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The Abolition of Slavery: The Right of the Government under the War Power

William Lloyd Garrison · 1862

Garrison's 1862 pamphlet arguing the government had the wartime power to abolish slavery.

Garrison wrote this pamphlet arguing for the government's wartime power to abolish slavery.

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The Abolition of Slavery: The Right of the Government under the War PowerPDF · 28 pages
William Lloyd Garrison, The Abolition of Slavery: The Right of the Government under the War Power. R. F. Wallcut, Boston, 1862.

About this source

What it is

This is a pamphlet written by William Lloyd Garrison in 1862, published in Boston, arguing that the United States government held the constitutional power to abolish slavery as a wartime measure. It includes extracts from an earlier speech by John Quincy Adams on war powers.

Why it matters

Published during the Civil War, this pamphlet shows Garrison pressing the case for emancipation at a crucial moment, using legal and political arguments alongside his moral ones. It connects his abolitionist campaign to the wider debate about what the war could achieve.

Look closer

  • Why might Garrison include a quotation from John Quincy Adams in his own pamphlet?
  • What does it suggest about his argument that he frames abolition as a question of government power?
  • How does this text differ in approach from his earlier, more purely moral writings?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of William Lloyd Garrison on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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