William Seward of New York weighed in with an impassioned antislavery speech.

'Voice of Duty' July 4th antislavery speech by Ballou, from the Antislavery Literature Project.

About the antislavery speeches of Austin Willey, William Lloyd Garrison and Rev. David Thurston:

Invited to speak at Rively's store, a local trading post where pro-slavery men often held meetings, Cody's father gave an antislavery speech that angered the crowd, which threatened to kill him if he didn't step down.

The project, however, did not go ahead - but so important was Plymouth that Abraham Lincoln's famous antislavery speech at Cooper Union on Feb. 27, 1860, was originally scheduled to be given at the church.

In what is now Central Park Plaza, Lincoln delivered a very strong antislavery speech in support of the presidential campaign of John C. Frémont over the course of two hours on September 6, 1856.