In the 1830s the abolitionist movement --- a movement that had been part of the American experience since colonial times --- took on a stronger and louder voice. Its speakers were more urgent, more militant, and more radical. They used a logic intrinsically tied to the very bedrock of American democracy: that "all men are created equal" by "their Creator," and that this God-given equality entitles each person the right to be free from prejudice, exclusion and oppression.

The emergent militant voice came from black abolitionists. Its statements made uncomfortable white citizens --- be they abolitionists, slave holders, or "fence sitters." Most militant, David Walker, whose father was a slave – that framed the despair of the enslaved in 1829: "[L]et me ask Mr. Jefferson "and the "whole American people," would an African American "not rather die or be put to death, than be a slave to any tyrant, who takes the lives of the enslaved man, woman and child "by the inches?" Some 13 years later, Henry Highland Garnet, a well-educated clergyman born a slave, echoed Walker, by stating the reality that political leaders failed to fulfill the promise of that "glorious document," the Declaration of Independence. They did not "emancipate the slaves;" instead they merely "added new links to our chains." Then, Frederick Douglass, the best known black abolitionists, pointed to the basic and grievous hypocrisy of American democracy. Speaking on July 4, 1852, he demanded to know the meaning of "July Fourth for the Negro." This he did by asking his audience to answer how the "great principles of freedom and of natural justice" that had been "embodied in [the] Declaration of Independence" extended to African Americans, be they enslaved or free.

The fact that the abolitionist movement became more urgent, militant and radical in the 1830s is a historical fact. However, most often William Lloyd Garrison is given too much credit for the shift. As publisher of The Liberator and leader of the New England Anti-Slavery Society he created a bully pulpit to wage his moral campaign against slavery. In the process, Garrison challenged the more moderate voices of antislavery, the members of the American Colonization Movement. Whereas the moderates favored gradual emancipation and financial compensation to slaveholders, Garrison demanded immediate and complete end of slavery. Whereas the moderates believed that freed slaves (as well as existing free blacks) should be returned to Africa to form their own "colonies," Garrison recognized that "colonization" of blacks was not fair, since by the 1830s most all had been born in the Untied States. Thus, Garrison’s argued that emancipated and free blacks were entitled to be citizens --- they were African Americans.

Despite differences, Garrison and the moderates agreed on one fundamental point: Both believed that blacks were less equal to whites. In arguing for gradualism and colonization, the moderates of the American Colonization Movement assumed that African Americans could not fully integrate into American society --- they were just not as able, as equal. In arguing for increased rights for African Americans, Garrison made clear that he believed in legal equality, but not social equality. And consistent with the attitudes of his race, he preferred light-skinned to dark-skinned blacks, and he hesitated to admit African Americans into his Anti-Slavery Society.

Thus, both the moderates and Garrisionites neither embraced nor argued for total racial equality. They simply did not interpret Thomas Jefferson’s words that "all men are created equal" as including the African American population in the Untied States. It took the voices of David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, and Frederick Douglass to make the rightful claim of total racial equality part of the national debate on slavery.

In this activity, you will be exposed to the ideas of three of these black abolitionists. Not only will you gain a better understanding of their ideas, but also you will be exposed to the ways that they argued their collective cause in terms of the ideas and language of the Declaration of Independence That the Civil War was won by the Union made a reality the abolitionist demand for emancipation of slaves. However, the end of slavery did not end racial discrimination in the United States. That objective still is "in process." David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, and Frederick Douglass made clear that before the equality promised in the Declaration of Independence could become fulfilled for African Americans, ALL Americans had to address their attitudes toward race. Thus, the challenge presented by these three black abolitionists of the 19^th century demonstrates the ways that the ideas of the past are still in need a strong and loud voice today.

Step One: Gaining a working knowledge of the events and issues that defined the abolitionist movement in Antebellum America

Tasks:

Step Two: Understanding the ways that Walker, Garnet and Douglass used the Declaration of Independence to argue their ideas.

Resources:  Declaration of Independence and its Implications
 

Step Three: Evaluating your observations and conclusions.

Select one of the following topics and prepare an essay or class presentation. Be sure to support your perspective with specific examples from the writings of Walker, Garnet and Douglass.

Like the three black abolitionists, Martin Luther King used the ideas and promises expressed in the Declaration of Independence. He, like they, argued for equality and freedom for Negroes.

Read Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have A Dream." Write a short reflection that examines some of the ways that King applied the ideas of the Declaration of Independence to demand an end to racial discrimination in the United States.