heroic young man passed away without a struggle,
and a few weeping friends
"Saw in death his eyelids close, Calmly, as to a night's repose, Like
flowers at set of sun."
The personal appearance of Mr. Walker was prepossessing, being six
feet in height, slender and well proportioned. His hair was loose, and
his complexion was dark. His son, the only child he left, is now 18
years of age, and is said to resemble his father; he now resides at
Charlestown, Mass., with his mother, Mrs. Dewson. Mr. Walker was a
faithful member of the Methodist Church at Boston, whose pastor is the
venerable father Snowden.
The reader thus has a brief notice of the life and character of David
Walker.

WALKER'S
APPEAL,
IN FOUR ARTICLES,
TOGETHER WITH

A PREAMBLE,
TO THE
COLORED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD,
BUT IN PARTICULAR, AND VERY EXPRESSLY TO THOSE OF
THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
_Written in Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, Sept. 28, 1829._
SECOND EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS, &c.
BY DAVID WALKER.
1830.

APPEAL. &c.
PREAMBLE.
_My dearly beloved Brethren and Fellow Citizens:_
Having travelled over a considerable portion of these United States, and
having, in the course of my travels taken the most accurate
observations of things as they exist--the result of my observations has
warranted the full and unshakened conviction, that we, (colored people
of these United States) are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set
of beings that ever lived since the world began, and I pray God, that
none like us ever may live again until time shall be no more. They tell
us of the Israelites in Egypt, the Helots in Sparta, and of