William Lloyd Garrison, Famous Abolitionist Quiz

Answer: Massachusetts

Massachusetts had about 1.5% blacks in the 1800 and 1810 federal censuses, all of them free. Slavery had ended in the state after several 1780s court cases showed it was incompatible with Massachusetts' state constitution. Garrison grew up in a state whose citizens had once participated in the African slave trade, but who had changed and not only cooperated with the end of the African trade everywhere in 1808, but had ended slavery within the state -- a progressive attitude that carried over into his life and the lives of others in his generation, as they hoped to end slavery everywhere in the United States.

It was going to be a struggle, though.

Answer: an apprentice typesetter, newspaper writer and editor

William Lloyd Garrison came from a poor family. His father left when he was three and his mother died when he was 18. He began selling candy and lemonade and delivering wood, but at age 13, he apprenticed as a compositor or typesetter for the local Newburyport Herald.

After he finished his apprenticeship, he wrote for, edited, or owned a variety of newspapers which he either left or which failed, some just regular papers, others with specific causes such as temperance or anti-slavery.

Answer: guilty of libel for criticizing a slave shipper

While co-editing the Baltimore "Genius of Universal Emancipation," Garrison named a slave shipper, Francis Todd of Massachusetts, in the newspaper's "Black List" of slave mistreatment. Todd had shipped slaves legally from Baltimore to New Orleans, but Garrison criticized him publicly in the newspaper. Baltimore wasn't very friendly to emancipationists anyway, and Todd argued he was doing nothing wrong. Garrison either couldn't or didn't pay the fine, so he was sentenced to six months in jail, but only had to serve seven weeks, because abolitionist Arthur Tappan paid the fine.

It ended his career with the "Genius of Universal Emancipation," though on a friendly note.

Answer: The Liberator

Garrison promised in the first issue that "The Liberator" would "be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject [of ending slavery], I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation." He stayed true to that promise, despite threats, mobs and legal action, as well as schisms from within the anti-slavery movement.

Answer: he was indicted for sending "incendiary material," with a $5,000 reward

Garrison of course was hundreds of miles away in Massachusetts and never directly asked slaves to rise up in violence, and the circulation of "The Liberator" was still small, though he may have sent free copies into the slave states unrequested. But the North Carolina grand jury indicted him with "distributing incendiary material," a charge back then that was used against anyone trying to start a slave uprising.

The Georgia legislature offered $5,000 to be paid for his capture for the trial. But Massachusetts did not send him south for trial, no one kidnapped him, and he was physically untouched by the legal threats.

He wrote in his newspaper, pointing out how Turner's rebellion was what would happen as long as there were slaves. "IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION can alone save [the country] from the vengeance of Heaven, and cancel the debt of ages."

Answer: provide anti-slavery speakers, publish anti-slavery materials

The various societies that spread across the nation from Massachusetts to Ohio offered speakers such as Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Charles Lenox Remond, as well as others who had escaped from slavery and had written books, so audiences could question them directly about what life was like enslaved. The societies raised money for their own projects which sometimes did include the purchase of slaves to set them free, but it wasn't a main goal. Nor did they pay voters, which was both illegal and impossible in most election years, except when the Republican or Liberty parties ran a candidate. They were strongly against any projects of the Colonization Societies that wanted to return free blacks to Africa.

They printed hundreds of newspapers, books and pamphlets and took advantage of the postal law that said the recipient was responsible for postage, by sending packages of abolitionist materials to the south, addressed to postmasters, newspaper editors, or other local figures. The hope was either that some of the material would be paid for and read just out of curiosity, or that it would be thrown out -- where a slave might empty the trash, be curious about the drawings of black people, take it out, show it to a fellow slave who could read, or some similar scenario, and the material would make its way to the enslaved. White southerners were afraid of such incendiary materials being sent through the mails, and there were complaints and riots against it, such as the major riot in Charleston, SC in the summer of 1835. The anti-slavery societies continued their work. Garrison was wanted dead or alive in the south, but he had to be extradited first. Still, he had other fears in Massachusetts.

Answer: the mayor had him arrested and put him in jail for his own safety

Even in Massachusetts, Garrison wasn't safe from those who thought he was too radical and was causing trouble in the country, trying to split the north from the south or anger the south. The mayor, Theodore Lyman, didn't actually support him, but was primarily trying to prevent bloodshed and calm the situaton. Abolitionists typically weren't even safe in free states. Elijah Parish Lovejoy, an anti-slavery publisher, was killed in 1837 by a mob in Alton, IL, and James Birney was mobbed twice in Cincinnati in 1836 for publishing an anti-slavery newspaper.

The Tappan brothers had faced mobs for their anti-slavery activity in New York, and Lewis Tappan in particular had had his home ransacked, and his furniture thrown in the street and burned in 1834.

Answer: he wrote that he would support "the rights of woman to their utmost extent"

Garrison stood firm on the issue of equal rights for women as well as blacks, a position that seemed not only logical, but made women respect him. He put his money where his mouth was, hiring women for the Liberator and getting them to speak and work as field agents. His controversial position alienated some staunch abolitionists like the Tappan brothers, but he refused to change.

Answer: The north should secede from the south

Garrison outlined it in a speech Dec. 2, 1859, the day Brown was to be hanged. In his mind, it was a way to create an America as he envisioned it: "freedom everywhere to all the people, without regard to complexion or race." He said, "I want to see that glorious day!"

Twelve months later, the southern states began seceding, which initially was too good to be true, but soon Garrison realized that a greater opportunity was at hand. As it became clear that there was a chance to hold the south in the union and eliminate slavery within the southern states, Garrison began to support Lincoln and the war, despite his Quaker non-violence.

Answer: he worked for equality for women and getting the vote for them, plus full rights for blacks

After the slaves were freed, Garrison was becoming elderly and ill. His wife died in 1876. He no longer had the energy to devote full strength into causes as he had before, but he saw that the ex-slaves still did not have full political and social equality, nor were women allowed the basic ability to vote.

He worked on those social reforms, serving as president of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), before dying May 24, 1879 with his children nearby. Frederick Douglass was one of the speakers at a memorial service for him in Washington, DC, where he said, "It was the glory of this man that he could stand alone with the truth, and calmly await the result."