ri 
 
 
E 446 
 .T9 
 Copy 1 
 
 The First Abolition Society 
 in the United States : : 
 
 By 
 EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER 
 
 Professor of History, University of Michigan 
 
 B; 
 
 .^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 Reprinted from "The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and 
 Biography" for January, 1^12 
 
 Printed by 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 i 
 
THE FJEST ABOLITION SOCIETY IN THE 
 UNITED STATES* 
 
 BY EDWAHD RAYMOND T0ENER 
 
 Professor of History, University of Michigan. 
 
 It was not merely an accident that the first aboJitinn 
 
 ucl^^. in ib88 I'astorius and some FnVnr^Q nf r 
 made ,n North America, while in 1693 the Keithian 
 tCk :7"!t"^" ''"'^'^'P''"' *'^« «-* declara : n of 
 tfie^nends took up the work, so that by 1776 most of 
 
 ^enezet, circulated far and wide such books as The 
 Mystery of Iniqmty, All Slave-Keepers AposLes and 
 
 uZ Z:tTl '''':■ ---^fierce o'p So^a 
 times but gradually making converts. Toward the end 
 of the colonial period not only the Friends but th 
 Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and thpTfr T 
 denouncing the system T^v T7«n ^^^^^P^^s^^^ were 
 negroes mV.LIV ^ ^^ '^°'' ^^^^ ^^^^ of the 
 
 llZ' ^'""'^^^^^^^^ ^ere free. In that year, owing 
 
 in tst^Toi^tiZ;::; ttrf -^-^'^ 
 t™e^rr\rrak:s"itr^7^o"rTrso7a "'' 
 
 93 
 
 f 
 
94 First Abolition Society in United States. 
 
 they had no thought of ceasing their opposition. They 
 had given liberty to their own slaves, but many were 
 still held in bondage by other people, while from time to 
 time kidnappers carried off negroes undoubtedly free. 
 
 ALL 
 
 SLAVE-KEEPERS 
 
 That keep the Innocent in Bondage, 
 
 APOSTATES 
 
 Pretending to lay Claim to the Fure 
 
 &Holy CliriftianReligion ;of whatCoiigregarioa 
 foever; butefpecially in theirMinifters,by whofc 
 cxanfple the filthy Leprofy and Apoftacy is 
 fptead far and near ; it is a notorious Sin, whicK 
 ^many of th* true Friends ofChrift, and his pure 
 Truth, called ^uakers^ has been fbr many Years, 
 and ftillare concern'd to write and bear Teftimo-' 
 ny againft ; as a Pra£Hce fb grofs 8c hurtful to Re- 
 ligioii) and deftruftivc to Governraenr, beyond 
 what Words can fet forth, or can be declared of 
 by Men or Angels, and yet lived in by Miniftcrs 
 and Magiflrates in jimerlca. 
 
 ^he Leaders cf the People caufe them to Err. 
 
 Written for a General Service, by 
 
 him that truly and fincerely dcfires the prefent 
 and etern.l Welf:.re and Happinefs of all Man- 
 kind, all the World over, of all Colours, and 
 Nations, as his own Soul ; 
 
 Benjamin Lay. 
 
 "P HILJ DM L^ HI A:. 
 Printed for the Author. 1737- 
 
 Th(!n;foro men like Anthony Benezet were unwearied in 
 their elTorts to persuade masters to manumit their negroes, 
 to help negroes purchase their freedom, and to help them 
 preserve the lib('rty thus obtained. 
 
 PEB 2 6 1925 
 
 I 
 
First Abolition Society in United States. 95 
 
 At first this work was carried on individually or by 
 committees of the Friends, but so many people in Phila- 
 delphia were interested that it needed only a particular 
 occurrence to cause them to organize. Such an incident 
 soon arose. In 1773 an Indian woman from New Jersey 
 was brought to Philadelphia by her owner, who was taking 
 her south. While her master tarried in the city she 
 declared that she and her children were free. Then Israel 
 Pemberton and other citizens, eager to right an injustice 
 of this kind, came to her assistance and sued for her 
 liberty in the courts. It was two years before the matter 
 was decided; but at last she was declared to be a slave. 
 The case made a deep impression, however, on those who 
 conducted it, and they resolved to organize so as to do 
 more effective work in the future. "This," said the 
 recorder of the Society, writing years afterward, "is the 
 first case on the minutes of the society, and appears to 
 have given rise to its formation." Such was the origin of 
 the first abolition society in the United States. 
 
