1p, 7 3/4 x 6 in. (adhesive remnants on each edge, small loss bottom left corner, creasing, toning). Broadside extending an invitation to a 22 October 1852 meeting and speech by John Lindsay Swift (1828-1895) at the Lexington [MA] town hall.

Antislavery Democrats and Whigs formed the Free Soil Party in 1848, focusing on opposition to the expansion of slavery into western territories of the United States. The party's slogan which appears on the broadside - "Free Soil, Free Labor, and Free Men!" - was coined by prominent abolitionist politician Salmon P. Chase. Abolitionist John L. Swift's engagement at the Lexington Town Hall was likely an attempt to campaign for Free Soil candidates leading up to the November 1852 presidential election. By 1854, the Free Soil Party had merged into the nascent Republican Party but Swift would remain a vocal opponent of slavery. The 2 March 1855 edition of The Liberator indicates that Swift was to speak at an "Anti-Slavery Tea Party" at Concord [MA] Town Hall. He would later enlist in the Union Army, raising Co. C of the 41st Massachusetts Infantry regiment, and ultimately rising to the rank of General.