American Abolitionists and Antislavery Activists:
Conscience of the Nation

Updated April 4, 2021













l to r: Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips

United States Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations


The following is a partial list of abolitionist and anti-slavery organizations founded in the United States before the Civil War.  This list will include founding members and officers of these organizations. 

This list is a work in progress and only represents a portion of these organizations and their leadership.

We have just completed an extensive update of the list of Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations and their officers.


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Abolition Society of the State of Delaware, reorganized as the Delaware Abolition Society in 1827.

 

 

Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Lobby, Washington, DC, 1840’s.  Worked with anti-slavery Congressmen to reverse the Gag Rule and support anti-slavery political campaigns.  Opposed annexation of Texas and extension of slavery.

 

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848, Massachusetts, sixth U.S. President (1825-1829), U.S. Congressman (1831-1848), U.S. Secretary of State, lawyer, anti-slavery leader, activist, abolitionist, son of second U.S. President John Adams.  Opposed the Missouri Compromise of 1819, which allowed the expansion of slavery in southern states.  Fought against the “Gag Rule” in Congress, which prevented discussion of the issue of slavery in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The Gag Rule was revoked in 1844.  Opposed slavery in the District of Columbia.

(Adams, 1874; Bemis, 1956; Cable, 1971; Dumond, 1961, pp. 238, 243-244, 367-370; Filler, 1960, p. 57, 80, 82, 96, 98, 102, 104, 105, 107, 108, 164, 168, 208; Goodell, 1852; Hammond, 2011, pp. 25, 175, 176, 240, 248, 272, 273, 276, 380; Mason, 2006, pp. 3., 90, 93, 98, 165, 185, 187, 190, 200, 205, 214-222, 263n31, 383n32, 289n47; Miller, 1996; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 3, 6, 8, 10, 18-19, 24, 33, 39, 45, 137, 197, 248; Pease, 1965, pp. 260-267; Remini, 2002; Richards, 1986; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 40-41, 49, 45, 132, 153-154, 305; Wilson, 1872, Vol. 2, pp. 161-164; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 24-28. Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 84-92.)

 

Andrews, Stephan Pearl, 1812-1886, abolitionist, anarchist, philosopher, linguist, writer, labor advocate, lawyer, ardent opponent of slavery, lectured publicly on the evils of slavery. Opposed annexation of Texas and slavery in the Territory. 

(Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 298-299; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 25-26; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. p. 76)

 

Bailey, Gamaliel, 1807-1859, Maryland, abolitionist leader, journalist, newspaper publisher and editor.  Publisher and editor of National Era (founded 1847), of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founded Cincinnati Anti-Slavery Society in 1835.  Corresponding Secretary, Ohio Anti-Slavery Society. Assistant and Co-Editor, The Abolitionist newspaper.  Liberty Party.  Published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1851-1852.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 21, 25-26, 28, 30, 34, 52, 55, 67, 148-149, 166, 192, 202, 223, 248; Dumond, 1961, pp. 163, 223, 264, 301; Filler, 1960, pp. 78, 150, 194-195, 245, 252; Harrold, 1995; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 4, 5, 14, 23, 24, 26, 27, 44, 46, 54, 61, 63, 69, 88-89, 91, 103, 106; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 50, 185; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 136; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 496-497; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 1, p. 881)

 

Child, David Lee, 1794-1874, Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist, author, journalist.  Leader, manager, 1833-1840, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Child served as a manager and a member of the Executive Committee of the AASS, 1840-1843, Vice-President, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1836.  Published The Despotism of Freedom—or The Tyranny and Cruelty of American Republican Slaveholders.  Co-editor with his wife, Lydia, of The Anti-Slavery Standard

(Dumond, 1961, p. 269; Mabee, 1970, pp. 193, 327; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 398, 399; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 603-604; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 65; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 165-166; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 4, p. 804; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 324)

 

Gates, Seth Merrill, 1800-1877, abolitionist leader, lawyer, newspaper editor, U.S. Congressman, Whig Party, Western New York.  Anti-slavery political leader in House of Representatives. 

(Dumond, 1961, p. 295; Mabee, 1970, p. 128; Sorin, 1971, p. 104; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 615-616)

 

Giddings, Joshua Reed, 1795-1865, lawyer, statesman, anti-slavery U.S. Congressman, Northern Whig from Ohio, elected in 1838.  First abolitionist elected to House of Representatives. Worked to eliminate “gag rule,” which prohibited anti-slavery petitions. Served until 1859.  Leader and founder of the Republican Party. Supported admission of Florida as a free state.  Opposed annexation of Texas and the war against the Seminoles in Florida.  Argued that slavery in territories and District of Columbia was unlawful.  Active in Underground Railroad.  Was censured by the House of Representatives for his opposition to slavery.  Opposed Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and against further expansion of slavery into the new territories acquired during the Mexican War of 1846.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 69, 84, 86, 100, 163, 165, 188, 199, 201, 202, 216, 218-220, 221, 224, 245; Dumond, 1961, pp. 243-245, 302, 339, 368; Filler, 1960, pp. 103, 145, 186, 224, 247, 258, 264, 268; Locke, 1901, pp. 64, 175; Mabee, 1970, pp. 56, 63, 261, 305, 306; Miller, 1996; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 6, 23-26, 32-33, 45, 48-49, 54-55, 60, 61, 63, 65, 69-72, 131, 136, 162-163, 166-167; Pease, 1965, pp. 411-417; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 45, 47-49, 56, 173, 305, 316-318; Stewart, 1970; Wilson, 1872, pp. 446-455; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 641-642; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 260; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 8, p. 946)

 

Jay, William, 1789-1858, Bedford, NY, jurist, anti-slavery activist, abolitionist leader, political abolitionist, anti-slavery Liberty Party. Son of first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay. Supported black suffrage.  Opposed slavery in the District of Columbia.  Wrote pamphlet, “A View of the Action of the Federal Government, in Behalf of Slavery 1844, and Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery” (1853).  In 1819, he strongly opposed the Missouri Compromise, which allowed the extension of slavery into the new territories. Drafted the constitution of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Corresponding Secretary, 1835-1838, Executive Committee, 1836-1837, AASS.  Vice President, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS).  He was removed as a judge of Westchester County, in New York, due to his antislavery activities. Supported emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia and the exclusion of slavery from new territories, although he did not advocate interfering with slave laws in the Southern states.

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 47, 159, 226, 286, 301; Mabee, 1970, pp. 73, 107, 199, 251, 253, 295; Sorin, 1971, pp. 51, 77-81, 96, 132; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 11; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 473-475; Jay, W., Life and Writings of John Jay, 1833; Jay, W., An Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Societies, 1834; Jay, W., A View of the Action of the Federal Government in Behalf of Slavery, 1837; Jay, W., War and Peace, 1848; Jay, W., Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War, 1849; Tuckerman, Bayard, William Jay and the Constitutional Movement for the Abolition of Slavery, New York, 1893)

 

Leavitt, Joshua, 1794-1873, New York, reformer, temperance activist, editor, lawyer, clergyman, abolitionist leader, political abolitionist.  Worked with and supported Theodore Dwight Weld’s anti-slavery activism.  Active supporter of the American Colonization Society.  Helped in raising funds for the Society.  Founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), New York, 1833.  Manager, AASS, 1833-1837.  Executive Committee, AASS, 1834-1840.  Recording Secretary, AASS, 1838-1840.  Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (A&FASS).  Advocated political action to end slavery, which led him to help found the Liberty Party.  Edited the newspaper, The Evangelist, which was founded by abolitionists Arthur and Lewis Tappan.  He later became editor of The Emancipator, which was founded by Arthur Tappan in 1833.  Leavitt toured extensively, lecturing against slavery.  His speeches were edited into a pamphlet entitled, “The Financial Power of Slavery.”  It was one of the most widely circulated documents against slavery. 

(Blue, 2005, pp. 20, 25, 34, 45, 50, 54, 94, 119, 122; Davis, 1990; Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 175, 179, 266, 286, 301; Filler, 1960, pp. 24, 63, 101, 132, 142, 150, 168, 172, 174, 177, 189, 194, 266-267; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 1, 7-8, 17, 20, 28-30, 36, 45-49, 167, 217; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 363-364; Sorin, 1971, pp. 51, 68-71, 96, 131, 132; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 649-650; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 84; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 518-519; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 13, p. 339; papers in the Library of Congress; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 129-130, 214, 219)

 

Lundy, Benjamin, 1789-1839, Pennsylvania, philanthropist, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist leader, anti-slavery author and editor.  American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), Manager, 1833-1834, 1837-1838, 1838-1840, Vice President, 1834-1835.  Organized the anti-slavery Union Humane Society, St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1816.  In 1821, he founded and published the newspaper, Genius of Universal Emancipation, in Greenville, Tennessee.  It was circulated in more than 21 states and territories, including slave states.  He was a member of the Tennessee Manumission Society.  In August 1825, he founded the Maryland Anti-Slavery Society, which advocated for direct political action to end slavery.  He lectu4red extensively and helped organize numerous anti-slavery groups in the Northeast.  Supported establishing colonies of freed slaves in Mexico.  In 1836, published The National Enquirer and Constitutional Advocate of Universal Liberty, a weekly paper.  In 1837, co-founded the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. 

(Adams, 1908; Dillon, 1966; Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 128, 130-131, 136, 156; Dumond, 1961, pp. 95, 136-137, 166; Earle, 1847; Filler, 1960, pp. 5, 26, 55, 57, 60, 99, 101, 105, 128, 130; Mabee, 1970, pp. 11-13, 18, 42, 186, 190, 192, 193, 199, 276, 376, 387n11, 390n21; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 33, 36, 39, 45, 105, 110, 310-311; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 54; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 506; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 546-548; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 14, p. 137; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 308)

 

Slade, William, 1786-1859.  Governor of Vermont.  U.S. Congressman from Vermont (Whig party).  Submitted numerous anti-slavery petitions to Congress, December 1837. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 243-245, 295; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 547; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 203)

 

Weld, Theodore Dwight, 1803-1895, Cincinnati, Ohio, New York, NY, reformer, abolitionist leader, political abolitionist, anti-slavery lobbyist.  Published The Power of Congess over the District of Columbia, in 1838, during petition campaign.  He argued that Congress had constitutional power to legislate against slavery.  Supported black voting rights.  Worked with Joshua Leavitt ad others.  Supported overturning the Gag Rule.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) in December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1835, and Corresponding Secretary, 1839-1840, of the Society.  Published American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839).  Also wrote The Bible Against Slavery (1839) and Slavery and the Internal Slave Trace in the United States (London, 1841).  Married to abolitionist Angelina Grimké. 

(Barnes, 1933; Drake, 1950, pp. 138, 140, 158, 173; Dumond, 1961, pp. 161, 176, 180, 183, 185, 220, 240-241; Filler, 1960, pp. 32, 56, 67, 72, 102, 148, 156, 164, 172, 176, 206; Hammond, 2011, pp. 268, 273; Mabee, 1970, pp. 17, 33, 34, 38, 92, 93, 104, 146, 151, 152, 153, 187, 188, 191, 196, 348, 358; Pease, 1965, pp. 94-102; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 46, 106, 321-323, 419, 486, 510-512; Sorin, 1971, pp. 42-43, 53, 60, 64, 67, 70n; Thomas, 1950; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 425; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 625; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 681-682; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 22, p. 928; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 318; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 740-741; Abzug, Robert H. Passionare Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld and the Dilemma of Reform, New York, 1980; Dumond, Dwight L., ed., Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld and Sarah Grimké, 1822-144, 1965)

 

 

Abolitionist Party, see Liberty Party

 

 

African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, founded April 1816, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Originally comprised of 16 African American congregations that banded together.  Emphasized education of Blacks.  Anti-slavery, abolitionist group.  Served as a station of the Underground Railroad. 

(Allen, 1983; Basker, 2005, pp. 276, 277, 278, 283-284, 294-295; Dodson, 2002; George, 1973; Mabee, 1970; Payne, 1891; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 18, 33-34, 155-159, 207)

 

Allen, Richard, 1760-1830, first pastor (bishop), former slave (Allen, 1983), 1760-1831, clergyman, free African American, former slave.  Founder, Free African Society, in 1787.  Founded Bethel African Methodist Church (AME) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1794. 

(Allen, 1983; Conyers, 2000; Dumond, 1961, pp. 170, 328-329; George, 1973; Hammond, 2011, p. 75; Mabee, 1970, pp. 133, 187; Nash, 1991, pp. 127, 160, 171, 182, 193, 198-199; Payne, 1981; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 25, 26, 28, 156-160, 294-295, 559-560; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 54-55. Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 204-205.)

 

Jones, Absalom, free Black, 1737-1818,

 

 

Albany Convention, August 1840, Albany, New York.  African American convention.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 319-320, 334)

 

Ray, Charles B., co-chair, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016)

 

Stewart, Austin, co-chair, President, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016)

 

Crummell, Alexander, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016)

 

Garnet, Henry, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016)

 

Reason, Charles, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016, pp. 244, 319, 325-326, 334)

 

Reason, Patrick, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016, pp. 244, 319, 504)

 

Wright, Elizur, Albany Convention (Sinha, 2016)

 

 

Albany Vigilance Committee, Albany, New York.  Founded early 1840’s.  Worked with local anti-slavery societies to protect fugitive slaves.  Worked against kidnapping of fugitive slaves.  It helped more than 350 fugitive slaves and expended more than one thousand dollars.  Ten persons served on the Executive Committee. (Sinha, 2016, p. 388, 395-396)

 

Torrey, Charles, abolitionist, leader, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Brown, Abel, abolitionist, leader, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Brooks, C., Chairman, Executive Committee, 1856, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Elkins, T., pharmacist, African American, Secretary, Executive Committee, 1856, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Kelley, J. J., Agent, 1856, Executive Committee, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Lattimore, Benjamin, Toscin of Liberty, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Mott, Abigale, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Mott, Lydia, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Myers, Stephan, African American, Chairman, General Agent, Executive Committee, 1856, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 388)

 

Myers, Harriet (Sinha, 2016, p. 388)

 

Paul, Thomas, Toscin of Liberty, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Sands, John, Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Topp, William H., Executive Committee, 1842, Albany Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

 

Alexandria Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery (Locke, 1901, pp. 101, 107, 110)

 

 

American Abolition Society, newspaper: Radical Abolitionist, William Goodell, editor

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the American Abolition Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

 

 

American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), founded in New York City, December 1833, disbanded 1870; published The Emancipator and The Anti-Slavery Standard; had 1,350 affiliated societies and 250,000 members in 1838.  By 1840, there were 2,000 affiliated societies.  The Anti-Slavery Society was part of a larger evangelical revival of the period, which felt that slavery was a sin and that slave-holders were sinners.  It had agents that traveled throughout the country producing lectures, distributing anti-slavery journals, and organized local anti-slavery societies.  It petitioned Congress to end slavery immediately in the District of Columbia and in any Federal territories.  There was much opposition to the Anti-Slavery Society in the North, especially with business owners, who depended on imports from the slave states.  Ultimately, the American Anti-Slavery Society demanded immediate emancipation from the government.  Largest and most influential abolitionist organization in the United States.  Believed that slavery must be “immediately abandoned.”  Lobbied Congress to end slavery. 

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included is a chapter about the American Anti-Slavery Society: “National Antislavery Convention at Philadelphia: Organization of the American Antislavery Society,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

 

 

American Anti-Slavery Society of New York, founded 1834

 

 

American Baptist Anti-Slavery Society, founded 1840 (Sinha, 2016, p. 472)

 

Founders:

Colver, Nathaniel (Sinha, 2016, p. 472)

 

Dennison, Charles (Sinha, 2016, p. 472)

 

Calush, Elon (Sinha, 2016, p. 472)

 

Grosvenor, Cyrus P. (Sinha, 2016, p. 472)

 

 

American Colonization Society (ACS), founded December 28, 1816, in U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the American Colonization Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals, including entries from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888.  We will be adding new names and information to this list periodically. 

 

 

American Convention of Abolition Societies.  Met biennially, or more often, as necessary.  In 1804, it became the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and Improving the Condition of the African Race. 

