Henry Highland Garnet's Address to Slaves Divides and Galvanizes Abolitionists

At the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, Henry Highland Garnet delivered 'An Address to the Slaves of the United States,' calling for resistance and work stoppages. The convention, by one vote, rejected publication — Frederick Douglass argued it was too militant. Garnet published it independently in 1848. The address marked a major intellectual turning point: from moral suasion toward direct action as abolition strategy.