The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an abolitionist society in the United States. AASS formed in 1833 in response to the nullification crisis and the failures of existing anti-slavery organizations, such as the American Colonization Society. AASS formally dissolved in 1870.
AASS was founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader in AASS, who often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown, also a freedman, also often spoke at meetings. By 1838, AASS had 1,346 local chapters. In 1840, AASS claimed about 200,000 members.
Prominent members included Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Theodore Dwight Weld, Lewis Tappan, James G. Birney, Lydia Maria Child, Maria Weston Chapman, Nathan Lord, Augustine Clarke, Theodore S. Wright, Samuel Cornish, George T. Downing, James Forten, Abby Kelley Foster, Stephen Symonds Foster, Henry Highland Garnet, Beriah Green, Lucretia Mott, Wendell Phillips, Robert Purvis, Charles Lenox Remond, Sarah Parker Remond, Lucy Stone, and John Greenleaf Whittier, among others.
History
Background By the 1820s, the controversy surrounding the Missouri Compromise had quieted considerably but was revived by a series of events, near the end of the decade. Serious debates over abolition took place in the Virginia legislature in 1829 and 1831. (See Thomas Roderick Dew#Pro-slavery advocate.) In the North, discussion began about the possibility of freeing slaves and "resettling" them in Africa (a proposal that, under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, led to the founding of Liberia).
Agitation increased with the publication of David Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829, Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831, and Andrew Jackson's handling of the nullification crisis that same year. According to Louis Ruchame, The Turner rebellion was only one of about 200 slave uprisings between 1776 and 1860, but it was one of the bloodiest, and thus struck fear in the hearts of many white southerners. Nat Turner and more than 70 enslaved and free blacks spontaneously launched a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. They moved from farm to farm, indiscriminately killing whites along the way and picking up additional slaves. By the time the militia put down the insurrection, more than 80 slaves had joined the rebellion, and 60 whites lay dead. While the uprising led some Southerners to consider abolition, the reaction in all Southern states was to tighten the laws governing slave behavior.
That same year, South Carolina's opposition to the federal tariff led the legislature to declare that the law was null and void in the state, and the state's leaders spoke of using the militia to prevent federal customs agents from collecting the tax. President Andrew Jackson swept aside the states' rights arguments and threatened to use the army to enforce federal laws. In the face of Jackson's determination, the state backed down, but the episode raised fears throughout the South that it was only a matter of time before Congress would begin to tamper with slavery. Southern anxiety increased in 1833 with the founding of the American Anti-Slavery Society in Louisiana.
Beginning in 1816, the American Colonization Society became the early antebellum locus of anti-slavery activity, presided over by James Madison in his last three years of life (until 1836). In 1789, Madison had expressed his belief that blacks and whites could not integrate into society together, and proposed a policy of separation. Madison argued that integration (at the time called "amalgamation") was impossible, because there would always be oppression, hatred, and hostility between former slaves and former slave holders. He also claimed, in his so-called "Memorandum on an African Colony for Freed Slaves", that "freedmen retained the vices and habits of slaves." He advocated "resettlement" of former slaves to the west coast of Africa, where the Society acquired land and founded what became Liberia.
The ACS idea of colonization stemmed from immediate abolition bills proposed to the Federal Congress. In 1791, Madison had observed that, in his experience, such proposals resulted in "harm rather than good." During the Second Federal Congress, Madison corresponded with manumitter Robert Pleasants, confirming their mutual support for conscientious religious objection to a Virginia state militia, premised on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The correspondence belied arguments that Madison completely capitulated to Virginia Antifederalist demands for an individual and state "right" to organize militias, in what would become the Second Amendment. The scope of the Amendment potentially included slave patrols, stemming from Madison's attempts to ameliorate Antifederal proponents of state police powers in the Virginia ratification convention. Scholarly attempts to establish such a Second Amendment "original intent" have been roundly criticized because of, at best, "circumstantial" evidence. Another principal concern is the dismissal of additional intentions and considerations, including finalization of Second Amendment semantics by federal Senators, not Madison in the House of Representatives. As of September 2024, according to one historian of the politics of chattel slavery and gun control, a "comprehensive treatment that can handle slavery, arms, constitutionalism, and the rest of political culture is still needed."
