Elijah Lovejoy

Elijah Lovejoy (1802-1837), American abolitionist. Elijah Parish Lovejoy was born in Albion, Maine, and educated at Waterville College (now Colby College) and Princeton Theological Seminary. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1833 and shortly thereafter became the editor of the Observer, an influential Presbyterian weekly published in St. Louis, Missouri. He incurred the enmity of proslavery forces in St. Louis by writing antislavery editorials, and in 1836, under the threat of violence, he was forced to move his presses to Alton, Illinois, where he established the Alton Observer. Although his presses were destroyed three times by proslavery mobs, Lovejoy continued to attack slavery and called for the formation of a state abolition society. On November 7, 1837, his presses were again attacked. Lovejoy made an unsuccessful attempt to defend them and was shot and killed. His death stimulated the growth of the abolitionist movement throughout the country.