 On April 14, 1775, a number of men met at the Sun 
 Tavern in Philadelphia, and adopted a constitution for 
 what they called "The Society for the ReHef of Free 
 Negroes, unlawfully held in Bondage." John Baldwin 
 was chosen president. The confusion which resulted from 
 the Revolutionary War caused the Society almost imme- 
 diately to fall into abeyance. In 1784, however, it was 
 reorganized. In 1787 a new constitution was adopted, 
 the name was changed, and Benjamin Franklin was elected 
 president. Two years later the State legislature granted 
 it a charter of incorporation. Thereafter the work was 
 continuous until the need for such work passed away. 
 Most of its supporters were the Friends who had been so 
 active against slavery in the earlier days: "A majoritj^ 
 of its members always belonged to that denomination," 
 ^ays the first historian. The official title of the organiza- 
 tion was "The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the 
 / Abolition of Slavery, for the Relief of Free Negroes 
 
96 First Abolition Society in United States. 
 
 Unlawfully Held in Bondage, and for Improving the 
 Condition of the African Race." 
 
 Early abolitionism, that is real abolitionism, has been 
 much misunderstood. In after daj's when William Lloyd 
 Garrison and his associates were arousing popular wrath 
 and indignation, they were called abolitionists. They 
 themselves would have said that they were members of 
 anti-slavery societies or new abolitionists, and generally 
 not supporters of the abolition societies whose quiet 
 methods they despised. Yet in popular usage the old 
 name was applied to the reformers with a new meaning, 
 and in the bitterness and strife of the period from 1830 
 to 1860 "abolition" and "abolitionist" became oppro- 
 brious terms. And so entirely was the meaning changed 
 that the character and work of the real abolition societies 
 is now forgotten or misunderstood. The members of the 
 Pennsylvania Society were all of them quiet, orderly, 
 law-abiding men; their work was efficient and helpful. 
 
 The Society had been organized primarily to further 
 the abolition of slavery, but in Pennsylvania that work 
 had already progressed so far that the widest opportunity 
 lay rather in assisting free negroes and helping them to 
 retain their freedom. 
 
 This was the abolitionist activity which has most 
 completely fallen into oblivion, but which most deserves 
 to be remembered. It was the most successful and the 
 most remarkable work of the Society, but because it was 
 quiet and inconspicuous it is not often called to mind 
 now. It is probably true that the greater part of the 
 progress made by the negroes of Pennsylvania after they 
 became free, was owing directly or indirectly to the 
 assistance of the Society and its sympathizers. 
 
 Help was given in many different ways. Sometimes 
 the Society paid a master to give liberty to his slave. 
 Sometimes the master was assured that he would not i? 
 held chargeable, as the law ordained, in case the negrc? 
 manumitted failed to support himself. Then when the 
 
 e. 
 
 VJ 
 
 he^ 
 
First Aholition Society in United States. 
 
 97 
 
 negro was free the Society took him into care, helped hini 
 to find employment, furnished him with letters of recom- 
 mendation, and saw that his employer did not take advan- 
 tage of him. In 1789 the Society appointed four com- 
 mittees to assist negroes in solving the social and economic 
 problems which confronted them. It opened schools to 
 teach children and night schools for adults practically 
 the first and certainly the best schools which these negroes 
 ever had. As the rising prejudice against negroes, which 
 increased so strikingly after 1800, became more and more 
 apparent, the abolitionists did their utmost to appease 
 the white people, and teach the blacks to behave in such 
 a manner as to win respect. When the authorities threat- 
 ened to pass discriminatory legislation, they opposed it 
 earnestly and successfully. In 1801 the State Senate 
 proposed to emancipate the remaining slaves in the 
 Commonwealth, and pay the masters by levying a special 
 tax upon the negroes who were free. At once the Society 
 made a vigorous protest. Why tax those least able to 
 pay*^ In carrying on all this work the members collected 
 information and statistics which are the best the historian 
 is now able to obtain. 
 
