American Anti-Slavery Society

American Anti-Slavery Society
American Anti-Slavery Society · Public domain · source
Name	American Anti-Slavery Society
Formation	December 4, 1833
Founder	William Lloyd Garrison, Arthur Tappan, Theodore Dwight Weld, Lewis Tappan
Dissolved	1870
Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (founding)
Key people	Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass
Focus	Abolitionism in the United States

American Anti-Slavery Society. The American Anti-Slavery Society was a principal abolitionist organization founded in Philadelphia in 1833, marking a shift toward immediate, uncompensated emancipation. It became the national center for radical abolitionism, utilizing widespread propaganda, petition campaigns, and influential public speaking tours to mobilize Northern opinion against the institution of slavery in the United States. The society's militant stance and internal debates over strategy and inclusion ultimately led to a major schism, yet its efforts were instrumental in shaping the political landscape that culminated in the American Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment.

History and founding

The society was established at a convention in Philadelphia in December 1833, organized in the wake of Nat Turner's Rebellion and growing religious revivalism. Key founders included the journalist William Lloyd Garrison, the philanthropists Arthur Tappan and Lewis Tappan, and the evangelical organizer Theodore Dwight Weld. Its founding document, the "Declaration of Sentiments", drafted primarily by Garrison, explicitly called for the immediate end of slavery without compensation to enslavers, a direct challenge to the prevailing gradualism of earlier groups like the American Colonization Society. This founding convention, attended by delegates from across the Northern United States, signaled a new, more confrontational phase in the abolitionist movement, directly linking the cause to the principles of the American Revolution and natural rights.

Leadership and key figures

While William Lloyd Garrison served as its most prominent public voice and moral leader, the society's leadership and operational strength came from a diverse coalition. Wendell Phillips, known as "abolition's golden trumpet," became a leading orator and strategist following his famous speech in defense of Elijah Parish Lovejoy. Theodore Dwight Weld trained a cadre of agents, known as the "Seventy", including Angelina Grimké and Sarah Grimké, to spread the message across the Midwestern United States. Formerly enslaved individuals like Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown provided powerful firsthand testimony, while women such as Lucretia Mott, Lydia Maria Child, and Maria Weston Chapman held significant organizational roles, editing publications and managing the massive petition campaigns to the United States Congress.

Activities and publications

The society's primary activities centered on a massive propaganda campaign known as the "Great Postal Campaign" of 1835, which flooded the Southern United States with anti-slavery literature, provoking outrage and censorship. Its official weekly newspaper, The Liberator, edited by Garrison, was supplemented by other influential periodicals like The Emancipator and The National Anti-Slavery Standard. Agents organized local auxiliary societies and delivered thousands of lectures, while the society systematically petitioned the United States House of Representatives, leading to the controversial gag rule debates. It also published seminal works like American Slavery As It Is, compiled by Weld and the Grimkés, which used Southern sources to document the brutality of the institution.

Internal divisions and the schism of 1840

Fundamental disagreements over ideology and tactics caused a major rupture at the society's national convention in 1840. The "Garrisonian" faction, centered in New England, advocated moral suasion, rejected participation in a pro-slavery political system, and increasingly supported women's rights, leading to the appointment of Abby Kelley to a key committee. Opponents, including the Tappan brothers and James G. Birney, favored engagement with the political process, which culminated in the formation of the Liberty Party. This schism formally split the movement, with the political abolitionists forming the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Further divisions emerged over the interpretation of the United States Constitution, with Garrison famously denouncing it as a "covenant with death".

Relationship with other abolitionist groups

The society existed within a complex ecosystem of reform organizations. It was often at odds with the American Colonization Society, which it viewed as inherently racist and pro-slavery. After the 1840 split, it maintained a tense but sometimes collaborative relationship with the political Free Soil Party and later the Republican Party (United States). It overlapped significantly with the Underground Railroad, though as an organization it generally did not directly participate in its clandestine operations. The society's members were also deeply involved in other contemporary movements, including temperance, prison reform, and the founding of the Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, creating a broad network of social reform.

Legacy and dissolution

The society's relentless agitation shifted public discourse, making slavery a central and inescapable national issue. Its tactics of mass propaganda and political petitioning provided a model for later reform movements. Although its influence waned after the 1840 schism and the rise of purely political anti-slavery, it continued its work until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. The society formally dissolved in 1870, with many of its veteran members, like Wendell Phillips and Frederick Douglass, turning their efforts toward the struggles of Reconstruction era and securing civil rights through amendments like the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fifteenth Amendment. Its papers and legacy are preserved in collections such as those at the Library of Congress and the New-York Historical Society. Category:Abolitionist organizations in the United States Category:Organizations established in 1833 Category:Organizations disestablished in 1870