(Filler, 1960, p. 26; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 29, 34, 105; Sinha, 2016, pp. 110, 113-116)

 

Lewis, Evan, Wilmington, Society of Friends, Quaker, vice president (1823), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist.  Vice president, 1833-1835, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, president of the Anti-Slavery Convention of 1833

(Drake, 1950, pp. 130, 140, 145; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

 

Shipley, Thomas, Philadelphia, Society of Friends, Quaker, secretary (1823), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1835, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania.

(Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 130, 140; Mabee, 1970, pp. 24, 30, 275, 278; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833)

 

Pennock, Abraham, Philadelphia, Society of Friends, Quaker, treasurer (1823), Philadelphia, Society of Friends, Quaker, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, abolitionist, editor Non Slaveholder

(Drake, 1950, pp., 130, 172-173; Mabee, 1970, p. 389n7).

 

Lundy, Benjamin, 1789-1839, Philadelphia, philanthropist, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist leader, anti-slavery author and editor.  American Anti-Slavery Society.  Organized the anti-slavery Union Humane Society, St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1816.  In 1821, he founded and published the newspaper, Genius of Universal Emancipation, in Greenville, Tennessee.  It was circulated in more than 21 states and territories, including slave states.  He was a member of the Tennessee Manumission Society.  In August 1825, he founded the Maryland Anti-Slavery Society, which advocated for direct political action to end slavery.  He lectu4red extensively and helped organize numerous anti-slavery groups in the Northeast.  Supported establishing colonies of freed slaves in Mexico.  In 1836, published The National Enquirer and Constitutional Advocate of Universal Liberty, a weekly paper.  In 1837, co-founded the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. 

(Adams, 1908; Dillon, 1966; Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 128, 130-131, 136, 156; Dumond, 1961, pp. 95, 136-137, 166; Earle, 1847; Filler, 1960, pp. 5, 26, 55, 57, 60, 99, 101, 105, 128, 130; Harrold, 1995, pp. 12-14, 17; Mabee, 1970, pp. 11-13, 18, 42, 186, 190, 192, 193, 199, 276, 376, 387n11, 390n21; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 33, 36, 39, 45, 105, 110, 310-311; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 54; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 506; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 546-548; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 14, p. 137; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 308).

 

 

American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS).  The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS) was founded in 1840.  It was formed after the model of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, to which it already had ties.  Arthur Tappan was appointed its first President.  The AFASS was created following a difference of opinion within the American Anti-Slavery Society regarding female participation in the abolition movement, the role of churches and the political process in ending slavery.  The AFASS rejected participation in the political process and was opposed to traditional religious beliefs in regard to the abolition of slavery.  The Society published a newspaper, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter and abolitionist tracts written by Society president Lewis Tappan.  The AFASS was disbanded in 1855.  Other prominent members of the AFASS were Arthur Tappan, Samuel Cornish, and Theodore Wright.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included is a chapter on the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society:  “Dissension among the Abolitionists. - Disruption of the American Antislavery Society,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

 

 

American Free Produce Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded during the Requited Labor Convention at Pennsylvania Hall in 1838 by the Society of Friends, Quakers.  Founded to encourage Quakers and non-Quakers to refrain from purchasing gods produced by slave labor.  (Drake, 1950; Filler, 1960)

 

Smith, Gerrit

(Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Sernett, 2002; Sorin, 1971) 1797-1874, New York, large landowner, reformer, philanthropist, radical abolitionist, supporter of the American Colonization Society, Anti-Slavery Society, active in the Underground Railroad, member Liberty Party, Pennsylvania Free Produce Association, secretly supported radical abolitionist John Brown. (Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 25, 26, 32-36, 50, 53, 54, 68, 101, 102, 105, 112, 132, 170; Dumond, 1961, pp. 200, 221, 231, 295, 301, 339, 352; Friedman, 1982; Frothingham, 1876; Mabee, 1970, pp. 37, 47, 55, 56, 71, 72, 104, 106, 131, 135, 150, 154, 156, 187-189, 195, 202, 204, 219, 220, 226, 227, 237, 239, 246, 252, 253, 258, 307, 308, 315, 320, 321, 327, 342, 346; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 5, 8, 13, 16, 22, 29, 31, 36, 112, 117-121, 137, 163, 167, 199, 224-225, 243; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 46, 50, 51, 56, 138, 163, 206, 207, 327, 338, 452-454; Sernett, 2002, pp. 22, 36, 49-55, 122-126, 129-132, 143-146, 169, 171, 173-174, 205-206, 208-217, 219-230; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25-38, 47, 49, 52, 66, 95, 96, 102, 126, 130; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 270; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 322-323; Harlow, Ralph Volney. Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer. New York: Holt, 1939.)

 

Tappan, Lewis

(Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Sorin, 1971, pp. 70-77, 93, 96, 102, 113, 114, 131) 1788-1873, New York, NY, merchant, radical abolitionist leader.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Treasurer, 1840-1842, Secretary, 1842-1844, Corresponding Secretary, 1845-1846, 1848-1855.  Leader of the Philadelphia Free Produce Association.  Wrote Life. (Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 218, 287; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 31, 50, 55, 61, 63, 68, 72, 94, 102, 130, 136, 138, 144, 150, 152, 158, 164, 165, 168, 174, 177, 189, 194, 210, 247, 262; Mabee, 1970, pp. 8, 9, 13-19, 21, 24, 26, 38, 42-49, 51, 55, 58, 91, 93, 104, 105, 130, 190, 151-156, 190, 202, 219-221, 226-229, 233, 234, 251-253, 257, 334, 340, 341, 343, 344, 345; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 174, 290, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 70, 93, 96, 102, 113, 114, 131; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 32-34; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 203; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870.)

 

Burleigh, C.C., 1810-1878, Connecticut, radical abolitionist.  Leader of the Pennsylvania Free Produce Association.  Lectured extensively on evils of slavery.  Edited Pennsylvania Freeman paper of the Eastern Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.  Active in temperance, peace and women’s rights movements. 

 

(Drake, 1950, p. 171; Dumond, 1961, pp. 186, 265, 273; Mabee, 1970, pp. 34, 35, 66, 298, 368; Pease, 1965, pp. 172-177; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 455; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. II, Pt. 1, p. 284; Burleigh, “Slavery and the North” [Anti-Slavery Tract No. 10], New York, 1855, pp. 2-3, 8-10; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 3, p. 959; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II, New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 320)

 

 

American Freedman’s Inquiry Commission (AFIC).  Created the U.S. War Department in March 1863 to recommend Federal policy for newly freed individuals who had been enslaved.  Prominent members were:  Samuel Gridley Howe, abolitionist; James McKay, anti-slavery activist; and Robert Dale Owen, women’s rights and labor rights activist. 

(Fields, 1985; Foner, 1988, p. 284; Howe, [1864] 1969; McPherson, 1982; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 67, 165)

 

Howe, Samuel Gridley, abolitionist

 

McKaye, James, abolitionist

 

Owens, Robert, abolitionist

 

 

American Missionary Association (AMA), founded September 3, 1846, disbanded 1890.  Non-sectarian, ecumenical group.  Lobbied Northern churches to support abolitionist cause.  Also promoted anti-slavery in South.  In 1864, placed 250 missionaries in South and border states.  Worked during Reconstruction to aid freed slaves.  Established Fisk University (1866), Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta University (1865), Georgia; Talladega College (1867), Talladega, Alabama; Straight (now Dillard University; 1869), New Orleans, Louisiana; Tillotson (now Houston-Tillotson College; 1877), Austin, Texas; Le Moyne (now Le Moyne-Owen College; 1870), Memphis, Tennessee; Hampton Institute (1868), Hampton, Virginia; Tougaloo College (1869), Tougallo, Mississippi.  Assisted in founding Howard University (1867), Washington, DC. 

(DeBoer, 1994; DeBoer, 1995; Filler, 1960, pp. 197, 222; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 193, 235-242, 266, 270, 291, 319, 326, 327, 339, 341, 357, 373; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 69, 149, 157, 166-176, 172, 420-422; Whipple, 1876)

 

Tappan, Arthur, 1786-1865, New York City, merchant, radical abolitionist leader, educator.  Co-founder and president of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1837, and Member of the Executive Committee, 1833-1840 of the AASS. President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Member of the Executive Committee, 1840-1855.  Leader, founder, American Missionary Association.

(Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 166-167; Sorin, 1971, pp. 73, 75, 102, 114). 1786-1865, New York City, merchant, radical abolitionist leader, educator.  Co-founder and president of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1837, and Member of the Executive Committee, 1833-1840 of the AASS. President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Member of the Executive Committee, 1840-1855.  (Blue, 2005; Burin, 2005, pp. 84, 89; Dumond, 1961, p. 286; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 40, 55, 58, 60-61, 63-64, 68, 84, 132, 262; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 8, 9, 14-18, 21, 38-41, 44, 48, 51, 55, 71, 107, 129, 134, 151, 152, 153, 200, 234, 235, 242, 285, 293, 340; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 320, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 73, 75, 102, 114; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 33; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 209; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 320-321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 671-673; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 128, 131, 161, 163-165, 189-190).

 

Tappan, Lewis Northey, 1788-1873, New York, NY, merchant, radical abolitionist leader.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Treasurer, 1840-1842, Secretary, 1842-1844, Corresponding Secretary, 1845-1846, 1848-1855.  Leader of the Philadelphia Free Produce Association.  Wrote Life.  Leader, founder of the American Missionary Association.

(Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 166-167; Sorin, 1971, pp. 70-77, 93, 96, 102, 113, 114, 131). 1788-1873, New York, NY, merchant, radical abolitionist leader.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Treasurer, 1840-1842, Secretary, 1842-1844, Corresponding Secretary, 1845-1846, 1848-1855.  Leader of the Philadelphia Free Produce Association.  Wrote Life. (Blue, 2005; Burin, 2005, p. 89; Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 218, 287; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 31, 50, 55, 61, 63, 68, 72, 94, 102, 130, 136, 138, 144, 150, 152, 158, 164, 165, 168, 174, 177, 189, 194, 210, 247, 262; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 8, 9, 13-19, 21, 24, 26, 38, 42-49, 51, 55, 58, 91, 93, 104, 105, 130, 190, 151-156, 190, 202, 219-221, 226-229, 233, 234, 251-253, 257, 334, 340, 341, 343, 344, 345; Mitchell, 2007; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 174, 290, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 70, 93, 96, 102, 113, 114, 131; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 32-34; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 203; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 673-675; Wyatt-Brown, Bertram, Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War against Slavery, 1969; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 76, 128-129, 219, 228, 230)

 

Whipple, George, leader, corresponding secretary,  Oberlin, Ohio, New York, abolitionist, clergyman, educator.  Secretary of the anti-slavery American Missionary Association (AMA).  American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1839-1840.  American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1844-1855, Treasurer, 1846-1855.  Teacher at Lane University.  Professor and principal, Oberlin College.  Worked in Freeman’s Bureau after the Civil War.  Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 163, 165, 185; Mabee, 1970, pp. 153, 235, 403n25; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 166).

 

Wright, Theodore S., 1797-1847, African American, New York, clergyman, abolitionist leader, orator.  American Missionary Association (AMA).  Manager, 1834-1840, and Member of the Executive Committee, 1834-1840, of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1843-1847.  

(Dumond, 1961, p. 330; Mabee, 1970, pp. 29, 51, 58, 59, 61, 62, 91, 105-106, 115, 129, 130, 150, 188, 226, 276, 285; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 47, 166, 305-306; Sorin, 1971, pp. 81-85, 90-92, 97; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 24, p. 62; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 12, p. 320).

 

Ward, Samuel Ringgold, 1817-1866, New York, American Missionary Association (AMA), African American, abolitionist leader, newspaper editor, author, orator, clergyman.  Member of the Liberty Party and the Free Soil Party.  Wrote Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro, His Anti-Slavery Labours in the United States, Canada and England, 1855.  Lecturer for American Anti-Slavery Society.  Member and contributor to the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada.

(Dumond, 1961, p. 330; Mabee, 1970, pp. 128, 135, 136, 294, 307, 400n19; Sernett, 2002, pp. 54-55, 62-64, 94, 117, 121, 126, 142, 149, 157-159, 169, 171-172; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 34, 46, 48, 53, 166, 446-447, 454; Sorin, 1971, pp. 85-89, 96, 104, 132; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 440; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 22, p. 649; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 11, p. 380).

 

Pennington, James, African American  1807-1870, African American, American Missionary Association, fugitive slave, abolitionist, orator, clergyman.  Published The Fugitive Blacksmith in London in 1844.  One of the first African American students to attend Yale University. Served as a delegate to the Second World Conference on Slavery in London.  Active in the Amistad slave case.  Recruited African American troops for the Union Army. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 330-334; Mabee, 1970, pp. 65, 100, 101, 140, 194, 203, 269, 338, 339, 413n1; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 52, 73, 166, 413-414; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 441; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 17, p. 300).

 

Ray, Charles Bennett, 1807-1886, New York, African American, journalist, educator, clergyman, abolitionist leader.  American Missionary Association (AMA).  Newspaper owner and editor, The Colored American.  African American.  Member of the anti-slavery Liberty Party.  One of the first African Americans to participate in abolitionist party on a national level.  Member and activist with the Underground Railroad.  Co-founder and director, New York Vigilance Committee, which aided and protected fugitive slaves.  Member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 

(Blue, 2005, p. 98; Dumond, 1961, pp. 268, 330, 333; Mabee, 1970, pp. 58, 59, 62, 95-97, 111, 134, 146, 181, 338, 339, 415n14; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 48, 166; Sernett, 2002, pp. 64, 116, 132, 199, 201; Sorin, 1971, pp. 93-94; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 403; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 201; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 353).

 

Fee, Reverend John G., 1816-1901, American Missionary Association, clergyman, educator, abolitionist.  Founder of Berea College, Madison County, Kentucky.

(Filling, 1960, pp. 213, 222, 247, 272; Goodell, 1852, p. 492; Mabee, 1970, pp. 141, 142, 157203, 220, 228, 229, 232, 236, 238, 241, 258, 326, 339, 376; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 166, 380; Autobiography of John G. Fee, Berea, Kentucky, 1891; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 2, p. 310, Vol. 7, p. 786)

 

Armstrong, General Samuel Chapman, 1839-1893, leader, American Missionary Association (AMA). (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 73, 166, 506, 507).

 

 

American Wesleyan Anti-Slavery Society, founded 1840.  The co-founders also founded Wesleyan Methodist Connection in 1843.  (Sernett, 2002, p. 82)

 

Co-Founders:

Lee, Luther, 1800-1889, clergyman, Methodist congregation, Utica, New York, abolitionist leader.  Began his abolitionist career in 1837.  Helped create Wesleyan anti-slavery societies.  In 1843, co-founded the anti-slavery Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, of which he became president.  Lecturer for New York Anti-Slavery Society (NYASS) and agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Member, Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1846-1852.  Luther was attacked on a number of occasions by pro-slavery advocates.  In 1840, Lee helped to co-found the Liberty Party. 

(Filler, 1960, p. 123; Sernett, 2002, pp. 57-58, 59, 80-83, 299n8, 300n16; Sorin, 1971; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, 603; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 115; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 13, p. 384)

 

Scott, Orange, 1800-1847, Springfield, Massachusetts, Methodist clergyman, anti-slavery agent, abolitionist leader.  Member of Congress from Pennsylvania.  Entered anti-slavery cause in 1834.  Lectured in New England.  In 1839, founded and published the American Wesleyan Observer, an anti-slavery publication.  Withdrew from Methodist Church to co-found the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1843 with Jotham Horton.  Manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1838-1840, Executive Committee, 1847-1851, 1853-1855, Recording Secretary 1849-1855.  American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 187, 285, 349; Locke, 1901, pp. 93, 140; Mabee, 1970, pp. 46, 228-229; Matlack, 1849, p. 162; Annals of Congress; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 438; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, p. 497; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 19, p. 503; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 315)

SCOTT, Orange, clergyman, b. in Brookfield, Vt., 13 Feb., 1800; d. in Newark, N.J., 31 July, 1847. His parents removed to Canada in his early childhood, and remained there about six years, but afterward returned to Vermont. The son's early education was limited to thirteen months' schooling at different places. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1822, and became one of the best-known clergymen of his denomination in New England. He was presiding elder of the Springfield district, Mass., in 1830-'4, and of Providence district, R.I., in 1834-'5. Mr. Scott was active as a controversialist. About 1833 he became an earnest anti-slavery worker, and his zeal in this cause brought much unpopularity upon him. His bishop preferred charges against him in 1838, before the New England conference, but they were not sustained. Finally, with others, he withdrew from the church in 1842, and on 31 May, 1843, organized the Wesleyan Methodist church in a general ccnvention at Utica, N.Y., of which Mr. Scott was president. Till 1844 he conducted “The True Wesleyan,” in advocacy of the principles of the new church, which were opposed both to slavery and to the episcopal form of church government. In 1846 failing health forced him to retire from the ministry. Besides many contributions to the press, he was the author of “An Appeal to the Methodist Episcopal Church” (Boston, 1838). See his life, by the Rev. Lucius C. Matlack (New York, 1847). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 438.