 In many respects free negroes were pecuharly liable to 
 injustice and oppression at this time. Often they were 
 seized by speculators who declared that they were fugitive 
 slaves, and who, with the connivance of corrupt magis- 
 trates, sold them into bondage again. Probably the best 
 known negro in Philadelphia was Bishop Allen; yet a 
 Southern trader had him arrested, and swore that he had 
 recently purchased him as a slave. So many people 
 hastened to testify that they had known the colored 
 preacher for more than twenty years, that the perjurer 
 got a sentence in jail. In other cases, however, it was the 
 nesro who suffered. Furthermore kidnappers considered 
 Pennsylvania an excellent field after 1780. Not infre- 
 quently the victim was clubbed into submission, hurried 
 across the State line, and never heard of again. 
 
98 First Abolition Society in United Slates. 
 
 ^, 
 
 =0 <^t( ^/^ 
 
 ^^ -I ^ 1 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 "1 ) 1 i1 ti f v^^ "^ ^ 
 
First Ahotitio7i Society in United States. 99 
 
 The organization of the Society in the first place had 
 been owing to a desire to combat such practices, and the 
 warfare waged against them was relentless and unceasing. 
 "To prevent the disgraceful & inhuman practice of kid- 
 napping (which it appears from several attempts lately 
 detected, is carried to a considerable extent), we have 
 committees under appointment who we believe maintain 
 a due attention to their duties," says the old record. 
 In 1820 and in 1847 severe laws were passed by the State 
 legislature, largely owing to the efforts of the abohtion- 
 ists. Meanwhile the Society saw to it that these laws 
 were enforced. The penalties were exceedingly heavy, 
 the maximum being a fine of $2,000 and imprisonment for 
 twenty-one years. One offender, who had stolen two 
 negroes, was actually fined $4,000 and sent to the peni- 
 tentiary for forty-two years. On another occasion a cul- 
 prit, who had been convicted largely through the efforts 
 of the Society, sent most appealing letters beseeching its 
 intercession. These letters are all copied in the folio 
 records, but seem to have brought no mercy. It may be 
 said that kidnapping in Pennsylvania was brought to an 
 end because the abolitionists made it too dangerous. 
 
 After all the principal object was the abolition of slav- 
 ery, but in furtherance of this object the abolitionists car- 
 ried on the least successful part of their work. In Pennsyl- 
 vania they continued the efforts which they had made 
 to bring slavery to an end, for the act of 1780 abolished 
 slavery for the future, and did not deprive masters of 
 the negroes whom they already owned. In other words 
 the act provided for gradual abolition, and the operation 
 in some cases was very gradual indeed, there being a slave 
 in the State, it is said, as late as 1860. For the most 
 part, however, as time went on these slaves were set free 
 by manumission. This also was largely the result of the 
 persuasion and assistance of the abohtionists and Friends, 
 who took up collections, helped negroes to save money, 
 loaned them money, and made terms with the masters. 
 
100 First Abolition Society in United States. 
 
 Meanwhile they struck at the root of the matter and 
 tried to get slavery abolished outright. First they 
 attacked it in the courts. The State constitution of 1790 
 declared that all men were born equally free and inde- 
 pendent. In Massachusetts, where a similar expression 
 had been used, the supreme court, deciding a test case. 
 asserted that the existence of slavery was inconsistent 
 with such a statement. About 1794 the abolitionists 
 resolved to ascertain "Whether slavery, under any modi- 
 lication whatever, is not inconsistent with the present 
 Constitution of this State." Therefore in the year fol- 
 lowing a master, Joseph Graisberry, was sued on a writ 
 de homine replegiando because he was in possession of a 
 negress. Flora. The case, which was instituted in the 
 supreme court, was delayed for various reasons until at 
 last it was sent up to the High Court of Errors and Appeals, 
 the ultimate judicial authority in the State. After long 
 arguments, in which Jared IngersoU, William Rawle,* and 
 William Lewis urged for the negress pleas which we do 
 not know, it was decided in 1802 that slavery might legally 
 exist in Pennsylvania despite the lofty assertion con- 
 tained in the bill of rights. 
 
