Guide Note:
William Lloyd Garrison was one of the most influential abolitionist leaders in America during the years that led up to the American Civil War. Through his newspaper,The Liberator, he passionately argued for an immediate and absolute freedom for all people held in slavery.
Fast Facts:
1. Garrison's uncompromising stand on slavery earned him many enemies
2. In 1831 the Confederate state of Georgia offered $5,000 for Garrison's arrest and conviction.
3. On July 4th, 1854 he publicly set fire to a copy of the
U.S. Constitution; he called it a "covenant with death" and "an agreement with Hell" because in its original form it sanctioned slavery.