 

Storrs, George, New Hampshire, Montpelier, Vermont, Methodist clergyman, anti-slavery agent, abolitionist.  Member of the New Hampshire Conference, which founded an anti-slavery group in 1835.  Storrs was a Manager, 1835-1836, and a Vice President 1835-1837, of the American Anti-Slavery Society and a Member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1841.  He was censured by the Methodist Church for his anti-slavery activities in 1836.  He was also arrested by authorities for “disturbing the peace.”  (Dumond, 1961, pp. 187, 245, 392n19)

 

Sunderland, LeRoy, Reverend, 1804-1885, Andover, Massachusetts, and New York, author, orator, abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1836, 1836-1837, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Sunderland was a member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1841.  Co-founder of Wesleyan Methodist Church.

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 187, 349; Matlack, 1849, p. 162; Pease, 1965, pp. 280-297, 439-445; Sorin, 1971; Yellin, 1994, p. 43n; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 1; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 222; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 153)

SUNDERLAND, Le Roy, author, b. in Exeter, R. I., 18 May, 1802; d. in Quincy, Mass., 15 May, 1885. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker at East Greenwich, R. I., was converted to Methodism, became a preacher at Walpole, Mass., in 1823, and was soon known as an orator of great power. He was prominent in the temperance and anti-slavery movements, presided at the meeting in New York city in October, 1834, when the first Methodist anti-slavery society was organized, and in December wrote the “Appeal” to Methodists against slavery, which was signed by ministers of the church in New England. He was appointed a delegate to the first anti-slavery convention in the west at Cincinnati, in 1841, and to the World's convention in 1843, in London. His preaching was attended by strange phenomena. Under his first sermon the entire audience was “struck down by the power of God,” as it was then called; and ever afterward when he preached with reference to the awakening of sinners such manifestations appeared to a greater or less extent. His study of such phenomena had doubtless a determinative effect in his subsequent denial of Christianity, which he opposed during forty years preceding his death. He edited “The Watchman” in New York in 1836-'43; “The Magnet” in 1842-'3; “The Spirit World,” at Boston, in 1850-'2; and was a large contributor to various religious periodicals. He published “Biblical Institutes” (New York, 1834); “Appeal on the Subject of Slavery” (Boston, 1834); “History of the United States” (New York, 1834); “History of South America” (1834); “Testimony of God against Slavery” (Boston, 1834); “Anti-Slavery Manual” (New York, 1837); “Mormonism Exposed” (1842); “Pathetism, with Practical Instructions” (1843); “Book of Health” (1847); “Pathetism: Man considered in Respect to his Soul, Mind, Spirit” (1847); “Pathetism: Statement of its Philosophy, and its Discovery Defended” (1850); “Book of Psychology” (1852); “Theory of Nutrition and Philosophy of Healing without Medicine”; “Book of Human Nature” (1853); and “The Trance, and how it Introduced” (Boston, 1860). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 1.

 

 

Amesbury and Salisbury, Massachusetts, Female Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffry, 1998, p. 81)

 

 

Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston, Massachusetts, 1854, special committee formed to aid fugitive slave Anthony Burns.  This committee was comprised of members of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC).  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 448, 452, 515-520, 538, 554; Boston Slave Roit, and Trial of Anthony Burns, Boston: Fetridge and Company, 1854)

See also Boston Vigilance Committee

 

Russell, George R., Roxbury, Massachusetts, President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee and Rescue Committee

 

Sewall, Samuel E., Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Bird, F. W., Walpole, Massachusetts, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Brown, Albert G., Salem, Massachusetts, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Downer, Samuel, Jr., Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Gilbert, Timothy, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Grimes, Reverend, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Worcester, Massachusetts, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Howe, Samuel Gridley, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Jackson, Francis, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Spooner, William B., Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Wales, Samuel, Jr., Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Weston, Gershom B., Duxbury, Massachusetts, Vice President, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Bowditch, William I., Secretary, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Morris, Robert, lawyer, Secretary, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC), defended Burns

 

Bearse, Austin, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Cluer, John, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC), tried to release Burns

 

Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., lawyer, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC), defended Burns

 

Ellis, Charles M., lawyer, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, defended Burns

 

Grimes, Leonard A., Reverend, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Hayden, Lewis, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Kemp, Henry, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Parker, Theodore, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Phillips, Wendell, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Phoenix, Walter, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, tried to release Burns

 

Roberts, John, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, tried to release Burns

 

Steward, Ira, Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Stowell, Martin, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, planned the escape of Burns

 

Swift, John L., Anthony Burns Defense Committee

 

Webb, Seth, lawyer, Anthony Burns Defense Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC), defended Burns

 

 

Anti-Man Hunting League (AMHL), also called the Defensive League of Freedom, Boston, Massachusetts.  Formed in Boston in 1854; disbanded in 1861.  Created to aid fugitive slaves by thwarting slave-hunters.  It was a secret society, created to resist the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.  Affiliated with the League of Massachusetts Freemen.  It had 469 members in 29 cities in Massachustts.

 

Bowditch, Henry Ingersol, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Alcott, Bronson, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Andrew, John A., abolitionist, future Governor of Massachusetts

 

Bearse, Austin, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Bird, F. W., Walpole, Massachusetts, political abolitioinst

 

Bowditch, William, abolitionist, brother of Henry I. Bowditch

 

Buckminster, Joseph, Reverend, clergyman, abolitionist

 

Cabot, Samuel, Dr.

 

Channing, William F., abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Child, David Lee, abolitionist

 

Clarke, James Freeman, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Galloway, Abraham, New Bern, North Carolina, fugitive slave, abolitionist

 

Hayden, Lewis, African American, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Howe, Samuel Gridley, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Loring, Ellis Gray, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

May, Samuel, Jr., agent, Massachusetts, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Parker, Theodore, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Phillips, Wendell, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Sewall, Samuel, attorney, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Slack, Charles, political abolitionist

 

Smith, Joshua, African American, abolitionist, member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC)

 

Swill, J. B., African American, abolitionist

 

Triask, Henry P., abolitionist

 

Wright, Elizur, political abolitionist

 

 

Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, 1837-1839.  First convention was held in New York City, May 1837.  The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society called for the first convention.  Seventy-one women attended from New York, Boston and Pennsylvania.  The second convention was held in Philadelphia, May 1838.  The third convention was held in Philadelphia, PA, May 1839.

See also Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, 1839, Philadelphia

(Dumond, 1961, p. 189; Sinha, 2016, pp. 282-284; Yellin, 1994, pp. 5, 10-16, 17, 34, 40-41, 51-52, 64, 116-117, 120, 129, 134-135, 160, 168-171, 177, 231, 235, 245-247, 284-287)

 

Parker, Mary, first and second President

 

Lewis, Sarah, Philadelphia, PA, third President

 

Grimké, Sarah, Vice President

 

Mott, Lucretia, Philadelphia, PA, Vice President

 

Douglas, Grace, Philadelphia, PA, Vice President

 

Child, Lydia Maria, Vice President

 

Paul, Susan, Vice President

 

Storrs, Martha, New York City, Vice President

 

Chapman, Maria, Vice President

 

Garrit, Ann, Vice President

 

Cox, Abby Lyncass, Vice President

 

Grimké, Angelina, Secretary

 

Grew, Mary, Philadelphia, PA, Secretary

 

Pugh, Sarah, Secretary

 

Tappan, Juliana, Secretary

 

Weston, Ann, Secretary

 

Forten, Margareta, Delegate

 

Forten, Sarah, Delegate

 

Douglas, Sarah M., Philadelphia, PA, Delegate

 

Downing, Rebecca, Delegate

 

Vogelsang, Maria, Delegate

 

Jennings, Sarah, Delegate

 

Williams, Julia, Delegate

 

Kelley, Abby, Delegate

 

Burr, Hetty, Business Committee

 

Burr, Angelia, Business Committee

 

Purvis, Harriet Forten

 

William, Clarisa, Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society

 

 

Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, 1839, Philadelphia

See also Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women

 

Johnson, Mary Ann W., Boston, Massachusetts, Vice President, 1839

 

Barney, Eliza, Nantucket, Massachusetts, Vice President, 1839

 

Douglas, Sarah, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Vice President, 1839

 

Ball, Martha, Boston, Massachusetts, Secretary, 1839

 

Buffum, Sarah G., Fall River, Massachusetts, Secretary, 1839

 

Hopper, Anna M., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Secretary, 1839

 

Sunderland, Mehitabell, New York City, Vice President, 1839

 

Business Committee, 1839:

 

Ball, Martha, Massachusetts, Business Committee

 

Darlington, Hannah M., Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

Grew, Mary, Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

Grew, Susan, Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

Johnson, Mary Ann W. , Massachusetts, Business Committee

 

Kimber, Abby, Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

Murray, Mary, New York, Business Committee

 

Paten, Rachel G. C., New York, Business Committee

 

Rhodes, Mary Ann, Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

Mott, Lucretia, Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

Storrs, New York, Business Committee

 

Pugh, Sarah, Pennsylvania, Business Committee

 

 

Anti-Slavery League, Southern Indiana (Sinha, 2016, p. 540)

 

 

Anti-Slavery Sewing Society (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 233)

 

 

Anti-Slavery Societies of Women in Massachusetts (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Representatives by chapter:

 

Amesbury and Salisbury: Betsey Linscott, Secretary, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Andover: Susan Johnson, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Ashburnham: Gilman Jones, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Athol: A. M. Hoyt, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Boston: Anne Warren Weston, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Boxborough: Ebenezer Haywood, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Bridgewater: (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Cambridgeport: M. Chamberlain, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Danvers: Isaac Winslow, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Dorchester: Sarah Baker, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

East Bradford: Ellen B. Ladd, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Fall River: Sarah G. Buffam, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Fitchburgh: Eliza Gill, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Franklin: Elizabeth Pond, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Groton: Elizabeth Farnsworth, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Haverhill: Harrier Minot, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Hingham: Edward Thaxter, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Lowell: George Mansfield, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Lynn: Abby Kelley, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Millville-Menden P.O.: Abby Pitts, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Newburyport: H. S. Stickney, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

New Bedford: Elizabeth C. Taber, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

North Leicester: Eliza Earle, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Plymouth:

 

Reading: Lydia P. T. Bancroft, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Roxbury: John Johns, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Salem: L. L. Dodge, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

South Reading: M. A. Avery, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

South Weymouth: Eliza T. Lord, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Sudbury: Mary Rice, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Uxbridge: S. Judson, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

Weymouth and Braintree: H. C. Fifield, abolitionist (Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, MA, 1837)

 

 

Anti-Slavery Society of Canada

 

 

Ashtabula County (Ohio) Female Anti-Slavery Society (FASS), had 400 members.  (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 37, 55, 76-78)

Cowles, Betsy Mix, Secretary, 1835

 

 

Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave and Improving the Condition of Free People of Color, later renamed Association Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in May 1837, renamed in 1840.  This group had approximately 100 members who were staunch abolitionists.  This group advocated anti-slavery the Philadelphia Hicksite Society of Friends.  They published newsletters and petitions, and called for an immediate end to slavery, similar to the policy of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  They promoted the idea of the use of free produce, that is, goods produced without the use of slave labor, among Quakers. 

(Drake, 1950, pp. 154, 170, 172; Filler, 1960)

 

Clothier, Caleb, first president

 

Miller, Daniel, Jr., clerk

 

Neall, Daniel, Jr.

 

Parrish, Dillwyn

 

Mott, James

 

Mott, Lucretia

 

Kimber, Emmor

 

Palmer, Sarah Hopper

 

 



 

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Baltimore Society for the Protection of Free People of Color, organized by Baltimore Friends, July 1827, disbanded 1829.  Organized to help “kidnapped” Blacks.  (Drake, 1950, p. 132n48)

 

 

Bangor Female Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffry, 1998, pp. 66, 248n90)

 

 

Bangor Juvenile Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffry, 1998, pp. 85-86)

 

 

Baptist Anti-Slavery Society

Galusha, Elon, First President

Grosvernor, Cyrus Pitt, founding editor of Baptist Anti-Slavery Correspondent, in 1841

Fuller, Richard

 

 

Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, Alexandria, Virginia.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Cornelius, Samuel, Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Drinker, George, Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Janney, Jonathan, Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Janney, Samuel M., Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Jacobs, Thomas, Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Hallowell, Benjamin, Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Waugh, Townsend, Alexandria, Virginia, Benevolent Society of Alexandria for Improving the Condition of People of Color, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

 

Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, founded 1855.  The first non-segregated co-educational college in the South.  Reverend John Gregg Fee founded the college.  The college was active in the abolitionist movement.  Abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay granted a large tract of land for the establishment of Berea College. (Dumond, 1961)

 

Fee, Reverend John Gregg, 1816-1901, American Missionary Association, clergyman, educator, abolitionist.  Founder of Berea College, Madison County, Kentucky.

(Filling, 1960, pp. 213, 222, 247, 272; Goodell, 1852, p. 492; Mabee, 1970, pp. 141, 142, 157203, 220, 228, 229, 232, 236, 238, 241, 258, 326, 339, 376; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 166, 380; Sinha, 2016, p. 477; Autobiography of John G. Fee, Berea, Kentucky, 1891; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 2, p. 310, Vol. 7, p. 786)

 

Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810-1903, Madison County, Kentucky, anti-slavery political leader, emancipationist, large landowner, statesman, lawyer, diplomat, soldier, newspaper publisher. Granted land for Berea College, Berea, Kenducky.  Prominent anti-slavery activist with Kentucky State legislature and member of the Republican Party.  Published anti-slavery paper, True American, in Lexington, Kentucky.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 151, 171; Clay, 1896; Dumond, 1961, p. 258; Filler, 1960, pp. 213, 221, 248, 256, 272; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 237, 258-259, 327, 336, 372; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 5, 63, 64, 71, 107, 147, 156, 199; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 380, 619; Smiley, 1962; Wilson, 1872, pp. 628-635; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 503, 577, 639-640; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 18; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 171-173; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 4; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 311-312)

 

 

Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS), founded October 1833, disbanded 1840; newsletter, The Liberty Bell.  Associated with the American Anti-Slavery Society and the New England Anti-Slavery Society.  Had African American and White members.  Represented Evangelical Christian, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational and liberal denominations, including Quaker and Unitarian. Founded by Anne Chapman, Caroline Weston Chapman, Deborah Chapman, and Maria Weston Chapman.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the American Abolition Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

 

 

Boston Mutual Lyceum, African American group.  (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

Tidd, Dudley, President (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Lewis, Joel W., 1st Vice President (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Annible, Sarah, 2nd Vice President (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Gall, George, Recording Secretary (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Cutler, Nath, Corresponding Secretary (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Dalton, Thomas, Treasurer (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Gover, Joseph A., Manager (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Cutler, John B., Manager (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Carroll, Henry, Manager (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Lew, Lucy V., Manager (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Williams, Mary, Manager (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

 

Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC), later called Committee of Vigilance and Safety Committee, founded 1850, Boston, Massachusetts.  Founded to protect fugitive slaves from being taken back to their owners, and to oppose fugitive slave laws.  Also defended fugitive slaves in court cases.  Aided more than 430 slaves and moved more than 100 to safety in Canda.  Worked with network of the Underground Railroad.  The Boston Vigilance Committee had more than 200 members in 1850.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 391, 395, 438, 505-509, 515-520, 538, 539; The Liberator)

See also Committee of Vigilance and Safety, Boston, Massachusetts

 

Jackson, Francis, Chairman, Treasurer, Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Mann, Daniel, Chairman, co-founder, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Bishop, J. P., Secretary, co-founder, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Torrey, Charles T., Secretary, co-founder, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Southwick, Joseph, Treasurer, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Parker, Theodore, leader, Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Bearse, Austin, Secretary, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

