William Lloyd Garrison’s Shattered Faith in Antislavery Constitutionalism: The Origins and Limits of the “Garrisonian Critique”

This article contributes to an emerging line of challenge against the Garrisonian critique of the Constitution. We show how Garrison, early in his career, endorsed and participated in the project of antislavery constitutionalism, before an emergent proslavery construction of the Constitution was validated by the Taney Court in the 1842 decision  Prigg v. Pennsylvania . This decision shattered Garrison’s faith in antislavery constitutionalism, prompting him to concede that the Constitution was a proslavery compact and to call for disunion. We argue, contrary to a common assumption, that Garrison did not draw this conclusion based on a reading of James Madison’s recently published  Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 ; instead, he excerpted Madison’s  Notes  in an attempt to undermine continuing abolitionist defenses of the Constitution as antislavery. We close by reflecting on the persistence of the Garrisonian critique as a reminder of the fragility of faith in democratic republican government.