 Then the Society tried to get the legislature to pass a 
 law bringing slavery to an end. Year after year its mem- 
 bers sent memorials to the State capital. In 1804, when 
 the Senate was considering a bill, the Society made a 
 stirring appeal. "AVe respectfully and earnestly solicit,'" 
 ran the petition, "that the present opportunity may not 
 be permitted to escape for wiping away the opprobrium 
 which has so justly attached to our State on account of 
 the manifest difference between the noble Charter of 
 Liberty contained in our excellent Constitution, and a 
 practice so pregnant with evil, and so directly in oppo- 
 sition to all our boasted professions." Many other people 
 took up the cry at one time or another, and occasionally 
 it seemed that the legislature might do something. In 
 the end, however, it was seen that such a bill had no 
 
First Abolition Society in United States. 101 
 
 chance of passing, and that slavery in Pennsylvania would 
 be left to disappear by the gradual operation of the law 
 already in force. 
 
 In its desire to destroy slavery the Society did not 
 confine its efforts to Pennsylvania, but began to urge 
 abolition elsewhere as well. On February 11, 1790, the 
 United States Congress received a petition from the 
 Quakers of Pennsylvania and also one from the Quakers 
 of New York, praying for the abolition of the slave-trade. 
 At once there began a heated debate which became the 
 more vehement when on the next day was read a memorial 
 from the Pennsylvania Society signed by its president, 
 Benjamin Franklin. "From a persuasion that equal 
 liberty was originally the portion, and is still the birth- 
 right of all men; and influenced by the strong ties of 
 humanity, and the principles of their institution, your 
 memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justi- 
 fiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slavery, and pro- 
 mote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom. 
 Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat your 
 serious attention to the subject of slavery; that you will 
 be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to 
 those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of freedom, 
 are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amidst 
 the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in 
 servile subjection; that you will devise means for remov- 
 ing this inconsistency from the character of the American 
 people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards 
 this distressed race, and that you will step to the very 
 verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every 
 species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men." This 
 was the first petition which the Federal government 
 received asking it to take measures against slavery. 
 
 The slave-trade, which was mentioned in this memorial, 
 had likewise engaged the attention of the abolitionists. 
 Importation of slaves into Pennsylvania was made im- 
 possible by the act of 1780, but not a few Pennsylvanians 
 
102 First Abolition Society in United States. 
 
 continued to fit out ships for the African trade, some of 
 which brought negroes to Philadelphia, whence they were 
 taken to other places. The earnest petitions of the 
 Society induced the legislature to pass a law in 1788, 
 which imposed a penalty of £1,000 upon anyone who 
 engaged in the business; but even as late as 1796 a Ger- 
 man traveller wrote, "Great ships loaded with slaves 
 frequently come over from Africa, j)articularly to Phila- 
 delphia." To put a stop to this traffic, whether carried 
 on from Philadelphia or from other places, the abolition- 
 ists did their utmost. In 1789 the Pennsylvania Society 
 (;irculated far and wide a broadside reproducing from 
 Matthew Carey's American Museum a dreadful picture 
 showing negroes packed together under the deck of a 
 slave-ship, and describing in vivid language their suffer- 
 ings during the passage. After 1808 the Society was 
 diligent in investigating violations of the law forbidding 
 the slave-trade. In 1812 it sent a secret agent to New 
 York and to Rhode Island to report upon the alleged 
 activity of slavers there. 
 
 The Society opposed the extension of slavery into new 
 territory as it was ac<iuired by the Federal government, 
 but accomplished nothing. It also took an active part 
 in urging tlie abolition of slavery and the slave-trade in 
 the District of Columbia. In this it had the sympathy 
 of great numbers of the pcoj)le of the State who were not 
 abolitionists. In 1827 Pennsylvania instructed her sena- 
 tors to do everything in tlu-ir power to end slavery in the 
 District, while two years later one of her representatives 
 made a long speech on the subject in Congress. "The 
 existence of slavery in the District of Columbia," said 
 the State .M'nate in IS.'il , " is a foul stain upon our national 
 character, ami a deep injury to our best interests." 
 
