Page "Amos Bronson Alcott" Paragraph 30

Alcott voted in a presidential election for the first time in 1860.

In his journal for November 6, 1860, he wrote: " At Town House, and cast my vote for Lincoln and the Republican candidates generally — the first vote I ever cast for a President and State officers.

" Alcott was an abolitionist and a friend of the more radical William Lloyd Garrison.

He had attended a rally led by Wendell Phillips on behalf of 17-year old Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave on trial in Boston.

Alcott was one of several who attempted to storm the courthouse ; when gunshots were heard, he was the only one who stood his ground, though the effort was unsuccessful.

He had also stood his ground in a protest against the trial of Anthony Burns.

A group had broken down the door of the Boston courthouse but guards beat them back.

Alcott stood forward and asked the leader of the group, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, " Why are we not within?

" He then walked calmly into the courthouse, was threatened with a gun, and turned back, " but without hastening a step ", according to Higginson.