A Great American 

 

William Lloyd Garrison

1805-1879 "The Liberator"

Born: 1805 in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Education: Trained as a printer.

Occupation: Journalist and abolitionist.

Religion: Quaker

Family Life:

Political Career: Founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society and served as its president from 1843 to 1865. Strong supporter of Lincoln.

Highlights of His Career: As founder of "the Liberator" in 1831, a New England anti-slavery newspaper and one of the most influential journals in the United States, Garrison gained high recognition as a militant abolitionist. He was an active leader in the Underground Railroad with such notable co-workers as Wendell Phillips, Lydia Maria Child, and Frederick Douglass. When "The Liberator" was discontinued Garrison concerned himself with other reform movements, especially women's suffrage and temperance. Garrison was a pacifist who believed that slavery should be ended by moral persuasion rather than by political action or force of arms. Garrison was threatened with assassination and the State of Georgia offered a reward of $5000 for his arrest and conviction under Georgia law.

Appearance:

Died: 1879

Buried:

Famous Words:  While burning a copy of the United States Constitution he denounced it as "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell," because it did not forbid slavery.

 

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