 Abolitionist activity in many other places was fostered 
 and encouraged by the Pennsylvania Society. After the 
 Revolutionary War numerous similar organizations were 
 formtMl, Koiiie of them directly as a risult of its efforts. 
 
First Abolition Society m United States. 103 
 
 In 1792 it brought about the establishment of an aboU- 
 tion society in New Jefsey, and a few years later, when the 
 Wilmington Society was on the point of dissolving, a 
 committee was sent from Philadelphia to give encourage- 
 ment and promise assistance in order that the good work 
 might be continued. With all the abolition societies the 
 Pennsylvania organization carried on constant corre- 
 spondence, and was generally regarded as parent and 
 adviser. In 1794, when it was thought well to hold an 
 abolition convention, the delegates met in Philadelphia. 
 The position of leadership held by the Pennsylvania 
 Abolition Society may be understood from the fact that 
 in the years from 1794 to 1829 twenty out of twenty- 
 four conventions were held in Philadelphia. 
 
 After 1810 the Society had in view two great objects: 
 assisting free negroes in Pennsylvania, and urging the 
 abolition of slavery outside of the State. The first at- 
 tracted little attention and aroused no opposition; the 
 second also was of such a character as to awaken no great 
 hostility, since the methods employed were altogether 
 those of argument and persuasion. The circulation of 
 broadsides and pamphlets went on without ceasing. In 
 1787 Clarkson's Essay on the Commerce and Slavery of the 
 Africans had been sent to all the governors of the States. 
 In 1825 the Society resolved to collect and circulate in 
 the slave States information showing the impolicy of 
 slavery and the advantages of emancipation. There was 
 some protest and some indignation in the South, but the 
 literature was designed to convince the masters and not 
 to arouse the slaves. When Benjamin Lundy's paper, 
 The Genius of Universal Emancipation, was struggling for 
 existence, the Society helped him by paying for ten sub- 
 scriptions in advance, and lending him fifty dollars. 
 
 A somewhat more aggressive attitude was taken in the 
 matter of boycotting the products of slave labor. In 
 1797 the abolition convention at Philadelphia declared 
 that it did not believe that "it would be an effort alto- 
 
f liberty wei-o ''*= '»''"*^'' 
 ,ethe.- ineffectual in favor of Uber ■ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^.^ .^ 
 
 throughout the In.tecl « f-.'-^^^^^^^^.e of all such 
 practicable, to .l.spla> "« elure or manufacture of 
 'eon>mo,r.ties as arc of the u ^^ manufactured 
 
 freemen, to those -'l'-'' "/"^ ™ ^ Pennsylvania Soctcty 
 by slaves." Some years later ^^^^ „,.,,. ^he 
 
 offered to purchase at an ad. ncoo P^^^^^^ ^^ 
 
 market price, the first lu ho ^^^^^^^ ^^ j,,,,. 
 
 raised in the ^"-'\''\^'ZuZn of the work which was 
 .lelphia. This was the oun aUo ^^^ p,,^, p,„auee 
 
 artcrwards carried on "' }"\ 
 
 and Requited Labor ^«f '"^^^ ;„ „eral that it was 
 ,)f all this work .t may ''<= ^^ ' /^ i^t. In Penn- 
 „a„.taking and 'J-^ta: f f-pocts. It had much 
 .vlvania it succeeded m "«» ^> f ^j^vcry, it stopped 
 
 to do with proeurms 1> f "^''"\,„„ght kidnapping to 
 0.C slave-trade at T'" ^'j^^' ' "; 'efassistance as bene- 
 an en<l, and it gave to f.ec neg, gut m 
 
 ficial as has ever boon ^ven *- ^,.[^„, .,,, ^et with 
 the larger task outs.de ^^^^''^ Federal government 
 no success. They could not get t ^^^^.^ ^^^^^^^ 
 
 to abolish slavery tn the ^^l^^^^,,, „ot heeded. 
 U, Florida or Missouri. ^ ^' ^f ' ^j^.y .ouUl not get 
 „,cir broadsides were "»* 'j^^, „or Southern masters 
 Southern h^gislaturcs o - ^^^\^; ^.^^ i„ereasing and 
 to ,„anumit them. ' '' ^^t .hole comttry. By 1830 
 threatening to sprca.l Jcro.. _ ,^^^j ^^^^^ 
 
