Abolition Movement

Who was the first to publicly oppose slavery in America?

Start of the movement… William Lloyd

Garrison is to many the personification of the American Abolitionist movement.

Initially a proponent of moderate abolitionism

Garrison soon began more vehement [intense] attacks on slavery. He published the first issue of the Liberator

(1831), declaring slavery an abomination in God's sight.

demanding immediate emancipation, and vowing never to be silenced.

The Liberator draws an audience. The Liberator, in continuous weekly

publication through 1865, widely regarded as an authoritative

voice of radical Yankee social reform in general.

Garrison’s Philosophy Always a believer in "moral persuasion,"

Garrison generally insisted that slavery would be abolished only when the mass of white Americans experienced a revolution in conscience.

Therefore, he called for sustained programs of agitation that aimed to convert grass-roots public opinion in favor of black emancipation and race equality.

Garrison pushes forward alone. Until the late 1830s, Garrison cooperated

easily with most other major abolitionists, but by 1840 important figures like James G. Birney and Elizur Wright, Jr., had broken with him.

Others, however, such as Wendell Phillips and Lydia Maria Child, defended Garrison's radical doctrines and took over the society.

Garrison took the even more controversial position that Northerners should disavow all allegiance to the Union, since the Constitution protected slavery. This thought ultimately resulted in the Civil

War.

During the 1850s, Garrison became less opposed to violence as a means for ending slavery. He condoned violent resistance to the

1850 Fugitive Slave Law. hailed John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's

Ferry. 1861 announced his support for war

against the seceding Southern states.

After Garrison

Harriet Breecher-Stowe (1851-1852)

Ida B. Wells Barnett (1890’s-20th)

Frederick Douglass (1840’s)

W.E.B. DuBois (early 20th Century)

Booker T. Washington (1890’s)