 

Bishop, J. G. , Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Hayden, Lewis, Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Howe, Samuel Gridley, Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Jinnings, Thomas, Jr., Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Mann, Daniel, Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Nicholas, Curtis C., Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Phillips, Wendell, Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Smith, Joshua B. , Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Weeden, Benjamin, Executive Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Alexander, S. R., Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Bowditch, Henry I., Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Loring, Ellis Gray, Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-507)

 

Morris, Robert, Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-508)

 

Nell, William C., General Agent, Manager, Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Rogers, John, Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Sewall, Samuel, Financial Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-508)

 

King, John, Legal Committee, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

 

Davis, Charles, lawyer representing the Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

 

Davis, Richard Henry, lawyer representing the Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

 

Loring, Ellis Gray, lawyer representing the Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Morris, Robert, lawyer representing the Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

 

Sewall, Samuel, lawyer representing the Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Alcott, Bronson, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 505)

 

Andrew, John A., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Bowditch, Henry I., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-506)

 

Bowditch, William I., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-506)

 

Burlingame, Anson, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Channing, William Ellery, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Channing, William F., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Channing, William Henry, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Colver, Nathaniel, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Garrison, William Lloyd, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Grimes, Leonard, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Hildreth, Richard, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Hilton, John Telemachus, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-506)

 

May, Samuel, Jr., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-506)

 

Quincy, Josiah, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Rock, John S., Dr., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

 

Scott, James, Boston Vigilance Committee.  Led rescue of Shadrach Minkins, a fugitive slave. (Sinha, 2016)

 

Smith, John J., Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

 

Spooner, Lysander, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

Wright, Elizur, Boston Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

 

 

Boston Young Men’s Anti-Slavery Association (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Phelps, Amos A., Reverend, President (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Barbour, John N., Vice President (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Stimpson, John, Corresponding Secretary (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Norton, Alfred, Recording Secretary (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Ford, John, Terasurer (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Loring, George, Trustee (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Tenney, J. H., Trustee (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Smith, John Cutts, Trustee (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

Southard, N., Trustee (The Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. IX, September, 1833)

 

 

Boylston Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded June 1837 (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 62-63)

 

White, Mary, co-founder (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 62-63)

 

 

Brookline (Connecticut) Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded 1834 (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 38, 49, 61, 69, 77, 81)

 

 



 

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Canton (Ohio) Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 37, 67)

 

 

Caroline County Society (Locke, 1901, p. 99n)

 

 

Cazenovia Ladies Anti-Slavery Society (Sernett, 2002, p. 130)

 

Wilson, Grace, member

 

 

Chestertown Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes and Others, Unlawfully Held in Bondage, Maryland (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 241; Locke, 1901, pp. 99n, 100)

 

Wilkerson, Joseph (Basker, 2005, pp. 225-226)

 

Maslin, James (Basker, 2005, p. 224)

 

Ridgely, Abraham (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 225, 227, 238)

 

 

Choptank Society (Locke, 1901, pp. 99n, 107)

 

 

Christian Anti-Slavery Convention of 1850, Cincinnati, OH.  Met to oppose the annexation of Texas from Mexico. Convention held April 17-20, 1850.  (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Stevens, Judge S. C., abolitionist, Chairman (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Pope, Elnathan, abolitionist, President (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Fee, John G., Reverend, Kentucky, abolitionist, Vice President, Committee Member (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Aydelott, B. P., Reverend, Ohio, abolitionist, Vice President. (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Milligan, James, Reverend, Illinois, abolitionist, Vice President. (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Whipple, George, Reverend, abolitionist, New York, Vice President. (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Nevin, E. H., Reverend, Ohio, abolitionist, Vice President, committee member. (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Smith, E., Reverend, Ohio, abolitionist, Vice President. (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Boynton, C. B., Reverend, Cincinnati, Ohio, abolitionist, Secretary (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Miles, M. N., Reverend, Illinois, abolitionist, Secretary (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Mathews, E., Reverend, Wisconsin, abolitionist, Secretary (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Birney, James, Esq., Cincinnati, Ohio, abolitionist, Secretary

 

Goodell, William Reverend, abolitionist, Committee Member (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Craven, Mr., abolitionist, Committee Member (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Boynton, C. B., Reverend, abolitionist, Committee Member (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Schlosser, Mr., abolitionist, Committee Member (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Pettijohn, Mr., abolitionist, Committee Member (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

 

 

Benton, A., abolitionist, Ways and Means Committee (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Blanchard, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Brisbane, William Henry, Reverend Dr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Burroughts, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Bushnell, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Cable, Jonathan, Reverend, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Chase, Dr. S. H., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Coffin, Levi, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Danbaugh, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Foot, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Freeman, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Gaines, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Goodman, E., Reverend, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Gregory, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Harwood, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Humphries, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Kenyon, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Lewis, Samuel, Esq., abolitionist, Cincinnati, Ohio (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Lumsden, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Milligan, James, Reverend, Illinoise (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Moore, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Rankin, John, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Smith, E., Reverend, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Stevens, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Tappan, Lewis, abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Vashon, J. B., Esq., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

White, James, Reverend, abolitionist, Cincinnati, Ohio (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Wilson, Dr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

Yancey, Mr., abolitionist (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, April 17-20, 1850, Cincinnati, Ohio)

 

 

Christian Anti-Slavery Convention of 1851, Chicago, Illinois.  Convention held July 3-5, 1851.  (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Blanchard, J., Illinois, President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Finney, Charles Grandison, Professor, Ohio, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Brisbane, W. H., Reverend, Ohio, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Chase, S. H., Reverend, Ohio, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Gordon, Joseph, Reverend, Pennsylvania, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Mahan, Asa, Ohio, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Thurston, D., Reverend, Maine, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Colver, Nathaniel, Reverend, Massachusetts, Vice President, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Whipple, George, Reverend, New York, Secretary, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Bartlett, E. N., Reverend, Michigan, Secretary, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Baker, S. A., Reverend, Michigan, Secretary, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Boynton, Reverend, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Chase, Reverend, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Colver, Reverend, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Ambrose, Reverend, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

St. Clair, Reverend, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Stevens, Reverend Judge, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

Coffin, Levi, Business Committee, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (Minutes, Christian Anti-Slavery Convention, July 3-5, 1851, Chicago, Illinois)

 

 

Church Anti-Slavery Society, 1859-1864

 

Allen, James, Bangor, Maine, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Bacon, Joseph N., Newton, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Ballard, Charles, Worcester, Massachusetts, Executive, Committee, 1859.

 

Barstow, Amos C., Providence, Rhode Island, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Beecher, William H., N. Brookfield, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1859.

 

Blanchard, Jonathan, Illinois, Vice-President, 1861-64, 1811-1892, clergyman, educator, abolitionist, theologian, lecturer.  Worked for more than thirty years for the abolition of slavery.  Member of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  President of Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 1845-1858.  President, Illinois Institute.  Vice president, World Anti-Slavery Convention, London, England, 1843. 

(Bailey, J.W., Knox College, 1860;  Blanchard Papers, Wheaton College Library, Wheaton, Illinois; Blanchard Jonathan, and Rice, N.L. [1846], 1870; Dumond, 1961, p. 186; Kilby, 1959; Maas, 2003; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 196-197; Dictionary of American Biography, 1936, Vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 350-351).

 

Boynton, Charles, Cincinnati, Ohio, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Cheever, Henry T., Jewitt City, Connecticut, S. Royalston, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Secretary, 1859-62, 1862-64.

 

Claflin, William H., Newton, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1859-62.

 

Cleveland, Charles D., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Vice-President, 1861-64, abolitionist, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

 

Day, George T., Providence, Rhode Island, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1859-64.

 

Field, Chester, Worcester, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1859.

 

Fletcher, Ryland, Proctorville, Vermont, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Gildersleeve, Wm. C., Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Gordon, George, Iberia, Ohio, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Hunt, Samuel, Franklin, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1859-64.

 

Hutchins, Issac T., Killingly, Connecticut, American Abolition Society, Executive Committee, 1855-58, Vice-President, 1858-59.

 

Ide, Jacob W., Medway, Massachusetts, Vice-President, 1861-64, West Medway, Massachusetts, abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1837, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.

(Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

 

Ketchum, Edgar, New York, New York, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Mattison, Hiram, Syracuse, New York, Vice-President, 1861-64, 1811-1868, Norway, Herkimer County, New York, clergyman, reformer, abolitionist.  Sought to exclude slaveholders from church membership in Methodist denomination. 

(Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 262; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 423)

 

Page, Simon, Hallowell, Maine, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Reed, Samuel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Rentoul, William S., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Sloane, James R., New York, New York, Vice-President, 1861-64, 1833-1886, clergyman, educator.  President of Richmond College, Ohio, and Geneva College, Ohio.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 550).

 

Souther, Samuel, Worcester, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1861-64.

 

Stewart, Philo P., Troy, New York, abolitionist, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.

 

Stuart, Charles, Lora, Canada West, Vice-President, 1861-64, 1783-1865, author, anti-slavery agent, abolitionist.  Worked with abolitionist leader Gerrit Smith.

(Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 728; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 162; Dumond, 1961, pp. 169, 173, 180)

 

Tappan, Arthur, New Haven, Connecticut, Vice-President, 1861-64, 1786-1865, New York City, merchant, radical abolitionist leader, educator.  Co-founder and president of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1837, and Member of the Executive Committee, 1833-1840 of the AASS. President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Member of the Executive Committee, 1840-1855. 

(Blue, 2005; Burin, 2005, pp. 84, 89; Dumond, 1961, p. 286; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 40, 55, 58, 60-61, 63-64, 68, 84, 132, 262; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 8, 9, 14-18, 21, 38-41, 44, 48, 51, 55, 71, 107, 129, 134, 151, 152, 153, 200, 234, 235, 242, 285, 293, 340; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 320, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 73, 75, 102, 114; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 33; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 209; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 320-321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 671-673; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 128, 131, 161, 163-165, 189-190)

 

Tappan, Lewis, Brooklyn, New York, Executive Committee, 1859-61, 1788-1873, New York, NY, merchant, radical abolitionist leader.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Treasurer, 1840-1842, Secretary, 1842-1844, Corresponding Secretary, 1845-1846, 1848-1855.  Leader of the Philadelphia Free Produce Association.  Wrote Life.

(Blue, 2005; Burin, 2005, p. 89; Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 218, 287; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 31, 50, 55, 61, 63, 68, 72, 94, 102, 130, 136, 138, 144, 150, 152, 158, 164, 165, 168, 174, 177, 189, 194, 210, 247, 262; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 8, 9, 13-19, 21, 24, 26, 38, 42-49, 51, 55, 58, 91, 93, 104, 105, 130, 190, 151-156, 190, 202, 219-221, 226-229, 233, 234, 251-253, 257, 334, 340, 341, 343, 344, 345; Mitchell, 2007; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 174, 290, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 70, 93, 96, 102, 113, 114, 131; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 32-34; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 203; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 673-675; Wyatt-Brown, Bertram, Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War against Slavery, 1969; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 76, 128-129, 219, 228, 230)

 

Thome, James A., Cleveland, Ohio, Vice-President, 1861-64, 1809-1873, August, Kentucky, abolitionist, anti-slavery activist, educator, clergyman.  Father was a slaveholder.  Thome was a member and Vice President, 1839-1840, of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) and professor at Oberlin College. 

(Dumond, 1961m pp., 152, 155, 174; Filler, 1960, pp. 68, 140; Mabee, 1970, p. 272; Pease, 1965, pp. 91-93).

 

Twombley, John H., Worcester, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1859-61.

 

Tyler, Charles M., Natick, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1863-64.

 

Washburn, Ichabod, Worcester, Massachusetts, Treasurer, 1859-64, 1798-1868, Worcester, Massachusetts, manufacturer, philanthropist, abolitionist.  Church Anti-Slavery Society, Treasurer, 1859-1864. 

(Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 501).

 

Webster, John C., Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Church Anti-Slavery Society, President, 1859-64.

 

Williston, John P., Northampton, Massachusetts, abolitionist, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1841-1844.

 

 

Cincinnati Antislavery Sewing Circle, Cincinnati, Ohio.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 277, 288, 531)

 

Ernst, Sarah Otis, founder, Cincinnati Antislavery Sewing Circle. Hosted anti-slavery fairs, which helped fund annual abolition conventions.  (Blaine, Hudson, Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderlands.  Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2002, pp. 121-122)

 

 

Cincinnati Anti-Slavery Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, founded 1835 (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 50, 185; Blaine, Hudson, Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderlands.  Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2002, pp. 121-122)

 

Bailey, Gamaliel, 1807-1859, co-founder, secretary (Harrold, 1995, pp. 7, 27, 33-36, 39-41, 43-44, 80-81, 129, 135-139, 141-143, 160; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 56, 185)

 

Coffin, Levi (Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad; Blaine, Hudson, Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderlands.  Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2002, pp. 121-122)

 

 

Cincinnati Vigilance Committee, Cincinnati, Ohio, established 1838.  (Blaine, Hudson, Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderlands.  Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2002, pp. 121-122)

 

Coffin, Levi (Blaine, Hudson, Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderlands.  Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2002, pp. 121-122)

 

 

Clarkson Anti-Slavery Society, Pennsylvania (Drake, 1950, p. 149)

 

Whitson, Thomas

 

Coats, Linda

 

 

Colored Female Anti-Slavery Society, Middletown, Connecticut, founded 1834 (Yellin, p. xvi)

 

 

Committee for West India Missions, merged with the American Missionary Association (AMA)

 

 

Concord (New Hampshire) Female Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 89)

 

Clark, Mary (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 89)

 

 

“Congregational Friends,” Society of Friends, Quakers.  Temperance, women’s rights, against capital punishment, anti-slavery organization.

 

 

Connecticut Abolition Society (Basker, 2005, pp. 131, 134, 135, 136, 137, 141, 142, 143, 169, 223, 239; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 201-202)

 

Tracy, Uriah (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 238, 239)

 

 

Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Freedom and for the Relief of Persons Unlawfully Holden in Bondage, see Connecticut Abolition Society

(Dumond, 1961, p. 47; Locke, 1901, pp. 99, 103, 103n, 109, 126)

 

 

Conscience Whigs, faction of the Whig political party from Massachusetts that was opposedto slavery on moral grounds.  Was opposed to “Cotton Whigs,” who supported the cotton manufacturing industry in the North.  Separated from Whig party in 1848.  Conscience Whigs aided in the creation and founding of the Free Soil Party in 1848.  Charles Francis Adams was the Free Soil candidate for president in 1848. 

(Blue, 2005, pp. 9, 52, 52n33, 53, 196, 198, 204; Drake, 1950, p. 137; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 20, 22, 32-34, 37, 40-41, 43, 47-49, 54, 61, 67, 72, 136; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 513-514; Wilson, 1872, pp. 123-128; Braver, Kinney J. Cotton versus Conscience: Massachusetts Whig Politics and Southwestern Expansion, 1843-1848. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1967; Formisano, Ronald P. The Transformation of Political Culture: Massachusetts Parties 1790’s-1840’s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983; O’Connor, Thomas. Lords of the Loom: The Cotton Whigs and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Scribner’s, 1968)

Chapter: “Slavery Aggressions. – ‘Conscience’ Whigs. – ‘Barnburners,’” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

But though resolutions could be forced through the legislature and conventions of the party, it was very evident ·that there was little harmony of feeling and purpose between the two sections. While the " Cotton " Whigs, who were determined to adhere to the national organization, and to sacrifice, if need be, any claim of freedom for that purpose, regarded the action of the " Conscience " Whigs, as the antislavery men were called, factious and disorganizing, the latter began more clearly to comprehend the drift of things; and the position to which the party was tending, and to realize the hollowness of many of the professions that had been made. They saw that many of the resolutions which were often crowded through the one or the other of these bodies were rather strategical than hearty or honest, more for show than use; not fitted, and never intended, to bind the party or to resist the strain of political necessity.

