Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 2

[435] in his abolition propaganda, had been cruelly maligned with false charges of ‘sifting in’ extraneous doctrines, the new party began at once to ‘sift in’ on its own account, in these vague terms of its tenth resolution:

Resolved, That while we consider the abolition of slavery as¹ paramount to all other questions of national politics, and have nominated, and expect to nominate and to elect, with a special view to this vital question, we by no means lose sight of numerous other questions in which all who are to be affected, directly or indirectly, by our Government are deeply interested; and we consider that our fundamental principle, to wit, that all men within its jurisdiction are, as men, entitled to an equal participation in the benefits of our Government, does decide all these questions in favor of the general good, by deciding them in favor of the widest and largest liberty that can flourish under just laws.

This was the price of a vice-presidential candidate² whose hobby was anti-monopoly. A year later, the State Liberty Party Convention of Massachusetts recommended the approaching National Convention to³ ‘consider and publish a full and explicit declaration of the principles of the Liberty Party, rejecting all points on which a good degree of union cannot be secured, by moderation and mutual concession.’ So far already had the party moved away from the simple test of adhesion to the doctrine of immediate emancipation. Moreover, the same State Convention debated resolutions which⁴ they almost unanimously approved (though deeming it expedient not to pass them, but to refer them to the national body), and which embraced such extraneous topics as ‘Corn Laws,’ ‘Emigration from Foreign Countries,’ ‘Home Manufactures and Tariff,’ ‘The Banking System,’ ‘Cotton Manufactures,’ ‘Reciprocity in Trade,’ ‘Economy in Expenditures.’ As if an anticlimax were still needed, respectful reference was given to two resolutions recommending the abolition of the poll-tax, and the election of sheriffs, coroners, and justices of the peace by the people!