Frederick Douglass Vs William Lloyd Garrison
Douglass and Garrison were two important leaders of the anti-slavery movement; they even collaborated together at the beginning but then separated when Douglass started his own newspaper called The North Star. Douglass was a former slave who escaped from Maryland and later on met Garrison and got involved in the abolitionist movement. Garrison was a young white religious, radical abolitionist, while Douglass was a moderate abolitionist. Both, Douglass and Garrison saw slavery as a moral question and a sin, and denounce the Christian church as hypocrite for defending slavery. They were in favor of racial equality, social and economic, and supported the Civil War and integration of Black soldiers.
Aside from their similarities, there were bigger differences between them and their ideologies. While Douglass considered himself a gradualist, which meant he was for a slower, gradual change, Garrison embraced immediatism, he wanted slavery to end at once. They both had abolitionist newspapers but while Douglass’ The North Star promoted freedom of slavery, Garrison’s The Liberator focused more on attacking slaveholders and gradualist. He also condemned the Constitution as pro-slavery and burned a copy on the fourth of July. Douglass believed the Constitution was an anti-slavery document.
Both, Douglass and Garrison view slavery as a moral sin and criticized the Christian church for admitting slavery. “...Those Divines...Convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty...” (1) Said Douglass. He criticized those people, the so called ‘Divines’ for saying yes to slavery. “The American church is guilty…to uphold slavery; but it is [more] guilty [for] its ability to abolish slavery.”(2) In this phrase, he is denouncing the church for having the power to get rid of slavery but not doing a thing to abolish it. Garrison also defended his view on religion by stating: “...In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions...” (3) Both were also in favor of racial equality, social and economic. Douglass really promoted moral and intellectual improvement of colored people and the desegregation of schools divided in Blacks and Whites. He believed “...The slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being.” (4) Just as any other white man and the fact that “...Southern statute [forbid]…the teaching of the slave to read or to write.” (5) Frustrated him. Although Garrison never talked about educational rights for slaves, he always clearly stated that he was for slave freedom and racial equality. Another similarity between Douglass and Garrison was their support of the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln, and the integration of Black soldiers. They argued that because the aim of the Civil War was to end slavery, Blacks should be admitted as soldiers to fight for their freedom. They both also had sons that joined the War effort.
Douglass and Garrison were also really different and had different believes around topics. First of all, Douglass was a moderate abolitionist, which meant he wanted slow, gradual change that did not use any violent force. However, Garrison was a former radical abolitionist that embraced immediatism, the faster change occurred the better. In one of his articled published in his newspaper The Liberator he says, “...I unreflectingly assented to the popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition...” (6) He viewed gradual change as ineffective and ‘too soft’. Although they both published abolitionist newspapers, The North Star and The Liberator had different focus points. Douglass’ newspaper focused on the freedom of slavery with more objective and optimistic ideas, while Garrison’s newspaper had a negative connotation when attacking slaveholders and gradualists, like in the last quote I presented. Also when it came to the issue of whether the Constitution was pro or anti – slavery, they opinions were significantly different. Garrison believed the Constitution defended slavery, and burned a copy of the document on July 4, 1854 describing it as “...A covenant with death, an agreement with hell..." This of course created a lot of controversy. In contrast with Garrison, Douglass described the Constitution as a “GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT” (7) And defended it by saying, “…Neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it.” (8)