The Whig State convention was held at Springfield in September, 1847. George Ashmun of that city presided, and Joseph Bell of Boston was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions. The leaders of both sections were there in force, and a severe struggle ensued. Mt. Palfrey moved, as an amendment to the resolutions of the committee, one declaring that the Whigs would support no candidate for the Presidency not known by his acts and declared opinions to be opposed to the extension of slavery. It gave rise to an exciting debate; Mr. Winthrop sturdily opposing it, and Mr. Adams, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Dwight as earnestly supporting it. Mr. Adams declared that he would rather vote for a Democrat opposed to the extension of slavery than for a Whig in favor of it. The amendment was rejected; though, as a partial compensation, Mr. Phillips secured by a small majority a vote that the convention should not put in nomination a candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Webster was present, and made a speech, in which he took strong ground against slavery extension, claiming the Wilmot proviso as his own. “Sir," said he, “I feel something of a personal interest in this. I take the sentiment of the Wilmot proviso to be that there shall be no annexation of slave territory to this Union. Did I not commit myself to that in the year 1838 fully, entirely? And have I ever departed from it in the slightest degree? I must be permitted, sir, to say that I do not consent that more recent discoverers shall take out a patent for the discovery. I do not quite consent that they shall undertake to appropriate to themselves all the benefit and honor of it. Allow me to say, sir, it is not their thunder." The, antislavery Whigs were again defeated. They, however, went away from that convention more determined and resolute than ever. They felt that a rupture was inevitable, and that it was but a question of time.

As the time for the convention drew near, indications increased that General Taylor would receive the nomination, and that the policy of slavery restriction would be abandoned. Some of the friends of freedom took the alarm, and at once entered upon the adoption of measures to prevent, if possible, such a result, and, in case of failure, to mark out such a course as the exigencies of the case might demand. Charles Allen and Henry Wilson were chosen as delegates to the convention. Their antecedents and generally recognized proclivities made it probable and a matter of popular belief that they would not vote for. General Taylor unless he were pledged to the principles of the Wilmot proviso.

Conferences were at once held by those Whigs who had striven to the last to prevent, the annexation of Texas and the adoption of a reactionary policy. On the 27th of May a meeting was held at the office of Charles Francis Adams. There were present Mr. Adams, Stephen C. Phillips, Charles Sumner, E. Rockwood Hoar, Edward I. Keyes, Francis W. Bird, Edward Walcutt, and Henry Wilson. Though they were not ignorant of the sacrifices implied and involved in their action, they resolved at any and every hazard to abide by their principles. It was unanimously determined, if the convention nominated General Taylor, or any candidate not known by his acts and declared opinions to be opposed to the extension of slavery, that “an organized opposition " should be made and at once begun in Massachusetts. It was agreed to call a State convention of Whigs and of all others who would co-operate in such an effort. On the 5th of June a call, which had been prepared by E. Rockwood Hoar was agreed upon, and held for signature in the event of General Taylor's nomination.

The State of New York had generally exerted a powerful influence on national affairs. Imperial in extent and resources, ably represented by its strong men, occupying a commanding position in the commercial and political world, its voice and. votes had ever exerted a large, if not a controlling influence, sometimes for good, but oftener for evil. This was always and necessarily true. But in 1848, and in connection with the presidential election of that year, there were special reasons therefor. Certain causes had produced disaffection with the national Democracy; and a tendency to revolt, which for a long time had been gathering strength, culminated during that year.

In addition to general reasons was the special motive afforded by the treatment which Mr. Van Buren had received from the national convention of 1844, and the gross ingratitude of those States to whose interests and institutions he had given such evidences of fealty. Mr. Van Buren had made great sacrifices for the South. Though he signalized the earlier years of his public life by giving his voice and vote, in the legislature of his State, against the admission of Missouri as a slave State, he soon yielded to the reactionary movement which followed that violation of the ordinance of '87, and devoted himself so faithfully to slaveholding interests as to merit and receive the name of "a Northern man with Southern principles." And yet, because he faltered in the single matter of Texan annexation, he was abandoned and deprived of the nomination, which not only he, but a decided majority of his party, desired and expected. This was neither forgotten nor forgiven. It intensified the bitter feud then raging between the " Hunker" and'" Barnburner" wings of the New York Democracy, and resulted in the defeat of Silas Wright, whose candidacy for-the gubernatorial chair in 1844 had unquestionably secured the electoral vote of the State for Mr. Polk. His death, occurring soon afterward, added to the indignation already felt in view of his defeat and of the means through which that defeat had been accomplished.

It was under such circumstances that the primary meetings were held at which delegates were chosen for the Democratic State convention to meet in Syracuse in October, 1847. On the assembling of the convention, it was found that there was a large number of contested seats. An informal agreement was entered into between the leaders of the radical and conservative wings of the party that a temporary organization should be effected, for the purpose of disposing of the “frivolously contested" cases, which, it was understood, were to be forced upon the convention. But that agreement was disregarded by the conservatives, a breach of faith that embittered the minority, and led such men as Preston King, James S. Wadsworth, and other leading “Barnburners” to refuse to act as officers of the convention. Indeed, it was claimed by the New York "Evening Post" that it was only this determination to ignore the agreement that gave the conservatives the control of the convention.

The Wilmot proviso was the exciting and controlling issue. The discussion was conducted with great spirit, and ability. A resolution, prepared by James R. Doolittle, afterward United States Senator from Wisconsin was offered by David Dudley Field as an amendment to the report of the Committee on Resolutions. This amendment, while promising fidelity to + '' the compromises of the Constitution" and to “the reserved rights of the States," pledged " uncompromising hostility to the extension of slavery into territory now free."' Mr. Field made' a powerful speech in its support. '"I am willing," he said," that our victorious standard should  be borne to the Isthmus of Darien or planted on the highest peak of the Polynesian Islands.; but the soil on which it advances must be free! Ay, as free as the untrammeled soil on which we stand!"

The amendment was rejected and the resolutions were adopted, though it was, claimed that the latter and the nominations were carried not only by an irregularly organized convention, but by a convention without a quorum. Defeated at Syracuse, the radical Democrats met in convention on the 26th of October, at Herkimer, “to avow their principles and consult as to future action." It was strong in numbers, in talent, and in character, both personal and political. Churchill C. Cambreling was made president, John Van Buren was appointed chairman of the Committee on the Address to the People, and David Dudley Field chairman of the Committee on Resolutions.

The address began by a recital and condemnation of the action of the Syracuse convention, which, it averred, after “its unjust and arbitrary decisions, sustained by partial reports,..shrunk to a little more than a third of its original size and expired." Adverting to its repression of the true sentiments of the people, and also alluding to the early antislavery history of New York, it claimed that, while that great State was “loyal to the Constitution," it was” true to freedom." It also referred to the great change which had taken place in public sentiment since the days of the Fathers; and it entered its protest against the promulgation of opinions so abhorrent in themselves so aggressive in their influence, and leading to "the extension of an institution which is a source of insecurity and poverty in peace and of embarrassment and danger in war." Referring to the fidelity of the Democratic party of New York to the "real rights of the South" as an evidence of its devotion to the Constitution, it proclaimed its purpose to resist aggression from the opposite direction.  

Having discarded the action at Syracuse, the convention declined to nominate candidates for the ensuing election, leaving the matter in the hands of the people. Mr. Field reported a series of resolutions, which were unanimously adopted. Among them was one which had been rejected at Syracuse, and which pledged the uncompromising hostility of the Democracy of New York to the extension of slavery into free territory, then or thereafter to be acquired.

Though defeat followed these dissensions, proceedings equally uncompromising marked the action of that section of the party in regard to the presidential election, then close at hand. Two sets of delegates were chosen to attend the national nominating convention at Baltimore, each claiming to be the sole representatives of the party, and the contest was transferred to the wider theatre of the national organization.

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 2.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 123-128.

 

Adams, Charles Francis, 1807-1886, Vice President, Anti-Slavery Free Soil Party, newspaper publisher and editor.  Son of former President John Quincy Adams.  Grandson of President John Adams.  Opposed annexation of Texas, on opposition to expansion of slavery in new territories.  Formed “Texas Group” within Massachusetts Whig Party.  Formed and edited newspaper, Boston Whig, in 1846.

(Adams, 1900; Duberman, 1961; Goodell, 1852, p. 478; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 32-33; Pease, 1965, pp. 445-452; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 51, 298; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 12-13. Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 40-48)

 

Everett, Edward, statesman.  Supporter of colonization and the American Colonization Society. 

(Burin, 2005, p. 28; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 2; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 207, 245w)

 

Lawrence, Abbott

 

Palfrey, John Gorham, 1796-1881, author, theologian, educator, opponent of slavery.  Member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1847-1849 (Whig Party).  Early anti-slavery activist.  Palfrey was known as a “Conscience Whig” who adamantly opposed slavery.  He freed 16 slaves whom he inherited from his father, who was a Louisiana plantation owner.  While in Congress, Palfrey was a member of a small group of anti-slavery Congressmen, which included Joshua Giddings, of Ohio, Amos Tuck, of New Hampshire, Daniel Gott, of New York, David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, and Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois.  In 1848, Palfrey failed to be reelected because of his anti-slavery views.  In 1851, he was an unsuccessful Free Soil candidate for the office of Governor in Massachusetts.  

(Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 634; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 169; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 932)

 

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874, statesman, lawyer, writer, editor, educator, reformer, abolitionist leader.  U.S. Senator, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.

(Blue, 1994, 2005; Mabee, 1970, pp. 74, 103, 173, 178, 248, 354, 261, 299, 329, 337, 356, 368, 393n17; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 60, 62, 67-68, 89, 174, 238, 243; Potter, 1976; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 54, 59, 201-203, 298, 657-660; Sewell, 1988; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 744-750; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 214; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 783-785; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 137; Congressional Globe; Donald, David. Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Knopf, 1960.)

 

Wilson, Henry, 1812-1875, abolitionist leader, statesman, U.S. Senator and Vice President of the U.S.  Massachusetts state senator.  Member, Free Soil Party.  Founder of the Republican Party.  Strong opponent of slavery.  Became abolitionist in 1830s.  Opposed annexation of Texas as a slave state.  Bought and edited Boston Republican newspaper, which represented the anti-slavery Free Soil Party.  Called for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1815.  Introduced bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and the granting of freedom to slaves who joined the Union Army.  Supported full political and civil rights to emancipated slaves.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. 

(Appletons’, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 548-550; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 2, p. 322; Congressional Globe)

 

Winthrop, Robert C.

 

 

Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies Established in Different Parts of the United States (ACPAS; Geliman, 2006, pp. 154-159, 164-165, 181, 185)

 

 

Convention of the People of Color, founded 1831, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

 



 

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Dedham (Massachusetts) Female Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 86)

 

 

Delaware Abolition Society (DAS), formerly the Abolition Society of the State of Delaware, founded 1827. (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 240, 318, 319, 327, 349; Locke, 1901, pp. 7n, 94, 99n, 99f, 104n, 105n, 108; Sinha, 2016, pp. 115, 174, 184; Zilversmit, 1967, p. 174)

 

Dennison, Charles W., co-founder, member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, editor of Emancipator (Dumond, 1961, pp. 180, 182, 392n19)

 

Chandler, William, abolitionist.  Founder and first President, Delaware Abolition Society, 1827.

 

Garrett, Thomas, 1783-1871, Wilmington, Delaware, abolitionist leader, Society of Friends, Quaker, member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, operator of the Underground Railroad, helped 2,700 Blacks escape to freedom, 1840-1860.  Vice President, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1843-1864.  Officer in the Delaware Abolition Society in 1827. 

(Drake, 1950, pp. 185, 187; Dumond, 1961; McGowan, 1977; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 74, 306, 464, 488; Still, 1883; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 609; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 165)

 

Wales, John, Delaware, abolitionist.  Co-founder and first Vice President, Delaware Abolition Society, 1827.

 

Worrell, Edward, abolitionist.  Officer, Delaware Abolition Society, 1827.

 

 

Warner, Joseph (Basker, 2005, p. 224)

 

Starr, Isaac H., Delaware, abolitionist and delegate to the Delaware Society for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, Wilmington, Delaware, founded 1789.  Treasurer, Pennsylvania Society for Promoting Abolition of Slavery, 1787. 

(Basker, 2005, pp. 92, 224, 240; Dumond, 1961, p. 76)

 

Coram, Robert, Delaware, abolitionist, member, delegate, The Delaware Society for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, Wilmington, Delaware, founded 1789 (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 240n40).

 

 

Delaware Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief and Protection of Free Blacks and People of Color, Unlawfully Held in Bondage or Otherwise, see Delaware Abolition Society (Dumond, 1961, pp. 47, 182; Locke, 1901, pp. 7n, 94, 99n, 99f, 104n, 105n, 108)

 

 

Delaware Society for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (also known as the Willmington Society). (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 240)

 

 

Detroit Colored Vigilance Committee, founded 1840.  Aided fugitive slaves.  Also acted as abolition society.  (Locke, 1901, pp. 7n, 163, 177; Sinha, 2016, pp. 388, 413, 512)

 

Lambert, William, founder (Sinha, 2016, p. 388)

 

DeBaptiste, George (Sinha, 2016, p. 388)

 

Monroe, James, professor (Sinha, 2016, pp. 512, 526, 560)

 

 

District of Columbia Society for the Abolition of Slavery (Locke, 1901, pp. 7n, 163, 177)

 

 

Dorcas Anti-Slavery Society, Troy, Ohio (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 160)

 

 

Dorchester Female Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 76)

 

 

DuPage County Anti-Slavery Society, part of Illinois State Abolition Society

Peck, Sheldon, member

 

 

 



 

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Erie County Anti-Slavery Society, Erie County, New York, founded October 12, 1835 (Sernett, 2002, p. 42)

 

Phelps, Amos, founder, abolitionist agent

 

 

Essex County Anti-Slavery Society

 

Grovenor, Cyrus Pit

 

 


 

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Fall River (Massachusetts) Female Anti-Slavery Society (Yellin, 1994, pp. 188-189)

 

 

Female Anti-Slavery Society (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 43, 218)

 

 

Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel, New York, 1834, first female abolitionist group in New York (Yellin, 1994, pp. 33, 33n6; Constitution of the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Green, Mrs. William, Jr., first Director, Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel

 

Brown, Mrs. Sarah, second Director, Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel (Constitution of the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Bell, Mrs. D. W., Secretary, Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel (Constitution of the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Bishop, Mrs. Elitha C., Treasurer, Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel (Constitution of the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Chatham Street Chapel, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

 

Female Association for Promoting the Manufacture and Use of Free Cotton, Philadelphia (Yellin, 1994, pp. 278-279)

 

 

Female Wesleyan Anti-Slavery Society, New York (Yellin, 1994, p. 136)

 

 

Fitchburg Female Anti-Slavery Society, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, founded 1837 (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 60)

 

 

Francis “Fanny” Wright Societies (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 522-523)

 

 

Franklin County Anti-Slavery Society, Massachusetts

 

Leavitt, Roger Hooker, President, brother of Joshua Leavitt

 

 

Free African Society, founded April 1787, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  A non-denominational, abolitionist, self-help group for African Americans.  The Free African Society established the African Church of Philadelphia in 1794, affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church.

(Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 25, 26, 156, 159, 294-295, 559-560)

 

Allen, Richard, 1760-1830, co-founder, leader

 

Jones, Absalom, 1737-1818, free Black, co-founder, leader

 

Gray, William, free Black, co-founder

 

Ginnings, Dorus, free Black, co-founder

 

White, William, free Black, co-founder

 

Murry, Jane Ann, free Black, co-founder

 

Dougherty, Sarah, free Black, co-founder

 

 

A Free Labor Society, Delaware, founded c. 1826

 

 

Free Produce Association of Friends of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, founded 1845, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (later renamed Philadelphia Free Produce Association of Friends). (Drake, 1950, pp. 115, 117, 118, 135, 171-174)

 

Rhodes, Samuel, founder, Quaker, abolitionist, editor of the Non-Slaveholder (Drake, 1950, pp. 172-173)

 

Pennock, Abraham, Quaker, abolitionist, editor of the Non-Slaveholder (Drake, 1950, pp. 130, 172-173)

 

Taylor, George W., Quaker, abolitionist, editor of the Non-Slaveholder (Drake, 1950, pp. 172-173)

 

Allinson, William J., abolitionist, editor of the Non-Slaveholder (Drake, 1950, pp. 172, 174)

 

Wistar, Thomas, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, p. 172)

 

 

Free Produce Association of Green Plain, Ohio (Yellin, 1994, p. 279)

 

 

Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, founded 1826.  Organized to encourage consumers not to purchase goods produced by slave labor. 

