New England Non-Resistance Society

New England Non-Resistance Society
Name	New England Non-Resistance Society
Formation	1838
Dissolution	c. 1849
Founder	William Lloyd Garrison, Henry C. Wright, Maria Weston Chapman
Type	Abolitionist / Pacifist organization
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts
Key people	Adin Ballou, Amos Bronson Alcott, Stephen Symonds Foster, Abby Kelley
Newspaper	The Non-Resistant

New England Non-Resistance Society. It was a radical abolitionist organization founded in 1838 that advocated for the complete renunciation of all forms of violence and coercion, including that of the state. The society emerged from a schism within the broader American Anti-Slavery Society over tactics and ideology, pushing pacifist principles to their absolute logical conclusion. Its influence, though the group was short-lived, extended into subsequent reform movements concerning conscientious objection, anarchist thought, and women's rights.

Origins and founding

The society was formally established in September 1838 at a contentious peace convention in Boston following the Broad Street Riot of 1837, which highlighted violent divisions over slavery. Its creation was spearheaded by William Lloyd Garrison, who, disillusioned with the political compromises of mainstream abolitionism, argued that all human government relied on force and was therefore antithetical to Christian ethics. This radical stance caused a definitive split from more moderate elements within the American Anti-Slavery Society, led by figures like Arthur Tappan and Theodore Dwight Weld, who favored political action. The founding document, the "Declaration of Sentiments", was drafted primarily by Garrison and the fervent lecturer Henry C. Wright.

Principles and philosophy

The core doctrine demanded members pledge to abstain from all participation in institutions that used force, rejecting not only war and capital punishment but also the authority of courts, police, and civil government itself. This philosophy was rooted in a perfectionist interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount and the belief in non-resistance to evil as commanded in the Gospel. They held that true reform could only come through "moral suasion" and the transformative power of love, utterly condemning the use of force even in self-defense or for the enforcement of laws, including those against slaveholding.

Key figures and membership

While William Lloyd Garrison was its most prominent voice, the society attracted other significant reformers. Adin Ballou, founder of the Hopedale Community, was a central theologian who later elaborated its principles in works like Christian Non-Resistance. Amos Bronson Alcott, the Transcendentalist educator, was an active member, as were radical abolitionists Stephen Symonds Foster and Abby Kelley. Maria Weston Chapman and her sisters, leaders of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, provided crucial organizational support. The membership, never large, consisted largely of committed Quakers, Christian perfectionists, and Transcendentalists from New England.

Activities and publications

The society's primary activity was propaganda, disseminated through lectures, tracts, and its official newspaper, The Non-Resistant, edited by Garrison and published from 1839 to 1842. Agents like Henry C. Wright undertook extensive speaking tours across the Northeast and into the Midwest, often facing hostile mobs. They organized annual meetings and circulated petitions, though they refused to petition a government they deemed illegitimate. Their literature consistently linked the violence of slavery with the violence inherent in all state authority, arguing both must be abandoned simultaneously.

Relationship to other movements

The society existed at the radical edge of a network of antebellum reform movements. Its stance created tension with political abolitionists in the Liberty Party and later the Free Soil Party. It found closer alignment with the peace movement led by the American Peace Society, though it was far more extreme. The society's emphasis on individual conscience influenced the development of American anarchist thought. Furthermore, its commitment to absolute equality within its ranks provided a platform for early feminists like Abby Kelley and Lucretia Mott, bridging radical abolitionism with the women's rights movement.

Decline and legacy

Internal disagreements over tactics and the escalating national crisis over slavery led to the society's effective dissolution by the late 1840s; the fervent abolitionism sparked by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and events in Bleeding Kansas made its strict pacifism seem impractical to many. William Lloyd Garrison himself eventually supported the Union Army during the American Civil War. The society's legacy persisted through Adin Ballou's writings, which later influenced Leo Tolstoy and, through him, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. in their development of nonviolent resistance. Its radical questioning of state authority also provided a foundational text for American anarchist and conscientious objector traditions.

Category:1838 establishments in Massachusetts Category:1849 disestablishments in the United States Category:Abolitionist organizations in the United States Category:Peace organizations in the United States Category:Organizations based in Boston