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In the summer of 1847, two giants of the abolitionist movement, Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, toured Pennsylvania to speak at various abolitionist societies and meet other prominent figures in the movement to end the institution of slavery, which had plagued the land for more than two centuries.

Douglass, the more famous of the two, escaped slavery and went on to become one of the most notable orators, writers, thinkers, and abolitionists of nineteenth-century America. Douglass was an especially charismatic orator, known for his ability to speak and command a stage and to capture the hearts and minds of his audience. Garrison, in contrast, was known as a more timid, introverted man who focused on writing rather than speaking. Both men were controversial even for abolitionists, often causing splits in the anti-slavery camp by criticizing the emigration movement and emphasizing the improvement of the lives of Black people in the United States.

Douglass's and Garrison’s visit to the capital region came at a time of growing optimism in the anti-slavery cause, when multiple states were passing legislation in support of abolition. Harrisburg itself became a center for the abolitionist movement despite persisting pro-slavery sentiment in the capital.

On the morning of August 7, 1847, Frederick Douglass and William Garrison arrived in Harrisburg after a difficult train ride during which a belligerent and bigoted man harassed Douglass. Upon their arrival, Douglass and Garrison walked several blocks to the Dauphin County Courthouse, where they were scheduled to speak about their work and the blight of slavery in the country. Garrison spoke for an hour without issue and then gave the floor to Douglass. While the crowd had been very respectful and listened to Garrison’s speech, Douglass was heckled soon after he began speaking, and rabble-rousers threw rotten eggs at him. It didn’t end there. The mob set off fireworks outside; lobbed another volley of eggs toward him, one of which hit Garrison in the back of the head; and shouted racial epithets at Douglass.

Following this reaction, the abolitionists promptly concluded their speaking engagement. Garrison announced to the people, "Our mission to Harrisburg is ended. If there be not sufficient love of liberty and self-respect in the place, to protect the right of assembly and the freedom of speech, [Douglass] would not degrade himself by attempting to speak under such circumstances, and he would therefore recall the appointment for Sunday night and go where he could be heard."

As their security escorted Douglass and Garrison out, a mob harassed them while Harrisburg police watched. After the incident, they went to visit some colleagues in the anti-slavery movement at Wesley Union Church, where they received a warmer welcome. At the time, Harrisburg had a sizable free Black population of eleven percent, most of whom created communities around the African Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian churches.

The remainder of the tour in Pennsylvania was not as difficult or memorable as their time in Harrisburg. Upon arriving in Pittsburgh on August 9, a notable abolitionist of the area, J.B. Vashon, welcomed them with a brass band. In his speeches, Douglass argued against the institution of slavery, appealing to the people’s religious sensibilities. Mainly, Douglass argued that owning people as property violated the Golden Rule, as well as the democratic principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence. More controversially, Douglass said that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document, which was especially illustrated by the clause stating that runaway slaves should be returned to their enslavers. He also described the North as complicit in keeping slavery alive. Douglass, addressing these pious abolitionists, also railed against the clergymen who defended slavery, calling them hypocrites who dishonored the profession.

After their speeches, Garrison and Douglass met with Dr. Martin R. Delany, who ultimately helped Douglass finance and establish his publication, the North Star. They later met some other abolitionists in Youngstown, Ohio, and concluded their tour on August 14. The men went their separate ways after that.

In the end, the intention of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison was not to change minds and gain new supporters during their tour of Pennsylvania (as they were largely speaking to established abolitionist societies), but to motivate, inspire, and give direction to abolitionists.

The work of these men was instrumental to the end of slavery and played a role in the events leading to the Civil War a few years later in 1861. Without them, landmark civil rights legislation such as the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments may not have been possible. These changes to the Constitution freed enslaved Americans, made all people equal under the law, and gave all men the right to vote, respectively.

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