(Drake, 1950, pp. 115, 117, 118, 135, 171-174; Yellin, 1994, pp. 161, 163, 192, 276-281, 316; American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Rawle, William, lawyer, President, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829. (Drake, 1950, p. 118; American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Tucker, Benjamin, Vice President, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Atlee, Edwin P., Quaker, abolitionist, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 140; American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Barton, Isaac, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Bartram, William Shipley, Secretary of the Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Ellis, David, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Hopper, Isaac, Quaker, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 148, 160, 162, 187)

 

McClintock, Thomas, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Mott, James, Quaker, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 140, 154)

 

Neall, Daniel, Quaker, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 154, 156)

 

Nobel, Charles, MD, Secretary, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Parker, Joseph, Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Parrish, Dr. Joseph, Quaker, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 153)

 

Pennock, Abraham, Quaker, abolitionist, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  Editor of the Non-Slaveholder. (Drake, 1950, pp. 130, 172-173; American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Shipley, Thomas, Quaker, abolitionist, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 130, 140; American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Wayne, William, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Wharton, William, Committee of Correspondence, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Zollickoffer, Henry M., Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

 

Free Soil Party, founded August 9-10, 1848, in Buffalo, New York.  It included members of the “Conscience Whigs” Party, Democrats and members of the Liberty Party.  The motto was, “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men.”  It was a third party, whose main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the Western territories acquired after the war with Mexico.  The party argued that free men on free soil was a morally and economically superior system to slavery.  The party agreed with the Wilmot Proviso, and tried to remove existing laws that discriminated against freed African Americans.  The party was active from 1848 to 1852.  The party’s support came largely from the areas of upstate New York.  The party membership was absorbed by the Republican Party at its founding in 1854.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Free Soil Party.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included is a chapter about the Free Soil Party: “Coalition in Massachusetts. Election of Mr. Sumner,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

 

 

Freedom Association, founded 1845 by free Blacks in New England, created to assist slaves to escape to the North (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 49)

 

 

Freewill Baptist Anti-Slavery Society, New York state, founded in 1841, anti-slavery church (Sernett, 2002, p. 95)

 

 

Friends Anti-Slavery Society, Indiana.  Newspaper: Free Labor Advocate and Anti-Slavery Chronicle, published 1841-1848. (Drake, 1950)

 

 

“Friends of Human Progress,” Society of Friends, Quaker organizations.  Opposed to slavery, alcohol, tobacco.  Advocated for women’s rights.  (Drake, 1950, p. 174)

 

 



 

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Geneva Colored Anti-Slavery Society, New York, founded 1836 (Sernett, 2002, p. 64)

 

Dawkins, Horace H., president (Sernett, 2002, p. 64)

 

Duffin, James W., secretary (Sernett, 2002, p. 64)

 

 

Green Plain, Ohio, Meeting on the Fugitive Slave Law, Society of Friends, Quakers, abolition group.  Strongly opposed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.  (Drake, 1950, p. 175)

 

 



 

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Hicksite Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Associated with Hicksite Quaker Movement.  Promoted Free Produce policy of persuading consumers away from using goods produced by slave labor.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 134, 140, 154, 179)

 

Clothier, Caleb, leader

 

Mott, Lucretia, leader

 

 

Holmes Missionary Society, founded 1839.  Merged with the American Missionary Association (AMA).  (DeBoer, 1994; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 166)

 

 



 

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Illinois Anti-Slavery League (Dumond, 1961, p. 92)

 

 

Illinois Anti-Slavery Society, founded October 28, 1837

(Blue, 2005, pp. 93, 97; Dumond, 1961, p. 189; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 161; Wilson, 1872)

 

Chapter: “Activity of the Abolitionists. - Action of Northern Legislatures,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

While Eastern Abolitionists were thus actively engaged in their work, and meeting its peculiar exigencies, their brethren at the West were not idle. Nor were they without their share of vicissitudes, substantially like those in the New England and the Middle States, though affected by the composite character of the population, even then, of that section of the country. The fact, too, that the defenders and abettors of slavery there, as elsewhere, made demands against which many who were not Abolitionists revolted, like John Quincy Adams, in behalf of the right of petition, and Mr. Lovejoy for the freedom of the press, exerted its influence. Concerning Illinois, Dr. Edward Beecher says that in it "there was an original leaven of antislavery: principles in its earliest settlement, and preceding the discussions at the East; and the influence of this, added to that of papers from the East, awakened an extensive interest in the subject over the whole State." But, while there might have been this "leaven of antislavery," the prevailing tone of thought and feeling, as the great body of its early settlers were from slave-holding States, was the reverse. Accordingly it was seen in the ejection of Mr. Lovejoy's press from St. Louis, that, when the lines were drawn, the vast preponderance of the popular sentiment and influence was on the side of the oppressor.

These facts, more clearly developed by the Alton riots and the murder of Lovejoy than by any previous demonstration, decided many minds, before hesitating, that the time had come for concerted action. Accordingly, when the convention of “the friends of the slave and of free discussion," called to meet at Upper Alton, Illinois, on the 26th of October; 1837, was broken up by the intrusion of  proslavery men, who took the organization of the meeting into their own hands, adopted proslavery resolutions, and then dissolved the meeting, the supporters of law and order, whatever their views upon slavery had hitherto been, saw, in the words of Dr. Beecher, that " some organized, systematic effort was absolutely necessary to save our own liberties from the ruthless hands of unprincipled men."

A new call was issued, and two days later the convention met and formed the "Illinois State Antislavery Society." Having perfected their organization, adopted a constitution, and chosen their officers, Elihu Wolcott being president and E. P. Lovejoy secretary arid chairman of the executive committee, they discussed and adopted a series of resolutions, at once comprehensive and thorough, and based upon the great principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Word of God. Among the resolutions was one declaring that " the cause of human rights, the liberty of speech and of the press, imperatively demand that the press of the ' Alton Observer' be reestablished at Alton, with its present editor"; and pledging its members with the aid of Alton friends and "by the help of Almighty God," to take measures for its re-establishment. A preamble, couched in language of singular solemnity and force, prefixed to the constitution, and also a declaration of sentiments, reported by Dr. Beecher, were adopted. Fifty-five signatures were appended to the constitution.

A committee, consisting of Wolcott, Beecher, and Carter, was appointed to issue an "address to the citizens of the State on the subject of slavery, freedom of speech, of the press," etc. That also was a paper of singular ability and eloquence, placing the cause on the high ground of Christian principle, and enunciating with great clearness and force the primal truths of human rights and the paramount claims of God's Holy Word. But the strong Southern element which entered so largely into the population of Illinois prevented any very general adoption of such sentiments, however scriptural and republican in spirit and purpose. There were, indeed, ever faithful men and women, churches and communities; but the great body joined in the general apostasy, consenting to, if not defending the giant wrong.

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 361-363.

 

Wolcott, Elihu, founding president (Wilson, 1872)

 

Lovejoy, Elihu P., secretary and chairman of the executive committee  (Wilson, 1872)

 

Gage, Thomas, co-founder, vice president

 

Beecher, Dr. Edward  (Wilson, 1872, pp. 361, 379, 380, 420)

 

Carter (Wilson, 1872, p. 362)

 

Peck, Sheldon, member

 

 

Indiana Anti-Slavery Friends (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 433)

 

 

Indiana State Anti-Slavery Society, newspaper: The Protectionist (Blue, 2005, p. 161; Drake, 1950, p. 174; Dumond, 1961, p. 189)

 

Buffum, Arnold, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, editor, The Protectionist (Blue, 2005; Drake, 1950; Dumond, 1961)

 

 

Indiana Yearly Meeting of Anti-Slavery Friends (Mabee, 1970, pp. 147, 201, 225, 231, 264, 402n18; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 232)

 

 



 

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Jerry Rescue Committee, formed to aid figutive slave William Henry, also known as Jerry, in Sracuse, New York, in October 1839.  This was a committee of the Syracuse Vigilance Committee.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-517)

See also Syracuse Vigilance Committee (SVC)

 

Weaton, Charles, abolitionist leader, Jerry Rescue Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

 

Hoyt, Hiram, Dr., abolitionist leader, Jerry Rescue Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

 

Loguen, Jermain, abolitionist leader, Jerry Rescue Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

 

May, Samuel, abolitionist leader, Jerry Rescue Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

 

Smith, Gerrit, abolitionist leader, Jerry Rescue Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

 

Ward, Samuel Ringgold, abolitionist leader, Jerry Rescue Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

 

 

Joshua Glover Fugitive Slave Rescue Committee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 1854, vigilance committee, had 25 members.

 

Booth, Sherman, editor, The Daily Free Democrat.  Arrested and found guilty in Federal court of violating Fugitive Slave Law.

 

Reed, Herbert, chairman, Milwaukee Vigilance Committee

 

Wolcott, Edward B., Dr., chairman

 

Beifeld, Abram E., secretary

 

Angove, James

 

Bacon, W. D., Waukesha, Wisconsin, abolitioinist, aided fugitive slave Joshua Glover.

 

Blackwell, Charlie, aided fugitive slave Joshua Glover.

 

Holbrook, W. D., aided fugitive slave Joshua Glover.

 

Kinney, M. P., Reverend, hid fugitive slave Joshua Glover in his home.

 

Messinger, John A., aided Joshua Glover

 

Mills, J. C., Dr., state senator from Wisconsin, aided fugitive slave Joshua Glover.

 

Olin, C. C., aided fugitive slave Joshua Glover.

 

Paine, Byron

 

Paine, James

 

Pratt, Samuel, Wisconsin state assemblyman

 

Ryecraft, John, arrested, convicted in U.S. court of violating the Fugitie Slave Law.

 

Tichenor, Vernon, aided fugitive slave Joshua Glover.

 

Watkins, Charles K., abolitionist

 

 



 

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“Kennett Monthly Meeting in Chester County,” Pennsylvania.  Organized “Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, near Kennett Square, founded 1853.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 171, 175)

 

 

Kent County (Rhode Island) Female Anti-Slavery Society (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. I, 83, 92-102, 145, 152-158, 212, 216, 257n20; Yellin, 1994, pp. 182-184n, 187, 190)

 

 

Kentucky Abolition Society (Dumond, 1961, p. 95)

 

 

Kentucky Society for the Gradual Relief of Slavery (Dumond, 1961, p. 199; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 511)

 

 

Kingston Anti-Slavery Society (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 88-90)

 

 

Knights of Liberty, founded 1846, St. Louis, Missouri (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 50, 59)

 

Dickson, Reverend Moses, free Black man, co-founder

 

 

Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois (Filler, 1960, p. 33; Muelder, 1959)

 

Gale, Reverend George Washington, founder, abolitionist (Muelder, 1959)

 

 



 

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Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of Fall River, Massachusetts, founded 1836 (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 44, 218)

 

Chase, Eliza Buffum, co-founder

 

 

Ladies’ (Cincinnati) Anti-Slavery Circle, Cincinnati, Ohio (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 144)

 

 

Ladies’ (Dover) Anti-Slavery Society, Dover, New Hampshire, founded 1835 (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 105)

 

 

Ladies’ New York Anti-Slavery Society (Yellin, 1994, pp. 26-27)

 

 

Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 75, 89, 102, 159; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 362; Yellin, 1994, pp. 32, 34-41, 43, 43n, 120, 134, 136; First Annual Report of the Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1836)

 

Martyn, Mrs. Rev. J. H., First Directress, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Rankin, Miss, Second Directress, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Halsted, Mrs. J. W., Third Directress, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Cox, Mrs. A. L., Corresponding Secretary, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Blackwell, Miss A., Recording Secretary, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Lockwood, Mrs. R., Treasurer, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Ball, Mrs. A. S., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Benedict, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Brower, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Burger, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Clark, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Coolidge, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Dunbar, Miss, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Hallock, Mrs. L., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Higgins, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Holbrook, Mrs. L., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

How, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Jennings, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Lane, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Ludlow, Mrs. Rev. H. G., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Marquand, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Nelson, Miss, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Oram, Miss, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Piercy, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Rankin, Mrs. J., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Reed, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Sedgwick, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Smith, Miss, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Sutherland, Miss, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Tappan, Miss J., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Watkies, Mrs., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Welles, Miss, Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

Willcox, Mrs. O., Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society

 

 

Lane Theological Seminary – Lane Anti-Slavery Society, Cincinnati, Ohio.  Many early and prominent American abolitionists entered the movement through Lane.  Lane Theological Seminary was for a short time active in the antislavery movement in Ohio.  Dr. Lyman Beecher, president, and Dr. Calvin E. Stowe, professor, were active along with members of the student body.  The Lane Anti-Slavery Society was an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Theodore D. Weld and Henry B. Stanton were members.

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 158-165; Harrold, 1995, pp. 90-91; Mabee, 1970, pp. 31, 152, 154, 155, 156, 160, 192; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 41, 185, 466, 511; Sorin, 1971, pp. 64-65; Wilson, 1872)

Chapter: “Lane Seminary. - Antislavery Action,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

These appeals of the new antislavery societies at once attested public attention, though that attention oftener assumed the form of opposition than of acquiescence. Among the first to give this public recognition were the students of Lane Seminary, of which Dr. Lyman Beecher was president and Dr. Calvin E. Stowe a professor. Its students, several of whom were the sons of Southern slaveholders, were of unusual maturity of age and character. Soon after the formation of the American Antislavery Society, an auxiliary was formed in the seminary, embracing most of its members. Two of the number, Henry B. Stanton, and James A. Thome of Kentucky, attended the anniversary meeting of the parent society at New York, in the spring of 1834, at which they made speeches exciting great interest and sanguine hopes, which were more than redeemed by their subsequent career.

In the winter of 1834,- 35 a debate on the slavery question took place, lasting more than a dozen evenings, of which Mr. Stanton occupied two with remarkable eloquence and effect. Several other students participated in the debate with signal ability. But the great orator of that great debate, as conceded by all, was Theodore D. Weld. Subsequently, nearly all the students adopted antislavery views. Dr. Beecher promised to attend the meetings; though he did not do so. It is said that he was much affected when he found the main body of the students adopting sentiments which he foresaw: or at least apprehended, must bring them into collision with the board of trustees, threatening the material injury if not the destruction of the institution. The debate caused much excitement, not only in Cincinnati, but throughout the country. The trustees ordered the disbandment of the Antislavery Society, though accompanying the order with a similar requirement of the Colonization Society. Their real and avowed purpose was to frown upon and check agitation concerning slavery in the seminary. The antislavery students, feeling that they could not, consistently with their self-respect and convictions, remain in the institution, dissolved their connection with it. Before, however, taking this step, they issued an elaborate and eloquent protest against the policy adopted ; and then, as persecution sent the apostles abroad to preach the gospel, so it sent these young ministers of the gospel to proclaim the new evangel of liberty. Several of them labored faithfully for longer or shorter periods; but none rendered services more brilliant and effective than Theodore D. Weld and Henry B. Stanton.

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 264-265.

 

 

Chapter: “Activity of the Abolitionists. - Action of Northern Legislatures,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

A more specific inquiry was made in the spring of 1835, by the Antislavery Society of Lane Seminary, into the condition of the twenty-five hundred colored people of Cincinnati. From its report it appears that, as far back as 1829, a systematic effort was made by its citizens to aid in the removal of the free people of color from the United States. This movement not only excited the passions and prejudices of the lower stratum of society, but inspired the action of the commanding classes and of the authorities. The trustees of the township issued a proclamation that any colored man who did not fulfil the requirements of the law should leave the city. But, as that was simply impossible, only a small portion could or did leave. The mob then attempted to expel them by force; and for three days riot ran wild in. the city. The colored people, appealing in vain to the city authorities, barricaded their houses, and thus alone the fury of the rioters was resisted. Thus hampered and oppressed in Ohio they sent a deputation to Canada, to find a place of refuge under a monarchy. The reply of the governor was as reassuring to them as it was severe and damaging to the recreant citizens of the Union. “Tell the republicans," he said," on your side of the line, that we royalists do not know men by their color. Should you come to us, you will be entitled to all the privileges of the rest of her Majesty's subjects." In consequence of this gracious permission large numbers emigrated; and, in a few years, more than a thousand found a home in what was called Wilberforce Settlement.

