We smile at the ignorance of the savage who cuts down the tree in order to reach its fruit; but the same blunder is made by every person who is over eager and impatient in the pursuit of pleasure.

In 1835 Channing wrote the book entitled SLAVERY James Munroe and Company publiWilliam Ellery Channingr. However the struggle continued through two years during which Channing lived in Richmond working as a tutor. He lived through the increasing tension between religious liberals and conservatives and took a moderate position rejecting the extremes of both groups.

William Ellery Channing (April 7 1780 – October 2 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and along with Andrews Norton one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches and as a prominent thinker in the liberal theology of the day.