Was the U.S. Constitution a pro-slavery “agreement with hell,” as abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison said. Or was ex-slave Frederick Douglass correct in saying that the Constitution could “be wielded in behalf of emancipation”? Legal journalist Damon Root’s brisk, informed account focuses on Douglass’ realization that the Constitution was “at war with itself,” permitting slavery while enshrining liberty. Root shows how Douglass began his public life as Garrison’s protégé but broke with his mentor’s philosophy of non-participation in a political system deemed as corrupt. Douglass was in favor of action. The rupture between the two abolitionists was partly personal. The Black activist was insulted by the patronizing attitude of Garrison’s white abolitionists and—as he put it—“was growing and needed room.”