Those who remained, however, suffered every indignity and injustice. Public schools and mechanical associations were closed against them, and the most ordinary labor was refused them, - a clergyman, in one instance, dismissing a member of his church from his employment because it was against the law to employ him. The poor man, spending many days in the unavailing search for employment, and returning to the minister for advice, received the disheartening reply: “I cannot help you; you must go to Liberia." Thus did the spirit of slavery everywhere reveal itself to be the same heartless and fiendish element, disturbing alike the normal condition of society and that of the individuals of which that society was composed. Men under its influence lost much of their manhood, and communities were made willing to exhibit the most revolting features of barbarism itself.

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 365-366.

 

Beecher, Lyman, president (Dumond, 1961; Mabee, 1970, p. 152; Rodriguez, 2007). 1775-1863, abolitionist leader, clergyman, educator, writer.  Active in the Cincinnati, Ohio, auxiliary of the American Colonization Society, founded in Washington, DC, December 1816.  Co-founder, American Temperance Society.  President, Lane Theological Seminary.  Major spokesman for the anti-slavery cause in the United States.  Father of notable abolitionists, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Edward Beecher and Charles Beecher.

(Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 216-217; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, p. 135; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 134, 140, 196, 231).

 

Allan, Reverend William, 1810-1882 (Dumond, 1961; Mabee, 1970, pp. 107, 109; Rodriguez, 2007).

 

Alvord, John Watson, 1807-1880 (Dumond, 1961; Rodriguez, 2007). 1807-1880, abolitionist, anti-slavery agent, clergyman. Congregational minister.  Worked around Ohio area.  Secretary, Boston Tract Society.  Chaplain with General Sheridan’s Union Forces in Civil War.  Worked with former slaves. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 164, 185; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 1, p. 399).

 

Birney, James G., (Dumond, 1961; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Rodriguez, 2007). 1792-1857, abolitionist leader, statesman, orator, writer, lawyer, jurist, newspaper publisher.  On two occasions, mobs in Cincinnati attacked and wrecked his newspaper office.  Beginning in 1832, Birney was an agent for the American colonization Society, representing the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.  In 1833, he transferred to agent in Kentucky.  Wrote pro-colonization articles for Alabama Democrat.  Editor of the Philanthropist, founded 1836.  Founder and president of the Liberty Party in 1848.  Third party presidential candidate, 1840, 1844.  Founder University of Alabama.  Native American rights advocate.  Member of the American Colonization Society.  American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1835-1836, Vice President, 1835-1836, 1836-1838, Executive Committee, 1838-1840, Corresponding Secretary, 1838-1840. American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Secretary, 1840-1841, Executive Committee, 1840-1842.  His writings include: “Ten Letters on Slavery and Colonization,” (1832-1833), “Addresses and Speeches,” (1835), “Vindication of the Abolitionists,” (1835), “The Philanthropist,” a weekly newspaper (1836-1837), “Address of Slaveholders,” (1836), “Argument on Fugitive Slave Case,” (1837), “Political Obligations of Abolitionists,” (1839), “American Churches the Bulwarks of American Slavery,” (1840), and “Speeches in England,” (1840). 

 

(Birney, 1969; Blue, 2005, pp. 20-21, 25, 30, 32, 48-51, 55, 9-99, 101, 139, 142, 163, 186, 217; Burin, 2005, pp. 84, 112; Drake, 1950, pp. 141, 149, 159; Dumond, 1938; Dumond, 1961, pp. 90, 93, 176, 179, 185, 197, 198, 200-202, 257-262, 286, 297, 300-301, 303; Filler, 1960, pp. 55, 73, 77, 89, 94, 107, 128, 131, 137, 140-141, 148, 152, 156, 176; Fladeland, 1955; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 27, 36, 40, 41, 49, 54, 55, 60, 71, 92, 195, 228, 252,293, 301, 323, 328, 350; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 4-5, 7, 8, 13-15, 18, 21-31, 35, 50, 101, 199, 225; Pease, 1965, pp. 43-49; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 43-44, 46, 48, 163, 188-189, 364, 522; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25, 47, 51, 52, 65, 70n, 97, 103n; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 146-148, 211-212, 229-230; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 267-269; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 291-294; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 79-80; Birney, William, Jas. G. Birney and His Times, 1890; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 2; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 312-313)

 

Bliss, Philemon, (Dumond, 1961; Rodriguez, 2007). 1813-1889, lawyer, U.S. congressman, 1854, Chief Justice, Dakota Territory in 1861, elected Supreme Court of Missouri, 1868.  Helped found anti-slavery  Free Soil Party.  Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). 

(Blue, 2005, p. 76; Dumond, 1961, p. 165; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. I, Pt. 2, pp. 375-376).

 

Finney, Charles, Grandison (Dumond, 1961; Harrold, 1995, pp. 71, 90; Mabee, 1970, pp. 130, 152, 153, 218, 253, 291, 339, 403n28; Rodriguez, 2007). clergyman, b. in Warren, Litchfield co., Conn., 29 Aug., 1792; d. in Oberlin, Ohio, 16 Aug., 1875. He removed with his father to Oneida county, N. Y., in 1794, and when about twenty years old engaged in teaching in New Jersey. He began to study law in Jefferson county, N. Y., in 1818, but, having been converted in 1821, studied theology, was licensed to preach in the Presbyterian church in 1824, and began to labor as an evangelist. He met with great success in Utica, Troy, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. On his second visit to the last city, in 1832, the Chatham street theatre was bought and made into a church for him, and the New York “Evangelist” established as an advocate of the revival. His labors here resulted in the establishment of seven “free Presbyterian” churches, and in 1834 he became pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, which had been built especially for him. Mr. Finney accepted, in 1835, the professorship of theology at Oberlin, which had just been founded by his friends, and retained it until his death. Here he assisted in establishing the “Oberlin Evangelist,” and afterward the “Oberlin Quarterly.” He also became pastor of the Congregational church in Oberlin in 1837; but continued at intervals to preach in New York and elsewhere. He spent three years in England as a revivalist, in 1849-'51 and 1858-'60, adding to his reputation for eloquence, and in 1851-'66 was president of Oberlin. Prof. Finney relied greatly on doctrinal preaching in his revivals, as opposed to animal excitement, and his sermons were plain, logical, and direct. He was an Abolitionist, an anti-mason, and an advocate of total abstinence. His chief works are “Lectures on Revivals,” which have been translated into several foreign languages (Boston, 1835; 13th ed., 1840; enlarged ed., Oberlin, 1868); “Lectures to Professing Christians” (Oberlin, 1836); “Sermons on Important Subjects” (New York, 1839); and “Lectures on Systematic Theology” (2 vols., Oberlin, 1847; London, 1851). After his death were published his “Memoirs,” written by himself (New York, 1876). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 461.

 

Mahan, Asa, (Dumond, 1961; Mabee, 1970, pp. 218, 403n25; Rodriguez, 2007). 1799-1889, Ohio, clergyman, abolitionist, president of Oberlin College 1835-1850.  Vice President, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1834-1835.

(Mabee, 1970, pp. 218, 403n25; Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 176; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 208; Dumond, 1961, p. 165; Abolitionist)

 

Morgan, Professor John, (Dumond, 1961; Mabee, 1970, pp. 253, 403n25; Rodriguez, 2007). Cincinnati, Ohio, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1834-1835.

 

Robinson, Marius, 1806-1876, Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, abolitionist.  Alumnus of Lane University.  Editor of The Ohio Anti-Slavery Bugle, 1849-18??.  The newspaper was the official organ of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.  Worked with Augustus Wattles to set up schools for free Blacks.  Worked with abolitionist James G. Birney in editing Philanthropist.  Manager, American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1840-1843.  Antislavery agent. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 160, 164, 174, 185, 220, 264).

 

Stanton, Henry B., 1805-1887, New York, New York, Cincinnati, Ohio, abolitionist leader, anti-slavery agent, journalist, author.  Worked with William T. Allan and Birney.  Financial Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), Manager, 1834-1838, Corresponding Secretary, 1838-1840, and Executive Committee of the Society, 1838.  Secretary, 1840-1841, and Member of the Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1844.  Leader of the Liberty Party.  Wrote for abolitionist newspapers.  Worked against pro-slavery legislation at state level.  Later edited the New York Sun

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 164, 219, 238-240, 286; Filler, 1960, pp. 68, 72, 134, 137, 156, 189, 301; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14016, 18, 28, 36, 45, 47, 101, 162, 223; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 162; Sorin, 1971 p. 63-67, 97, 131, 132; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 649-650; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 525)

 

Stowe, Calvin E., Dr., professor at Lane Theological Seminary (Wilson, 1872, p. 264)

 

Tappan, Lewis, (Dumond, 1961; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Rodriguez, 2007). 1788-1873, New York, NY, merchant, radical abolitionist leader.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Treasurer, 1840-1842, Secretary, 1842-1844, Corresponding Secretary, 1845-1846, 1848-1855.  Leader of the Philadelphia Free Produce Association.  Wrote Life.

(Blue, 2005; Burin, 2005, p. 89; Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 218, 287; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 31, 50, 55, 61, 63, 68, 72, 94, 102, 130, 136, 138, 144, 150, 152, 158, 164, 165, 168, 174, 177, 189, 194, 210, 247, 262; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 8, 9, 13-19, 21, 24, 26, 38, 42-49, 51, 55, 58, 91, 93, 104, 105, 130, 190, 151-156, 190, 202, 219-221, 226-229, 233, 234, 251-253, 257, 334, 340, 341, 343, 344, 345; Mitchell, 2007; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 174, 290, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 70, 93, 96, 102, 113, 114, 131; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 32-34; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 203; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 673-675; Wyatt-Brown, Bertram, Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War against Slavery, 1969; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 76, 128-129, 219, 228, 230)

 

Tappan, Arthur, (Dumond, 1961; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Rodriguez, 2007). 1786-1865, New York City, merchant, radical abolitionist leader, educator.  Co-founder and president of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1837, and Member of the Executive Committee, 1833-1840 of the AASS. President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855, Member of the Executive Committee, 1840-1855. 

(Dumond, 1961, p. 286; Filler, 1960, pp. 26, 40, 55, 58, 60-61, 63-64, 68, 84, 132, 262; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 8, 9, 14-18, 21, 38-41, 44, 48, 51, 55, 71, 107, 129, 134, 151, 152, 153, 200, 234, 235, 242, 285, 293, 340; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 106, 161, 162, 163, 166, 320, 362; Sorin, 1971, pp. 73, 75, 102, 114; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 33; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 209; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 311; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 320-321; Tappan, Lewis. Life of Arthur Tappan. New York, Hurd and Houghton: 1870.)

 

Thome, James A., 1809-1873, August, Kentucky, abolitionist, anti-slavery activist, educator, clergyman.  Father was a slaveholder.  Thome was a member and Vice President, 1839-1840, of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) and professor at Oberlin College. 

(Dumond, 1961m pp., 152, 155, 174; Filler, 1960, pp. 68, 140; Mabee, 1970, p. 272; Pease, 1965, pp. 91-93)

 

Wattles, Augustus, 1807-1883, established school for free Blacks.  Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Worked with Emigrant Aid Society in Lawrence, Kansas.  Edited Herald of Freedom

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 164-165; Mabee, 1970, pp. 104, 155, 394n31, 403n29).

 

Weld, Theodore, 1803-1895, Cincinnati, Ohio, New York, NY, reformer, abolitionist leader, anti-slavery lobbyist.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) in December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1835, and Corresponding Secretary, 1839-1840, of the Society.  Published American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839).  Also wrote The Bible Against Slavery (1839) and Slavery and the Internal Slave Trace in the United States (London, 1841).  Married to abolitionist Angelina Grimké. 

(Barnes, 1933; Drake, 1950, pp. 138, 140, 158, 173; Dumond, 1961, pp. 161, 176, 180, 183, 185, 220, 240-241; Filler, 1960, pp. 32, 56, 67, 72, 102, 148, 156, 164, 172, 176, 206; Hammond, 2011, pp. 268, 273; Mabee, 1970, pp. 17, 33, 34, 38, 92, 93, 104, 146, 151, 152, 153, 187, 188, 191, 196, 348, 358; Pease, 1965, pp. 94-102; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 46, 106, 321-323, 419, 486, 510-512; Sorin, 1971, pp. 42-43, 53, 60, 64, 67, 70n; Thomas, 1950; Wilson, 1872, p. 265; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 425; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 625; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 681-682; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 22, p. 928; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 318; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 740-741; Abzug, Robert H. Passionare Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld and the Dilemma of Reform, New York, 1980; Dumond, Dwight L., ed., Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld and Sarah Grimké, 1822-144, 1965)

 

Whipple, George, Oberlin, Ohio, New York, abolitionist, clergyman, educator.  Secretary of the anti-slavery American Missionary Association (AMA).  American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1839-1840.  American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1844-1855, Treasurer, 1846-1855.  Teacher at Lane University.  Professor and principal, Oberlin College.  Worked in Freeman’s Bureau after the Civil War.  Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 163, 165, 185; Mabee, 1970, pp. 153, 235, 403n25; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 166).

 

Wilson, Hiram, 1803-1864, Ackworth, New Hampsire, abolitionist, cleric, agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Ohio.  Helped set up schools and aid Blacks who escaped to Canada.  Founded British-American Manual Labor Institute of the Colored Settlements of Upper Canada.  Delagate to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1843. 

(Blue, 2005, pp. 80, 82-85; Dumond, 1961, p. 164; Henson, 1858, pp. 167-171; Siebert, 1898, p. 199; Woodson, 1915, p. 25; The Emancipator, February 22, 1837).

 

 

Lansingburgh Vigilance Committee, Lansingburgh, New York, met in AME Zion Church.

 

 

Latimer Committee, Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1842 to aid fugitive slave George Latimer in Boston.  Published Latimer Journal and North Star, which was published tri-weekly from November 1842 through May 1843.

 

Bowditch, Henry Ingersoll, MD, 1819-1909, Boston, lawyer, abolitionist, physician.  Influenced by William Lloyd Garrison to join the anti-slavery cause.  Aided fugitive slaves, and promoted anti-slavery actions in the North.  Counsellor, 1843-1850, and Vice president, 1850-1860, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founder of the Latimer Committee.  Editor, Latimer Journal and North Star.  Member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC) and the Anti-Man Hunting League (AMHL).

(Mabee, 1970, pp. 36, 94, 103, 110, 129, 336; Pease, 1965, pp. 343-348; Bowditch, Slavery and the Constitution, Boston: Robert F. Walcutt, 1849, pp. 120-126; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 492-494; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 103-104; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 2, p. 267; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 334)

 

Channing, William Ellery, Reverend, 1780-1842, Unitarian clergyman, orator, writer, strong opponent of slavery, abolitionist leader.  Active in the peace, temperance, and educational reform movements.  Published anti-slavery works, The Slavery Question, in 1839, Emancipation in 1840, and The Duty of the Free States, in 1842.  Co-founder of the Latimer Committee.  Member of the Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC).

(Brown, 1956; Channing, “Slavery,” 1836; Dumond, 1961, pp. 273, 352-353; Filler, 1960, pp. 33, 34, 59, 80, 88, 93, 101, 128, 141, 184; Goodell, 1852, pp. 419, 560; Mabee, 1970, pp. 15, 16, 43, 51, 79, 105, 384n14; Pease, 1965, pp. xxxix-xl, lvii, lx, 114-118, 240-245; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 43, 46, 162, 169; Sorin, 1971, p. 72; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 576-577; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, pp. 7-8; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 160-163; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 4, p. 680)

 

Cabot, Frederick, co-founder of the Latimer Committee, abolitionist

 

 

League of Gileadites, founded January 15, 1851, Springfield, Massachusetts.  Had 44 members, comprised of free Blacks, fugitive slaves and Whites.  Its purpose was to protect fugitive slaves from capture under the Federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.  (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 206)

 

Brown, John, 1800-1859, founder

 

 

Lemmon Fugitive Slave Case, New York, 1852.  (New York Court of Appeals: Report of the Lemmon Slave Case (New York, 1861), Lemmon vs. Napoleon, pp. 4-14, 25, 31, 33-35, 42-44; Finkelman, 1981)

 

Napoleon, Louis, Boston Vigilance Committee

 

Tappan, Lewis

 

Ray, Charles B.

 

Pennington, James W. C.

