William Lloyd Garrison: “God never made a human being either for destruction or degradation.”

They who desire me to be dumb on the subject of Slavery, unless I will open my mouth in its defence, ask me to give the lie to my professions, to degrade my manhood, and to stain my soul.

Whether it be personal or political, mental or corporeal, intellectual or spiritual, I am for its instant, its total Abolition.

I will not be a liar, a poltroon, or a hypocrite, to accommodate any party, to gratify any sect, to escape any odium or peril, to save any interest, to preserve any institution, or to promote any object.

How were they to sustain an assault from England or France, with the cancer at their vitals?