The Columbian Orator

Typical of many readers of that period, the anthology celebrated "republican virtues," promoting patriotism and questioning the ethics of slavery.

It is significant for inspiring a generation of American abolitionists, including orator and former slave Frederick Douglass; essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson; and author Harriet Beecher Stowe, best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

When he was 12 years old and still enslaved, he bought a copy using 50 cents which he had saved from shining shoes,[1] and he "read [the essays] over and over again with unabated interest ... What [he] got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights.

"[3] Douglass was particularly inspired by a dialogue between an enslaved person and his master in The Columbian Orator that demonstrated the intelligence of the slave.

It can be assumed that the book's guidelines of oratory also contributed to Douglass's success as a public speaker; William Lloyd Garrison praised Douglass in the introduction of his autobiography, claiming, "Patrick Henry, of revolutionary fame, never made a speech more eloquent in the cause of liberty.