Friday, September 20, 2013

Garrison -- Pioneer or Safer Option?

This piece says quite a bit about Garrison's background as an original gradualist and colonizer, and his shift towards preaching for immediate abolition.  Why do you think Garrison was the "founder" of the American abolition movement if there were others before him (especially Quakers) who did not receive much of a spotlight?  What was it about Garrison's personality, background, and evening timing that put him into the limelight for the abolition movement?

15 comments:

  1. Garrison was definitively brave and fearless. He is a founder of the abolition movement here in America. Especially how he creates "The Liberator" his anti-slavery newspaper. which shows how cruel the master could be and he made them feel ashamed to own a slave. But Garrison tried his hardest and did not care for the consequences. he spoke very proudly and was confident in what he was saying. Because he wanted to be heard and he was heard all around the country.

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  2. I think that Garrison was the founder of the American abolition movement because his newspaper articles gave him the spotlight that others didn't get in the past. He also has 60 other delegates of both races and genders, which was unheard of considering the fact that slaves and women were seen as a lesser value then men. Garrison's personality helped him get into the limelight because he one time in one of his articles he says "I will be heard", and he sounded very passionate about what he believed in. Also more than 60% of his readers were free African American Slaves, which proves that his ideas were one of the best of the best and he had a good following that pushed him ahead of his time. Overall, all of his achievements were made more public which is why he is more recognized.

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  3. I agree with Chandler and Meghan. I believe that Garrison was really the founder of the American abolition movement because of the way he provocated. Garrison was fearless and brave. what differenced him from The Quakers was his strong way of thinking and the fact that he was very sure of himself. He was daring, and did everything possible to make the slavery stopped, despite the consequences. He was the one that really showed what he wanted to do.. He even went to he South to make sure of the manner in which the slaveowners treated the slaves and even said publicly that he was ashamed of his own race. He burnt the American constitution and published the very known newspaper "The Liberator", and became even better known as he wanted : "I WILL BE HEARD"

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  4. Garrison was loud. He made sure he was heard. He wanted to abolish slavery and he wanted other people to want to abolish slavery, thus the news paper "The Liberator". Being that most of his audience were former slaves, proves that they were in agreement with not just that slavery should be abolished but also for the same reasons. He obviously did not mind any consequences, having done jail time. Being a white man at the time who was so devoted to abolishing slavery was unique because of the small percentage of people like him. He was successful because he believed that he could change things, and that's why he did.

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  5. As a lot of people said before me, Garrison was really out there. Unlike most people, who were on the fence about slavery, who wanted it to end because of their own selfish reasons Garrison really thought it was morally wrong. He fought against it and never hid it since the very beginning. At first for example, he placed an add for a place to give a speech and didn't shy away from there explaining the wrongs of slavery. Because of this, he even went to jail. He suffered because of his beliefs showing that he believed i what he said one hundred percent. This gave even more power to his speeches and articles . He even went as far as to publish "The Liberator" which completely went out against slavery. It is because of these things that he became the founder of the American Abolish movement, his strong voice gave courage to others.

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  6. Even though there were many people, such as Quakers, who participated in the abolition movement before Garrison, Garrison did more to advocate the movement. He was recognized at the founder of the movement because of the way he publicly voiced his opinions and made them known. Also, his personality was very brave and courageous. Garrison is well known for his newspaper "The Liberator." This was his anti-slavery paper and it greatly helped spread the idea of freedom and equality.

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  7. I think Garrison was considered the "founder" because he fought so much, and put so much information out to the public more than anyone before him had. He wanted to get attention, and he wanted to provoke people. For example he wanted to Title the paper the Liberator but everyone else wanted something less crazy and controversial like "Saftey Lamp." It was moves like that that made Garrison stick out more than others had before him. Garrison also helped others to step forward and speak their minds even though others may have thought they "went mad". In Garrisons first issue of the Liberator he flat out states how he is going to speak the truth, he pushes to be heard more than anyone as before as he ends his first column with "AND I WILL BE HEARD." While the paper never had more than 3,000 followers the words heard in the paper were known everywhere, and that exactly what Garrison intended for the people to do. Garrison brought the idea of anti-slavery back into peoples minds, as accourding to the article the idea had started to slip to the backs of peoples minds, but Garrison fixed that. Garrison also didnt waste any of his time unlike others, he knew what he could do, and what he couldnt or wasnt worth it. He wenet straight to the public and wanted their opinions, he knew he couldnt convince slaveholders otherwise, which saved him time and energy, unlike other Quakers had. Garrison also managed to use the bible to convince people to join the anti-slavery movement, something no one had yet done before.

