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We speak student! You'd think that Americans of the earliest 19th century would have

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finally figured out that slavery was wrong but nope somehow the chains and [woman closing a curtain to hide a slave]

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whips weren't a dead giveaway there were a lot of people in this country even in

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the North who we're still cool with owning other people an exception to this

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rule was William Lloyd Garrison Garrison was born in Massachusetts in 1805 his

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dad ditched the family when Garrison was just a kid which meant young William had [young boy at a drink stand selling lemonade]

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to go to work at an early age you know kinda like the Olsen twins by the time

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he was 13 however garrison had found his destiny he got a gig at a local paper as

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a writer and editor young William wasn't just a wonderful [William Garrison scribbling on paper while a house burns]

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journalist though he was also a devout Christian who believed that his purpose

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in life was to crusade against sin and reform the people and institutions

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around him it's nice to have a higher purpose even when that higher purpose [A man with a sword knocking on a door]

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gets a lot of doors slammed in your face at the age of 25 Garrison decided to

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hop onto the right side of history and become an abolitionist while there were

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other abolitionists in the US at the time none of them really knew what they [two people reading about abolitionists]

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were doing should slavery be abolished immediately or gradually should freed

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slaves be allowed to stay in the US they're shipped back to Africa with

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was slavery and moral and religious problems or a legal and political one shouldn't [a man stood beside a bible and a USA flag]

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slave owner to abuse their slaves be burned at the stake beheaded or drawn

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and quartered so many questions initially Garrison was associated with

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the American Colonization Society which was a group that wanted to send all free [men carrying another man to a boat to send him away from the country]

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blacks to Africa where they'd be happy and free but when Garrison realized that

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the society really just wanted to ditch all free blacks in order to preserve

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slavery he nope right out of there on January 1st 1831 Garrison published

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[newspaper article titled the liberator] the first edition of his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator it was a

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showcase for his extremely radical views you should have heard the way this guy

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thought you should eat a pizza slice and not only did Garrison believe that every

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slave in the US should have been freed like yesterday but he also thought [Garrison attempting to free a slave]

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blacks could assimilate into American society garrison was also a fan of

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non-violence and passive resistance and his delightful combination of banana pants

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crazy and VW driving hippie earned him enough of following that he helped form [people following another man dressed in bright color clothing and sunglasses]

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two societies to push or immediate emancipation however by 1840 the

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American anti-slavery society that Garrison belonged to had split the man

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was just too radical and not in the totally rad kind of way not only did [Garrison riding a skateboard and falling off]

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Garrison despise political parties and believe that women should be

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evolutionist too but he was more than happy to yell at anybody who wasn't [Garrison carrying a flaming pitchfork yelling at other people]

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ready to burn down the system like he was in the 1850s Garrison got into it

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with Frederick Douglass a former slave and formidable writer and speaker Douglas

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believed that the US Constitution could be used to end slavery Garrison believed [US constitution holding a sword to make a slave free]

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that the US Constitution was an inherently pro-slavery document they

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also had different opinions about which way to hang a roll of toilet paper the

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two men couldn't agree to disagree and they never reconciled by the time [Garrison and Douglass fighting each other]

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Abraham Lincoln had rolled into the White House with his bad self Garrison

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had been an abolitionist for 30 years he gave his full support to Lincoln's

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Emancipation Proclamation and after the 13th amendment passed in 1865 garrison [a document of the 13th amendment]

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shut the Liberator down his mission to end slavery accomplished Garrison's

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newspaper never had a circulation above 3,000 and it hemorrhaged money every [a huge stock pile of unsold newspapers]

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year it was in print Garrison's influence never extended beyond New

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England and his views were never in line with the majority opinion and yet he was

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important garrison was one of the few who pointed out over and over again that [man pointing to the declaration of independence and US constitution]

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while the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution said one thing

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the US government practiced something completely different plus he believed

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the idea of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness we're supposed to extend

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every American no matter the color of their skin [A diverse line of american citizens smiling]

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