The Liberator (newspaper)

This article is about the abolitionist newspaper. For other uses, see Liberator.

Liberator v.1, no.1, 1831

The Liberator (1831-1865) was an abolitionist newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831. Garrison published weekly issues of The Liberator from Boston continuously for 35 years, from January 1, 1831, to the final issue of January 1, 1866. Although its circulation was only about 3,000, and three-quarters of subscribers were African Americans in 1834, the newspaper earned nationwide notoriety for its uncompromising advocacy of "immediate and complete emancipation of all slaves" in the United States. Garrison set the tone for the paper in his famous open letter "To the Public" in the first issue.

The Liberator faced harsh resistance from several state legislatures and local groups: for example, North Carolina indicted Garrison for felonious acts, and the Vigilance Association of Columbia, South Carolina, offered a reward of $1,500 ($25,957.20 in 2005 dollars) to those who identified distributors of the paper.

The Liberator continued for three decades from its founding through the end of the American Civil War. Garrison ended the newspaper's run with a valedictory column at the end of 1865, when the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States.

Composing stone of The Liberator

Articles

All of the following articles were written by Garrison.

• "To the Public", Garrison's introductory column for The Liberator, January 1, 1831.
• "Truisms", January 8, 1831.
• "Walker's Appeal", January 8, 1831.
• "The Insurrection", Garrison's reaction to the news of Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Virginia, September 3, 1831.
• "On the Constitution and the Union", December 29, 1832.
• "Declaration of Sentiments", adopted by the Boston Peace Convention September 18, 1838, reprinted in The Liberator, September 28, 1838.
• "Abolition at the Ballot Box", June 28, 1839.
• "The American Union", January 10, 1845.
• "The Tragedy at Harper's Ferry", Garrison's first public comments on John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, October 28, 1859.
• "John Brown and the Principle of Nonresistance", the transcript of a speech given for a meeting in the Tremont Temple, Boston, on December 2, 1859, the day that John Brown was hanged, printed December 16, 1859.
• "The War_Its Cause and Cure", May 3, 1861.
• "Valedictory: The Final Number of The Liberator", Garrison's closing column for The Liberator, December 29, 1865.

1850 Liberator masthead, designed by Hammatt Billings

References

• Streitmatter, Rodger (2001). Voices of Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 21–35. ISBN 0-231-12249-7.
• The Liberator Files, Horace Seldon's collection and summary of research of The Liberator original copies at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.