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  8. I think that he was considered the founder because of his hard work and determination. At the beginning of the reading it talks about how he wrote lectures while he was in jail. This shows how even when he was going through rough times, he still continued to work hard. He made these three lectures and gave them all throughout the colonies. People recognized his dedication and realized that he should be called the founder. Another reason I think he was considered the founder was because he was against slavery. In the italicized print at the beginning it says "Garrison conducted a stunning moral attack against slavery and anybody who condoned or perpetuated it." This shows that he was a good person and a lot of people that were surrounded by him respected him and agreed with his beliefs.

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  9. William Lloyd Garrison was considered the founder of abolitionism because he made himself heard, and he produced results. Various groups, such as the Quakers, came before him preaching abolitionism and petitioning to congress. But their attempts were useless because the amount of slaves greatly increased, and new slave states were added to the Union throughout their protests. Garrison actually made a difference, he worked tirelessly to gain a following in the North, constantly spreading his ideas in his newspaper the Liberator or by speaking to crowds. His goal was to equate being a slave-owner to being a murderer or some other heinous person in the minds of the American people. Only in this way could he motivate half a nation to promote abolitionism. Since he was so extreme and provocative in his beliefs, it was not long before Garrison was able to succeed in convincing Americans to fight slavery.

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  10. Unlike ealier attempts to emancipate slavery, such as quakers, garrison was able to have impressive impact on the issue of slavery and emancipation. Unlike Quakers, who were regarded as outsiders of the society, People had no bias on him. Plus, not only did he openly give out speech by trying to effect 'moral pressure', but also he used the 'Liberators' as a tool to convince and persuade americans how it is morally wrong to own a slave, thereby making him self 'heard' within the nation. In addition, using his influence by speech and newspaper, Garrison tried to make slaveowners equal to murderers or criminals, thereby restricting slavery as immoral. Later on, Garrison had become so influential that the governor had bet 500 dollars for his life.

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  11. Garrison was very determined, and very lucky. He's lucky that the atheist Abner Kneeland saw his ad in the newspaper and gave him an offer, and he's lucky that so many opportunistic people came to hear him speak. Those people who came before him did not have the same opportunities that Garrison had. They didn't have as many successful writers come to hear them speak, and therefore, their ideas weren't as well recorded and dispersed among the public. They also didn't have as many ministers and religious people come to their speeches. It was important that religious people attended Garrison's speech, because they were his outlet to the religious masses of America (mostly, all of it). Garrison's determination was also quite key to his success. He stated in his advertisement that if he wasn't allowed a hall to speak in, he'd address all of the Boston public, on the commons. Many people who had the same idea as Garrison might have easily given up ever voicing their opinion and having it reach the public.

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  12. The reason why people considered William Garrison to be the founder of abolitionism is that he was the one who produced most result in spreading the idea of abolitionism to America. In different from Quakers, Quakers focused on the slaves owners but his words couldn't change their minds. Garrison instead, tried very hard to give speech in every state, and constantly spread his idea on "The Liberator" his own newspaper. Although Garrison was later than Quakers, the way he made everyone hear his voice was very brave. His creation of anti-slavery newspaper "The Liberator" was something Quakers did not do. The extremeness and and fearlessness made Americans fight slavery, therefore he was titled "the founder" of American abolition movement.

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  13. The reason Garrison stands out more and being more recognized is because his aggressive and determined personality and ability to speak out for himself. He also had done many hard work to pursue his anti-slavery movement, such as starting the newspaper "The liberator" and giving lectures. Especially with the help of Garrison's newspaper, his voice is heard among many people, which help spread his idea even more.

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  14. William's vigor and personality was the reason that he is so well remembered and looked upon as the leader of the abolishment movement. William's was passionate and aggressive with his speeches. Unlike others who kind of just sympathized with the slaves while garrison wanted to make slaves free and equal now. Also the quaker religion is preyed upon greatly through ought history due to their pacifist origins. Meaning that american history wouldn't be goung ho on granting the leaders of one to the most important movements in history to a non christian religion.

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  15. Garrison took advantage of the new technologies he had around him at the time. Although he didn't have Facebook and the Super Bowl to get his point across he had the equivalent for his time, a magazine. This is what he lived for and I'm sure if someone dedicated their life to something they would have an inherent passionate disposition when advocating for it.

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