The Relationship Of William Lloyd Garrison And Fredrick Douglass

The extraordinary friendship of William Lloyd Garrison, a white abolitionist leader, and Fredrick Douglass, a black abolitionist leader, demonstrated the ability for two diverse men from polar opposite backgrounds to come together for a common cause. Despite the strength of their unique bond as mentor and mentee, a bitter falling out ultimately separated the two and left a stain on their legacy. Despite working together for a common cause, they became estranged, especially because of their different solutions to end slavery. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland. The wife of his first owner taught him how to read despite the disapproval of her husband. Early on, Douglass had a passion for reading newspapers, political …show more content…
Their relationship began to fray when feelings of patronage arose between Douglass and Garrison’s followers, often referred to as Garrisonians. In Garrison’s publication, the Liberator, Douglass was characterized and made to play the role of a slave. For example, while Douglass spread his anti-slavery message throughout Britain in 1845, he learned that a Garrisonian was monitoring his spending at the request of Garrison. Douglass was enraged by the intrusion into his personal matters and began to develop feelings of distrust and suspicion of his mentor and the staff of his Liberator. At an anti-slavery meeting in Nantucket, Douglass recalled that Garrison “[took him as his text],” referring to him as the enslaved character that he was portrayed as in the stories published in the Liberator. Douglass felt undignified that he had to act as a slave in order to convey to the whites how bad slavery was. Most white audiences were unconvinced with Douglass’s stories because of his eloquent speech. As a result, Garrisonians instructed Douglass to be present himself as less polished when speaking in public, all so he would appear more slave-like. The abolitionists even suggested Douglass take on the name Bailey, his former slave name, instead of Douglass, in order to make his character appear more slave-like to the …show more content…
In Ohio, Douglass was introduced to Joshua Giddings, a Congressman with whom Douglass and Garrison debated the constitution. Douglass had always agreed with Garrison in the view that the Constitution was a proslavery document. For this reason, they were both supporters of the dissolution of the union. Giddings, a supporter of the Constitution, was an active anti-slavery advocate and in his debate, and he began to portray that the constitution was an anti-slavery document to Douglass. Giddings believed that slavery could be abolished with the current constitution unlike Garrison who believed that the constitution should be changed. Giddings began to sway Douglass’s opinion and convinced him that the constitution contained notions that applied to anti-slavery and that the union did not need to be dissolved in order to achieve emancipation. Douglass went on the record as having “arrived at the firm conviction that the Constitution; construed in the light of well established rules of legal interpretation, might be made consistent with its details with the noble purposes avowed in its preamble; and that hereafter we should insist upon the application of such rules to that instrument, and demand that it be wielded in behalf of emancipation. ” After reading this newspaper article, Garrison declared, “There is roguery somewhere! ” Garrison was outraged with Douglass’s change of heart and felt