 '"•■« »r '■"■''thetnr t .uHhods of the aboUtion- 
 (or a change. l'«= •^°"''' ..,,.. Therefore the younger, 
 i,t, sccnt-d to have Iven f. u.t c s. ^j^^^,^ 
 
 ,he bolder, the •"-<■■"' Tom^osd at all cost. This 
 ,, attacked violently and ^^^^^ ^^, p,,,aUed 
 
 feeling ---^^.'^""■"iVls famous exponent being 
 ■'" '"■"'/, IG r« The result was the anti-slavery 
 W.U.am Lloyd G"'""' ; ^,,,„ ,,,,i„cl the abohtiot 
 
 TrS; rnd'X: nrLd immcliate ahohtion fiercely 
 
First Abolition Society in United States. 105 
 
 but who seem to have despaired of obtaining such aboli- 
 tion, and therefore resolved to fight with all their strength 
 against the slave power. 
 
 In 1833 Edwin P. Atlee, one of the leading members 
 of the Society, wrote a pamphlet in which he demanded 
 "total abolition. Not gradual, but immediate." The 
 constitution of the United States, he said, was an iniquity, 
 since it supported slavery. In the year following the 
 Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society was founded. Its 
 members were determined that no more slave States 
 should be admitted. State and local organizations of the 
 same character now sprang up everywhere, and the 
 country was overwhelmed by a torrent of incendiary 
 utterances. "We believe that slavery is contrar}^ to the 
 precepts of Christianity, dangerous to the liberties of the 
 country, and oiight immediately to be abolished," said the 
 constitution of the Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society of 
 Philadelphia. Slavery in the United States was worse 
 than any cruelty of the Spanish inquisition, said the 
 Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society. It was a violation 
 of the law of God and of the constitution, said another 
 association. More alarming still were the reckless utter- 
 ances about disunion. In a pamphlet published in 1840 
 the author said, "It is the duty of Pennsylvania and of 
 the South, to do to others as they would that others 
 should do to them. It is their duty to let other States 
 secede from the Union, much as they may regret it, if 
 the only means of preventing it is to assist in inflicting 
 a wrong upon others, which they would not undergo 
 themselves for the sake of any political union that ever 
 existed." "We ought instantly to grant to all men the 
 enjoyment of their inalienable rights." 
 
 The result was that the anti-slavery movement aroused 
 a storm of opposition such as the old abolitionist propa- 
 ganda had never encountered. All over the State the 
 newspapers overwhelmed the agitators with opprobrium 
 and abuse. Garrison was commended to a lunatic asylum. 
 
106 First AhoUtion Society in United States. 
 
 Speaker, were driven away and lecturers w'ere forbidden 
 to appear. In 1838 Pennsylvania Hall, where meeting. 
 were being held, was burned by a mob, and a fierce riot 
 followed. When appeal was made to ^l^e legislature for 
 prolcction, little comfort was given. It advised the ant - 
 slavery advocates to let it be "their duty to abstain f om 
 the propagation of opinions and sentiments mimical to 
 the peace of the country, and to the integrity of the union, 
 and from holding public meetings which, from their 
 obnoxious diaracter have a direct tendency to produce 
 disorder, violations of the peace and riots, and such com- 
 plaints as are contained in the petitions now under 
 consideration, will soon cease to be made." 
 
