EXTINGUISHER, THE EXTINGUISHED! and Ruggles' other printings

Black printers, including David Ruggles, chose to mainly print pamphlets, as these were smaller and much less expensive to produce than leather bound books (Newman, 73). Because of this, black pamphlets were able to have complete autonomy and command of the writing, unlike most antebellum slave narratives, which tended to reach a primarily white audience and included the invasive, interrupting voice of white editors and printers (Newman, 73).

His first publication that came from his press was EXTINGUISHER, THE EXTINGUISHED! It was a 46 page pamphlet, and was a response to the racist, anti abolitionist writings of David M. Reese, (Porter, 72). EXTINGUISHER, THE EXTINGUISHED! was assertive and very critical of Reese; in one of the opening lines of the pamphlet, Ruggles notes that he asked others why they hadn’t refuted Reese, to which they responded “‘great minds and great heads will not have anything to do with such trifling productions of insignificant men,’”(Hodges, 72). He used a number of different rhetorical tools throughout his pamphlet to debate ideas such as the biblical reasoning for slavery, the New York Anti Slavery Society, and black education. Not only was this pamphlet significant because it was one of the first works printed by a black person, but it also helped Ruggles assert himself as an intellectual abolitionist and as a superior to Reese.

Following EXTINGUISHER, THE EXTINGUISHED!, Ruggles printed a number of other pamphlets including “An antidote for a poisonous combination : recently prepared by a ‘Citizen of New-York,’ alias Dr. Reese, entitled, ‘An appeal to the reason and religion of American Christians'.” It was printed in 1838 and was similar to EXTINGUISHER, THE EXTINGUISHED! as it was also used to refute Reese’s ideas.