Garrison Writes His First Editorial for the The Liberator, 1831
From the First Edition of The Liberator, Boston, Mass.: William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp, Publishers, Saturday January 1, 1831.
The Salutation.
To date my being from the opening year,
I come, a stranger in this busy sphere,
Where some I meet perchance may pause and ask,
What is my name, my purpose, or my task?
My name is 'LIBERATOR'! I propose
To hurl my shafts at freedom's deadliest foes!
My task is hard&151;for I am charged to save
Man from his brother!&151;to redeem the slave!
Ye who may hear and yet condemn my cause,
Say, shall the best of Nature's holy laws
Be trodden down? And shall her open veins
Flow but for cement to her offspring's chains?
Art thou a parent? Shall they children be
Rent from thy breast, like branches from the tree,
And doom'd to servitude, in helplessness,
On other shores, and thou ask no redress?
Thou, in whose bosom glows the sacred flame
Of filial love, say, if the tyrant came,
To force thy parent shrieking from thy sight,
Would thy heart bleed&151;because thy face is white?
Art thou a brother? Shall they sister twine
Her feeble arm in agony in thine,
And thou not lift the heel, nor aim the blow
At him who bears her off to life-long wo?
Art thou a sister? Will no desp'rate cry
Awake thy sleeping brother, while thine eye
Beholds the fetters locking on the limb
Stretched out in rest, which hence, must end, for him?
Art thou a lover?&151;no ! naught e'er was found
In lover's breast, save cords of love, that bound
Man to his kind! Then, thy profession save!
Forswear affection, or release thy slave!
Thou who art kneeling at thy Maker's shrine,
Ask if Heaven takes such offerings as thine!
If in thy bonds the son of Afric sighs,
Far higher than thy prayer his groan will rise!
God is a God of mercy, and would see
The prison-doors unbarr'd&151;the bondmen free!
He is a God of truth, with purer eyes
Than to behold the oppressor's sacrifice!
Avarice, thy cry and thine insatiate thirst
Make man consent to see his brother cursed!
Tears, sweat and blood thou drink'st, but in their turn,
They shall cry 'more!' while vengeance bids thee burn.
The Lord hath said it!&151;who shall him gainsay?
He says, 'the wicked, they shall go away' -
Who are the wicked?&151;Contradict who can,
They are the oppressors of their fellow man!
Aid me, NEW ENGLAND! 'tis my hope in you
Which gives me strength my purpose to pursue!
Do you not hear your sister States resound
With Afric's cries to have her sons unbound?
TO THE PUBLIC.
In the month of August, I issued proposals for publishing 'THE LIBERATOR' in Washington city; but the enterprise, though hailed in different sections of the country, was palsied by public indifference. Since that time, the removal of the Genius of Universal Emancipation to the Seat of Government has rendered less imperious the establishment of a similar periodical in that quarter.
During my recent tour for the purpose of exciting the minds of the people by a series of discourses on the subject of slavery, every place that I visited gave fresh evidence of the fact, that a greater revolution in public sentiment was to be effected in the free states&151;and particularly in New England&151;than at the south. I found contempt more bitter, opposition more active, detraction more relentless, prejudice more stubborn, and apathy more frozen, than among slave owners themselves. Of course, there were individual exceptions to the contrary. This state of things afflicted, but did not dishearten me. I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker Hill and in the birth place of liberty. That standard is now unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the spoliation of time or the missiles of a desperate foe&151;yea, till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free! Let southern oppressors tremble&151;let their secret abettors tremble&151;let their northern apologists tremble&151;let all the enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble.
I deem the publication of my original Prospectus unnecessary, as it has obtained a wide circulation. The principles therein inculcated will be steadily pursued in this paper, excepting that I shall not array myself as the political partisan of any man. In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties.
Assenting to the 'self-evident truth' maintained in the American Declaration of Independence, 'that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights&151;among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,' I shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population. In Park-street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon of my God, of my country, and of my brethren the poor slaves, for having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice and absurdity. A similar recantation, from my pen, was published in the Genius of Universal Emancipation at Baltimore, in September, 1829. My conscience is now satisfied.
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 speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen;--but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest&151;I will not equivocate&151;I will not excuse&151;I will not retreat a single inch&151;AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.
It is pretended, that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by the coarseness of my invective, and the precipitancy of my measures. The charge is not true. On this question my influence,--humble as it is,--is felt at this moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming years&151;not perniciously, but beneficially&151;not as a curse, but as a blessing; and posterity will bear testimony that I was right. I desire to thank God, that he enables me to disregard 'the fear of man which bringeth a snare,' and to speak his truth in its simplicity and power.
And here I close with this fresh dedication:
'Oppression! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met they cruel eye and cloudy brow;
But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now&151;
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place
Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow,
I also kneel&151;but with far other bow
Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base:--
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalizing sway&151;till Afric's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,--
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod:
Such is the vow I take&151;SO HELP ME GOD!
Boston, January 1, 1831.