The Independent
In 1848, Bowen founded a weekly newspaper, The Independent, designed to spread New England culture, religion, and values throughout the country. At the center of its mission were Congregationalism, temperance, and “the freedom of the slave against the tyranny of the master.” This engraving, from an edition printed in gold to commemorate the twenty-first anniversary of the paper’s founding, illustrates the paper’s mission. The paper published the writings of many of the leading literary figures of the day, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Harriet Beecher Stowe; as well as pieces by Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and other social, political, and religious leaders.