Visitors to Boston Common are often surprised to see that its borders are a sort of New England Acropolis. Great Men of the past, many of whom no one passing by has ever heard of, are enshrined in statuary. Today, William Ellery Channing is name known only to Unitarians, but in the first half of the 19th Century he was a beacon of religious reform, and a lightning rod for those looking to denounce the decline of the old Puritan hegemony of New England.
While Puritans would denounce Channing as a radical, his views today seem almost too moderate. In 1835, for instance, he published a book entitled Slavery where he responded to the growth of Abolitionism among Unitarians. He did not condemn Abolition, but he staked out a very centrist position, even as many of his co-religionists saw slavery as an abominable abuse of Black people. On pages 4 and 5 of his book Channing wrote:
Slavery ought to be discussed. We ought to think, feel, speak, and write about it. But what- ever we do in regard to it should be done with a deep feeling of responsibility, and so done as not to put in jeopardy the peace of the slave-holding States. On this point public opinion has not been and cannot be too strongly pronounced. Slavery, – indeed, from its very nature, must be a ground of alarm wherever it exists.. Slavery and security can by no device be joined together. But we may not, must not, by rashness and passion increase the peril. To instigate the slave to insurrection is a crime for wfiich no re})uke. and no punishment can be too severe. This would be to involve slave and master in common ruin. It is not enough to say, that the Constitution is violated by • any action endangering the slave-holding portion of our country.
Channing did feel called upon to take a firmer stand when Abolitionists became the targets of violent terror in the second half of the 1830s. He penned a Tribute to Abolitionists which read, in part:
Channing was born in Rhode Island. His grandfather had signed the Constitution. His father was the Attorney general of Rhode Island and he had hosted early leaders of the United States like George Washington and John Jay. Harvard educated, Channing was the leading proponent of a new liberal theology that rejected Puritan doctrines of predestination and the depraved nature of the human spirit.
He was the pastor of the Federal Street Church in Boston, now called the Arlington Street Church. That church is across the street from the Channing statue.
The statue is located at the corner of Boylston Street and Arlington Street in Back Bay Boston near the Public Garden. It was erected in 1903.
If you visit the Channing statue, you should spend time in the Public Gardens and in the Commons. There are many artistic and historic monuments in both place. Also, consider a visit to the Arlington Street Church across from the Statue. Below is photo I took of the Commons.
