INTRODUCTION

Image Source:Library of Congress, Printed Ephemera Collection

In 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society was established.  The American Anti-Slavery Society demanded the immediate release of all slaves.  The Society pledged to organize antislavery societies in every town in the nation. The society used handbills and broadsides as a means of communication.  With the development of the printing press (steam-driven), printing presses could now produce a multifold of copies for distribution.  The abolitionists now had a means of communication.  These handbills and broadsides became the voice of the abolitionists.    The anti-abolitionists wanted to silence this voice and violence became a means of doing so. Printing shops were destroyed; workers and supporters of the Abolition Movement were beaten and murdered.  In many parts of the country, if you were a supporter of this movement, you were subject to harm, and many became a silent supporter to the movement. Violence hit its peak in 1835.   This time in history became to be known as the “the Year of violence.”

It is October 21, 1835 in Boston, Massachusetts.  The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society is looking forward to hosting a speech by William Lloyd Garrison.  Mr. Garrison agreed to give the talk after George Thompson could not because he feared for his life.  A $100.00 bounty had been placed on his head by a bookstore in Norfolk, Virginia.  One popular practice was to print and distribute papers, called handbills, to people walking on the streets of Boston.  One such handbill that was distributed prior to Garrison’s talk is below.  In this lesson you will explore why a noted historical figures such as William Lloyd Garrison chose to publicly speak under the threat of violence.