“In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call…” — Phillis Wheatley

“In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.”

Asserting that the desire for freedom is universal and divinely implanted · Letter to Samson Occom, 1774

Phillis Wheatley

About Phillis Wheatley

c. 1753–5 December 1784

In the autumn of 1773, a slender volume of poetry emerged from a London printing house that would forever alter the landscape of American literature. "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" bore the name of its author on the title page: Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston. This…

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