Garrison Founds The Liberator: Uncompromising Abolitionism

William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of The Liberator on January 1, 1831, in Boston. Unlike earlier antislavery voices who favored gradual emancipation or colonization, Garrison demanded immediate, unconditional abolition. His opening editorial stated: 'I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice... I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.' The Liberator published for 35 years until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. It galvanized both abolitionist organizing and proslavery reaction.