Question

On January 1, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison delivered a memorable editorial in his newsletter The Liberator. Below is an excerpt from this article. Read through his words, then explain the reasoning behind it.

“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 hem to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her baby from the fire into which it has fallen; - but urge me not to use moderation in a couse 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.”

Answer 1

Garrison's abolitionism, as well as his support of women's rights for equality, were driven by the moral imperative to ensure that all people would truly be equal. The Liberator, whose readership was predominantly free blacks in the northern states, officially ended its run in 1865 when the Civil War ended.