In perusing the correspondence with Pleasants, later ACS members heeded Madison's warning that immediate abolition proposals could lead to protracted Congressional debates. Lengthy deliberations and Congressional sessions, in turn, allowed proslavery delegates sufficient time to propose the repeal of individual manumission codes in the several states, ostensibly in anticipation of federal abolition. A corollary to this concern was that proslavery delegates, in the context of individual manumission codes, had hitherto demanded "a condition that the persons freed should be removed from the Country." For Madison, federal colonization legislation proved more prudent, practical, and feasible because proslavery representatives were already amenable to it. Madisonian colonization would ultimately be compulsory, not voluntary, which again aligned with ACS goals.
Origins A convention of abolitionists was called for December 4, 1833, at the Adelphi Building in Philadelphia. The convention had 62 delegates, of which 21 were Quakers. At this point, the American Anti-Slavery Society formed to appeal to the moral and practical circumstances that, at this point, propped up a pro-slavery society. Between December 4–6, 1833, sixty delegates from New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and New Jersey convened a National Anti-Slavery Convention in Philadelphia. Beriah Green presided over the Convention — no one else was willing to—, with Lewis Tappan and John Greenleaf Whittier serving as secretaries. One Convention committee drafted an American Anti-Slavery Society Constitution and Declaration of Sentiments. The principal author of both was the publisher of the fledgling Boston-based Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison.
The new American Anti-Slavery Society charged William Lloyd Garrison with writing the organization's new declaration. The document condemns the institution of slavery and accuses slave owners of the sin of being a "man-stealer".Garrison refers to the Biblical book of 1 Timothy 1:10. It calls for the immediate abolition of slavery without conditions, and is critical of the efforts of the American Colonization Society. At the same time, it declares the group to be pacifist, and the signers agree, if necessary, to die as martyrs.
Beginning in January 1834 and ending in August of the same year, the society published the American Anti-Slavery Reporter, a monthly periodical containing professional essays regarding the subject of slavery.
Early history The society was considered controversial and its activities were sometimes met with violence. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "The society's antislavery activities frequently met with violent public opposition, with mobs invading meetings, attacking speakers, and burning presses."
In July 1834 the aims of the society appear to have been misrepresented in the prelude to the Farren Riots in New York, which resulted in attacks on the homes and properties of abolitionists. After the riots were quelled, the society issued a public disclaimer:
The black clergyman Theodore S. Wright was a significant founding member and served on the executive committee until 1840. A Presbyterian minister, Wright, together with well-known spokesmen such as Tappan and Garrison, agitated for temperance, education, black suffrage, and land reform.
According to Wright:"Prejudice against the colored man," The American Reader (HarperCollins Publishers, 1991).
Many founding members used a practical approach to slavery, saying economically it did not make sense. Wright used the rhetoric of religion to elicit empathy toward African Americans, and presented slavery as a moral sin.
Frederick Douglass had seen the frustration that Garrison felt toward those who disagreed with him, but wrote many letters to Garrison describing to him the details of the prejudices that slavery had caused. One in particular was directed toward the church. According to Douglass:Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings, Philip S. Foner, ed. (Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago, IL, 1999).
Douglass hoped his letters would remind Garrison why slavery should be abolished. Douglass's reminder did not ease the minds of those against Garrison.
1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention In 1840, the American Anti-Slavery Society was invited to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England, to meet and network with other abolitionists of the time. Additionally, it served to strengthen each group's commitment to racial equality. At this convention, female delegates were not allowed to participate in the event, but rather observe only, from a gallery.
The ruling to exclude female abolitionists caused feminists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to form a group for women's rights, though it garnered little success initially. Garrison arrived to the convention late and, upon hearing of the decision not to allow women to participate, he chose not to enter the Convention. He viewed the proceedings with the women in the gallery. This became the genesis for the women's suffrage movement.
1839–1840 split From the beginning, women held a marginal role in the organization. Only white women were invited to the original 1833 gathering of the organization, and even they were not allowed to participate in an active role. Lucretia Mott, Lydia White, Esther Moore, and Sidney Ann Lewis attended on December 4, 1833, but none were able to sign the Constitution that day. Their exclusion from this convention contributed to female-led organizations that formed shortly thereafter.
In the western United States, women held more important roles in the American Anti-slavery Society. Attitudes of equalitarianism were more widely accepted and women were viewed as "coworkers, not subordinates". Women not only held leadership positions, but also attended various societies and conventions. In contrast, women's participation in the American Anti-slavery Society became a quite contentious issue in the eastern United States. Women who were publicly passionate about abolition were seen as fanatics.