To the Public

“I found contempt more bitter, opposition more active, detraction more relentless, prejudice more stubborn, and apathy more frozen, than among slave-owners themselves.” 

Garrison couches his criticism of slave owners in highly emotional terms. Representing them as inflexible and virtually unpersuadable to the abolitionist cause, he sets them up as an enemy for himself and his readers. The passage also uses the literary devices of repetition and parallelism with five “more” phrases in a row.

“I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker Hill and in the birthplace of liberty.”

With his enemy identified, Garrison uses metaphors of battle to describe how the abolitionist project will proceed. His new publication, The Liberator, will serve as abolitionism’s flag, “the standard of emancipation,” and he chooses Boston as its home, with its powerful associations with the American Revolution, such as Paul Revere’s ride, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Boston Massacre. The first American killed in the Boston Massacre, and therefore in the Revolution itself, was Crispus Attucks, a sailor of African descent, making the first blood spilled on behalf of American liberty that of a Black man. Attucks’s grave still occupies a prominent position in the Granary Burying Ground adjacent to Park Steet Church, where Garrison made some of his first statements in favor of abolition.

“That standard is now unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the spoliations of time or the missiles of a desperate foe—yea, till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free!”

Garrison intends to keep publishing until slavery is abolished. There is to be no compromise, no matter what attacks are made upon him or his newspaper. He anticipates a long and vicious fight but is undeterred. There is some irony in Garrison’s choice of metaphor because he was a well-known pacifist, in addition to being an abolitionist. Choosing the metaphor of war is highly stirring to an audience, but Garrison did not believe in war, feeling it was on a level of immorality similar to slavery.

“Let Southern oppressors tremble—let their secret abettors tremble—let their Northern apologists tremble—let all the enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble.”

The purpose of The Liberator is to promote abolition by provoking fear in its opponents. Moreover, the object of Garrison’s scorn is not only slaveholders but anyone who is not an abolitionist. He eschews moderates. Anyone not for the abolitionist cause is, in his view, against it. This may help explain why, in the early days of The Liberator, its readership was primarily Black.

“In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties.”

Garrison argues that slavery is so manifestly wrong that its immorality should be obvious no matter one’s religious background. Freedom and equality are general human or natural rights, ordained by God. He sees that abolition depends on building a coalition of like-minded people across religious denominations and political parties. This belief in the necessity of bringing people of different backgrounds together to effect social change foreshadows Garrison’s role in both the temperance and women’s rights movements; a great number of people involved in those reforms also were supporters of abolitionism and vice versa.

“Assenting to the ‘self-evident truth’ maintained in the American Declaration of Independence, ‘that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights—among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ I shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population.”

By both quoting and agreeing with the Declaration of Independence, Garrison aligns abolition with the values of the American Revolution. In his view, the natural rights given by God apply to all people, regardless of color. At the same time, Garrison implicitly counters an argument of the era that people of African descent were less than human. The Liberator and its publisher will vigorously reject that assertion and argue for the immediate end of slavery. By using the term “enfranchisement,” Garrison makes his position even more radical; he advocates not only freedom from bondage but full citizenship for formerly enslaved people.

“In Park Street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition.” 

Park Street Church was a well-known site of abolitionist activism, and Garrison’s speech there was likely his first public declaration of his anti-slavery sentiments. However, he regrets not thinking for himself on this matter; two years later, it is clear to him that the only morally acceptable position is full and immediate abolition, even if that is an unpopular position. The people of Boston may still remember the prior oration, so he wants to make sure they know his thinking has evolved.

“I seize this opportunity to make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon of my God, of my country, and of my brethren, the poor slaves, for having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and absurdity.”

Disavowing his previous positions is part of Garrison’s use of the rhetorical strategy of ethos. He is, after all, asking many of his readers to do the same when it comes to their beliefs about abolitionism. Here he issues a mea culpa that also creates a powerful parallel between those whom he offended: God, nation, and the enslaved. He regards them as equally deserving of an apology, a comparison that would have been shocking to many readers of the era.

“I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation.” 

Garrison recognizes that his ideas will be viewed as extreme, but this will not deter him from publishing them. He suggests that what is just or unjust is not a matter of popularity. His views seem extreme only because the institution of slavery is so extremely evil. Ending it will involve overturning centuries of legal and social history. He believes the problem of slavery has been, and will continue to be, exacerbated by moderation and compromise. There can be no acceptable middle position.

“I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.” 

Almost two centuries later, “I will be heard” is one of the most famous lines Garrison uttered. Once again rejecting any compromise on full and immediate abolition, Garrison vows that he will be an unrelenting advocate for his position. By 1836, the American Anti-Slavery Society, a group co-founded by Garrison, had sent thousands of petitions to the House of Representatives asking for the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC, and Western territories. Southern representatives passed a “gag rule” that prohibited anti-slavery messages from the people from being heard on the House floor. That rule, which prevented Garrison from being formally heard in Congress, lasted until 1844, when abolitionist sentiment had gained enough power to get it overturned.

“The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.” 

Along with moderation, apathy is a central moral vice in Garrison’s thinking. To not care about an important matter is to tacitly support it. Indeed, apathy is such a moral failure that Garrison asserts that it will animate the inanimate and hasten the Judgement Day of the Lord.

“It is pretended that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by the coarseness of my invective and the precipitancy of my measures.”

Being moderate and conciliatory is sometimes the best way to persuade others to one’s position. Garrison did not see things this way. Compromise has, to this point, only hardened support for slavery in the South. Rather than being slowly persuaded by abolitionist arguments, slave-owner interests seek to extend slavery into Western territories and weaken Congress’s power to curb it. The blunt language of The Liberator will not be what causes slavery to continue, nor will the idea of immediate enfranchisement; rather, it is the interest of the slave owners, their apologists, and abettors that stand in the way of freedom.

“I desire to thank God, that he enables me to disregard ‘the fear of man which bringeth a snare,’ and to speak his truth in its simplicity and power.”

Garrison re-anchors his abolitionist argument in religious precedent and moral certitude. Because he is convinced of the ethical correctness of his ideas, he invokes Scripture (Proverbs 29:25) to say that he puts his trust in God rather than the opinions of men. The God of the Old Testament delivered the Israelites out of bondage, and Garrison believes that God is on the side of enslaved Americans as well.