ABSTRACT
William lloyd garrison, the most forceful reformer in our history, is perhaps the least known of great Americans. When South Carolina passed a new law prohibiting Negroes from going to school, Garrison’s indignation was aroused. What distinguished Garrison from his fellow meliorists was his inspired tenacity and prophetic zeal. At first Garrison’s stinging editorials were outcries in the wilderness, unnoticed except by his Southern detractors. Even those on whom he had counted most for support, particularly the church groups, refused to heed his appeal. Very early in the campaign Garrison encountered the vehement opposition of The American Colonization Society, an association of complacent philanthropists who expected to abolish slavery by helping freed Negroes to settle in Africa. Although he continued to write in behalf of the Negro, and although he favored such reforms as woman’s rights, prohibition, and free trade, he was no longer the apostolic crusader.
