William Lloyd Garrison Slavery

William Lloyd Garrison was a white man working to undermine slavery through the usage of words. His opinions were strong as seen in this quote,“‘The abolitionism which I advocate is as absolute as the law of God, and as unyielding as his throne. It admits of no compromise. Every slave is a stolen man; every slaveholder is a man stealer, by no precedent, no example, no law, no compromise, no purchase, no bequest, no inheritance, no combination of circumstances, is slaveholding right or justifiable’...’What right have I to be free, that another man cannot prove himself to possess by nature? Who or what are my wife and children, that they should not be herded with four-footed beasts, as well as others thus sacredly related?...’” Garrison

These societies began in the Caribbean when escaped slaves organized themselves into small communities. The earliest known community was created when planters in Dutch and French Guyana sent slaves into the forest to avoid having to pay taxes on them. Once gone the slaves refused to return to the plantations. The slaves resisted any attempts made by the planters to re-capture them, and used guerilla warfare against the colonial plantation owners. In 1725 an African born slave named Cudjoe led a group of runaways into the mountains of Jamaica, where they created their own state. Cudjoe’s group was persistent and the governor of Britain was forced to sign a treaty with the self proclaimed state. The treaty allowed Cudjoe and his runaways to self-govern themselves without taxes as long as they sent any runways back to their owners. There were many Maroon communities, and European powers had to sign more than a few treaties. Slaves brought from foreign countries introduced the concept of Maroons to the slaves living in the America. Foreign slaves helped create the first Maroon communities in North America, and the communities not only contained slaves but indentured white servants, as well as Native Americans. Located in the swamps of New Orleans was a particularly large community. There was a reported three hundred runaways living there. The life in a Maroon society was not easy, but it was better than being