Garrison on New England Complicity

As early as 1832 William Lloyd Garrison clearly named New Englanders as complicit with slavery.  “In its origin, slavery was a common crime ; it is equally so in its continuance, as well as a common curse; in its removal we are all bound to assist…..the foundation of the system was laid in Massachusetts and Virginia … the ships of New England actively engaged in stealing victims on the coast of Africa …. the transportation of domestic slaves (a trade equally atrocious with the foreign) is almost exclusively effected in eastern vessels ….”