Liberty for each, for all, and forever.
No person will rule over me with my consent. I will rule over no man.
Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the
world are put in peril.
When I look at these crowded thousands, and see them trample on their
consciences and the rights of their fellowmen at the bidding of a piece
of parchment, I say, my curse be on the Constitution of the United
States.
Why, sir, no freedom of speech or inquiry is conceded to me in this
land. Am I not vehemently told both at the North and the South that I
have no right to meddle with the question of slavery? And my right to
speak on any other subject, in opposition to public opinion, is equally
denied to me.
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 hasten to the resurrection of the dead.—_In the
first issue of the Liberator, January 1, 1831._