Moncure Daniel Conway
Moncure Daniel Conway was a prominent American Unitarian minister, abolitionist, and author, born in 1832 into a distinguished Virginia family. Initially raised in a slaveholding environment, he underwent a significant transformation influenced by Transcendentalist thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, whom he befriended during his studies at Harvard Divinity School. After being ordained, Conway became known for his outspoken anti-slavery views, which ultimately led to his dismissal from his church in Washington, D.C. He then served at the First Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, where his abolitionist teachings found more support.
Conway actively promoted emancipation during the Civil War, even proposing immediate freedom for all slaves as a means to end the conflict. His advocacy extended to England, where he sought to garner international support against slavery. Residing in London, he became the minister of South Place Chapel and established a successful writing career, producing over seventy books, including notable biographies of Emerson and Thomas Paine, while also serving as a literary agent for prominent authors like Mark Twain. Conway's legacy is marked by his commitment to social justice and his influential role in the abolitionist movement.
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Moncure Daniel Conway
Abolitionist
- Born: March 17, 1832
- Birthplace: Stafford County, Virginia
- Died: November 15, 1907
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Moncure Daniel Conway was born in 1832 to an old and distinguished Virginia family. His father, Walker Peyton Conway, was a slaveholding landowner in Stafford County. Home-schooled in his early years, Moncure Daniel Conway later attended the Fredericksburg Classical and Mathematical Academy, a school that had educated George Washington and other famous Virginians.
At the age of fifteen, Conway entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1849. While in college, Conway discovered the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and, as a result, developed an interest in Transcendentalism. After a year as a circuit-riding Methodist minister, Conway entered Harvard Divinity School, graduating 1n 1854. During his Harvard years, Conway became friends with Emerson and met such liberals as Henry David Thoreau and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Influenced by his acquaintances, Conway became an abolitionist.
After his graduation from Harvard, Conway was ordained as a Unitarian minister and accepted a position at the First Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. Two years later, he began to preach against slavery and was soon dismissed from the church because of his anti-slavery message. Shortly thereafter, Conway was invited to preach at the First Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. The members of this church approved of Conway’s abolitionist teachings and soon named him their minister. While in Ohio, Conway married Ellen Davis Dana, a fellow abolitionist. Together they had four children.
As Conway’s anti-slavery rhetoric increased, he found himself at odds with his own congregation and the Unitarian Church as a whole. By 1862, Conway was spending more and more time away from his church promoting his abolitionist views. He proposed to President Abraham Lincoln that immediate emancipation of all slaves was a quick solution to ending the war.
In 1863, Conway traveled to England to persuade the English that slavery was unjust and that the Civil War was being fought to abolish this institution. Under the influence of the English, Conway sent an offer to the Confederacy proposing that, in exchange for the freedom of all slaves, the Confederacy would be preserved after the end of the war. This suggestion was resoundingly rejected, and Conway subsequently felt unwelcome in the United States.
Conway accepted the offer of the South Place Chapel in Finsbury, London, to become its minister, a relationship that lasted for many years. To supplement his income, Conway turned to writing, and acted as a literary agent for such notable writers as Mark Twain. During his life, Conway wrote more than seventy books and regularly contributed essays to periodicals. Although Conway was a prolific writer, he is best remembered for his biographies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Paine.