 In all this agitation the older abolitionist orgamzation 
 look .mall part. Most of the Quakers, who made up the 
 larger part of its membership, believed in persuading 
 and convincing, not in threatening and coercing. If then- 
 progress was slow, they would wait. They would not 
 violate either law or constitution. They believed that 
 violence would bring about reaction, that unseemly denun- 
 ciation of the South would make abolition more difficult. 
 an.l the lot of the free negro worse. In 1834 WiUiam 
 Uawle, president of the Pennsylvania Society, explained 
 the views of the abolitionists. 
 
 "The objects of this association were temperate, legit- 
 imate antl correct— they were substantially confined to 
 the limits of our own state— much individual good w^as 
 done coloured people sufTering by reason of fraud or 
 tm'riwful violence were relieveil— the pursuits of them 
 .•rsona falsely claiming rights to their servic 
 wtir ju.lieiously repelled— their youth were cducateci 
 their indu.slry aj^sisled -in sickness they were aide.; 
 — and in the hour of death they were solaced an. 
 KUpp"rle«l. 
 
 " In all ihiH no ofTen.M- was given to the citizens of othe; 
 Htatcs. Their boumlaries were respected and their lawi 
 and rnnKtitntionH not attempted to be violated. A belie 
 
First Abolition Society in United States. 107 
 
 was entertained that an abhorrence of slavery would 
 gradually work its way, and that it was the duty of the 
 society patiently to wait the event." 
 
 "The conduct and proceedings," he said, "of the gen- 
 eral anti-slavery society have not met with my entire 
 approbation. The members appear to me to be actuated 
 by a Wind and injudicious zeal, productive of measures 
 the effect of which will be to awaken alarm, create a 
 determined opposition among the slave holders, and delay 
 the progress of conscientious emancipation. 
 
 "That day — the day of general emancipation — will, I 
 trust and believe, hereafter arrive. But I fear it will be 
 delayed by the institution of societies so warm, and so 
 imprudent." 
 
 And yet by a curious fate, although many of the aboh- 
 tionists opposed the violence of the anti-slavery move- 
 ment and expressed their disapproval of it, their name 
 was given to the anti-slavery advocates, and became a 
 term of loathing and contempt. Atlee and his associates 
 might found an anti-slavery society, but not only because 
 they desired to abolish slavery but because some of them had 
 been members of the abohtionist organization, and some of 
 them continued to be, the press and the mob both termed 
 them abolitionists. Soon the word came to signify an unde- 
 sirable fanatic, and was one of the most insulting epithets 
 that could be applied. In 1838 the bitterest opponents of 
 Governor Ritner dehghted to call him" abolitionist." 
 
 As time went on popular indignation subsided, and 
 great numbers of people were won over to the new and 
 aggressive pohcy. Indeed after a while not a few of the 
 conservative abolitionists and Friends came to believe 
 that aggressive methods were the right ones. This was 
 the cause of much debate and bitterness, and had as one 
 of its results the formation, in 1853, of the Society of 
 Progressive Friends. After that time there were none 
 who demanded abolition and denounced slave-holding 
 more vehemently. 
 
108 First Abolition Society in United States. 
 
 In some respects, then, the venerable abolition society 
 „t Pennsylvania .night s-m to '.ave — ^^^^^^ if,^,^ 
 
 So . ty" re much reduced. In 1842 it was necessary to 
 apSt a ''Resuscitating Committee" to revive interest 
 
 ruled sLlfasti; on its way, seeking to do^efu wo^. 
 ,„1 a./.n^ a great deal of good. In the face o over 
 :'i;elm:gN>reWdiee it ^^evoted itself to the humbeta^^^^^ 
 of assisting the negro and helping him to feel that there 
 were ome who believed in his capacity to improve and 
 bright to make progress. The members opposed the 
 C:iont.ation Society because they believed that it was 
 trying to get rid of negroes as undesirable people. In 
 IVnnsylvania the abolitionists did their utmost to dis- 
 suade the legislature from passing ^^i^^^^'^^^^^^^^^^; !^,^^ 
 ,„,.! aeburring black men from the suffrage. They did 
 all that they could to prove to the community that 
 colored people were not by instinct worthless and vicious. 
 but would Ik- industrious and law-abiding if given a fair 
 chance. It is not too much to say that at this period the 
 Quakers and the abolitionists were substantially the only] 
 friends whom the negro had in the State. 
 