 

Johnson, Richard

 

Blunt, Joseph, attorney representing Johnathan and Juliet Lemmon

 

Culver, Erastus D., attorney representing Johnathan and Juliet Lemmon

 

Evarts, William M., attorney representing Johnathan and Juliet Lemmon

 

Arthur, Chester A., future President of the United States, attorney representing Johnathan and Juliet Lemmon

 

 

The Liberator Newspaper, 1833-, published by abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp.

 

Anderson, William, New London, Connecticut, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Bell, Philip A., New York, New York, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Beman, Jehiel C., Reverend, Middletown, Connecticut, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Benson, Henry E., Providence, Rhode Island, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Bowler, William B., Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Blount, Nathan, Poughkeepsie, New York, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Cary, George, Cincinnati, Ohio, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Cassey, Joseph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Chester, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Coleman, Benjamin, Salem, Massachusetts, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Colesworthy, Daniel C., Portland, Maine, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Creed, John William, New Haven, Connecticut, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Cross, J. L., New Haven, Connecticut, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Foster, James, Portland, Maine, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Green, Josiah, Rochester, New York, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Hambleton, Thomas, Jennerville, Pennsylvania, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Harris, William, Norwich, Connecticut, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Hogarth, George, Brooklyn, New York, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Johnson, Richard, New Bedford, Massachusetts, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Kimbal, Harvey, Amesbury, Massachusetts, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Lovejoy, Joseph C., Bangor, Maine, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Lundy, Benjamin, Washington, DC, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Manchester, B. A., Buffalo, New York, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Niger, Alfred, Providence, Rhode Island, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Peck, John, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Pompey, Edward J., Nantucket, Massachusetts, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Saunders, William, Hartford, Connecticut, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Shadd, Abraham D., Wilmington, Delaware, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Sharpless, Joseph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Stewart, John G., Albany, New York, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

Vashon, J. B., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Agent, The Liberator Newspaper

 

 

Liberty League, abolition political party, founded 1848, co-founded by Gerrit Smith and William Goodell at Macedon Lock, New York. (Blue, 2005, pp. 35, 101, 122, 123; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 22, 35, 36, 44, 46, 67, 245; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 51; Sinha, 2016, pp. 353, 468, 484-486, 498)

 

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874, Peterboro, New York, large landowner, reformer, philanthropist, radical abolitionist.  Supporter of the American Colonization Society (ACS).  Served as a Vice President of the ACS, 1833-1836.  Also supported the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Served as a Vice President of the AASS, 1836-1840, 1840-1841.  Vice President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840.  President and co-founder of the Liberty League in 1848.  Presidential candidate for the Liberty League in 1848.  Active in the Underground Railroad.  Member of the Liberty Party.  Member of the Pennsylvania Free Produce Association.  Secretly supported radical abolitionist John Brown. 

(Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 25, 26, 32-36, 50, 53, 54, 68, 101, 102, 105, 112, 132, 170; Dumond, 1961, pp. 200, 221, 231, 295, 301, 339, 352; Filler, 1960; Friedman, 1982; Frothingham, 1876; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 37, 47, 55, 56, 71, 72, 104, 106, 131, 135, 150, 154, 156, 187-189, 195, 202, 204, 219, 220, 226, 227, 237, 239, 246, 252, 253, 258, 307, 308, 315, 320, 321, 327, 342, 346; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 5, 8, 13, 16, 22, 29, 31, 36, 112, 117-121, 137, 163, 167, 199, 224-225, 243; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 46, 50, 51, 56, 138, 163, 206, 207, 327, 338, 452-454; Sernett, 2002, pp. 22, 36, 49-55, 122-126, 129-132, 143-146, 169, 171, 173-174, 205-206, 208-217, 219-230; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25-38, 47, 49, 52, 66, 95, 96, 102, 126, 130; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 128, 129, 165, 189-190, 201, 213, 221, 224, 225, 230-231; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 270; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 322-323; Harlow, Ralph Volney. Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer. New York: Holt, 1939.)

 

Goodell, William, Reverend, 1792-1878, New York City, reformer, temperance activist, radical abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1839, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Published anti-slavery newspaper, The Investigator, founded 1829 in Providence, Rhode Island; merged with the National Philanthropist the same year.  Wrote Slavery and Anti-Slavery, 1852. Co-founder of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, 1833.  Editor of The Emancipator, and The Friend of Man, in Utica, New York, the paper of the New York Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founded the Anti-Slavery Liberty Party in 1840.  Was its nominee for President in 1852 and 1860.  Was co-founder of the Liberty League in 1848.  In 1850, edited American Jubilee, later called The Radical Abolitionist.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 23, 25, 32, 34, 50, 53, 54, 101; Drake, 1950, p. 177; Dumond, 1961, pp. 167, 182, 264-265, 295; Goodell, 1852; Mabee, 1970, pp. 48, 107, 187, 228, 246, 249, 252, 300, 333, 341, 387n11, 388n27; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 1, 7, 22, 29, 31, 35, 46, 63, 64, 71, 72, 162-163, 199, 225, 257n; Pease, 1965, pp. 411-417; Sorin, 1971, pp. 411-417; Van Broekhoven, 2001, pp. 30-31, 35-36, 87; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 384; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 236)

 

Foot, Charles E., Michigan, Vice president of the Liberty League, 1848. (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 51)

 

Ward, Samuel Ringgold, 1817-1866, New York, American Missionary Association (AMA), African American, abolitionist leader, newspaper editor, author, orator, clergyman.  Member of the Liberty Party and the Free Soil Party.  Wrote Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro, His Anti-Slavery Labours in the United States, Canada and England, 1855.  Lecturer for American Anti-Slavery Society.  Member and contributor to the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada.

(Dumond, 1961, p. 330; Mabee, 1970, pp. 128, 135, 136, 294, 307, 400n19; Sernett, 2002, pp. 54-55, 62-64, 94, 117, 121, 126, 142, 149, 157-159, 169, 171-172; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 34, 46, 48, 53, 166, 446-447, 454; Sorin, 1971, pp. 85-89, 96, 104, 132; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 440; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 22, p. 649; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 11, p. 380)

 

Swisshelm, Jane Grey Cannon, 1815-1884, abolitionist leader, women’s rights advocate, journalist, reformer.  Free Soil Party.  Liberty Party and Liberty League.  Republican Party activist.  Established Saturday Visitor, an abolition and women’s rights newspaper. 

(Appletons’, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 13; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 253; Blue, 2005, pp. 8-9, 50, 138-160, 268, 269; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 217; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 316; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 668-670)

 

 

Liberty Party, founded November 13, 1839, Warsaw, New York, abolitionist political party, merged with the Free Soil Party in 1848. Newspaper: Liberty Party Paper, published by John Thomas in Syracuse, New York; the Emancipator, in Massachusetts; the Liberty Press and Albany Patriot, in upstate New York; the Philanthropist, in Ohio; Western Citizen, in Chicago; Free Labor Advocate, in Indiana; Liberty Standard, in Maine; American Freeman, in Wisconsin; New Jersey Freeman and Signal of Liberty, in Michigan.  There were sixty Liberty Party newspapers. James Birney was the presidential candidate for the Liberty Party.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Liberty Party.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included are two chapters about the Liberty Party: “The Liberty Party,” and “Antislavery Organizations,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

 

 

Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded 1832, Michigan.  This was the first anti-slavery organization founded in Michigan.

 

Chandler, Elizabeth Margaret, co-founder, abolitionist (Dumond, 1961, pp. 279-281; Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, p. 573)

 

Haviland, Laura Smith, co-founder, abolitionist, reformer (Dumond, 1961, pp. 279; Haviland, 1882)

 

 

Lynn (Massachusetts) Female Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 77, 89; Sinha, 2016, pp. 275, 286, 287; Yellin, 1994, pp. 229-230, 234)

 

 



 

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Maine Anti-Slavery Society, founded 1835.  Published newspaper, The Advocate.  Had numerous county societies and auxiliaries. (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 207, 249n91; Annual Reports, Maine Anti-Slavery Society)

 

Officers:

 

Fessenden, Samuel, President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Pond, S. M., President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Smyth, William, Corresponding Secretary, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Sewall, Stephen, Recording Secretary, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Gilman, S. K., Hallowell, Maine, Treasurer, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Vice Presidents:

 

Appleton, Daniel, York, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Belcher, Hiram, Franklin, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Brown, Samuel F., Oxford, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Crocker, W. A., Washington, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Gilpatrick, James, Hancock, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Harding, Daniel F., Lincoln, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Humphrey, Zadok, Cumberland, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Hutchings, Samuel, Somerset, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Jones, Benjamin, Waldo, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

May, Seth, Kennebec, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society, Committee to Report on Actions of the U.S. Congress (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Stephens, William, Piscataquis, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Woodward, Anthony, Penobscot, Maine, Vice President, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Executive Committee:

 

Prescott, William, Hallowell, Maine, Executive Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Randall, D. B., Kent’s Hill, Maine, Executive Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Southwick, Edward, Augusta, Maine, Executive Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Stickney, William, Hallowell, Maine, Executive Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Thurston, David, Winthrop, Maine, Executive Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Willey, Austin, Hallowell, Maine, Executive Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Committee of Arrangements:

 

Cobern, H. E., Committee of Arrangements, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Hill, M., Committee of Arrangements, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Southwick, Jacob, Committee of Arrangements, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Tefft, B. F., Committee of Arrangements, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Nominating Committee:

 

Appleton, General, Nominating Committee, Committee to Report on Actions of the U.S. Congress, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Buck, John, Nominating Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Harding, D. F., Nominating Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Stickney, Paul, Nominating Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Thurston, D., Nominating Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Wallason, J., Nominating Committee, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Committee to Report on Actions of U.S. Congress:

 

Pomeroy, S. L., Committee to Report on Actions of the U.S. Congress, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Others:

 

Chapman, Reverend, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Cordis, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Hathaway, Reverend, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Lovejoy, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Reymond, Charles L., Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Tappan, Lewis, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Trafton, Reverend, Maine Anti-Slavery Society (Proceedings of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

 

Harper, Watkins (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 207-208)

 

 

Mansfield Anti-Slavery Society, Massachusetts (Newman, 2002, p. 158)

 

 

Manhattan Abolition Society, founded in Manhattan, New York, by African American women, 1840 (Yellin, 1994, p. xvii)

 

 

Manumission Society of North Carolina, 1829. (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 576-577; American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Swaim, Benjamin, President, Manumission Society of North Carolina, 1829. (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Swaim, William, Secretary, Manager, Manumission Society of North Carolina, 1829. (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Stuart, Zimri, Treasurer, Manumission Society of North Carolina, 1829. (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Reynolds, Manager, Manumission Society of North Carolina, 1829. (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

Weaver, Amos, Manumission Society of North Carolina, 1829. (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

 

 

Manumission Society of Tennessee, founded 1814; newspaper Manumission Intelligencer founded 1819 (Dumond, 1961, p. 95; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 33, 105)

 

Osborne, Charles

 

 

Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage.  Helped rescue hundreds of slaves during the period of 1790-1824.  (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 225, 240; Drake, 1950, pp. 120, 132; Dumond, 1961, pp. 47-48; Locke, 1901, pp. 99, 99n, 100, 101, 103f, 103n, 108, 109, 109n, 110, 120, 121, 131; Zilversmit, 1967, p. 174)

 

Tyson, Elisha, Society of Friends, Quaker, “Acting Committee”

 

Sterett, Samuel (Basker, 2005, pp. 90, 103, 224, 225, 227)

 

Winchester, James (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 240)

 

Townsend, Joseph (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 225, 238, 241)

 

Fonerdon, Adam (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 225)

 

Hollingsworth, Jesse (Basker, 2005, pp. 224, 225)

 

 

Massachusetts Abolition Society (Dumond, 1961, p. 188; Filler, 1960, p. 135; Yellin, 1994, pp. 54-55, 59, 59n)

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Massachusetts Abolition Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

 

 

Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair, December 24, 1844, Boston, Massachusetts.  (Oberlin College Anti-Slavery Collection; The Eleventh Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair, Boston, February 8, 144)

See also Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS)

 

Bowditch, Olivia, abolitionist

 

Bramhall, Ann R., abolitionist

 

Cabot, Susan C., abolitionist

 

Chapman, Mary G., abolitionist

 

Chapman, Mary Weston, abolitionist

 

Follen, Eliza L., abolitionist

 

Fuller, Marian, abolitionist

 

Garrison, Helen E., abolitionist

 

Hilton, Lavinia, abolitionist

 

Jackson, Harriet B., abolitionist

 

Johnson, M. A. W., abolitionist

 

Loring, Louisa, abolitionist

 

Philbrick, Anna R., abolitionist

 

Phillips, Ann T. G., abolitionist

 

Robbins, Frances Mary, abolitionist

 

Rogers, Mary F., abolitionist

 

Russell, Sarah S., abolitionist

 

Sargent, Catherine, abolitionist

 

Sargent, Henrietta, abolitionist

 

Sewall, Louisa M., abolitionist

 

Shaw, Sarah B., abolitionist

 

Southwick, Abby, abolitionist

 

Southwick, Thankful, abolitionist

 

Tufts, Hannah, abolitionist

 

Weston, Anne Warren, abolitionist

 

Weston, Caroline, abolitionist

 

White, Maria, abolitionist

 

Willey, Mary, abolitionist

 

Williams, Caroline F., abolitionist

 

Young, Mary, abolitionist

 

 

Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (MASS), founded in 1835 as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, headquarters Boston, Massachusetts. 

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included is a chapter about the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society: “Activity of the Abolitionists. - Action of Northern Legislatures,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

 

 

Massachusetts Anti-Texas Committee to Prevent Admission of Texas as a Slave State.  Opposed to the annexation of Texas, and the extension of slavery to the new territory.  Also opposed to the war with Mexico.  (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Adams, Charles Francis, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Allen, Charles, Worcester, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Borden, N. B., Fall River, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Bowditch, Henry I., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Bowditch, J. Ingersoll, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Bowditch, William I., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Bradburn, George, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Brigham, William, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Burritt, Elihu, Worcester, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Calhoun, William B., Springfield, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Carter, James G., Lancaster, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Channing, William H., Roxbury, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Clark, Jas. Freeman, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Coffin, Joshua, Newbury, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Downer, Samuel, Jr., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Farnsworth, Amos, Groton, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Fowler, James, Westfield, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Garrison, William Lloyd, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Hillard, George S., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Hoar, E. G., Concord, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Howe, Samuel G., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Huntington, Elisha, Lowell, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Jackson, Edmund, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Jackson, Francis, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Jackson, William, Newton, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Loring, Ellis Gray, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Palfrey, John G., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Phillips, Stephen C., Salem, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Phillips, Wendell, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Pierpont, John, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Robbins, James M., Milton, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Robeson, Andrew, New Bedford, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Sedgwick, Charles, Lenox, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Sewall, Samuel E., Roxbury, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Shipley, Simon G., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Stanton, Henry B., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Stetson, Caleb, Medford, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Sumner, Charles, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

White, William A., Watertown, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Whiton, James M., Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Whittier, John J., Amesbury, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Wilson, Henry, Natick, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

Wright, Elizur, Boston, Massachusetts (Report of the Massachusetts Committee to Prevent the Admission of Texas as a Slave State, October 1845)

 

 

Massachusetts Emancipation Society (Yellin, 1994, pp. 261-263)

 

 

Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, see New England Emigrant Aid Company

 

 

Massachusetts Female Emancipation Society, Boston, Massachusetts, founded 1840 (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 162-163; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 199; Yellin, 1994, pp. 59, 59n, 65n, 194/ Zson, pp. 261-263)

 

 

Massachusetts General Colored Association, founded Boston, Massachusetts, 1826.  African American group organized to fight racism and abolish slavery.  The Association supported the works of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.  The Association joined the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1833.

 

Dalton, Thomas, founder, president

 

Nell, William G., founder, vice president

 

Barbadoes, James G., founder, secretary

 

Lewis, Walker, founder

 

Scarlet, John, founder

 

Hilton, John T., founder

 

Easton, Joshua

 

 

Massachusetts League of Freemen, see Anti-Man Hunting League (AMHL), Boston, Massachusetts

 

 

Methodist Episcopal Church, see also African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC)

 

 

Michigan State Anti-Slavery Society (Dumond, 1961, p. 189)

 

 

Milwaukee Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 520-521)

 

Reed, Herbert, chairman