Jonathan Miller (abolitionist)
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Colonel Jonathan Peckham Miller (February 24, 1797 – February 17, 1847) was an American abolitionist from Vermont. He served in Greece and returned to be a politician standing up for the rights of slaves and women. He and Sarah Arms Miller used their house as a station on the
Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...
. He represented the town of Berlin in the Vermont Legislature from 1831 to 1833. In his last year as a representative, he introduced a resolution calling for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. “His heroic exploits in the cause of freedom earned him the soubriquet
The American Dare Devil,’”
according to an article in the Rutland Herald by Paul Hellerfor in January 2018.


Life

Miller was born in
Randolph, Vermont Randolph is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,774 at the 2020 census, making Randolph the largest town in Orange County. The town is a commercial center for many of the smaller, rural farming communities that ...
in 1797 and he was undertaking military training during the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
. He enlisted in the US army in 1817 for two years in Massachusetts. He then enrolled at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
in 1821 and after a few weeks transferred to
University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
, where he stayed until 1824. The Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire began in 1821 and Miller answered their calls for assistance by travelling there in 1824. His bravery in guerrilla units earned him the rank of Colonel and he returned to America, but still remained loyal to the cause and he raised thousands of dollars and gathered relief supplies. Miller supervised the transportation of these to Greece on behalf of supporters of the Greek cause in Boston and New York where they were shared amongst the war-torn Greeks. Miller returned to Vermont in 1827.Jonathan P. Miller
Appletons Encyclopedia, Retrieved 4 August 2015.
Miller returned with Lucas Miltiades, a four year old Greek orphan, whom he adopted and raised. Miller married Sarah Arms on June 26, 1828. It was Jonathan who followed his new wife in sheltering slaves escaping via the "Underground Railroad". The Millers helped the railroad financially and they would ferry escapees using stagecoaches. Miller's interests in rights made him become a lawyer in 1831 when he also ran for the Vermont legislature. Meanwhile, he arranged for lectures and gave them himself in favor of abolitionist causes. One of his resolutions in 1833 in the legislature was to require senators to promote anti-slavery. In 1835 the radical American reformer
Samuel Joseph May Samuel Joseph May (September 12, 1797 – July 1, 1871) was an American reformer during the nineteenth century who championed education, women's rights, and Abolitionism in the United States, abolition of slavery. May argued on behalf of all ...
came to speak in Montpelier; it was Miller who stepped forward to intercede with a hostile crowd. Vermont was possibly the most abolitionist of the Northern American states. In 1840 the legislature had declared that fugitive slaves were entitled to a trial by jury. This measure was overturned by the Supreme Court but Vermont responded with its own counter initiatives. Miller was chosen to travel to England in 1840 to attend the
World Anti-Slavery Convention The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The excl ...
in London.Delegate list
World Anti-Slavery Convention, Retrieved 3 August 2015.
The convention came after a debate in the American organisation led by
Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, labor reformer, temperance activist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a black attorney, Phillip ...
,
William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...
, and
Samuel May Samuel Joseph May (September 12, 1797 – July 1, 1871) was an American reformer during the nineteenth century who championed education, women's rights, and abolition of slavery. May argued on behalf of all working people that the rights of ...
, who unsuccessfully proposed that women should be recognised as full members and allowed a management role in the American Anti-Slavery organisations. Miller had been an active supporter of the inclusion of women as members of the
American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist society in the United States. AASS formed in 1833 in response to the nullification crisis and the failures of existing anti-slavery organizations, ...
that same year. Therefore, amongst the delegates were some women. The convention had decided to exclude women, including the American delegates. A last-minute debate took place to try and save the day. Ann Phillips told her husband Wendell not to "shilly-shally" when discussing the issueAnn Phillips, wife of Wendell Phillips, a memorial sketch
1886, retrieved 3 August 2015.
and Miller set forth his point of view. Even though Vermont had chosen to send only male delegates, he argued that "if our female friends were here ... then this hall would not hold them". He said that "women were amongst our primeval abolitionists" as they had "established a standard of liberty" that their husbands followed. Miller had spoken out boldly, but the moderates were not convinced and although the women were allowed into the convention they had to sit separately and they were not allowed to speak. Miller took his assigned seat at the convention whilst another American delegate William Adam decided to sit with the women. Miller was included in the commemorative painting which now hangs in the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
in London. The following year another Anti-Slavery Convention was held in New Hampshire and Miller was one of the speakers, together with
William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...
and
Nathaniel Peabody Rogers Nathaniel Peabody Rogers (June 3, 1794 – October 16, 1846) was an American attorney turned abolitionist writer, who served, from June 1838 until June 1846, as editor of the New England anti-slavery newspaper '' Herald of Freedom''. He was also ...
, who had also been in London the previous year. Miller died in Montpelier, Vermont, after devoting the end of his life to the abolitionist cause. He is buried at
Green Mount Cemetery Green Mount Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established on March 15, 1838, and dedicated on July 13, 1839, it is noted for the large number of historical figures interred in its grounds as well as ma ...
in Montpelier.


See also

*
Samuel Gridley Howe Samuel Gridley Howe (November 10, 1801 – January 9, 1876) was an American physician, abolitionist, and advocate of education for the blind. He organized and was the first director of the Perkins Institution. In 1824, he had gone to Greece to ...
*
John Dennison Russ John Dennison Russ (September 1, 1801 – March 1, 1881) was an American physician and co-founder of the New York Institute for the Blind and The Children's Village, along with 23 others. Biography Russ was born in Essex, Massachusetts (then ...
* James Jakob Williams


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Jonathan Peckham 1797 births 1847 deaths People from Randolph, Vermont Vermont lawyers Members of the Vermont House of Representatives American philhellenes in the Greek War of Independence Burials at Green Mount Cemetery (Montpelier, Vermont) Dartmouth College alumni University of Vermont alumni United States Army soldiers Americans who served in foreign militaries 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly Abolitionists from Vermont