Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

Boston Hymn

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(American essayist, philosopher and poet. The two stanzas following, which may be said to sum up the revolutionary view of the subject of “confiscation,” are taken from a poem read in Boston on Emancipation day, January 1, 1863)

TODAY unbind the captive,

So only are ye unbound;

Lift up a people from the dust,

Trump of their rescue, sound!

Pay ransom to the owner

And fill the bag to the brim.

Who is the owner? The slave is owner,

And ever was. Pay him.