In the early nineteenth century, the Louisiana Territory was purchased. Amongst many conversations about the new territory and further development of the United States was the topic of slavery. In 1808, the Constitution prohibited the foreign slave trade. Seventeen years after the purchase, the Missouri Compromise stated slavery could not exist in northern territory beyond the southern border of Missouri. During this time, the idea of gradual emancipation also grew, especially in the Northeast. Though gradual emancipation satisfied some, prominent activists of abolition, like William Lloyd Garrison, grew unfulfilled by the concept of allowing an unjust system to diminish so slowly. Garrison began to write The Liberator in hopes to persuade others to join him in the abolition movement. The first entry of The Liberator, written the first of January, 1831, was addressed, “to the public.” William Lloyd Garrison began this entry by explaining his belief that New England and the free states seemed to be more vicious and disrespectful than southern slave owners. However, he continued to explicate that slave …show more content…
A proclamation of forgiveness is written to God, the United States, and slaves on his behalf of being once in agreement with allowing slaves to be steadily freed. He compares slavery to a fire and slaves to victims in a burning house; slaves, just as any other wife or son, deserve to be rescued from the fire. Garrison writes that the future will demonstrate that he, and his beliefs, are accurate. Without fear, he believes he is writing on the behalf of slaves and will go against all of society to speak and stand up for