324. Rise of the Abolitionists.--About 1830 a new movement in favor of the negroes began. Some persons in the North, as, for example, William Ellery Channing, proposed that slaves should be set free, and their owners paid for their loss. They suggested that the money received from the sale of the public lands might be used in this way. But nothing came of these suggestions. Soon, however, William Lloyd Garrison began at Boston the publication of a paper called the _Liberator_. He wished for complete abolition without payment. For a time he labored almost alone. Then slowly others came to his aid, and the Antislavery Society was founded. [Sidenote: Anti-abolitionist sentiment in the North. _Higginson_, 268.] [Sidenote: Disunion sentiment of abolitionists.] [Sidenote: The Garrison riot, 1835. _Source-Book_, 248-251.] 325. Opposition to the Abolitionists.--It must not be thought that the abolitionists were not opposed. They were most vigorously opposed. Very few Northern men wished to have slavery reestablished in the North. But very many Northern men objected to the antislavery agitation because they thought it would injure business. Some persons even argued that the antislavery movement would bring about the destruction of the Union. In this idea there was a good deal of truth. For Garrison grew more and more outspoken. He condemned the Union with slaveholders and wished to break down the Constitution, because it permitted slavery. There were anti-abolitionist riots in New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. In Boston the rioters seized Garrison and dragged him about the streets (1835). [Sidenote: Nat Turner's Rebellion, 1831.] [Sidenote: Incendiary publications in the mails. _McMaster_, 313-314.] 326. Slave Rebellion in Virginia, 1831.--At about the time that Garrison established the _Liberator_ at Boston, a slave rebellion broke out in Virginia. The rebels were led by a slave named Nat Turner, and the rebellion is often called "Nat Turner's Rebellion." It was a small affair and was easily put down. But the Southerners were alarmed, because they felt that the Northern antislavery agitation would surely lead to more rebellions. They called upon the government to forbid the sending of the _Liberator_ and similar "incendiary publications" through the mails. [Sidenote: Right of petition.] [Sidenote: J.Q. Adams and antislavery petitions, 1836. _Hero Tales_, 151-159.] [Sidenote: The "gag-resolutions." _McMaster_, 314-315.]