Henry
Ward Beecher founded Plymouth
Church in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
in 1847, and became renowned as a preacher and an abolitionist. In 1875 he was tried for adultery, based on
the confession (asserted, recanted and re-asserted) of Elizabeth Tilton. The scandal, popularly known as the
Beecher-Tilton
Affair, attracted publicity and commentary by, among others, suffragist
leaders
such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
Ultimately, Beecher
was acquitted of the charges in civil
court, and cleared of all charges in two church proceedings.
THE TRIAL
Opening
for the Defense (Available Through Google Books)
Official
Report of the Trial of Henry Ward Beecher (Available Through Google
Books)
The Beecher
Trial:
A Review of the Evidence (Reprinted from the N.Y. Times of July 3,
1875)(Available
Through Google Books)
CONTEMPORARY
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
“Mrs.
Tilton, Her Written Statement: A
Damaging Revelation for Mr. Tilton.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 24,
1874)
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMailGifMSIE&Type=text/html&Path=BEG/1874/07/24&ID=Ar00400&Locale=&ChunkNum=0
“Beecher:
Gradual Clearing Up of the Clouds, Another Bad Day for Mr. Tilton and
his
Story.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 27,
1874)
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMailGifMSIE&Type=text/html&Path=BEG/1874/07/27&ID=Ar00404&Locale=&ChunkNum=0
“The
Scandal: Susan B. Anthony’s Statement
Contradicted.” Brooklyn
Daily Eagle, July 31, 1874)
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMailGifMSIE&Type=text/html&Path=BEG/1874/07/31&ID=Ar00201&Locale=&ChunkNum=0
WORKS
BY BEECHER
Conflict of Northern and Southern
Theories of Man and
Society
Speech, Delivered in New
York City
(Rochester, N.Y.: A.
Strong & Co., 1855)(Available through Project Gutenberg).
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25653
Twelve
Causes of Dishonesty (Philadelphia: H.
Altemus, 1896)(Available through Project Gutenberg).
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30392
The
Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth
Church Brooklyn,
March-September 1872 (N.Y.: J.B.
Ford & Company, 1873)(Available Through Google Books)
The
Life of Jesus the Christ, Vol. I (N.Y.: E.B. Treat, 1896)(Available Through Google
books)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
http://www.plymouthchurch.org/our_history.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ward_Beecher
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