In the first issue of his journal, The Liberator, New England journalist
William Lloyd Garrison called for the emancipation and enfranchisement of
slaves--not gradually, but immediately:

First Issue of The Liberator, 1831

     In the month of August, I issued proposals for publishing The Liberator
in Washington city;  but the enterprise, though hailed in different sections
of the country, was palsied by public indifference.  Since that time, the
removal of the Genius of Universal Emancipation to the Seat of Government has
rendered less imperious the establishment of a similar periodical in that
quarter.
     During my recent tour for the purpose of exciting the minds of the
people by a series of discourses on the subject of slavery, every place that
I visited gave fresh evidence of the fact, that a greater revolution in
public sentiment was to be effected in the free states--and particularly in
New England--than at the south.  I found contempt more bitter, opposition
more active, detraction more relentless, prejudice more stubborn, and apathy
more frozen, than among slave owners themselves.  Of course, there were
individual exceptions to the contrary.  This state of things afflicted, but
did not dishearten me.  I determined, at every hazard, to life up the
standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker
Hill and in the birth place of liberty.  That standard is now unfurled;  and
long may it float, unhurt by the spoliations of time or the missiles of a
desperate foe--yea, till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free!
 Let Southern oppressors tremble--let their secret abettors tremble--let
their Northern apologists tremble--let all the enemies of the persecuted
blacks tremble.
    I deem the publication of my original Prospectus unnecessary, as it has
obtained a wide circulation.  The principles therein inculcated will be
steadily pursued in this paper, excepting that I shall not array myself as
the political partisan of any man.  In defending the great cause of human
rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties.
    Assenting to the "self-evident truth" maintained in the American
Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal, and endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights--among which are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness," I shall strenuously contend for the immediate
enfranchisement of our slave population.  In Park Street Church on the Fourth
of July, 1829, in an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the
popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition.  I seize this
opportunity to make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to
ask pardon of my God, of my country, and of my brethren the poor slaves, for
having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice and absurdity.  A
similar recantation, from my pen, was published in the Genius of Universal
Emancipation at Baltimore, in September, 1829.  My conscience is now
satisfied.
    I am aware, that many object to the severity of my language; but is there
not cause for severity?  I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising
as justice.  On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write,
with moderation.  No! no!  Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a
moderate alarm;  tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the
ravisher;  tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into
which it has fallen;--but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the
present.  I am in earnest--I will not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will
not retreat a single inch--AND I WILL BE HEARD.  The apathy of the people is
enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the
resurrection of the dead.
    It is pretended, that I am retarding the cause of the emancipation by the
coarseness of my invective and the precipitancy of my measures.  The charge
is not true.  On this question my influence,--humble as it is,--is felt at
this moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming years--not
perniciously, but beneficially--not as a curse, but as a blessing; and
posterity will bear testimony that I was right.  I desire to thank God, that
he enables me to disregard "the fear of man which bringeth a snare," and to
speak his truth in its simplicity and power.
    And here I close with this fresh dedication:

        "Oppression!  I have seen thee, face to face,
        And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow;
        But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now--
        For dread to prouder feelings doth give place 
        Of deep abhorrence!  Scorning the disgrace 
        Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow,
        I also kneel--but with far other bow
        Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base:--
        I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
        Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
        Thy brutalizing sway--till Afric's chains
        Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,--
        Trampling Oppression and his iron rod:
        Such is the vow I take--SO HELP ME GOD!"

William Lloyd Garrison