William Lloyd Garrison
Early Abolitionism
From: Understanding American Citizenship
History Standards:
8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize the ideals of
the Declaration of Independence.
11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to
realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.
CCSS Standards: Reading
2.Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an
accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular
sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).
6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses
rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
Guiding Question:
How do abolitionists use the founding principals of the United States to argue against slavery?
How did abolitionists argue that the nation was not realizing the ideals set forth in the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?
Overview of Lesson:
Students should be familiar with America’s founding documents and the basic principles of the
abolition movement.
It will be helpful to give students a brief biography of William Lloyd Garrison, either through a
textbook excerpt or through lecture. Afterward, pair students to work on the text together.
Model the close reading through the first 2-3 text dependent questions, ensuring that students
know what a full an complete answer looks like. Their answers may be oral, or written on
separate papers, according to your preference. As each pair of students goes through, they will
think through their answers and record them if necessary. When they have completed the full
text, each pair should meet with another to form groups of four, and they may then review their
findings and decide if they came to justifiable conclusions.
William Lloyd Garrison, “The American Union” (10 January 1845)
Source: William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, January 10, 1845 reprinted in The Liberty
Bell, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1845, pp. 230-238
Questions
Look at the title of the
article, what does it
mean? Was America
united in 1845?
What does Garrison
argue that the
American Union is
not?
What does Garrison
argue should be
subverted?
What will happen if the
American Union is
overthrown?
Garrison suggests that
the American Union is
not an experiment in
freedom, what is his
evidence?
What imagery did
Garrison use to
describe the U.S.?
How does Garrison use
the contents of the
Constitution as a way
to support his
argument that the U.S.
is not an experiment in
freedom?
Text
Tyrants! confident of its overthrow,
proclaim not to your vassals that the
AMERICAN UNION is an experiment
of Freedom, which, if it fail, will
forever demonstrate the necessity of
whips for the backs, and chains for the
limbs of the people. Know that its
subversion is essential to the triumph
of justice, the deliverance of the
oppressed, the vindication of the
BROTHERHOOD OF THE RACE. It
was conceived in sin, and brought
forth in iniquity; and its career has
been marked by unparalleled
hypocrisy, by high-handed tyranny...
Freedom indignantly disowns it, and
calls for its extinction; for within its
borders are three millions of Slaves,
whose blood constitutes its cement,
whose flesh forms a large and
flourishing branch of its commerce,
and who are ranked with four-footed
beasts and creeping things. To secure
the adoption of the Constitution of the
United States, it was agreed, first, that
the African slave-trade, —till that
time, a feeble, isolated colonial traffic,
— should for at least twenty years be
prosecuted as a national interest
under the American flag, and
protected by the national arm; —
secondly, that a slaveholding
oligarchy, created by allowing threefifths of the slave population to be
represented by their taskmasters,
Glossary
Tyrants—a person in
power who uses that
power in an
oppressive manner
Vassal—a person who
is a servant or slave
Subversion—to
destroy or overthrow
(a government)
conceived-born or
created
indignantly-a feeling
of strong displeasure
colonial traffic—
trade that was part of
the British system
that preceded
American
independence
How was every citizen
complicit in slavery?
Consider the last line of
the article, how does
this contradict the title
of the article? Why
would he title the
article as he does,
American Union?
should be allowed a permanent seat in
Congress;—thirdly, that the slave
system should be secured against
internal revolt and external invasion,
by the united physical force of the
country; —fourthly, that not a foot of
national territory should be granted,
on which the panting fugitive from
Slavery might stand, and be safe from
his pursuers—thus making every
citizen a slave-hunter and slavecatcher…
Henceforth, the watchword of every
uncompromising abolitionist, of every
friend of God and liberty, must be,
both in a religious and political sense "NO UNION WITH
SLAVEHOLDERS!"