Researching Oren Cheney

Cheney's main social ideology was that of egalitarianism; he personally voiced his disdain for racial inequality, social elitism, and socioeconomic depravation regularly, in controversial speeches and articles. He was ordained a minister in his early twenties, became the headmaster at Parsonsfield, Maine, and illegally harbored and transferred slaves to safety during the 1840s in New Hampshire–an action punishable with a decade's jail time by the federal Fugitive Slave acts. His religious community work garnered him widespread support, culminating in his nomination for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives without his knowledge. Having been told he was nominated and elected on his way to his induction ceremony, Cheney would go on to be an able Free Soil legislator. His first bills drafted and passed supported state prohibition, advocated for temperance, regulated liquor traffic (notably the passage of the Maine Liquor Law), and provided the funds for his first school–the Lebanon Academy in Lebanon, Maine. He gave many abolitionist speeches to the legislature, which produced mixed reactions and death threats; historians have occasionally noted him as "completely and utterly careless with his life."

He was elected as the only delegate to attend the 1852 Free Soil Party Convention in Pittsburgh from Maine, where he famously advocated for anti-slavery, and physically threatened the owner of a local tavern for refusing to serve Frederick Douglass, a noted abolitionist and black member of the party. After his political career, he continued to publish anti-slavery pieces in his newspaper, and establish the Maine State Seminary, which would later be named "Bates College." He governed as the first President of Bates College for nearly four decades–from 1855 to 1894–creating its liberal arts curriculum, hiring faculty, and choosing its campus; during this time he adopted the moniker O.B. Cheney.