Abolitionism in the North: William Lloyd Garrison

Some Background on Slavery's Abolition in the North

The official ban on importing slaves into the United States came in 1808; however this edict did not control the trafficking of slaves within the U.S. borders. At the end of the eighteenth century following the Revolutionary War, many individual instances of manumission took place. Slave-holders freed slaves by dint of the growing philosophies of freedom and independence; however, others freed their bondsmen due to changing economic climates, in which many farmers moved from single-crop (tobacco) farming to variegated crops and therefore needed fewer hands to work the fields. The mass reformation movements that eventually ended slavery in the nation did not come until the Second Great Awakening, which occurred during the 1820's and 1830's. Religious groups such as the Quakers, Moravians, and Methodists argued that the holding of slaves was sinful in the eyes of God, thus turning the tide on the long-standing biblical justification of slavery by southern slave owners. Those who argued for the immediate end of slavery were followers of William Lloyd Garrison (Garrisonians); however others such as John Quincy Adams argued secular rationale for the end of the institution on grounds that it was a societal evil and opposed its expansion into uncolonized territories.
Hence Abolitionism in all areas outside the south fell into two camps: those for the immediate end to slavery throughout the nation; and those in favor of ending its expansion (1).

William Lloyd Garrison, an outspoken abolitionist and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, published The Liberator a weekly anti-slavery pamphlet that continued in circulation until the end of the Civil War (1861-65). Garrison was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1805, to a 'merchant sailing master.' When Garrison was still a boy, his father abandoned the family, which forced the child to work, 'selling molasses candy and delivering wood' (2). He grew up developing an affinity for journalism, and earned several apprenticeships as a journalist. By the age of twenty-five, he became involved in the Abolitionist movement, joining the American Colonization Society: a group of abolitionists ostensibly devoted to colonizing freed blacks on the West Coast of Africa. However, Garrison later left the organization when he learned that only a few members of the ACS actually advocated manumission; most were devoted to keeping the institution of slavery intact.

Garrison's background in journalism fortified the enterprising young man for his role as a writer and publisher. In 1831, his abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. As an advocate for the immediate end of slavery, Garrison became acquainted with, and later supported, the fugitive slave and orator, Frederick Douglass. However, the friendship between the two men ended when Douglass argued that the U.S. Constitution could be used "as a weapon against slavery." Garrison, who believed the Constitution to be a "pro-slavery document" disagreed, and consequently felt betrayed by Douglass's actions. The two men never made amends (3).

Despite this falling out and the often rancorous relationship he shared with many of the country's pro-slavery politicians, Garrison remained dedicated to the causes of abolition and assimilation of the nation's freed black population. In the first issue of The Liberator, Garrison has been quoted as saying:

"I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; – but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead"(4).