William Lloyd Garrison
American journalist and abolitionist (1805–1879) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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William Lloyd Garrison (December 10, 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, which Garrison founded in 1831 and published in Boston until slavery in the United States was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
William Lloyd Garrison | |
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![]() Garrison c. 1870 | |
Born | (1805-12-10)December 10, 1805 |
Died | May 24, 1879(1879-05-24) (aged 73) New York City, U.S. |
Resting place | Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston |
Occupation(s) | Abolitionist, journalist |
Known for | Editing The Liberator |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse |
Helen Eliza Benson Garrison
(m. 1834; died 1876) |
Children | 5 |
Signature | |
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Garrison promoted "no-governmentism" and rejected the inherent validity of the American government on the basis that its engagement in war, imperialism, and slavery made it corrupt and tyrannical. He initially opposed violence as a principle and advocated for Christian pacifism against evil; at the outbreak of the Civil War, he abandoned his previous principles and embraced the armed struggle and the Lincoln administration. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society and promoted immediate and uncompensated, as opposed to gradual and compensated, emancipation of slaves in the United States.
Garrison was a typesetter, which aided him in running The Liberator, and when working on his own editorials for the paper, Garrison would set them in type without first writing them out on paper.[1]: 57
Much like the martyred Elijah Lovejoy, a price was on Garrisons's head; he was burned in effigy and gallows were erected in front of his Boston office. Later on, Garrison would emerge as a leading advocate of women's rights, which prompted a split in the abolitionist community. In the 1870s, Garrison became a prominent voice for the women's suffrage movement.