SOURCE: Tappan, Lewis. “Lewis Tappan Praises Garrison.” In Great Lives Observed: William Lloyd Garrison, edited by George M. Fredrickson, pp. 74-76. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

In the following excerpt from a speech delivered to the inaugural convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, Tappan praises Garrison as a pioneer of the abolitionist movement and defends him against his critics.

Some men, Mr. President, are frightened at a name. There is good evidence to believe that many professed friends of abolition would have been here, had they not been afraid that the name of William Lloyd Garrison would be inserted prominently in our proceedings. Sir, I am ashamed of such friends. We ought to place that honored name in the forefront of our ranks. The cause is under obligations to him, which such an evidence of respect will but poorly repay.

The first time I ever heard of...