The Columbian Orator

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First appearing in 1797, The Columbian Orator, a collection of political essays, poems, and dialogues, was widely used in American schoolrooms in the first quarter of the nineteenth century to teach reading and speaking. Many of the speeches included in the anthology celebrated "Republican" virtues and promoted patriotism, and this was typical of many readers of that period. The Columbian Orator is an example of a progymnasmata containing examples for students to copy and imitate.

African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass first encountered The Columbian Orator around the age of twelve, just after he learned to read. This book he so cherished, that he would carry with him as he escaped from slavery in 1838. As Douglass became educated in the rudimentary skills of literacy, he also became educated about the injustice of slavery. Of all the pieces in the book, Douglass focused on the master-slave dialogue and the speech on behalf of Catholic Emancipation. These pieces helped Douglass to articulate why slavery was wrong, both philosophically and politically, as he emerged as the greatest African-American leader and orator of the nineteenth century. The Columbian Orator, then, becomes a symbol not only of human rights, but also of the power of eloquence and articulation. To some extent, Douglass saw his own life’s work as an attempt to replicate The Columbian Orator.

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Full title: The Columbian Orator: Containing a Variety of Original and Selected Pieces Together With Rules, Which Are Calculated to Improve Youth and Others, in the Ornamental and Using Art of Eloquence.
Caleb Bingham (Editor), 1797.
David W. Blight (Editor), Bicentenni edition 1998, (ISBN 0-8147-1323-8).