 To slavery the abolitionists continued their opposition 
 but all of the more striking work, the work which arouscjl 
 the ho.>*tilitv of the South, was carried on by the anti 
 Blavery agi'tatorn. Krom time to time the abolitionist: 
 petitioned the legislature to put an end to slavery ii 
 IVnnsylvania, but there was such a little remnant of i 
 left, tlm' 'h.ir niriiiur'ials gained no re.spouse. In 1847 
 
 .: 
 
First Abolition Society in United States. 109 
 
 however, something was achieved when masters travelhng 
 from the South, were forbidden to take their slaves 
 through Pennsylvania. 
 
 Perhaps their most aggressive work in the period after 
 1840 was done along with the members of the anti-slavery 
 societies in behalf of fugitive slaves. This question had 
 always been a matter of concern to the Society, since its 
 members believed that alleged runaways did not get a 
 fair trial, and so free negroes might easily be carried off. 
 For this reason they opposed the first fugitive slave law 
 of 1793. Then it was felt that runaways should have trial 
 by jury, so the abolitionists sent vast numbers of petitions 
 to the State authorities asking that this be granted. After 
 the passage of the fugitive slave law of 1850 they joined 
 with the anti-slavery advocates in demanding a personal 
 liberty law which would prevent the return of fugitives 
 under any circumstances. 
 
 Finally during the dark days of the Civil War, when 
 there was less room for abolitionist agitation, the Society 
 continued its old work of assisting negroes, particularly 
 negroes from the South who could get no work. During 
 this time they raised money for the maintenance of orphan 
 colored children, and undertook to find places for them. 
 In Philadelphia they took up once more the cause of the 
 despised colored people, and tried hard to have them 
 allowed to ride in the street cars. 
 
 But when the Civil War was at last over, and slavery 
 , was abolished, the days of the Society drew to a close. 
 The names of its founders were only a memory. Its 
 great leaders such as Caspar Wistar and William Rawle 
 had died when the larger work of the abolitionists seemed 
 a failure. Now suddenly by a prodigious cataclysm, which 
 even the anti-slavery men could not foresee, the whole 
 system of African bondage was swept away, and there 
 was no longer any need for abolitionist work. The dwind- 
 ling records of the Society, once so full, come to an end in 
 In 1876 the celebration of the hundredth anni- 
 
nu FU,I Abolition Society in United States. 
 
 versary of its foundation was really to commemorate 
 
 something that had passed away. . „t th^ aholi- 
 
 Such was the work of the first and greatest of the abol. 
 
 don societies The gathering of a handful of brave and 
 vn,pathcm.„ in the old Sun Tavern had produced a 
 
 milv organization which had lasted almost a century. 
 
 Without injustice, without repining, without recnm.na- 
 o„ it carrie.1 on its work in the face of mcrcd.ble d.ffi- 
 ul"; and discouragement. If its work was effiocnt and 
 
 c^nUnuous, its policy was calm and wise. It never tnod 
 by force or by revolution to destroy slavery, but by per- 
 suasion and enlightenment it sought to brmg .t to an 
 end Nor was it merely destructive. It devoted most of 
 iU cncrev to the thankless and unrewarded task of assist- 
 ing the negroes set tree. That which should always be 
 ,„ost remembered about the abolitionists, who too fre- 
 quently are thought of as wanton disturbers of the peace 
 of the ol.l Union, is that they brought about the large 
 part of what has been done to improve the negroes who 
 live in the North. 
 
T 
 
 !fitfr 'tffv 
 
m S 
 
 S* i^-. .^.^. 
 
 m: m "M 
 
 
 ^^'■•(^ Vc^^ 
 
 ^V^ :£<*'':. ■ W 
 
ff^- "^'i. 
 
 ^.„„Mri^f ^'7', 
 
 -J!^ 
 
 ^^•liff)0t^-Wf- , 
 
 LpL 
 
U' 
 
 BB^^'^ 
 
 pH8^