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Recent Acquisitions, December 2001

Pamphlet, "The Duties of Patriotism. A Sermon for the Times"

William Wilson, 1861

Funds from the Friends of the Libraries purchased the printed pamphlet of a sermon, delivered two weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter. William Wilson preached "The Duties of Patriotism. A Sermon for the Times" before the 1st United Presbyterian Church in Washington, Iowa on April 28, 1861. This powerful sermon puts forth a moral argument against slavery, and hotly accuses the South of wrongdoing. "They would not even await the result of negotiation, but took the initiative in war. Because our government proposed to send provisions to the starving garrison in Sumter, they bombarded the fortress tore down the stars and stripes which floated there, and in their stead unfurled the flag of rebellion......Events have been so controlled that the whole South is now arrayed against the entire North; and we cherish the hope that the day of compromise is past forever, and that when this unholy rebellion is put down, Slavery, the great element of agitation, the blight and curse of our country will fall forever, and that as a nation we will break every yoke." Wilson states "For this Government to submit to a recognition of the Confederate States is to utterly demoralize itself. To do so is to sign its own death warrant. The deed is suicidal….Slavery is an insatiate and insatiable monster, with its black mouth ever open, and ever crying give! Give!…" He closes the sermon by calling the congregation to the patriotic support of the government of the North, whether that be by joining the cause to fight, or by supporting the cause at home.

AC 12/28/01

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