Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery--The Oldest Abolition Society (1911)

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The Oldest Abolition SocietyBEING A

SHORT STORYOF THE LABORS OF THE

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolitionof Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes Un-

lawfully Held in Bondage, and forImproving the Condition of

the African Race,

Philadelphia, Pa.PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY

1911


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Pennsylvania Aboliaon SocietyORGANIZED IN 1773

Two Early PresidentsDr. Benjamin Rush,Dr. Benjamin Franklin

PRESENT OFFICERSPresident^ Henry W. Wilbur, 140 North T5TH

St., Philadelphia, Pa.Vice Presidents, Alfred H. Love, Joel BortonSecretary, Elwood Heacock, 2027 North Col-

lege Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.Treasurer, Howard Roberts, Norristown, Pa.

CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIPMembers may be proposed at any meeting of the

Board of Managers. After being elected, the pay-ing of an annual fee of $1.00 constitutes the onlyrequirement. For further particulars apply to anyof the officers.


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The Oldest Abolition SocietyWhen the war for independence began, and while

the Continental Congress was busy considering therights of man, and was formulating axiomatic state-ments about liberty and equality, ten thousandslaves were held by Pennsylvania task-masters, anda half a million of our black brothers and sisterswere bound to service in all of the American colo-nies. Slavery existed at that time in every one ofthe original thirteen states, which a Httle laterhelped form "the more perfect union."

It is true that many of the patriots of the colo-nial and the early constitutional period, both in theNorth and in the South, regretted the presence ofthe peculiar institution, and hoped for its futuredisappearance. Among this number were manyslaveholders, such as Thomas Jefferson and PatrickHenry. As an offset to this nominal anti-slavervsentiment, was a collection of vigorous and unitedmen from what later became the "cotton states,"who noisily and belligerently contended for themaintenance of the institution They secured theconstitutional guarantees for slavery, and were thesires of the men who pressed the issue to the finaleffort to overthrow the Union.


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In more ways than one the year 1775 stands outboldly as an epoch in the development of the abo-lition movement. During this year Warner Miff-lin, a Delaware Friend, manumitted his slaves, andon the 14th of Fourth month a small group of men,mostly members, of the Society of Friends, organ-ized the "Pennsylvania Society for Promoting theAbolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free NegroesUnlawfully Held in Bondage, and for Improvingthe Condition of the African Race." The longname adopted by the Society contained a broadcommission, and afforded ample reason for its con-tinued existence.The Society had a fitful and feeble existence for

a few months, and temporarily suspended on ac-count of the excitement and exigencies of the revo-lutionary period. It remained unknown and inac-tive until Tenth month 2nd, 1784, when it wasreorganized, to uninterruptedly exist until thepresent time. The Society was legally incorporatedin 1789.During this year what is now the PhiladelphiaYearly Meeting sent a memorial in behalf of the aboli-tion of slavery to the infant United States Congress.Within a few days. Second month 12th, a petitionof the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, signed byits venerable President, Benjamin Franklin, ap-eared in the Congress. This was one of the last


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official acts of the celebrated philosopher and diplo-mat, as in a few weeks Franklin passed away.

This petition was almost a prophetic document.Its initial paragraph was aHve with the spirit whichinspired and characterized the Declaration of Inde-pendence. We quote:!-

' ''From a persuasion that equal liberty was origi-nally the portion, and is still the birthright of allmen, and influenced by the strongest ties of hu-manity, and the principles of their institution, yourmemorialists conceive themselves bound to use alljustifiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slaveryand to promote a general enjoyment of the blessingof freedom. Under these impressions, they ear-nestly entreat your serious attention to the subjectof slavery, that you would be pleased to counten-ance the restoration of liberty to those unhappymen, who alone in this land of freedom are de-graded into perpetual bondage, and who amidstthe general joy of surrounding freemen, are groan-ing in servile subjection ; that you will devise meansfor removing this inconsistency from the characterof the American people; that you will promotemercy and justice towards this distressed race, andthat you will step to the very verge of the powersvested in you, for discouraging every species oftraffic in the persons of our fellow men."

During the lapse of nearly a century and a quar-ter since this document was formulated, it is doubt-ful if the major and controlling public opinion ofthe country has caught up with the ideals voiced by


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Franklin and his associates for dealing with thecolored people.Both the Quaker memorial and the AboHtion

Society's petition were debated vigoriously in Con-gress. Some of the ultra Southern brethren wererather severe in referring to the ''disturbing" char-acter of both documents. One representative con-temptuously remarked that the Quakers had ap-peared in Congress "to meddle in a business inwhich they had nothing to do." This utterancecontained all the venom in solution which finallycharacterized pro-slavery oratory and literature.It has to be said, however, that the memorial andthe petition were referred to the proper committee,by a substantial majority, and were finally reportedback to the House. The report was properlyspread on the records as a sort of historical mile-post, no other action being accorded either the me-morial or the petition. There is little reason to be-lieve that at any subsequent time for three-quartersof a century even that much consideration wouldhave been shown an anti-slavery petition by theNational Congress.Another forward movement was taken by the Ab-

olition Society in 1789. A committee of twenty-four members, divided into four sub-committees,was to give attention to the following concerns:

''ist. A Committee of Inspection, whose duty


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should be to superintend the morals, general con-duct, and ordirary situation of the free negroes, toafford them advice and instruction, and protectthem from wrongs."

"2d. A Committee of Guardians, for placing outchildren with suitable persons, that they may learnsome trade, or other means of subsistence by regu-lar but reasonable apprenticeship."

3d. A Committee of Education, who were to su-perintend the school instruction of the children andyouth of free blacks. This branch of the commit-tee was also charged to procure and preserve a reg-ular record of the marriages, births and manumis-sions of all free blacks."

''4th. A Committee of Employ, who were to en-deavor to procure constant employment for thosefree negroes who are able to work, the want ofwhich would occasion poverty, idleness and manyvicious habits."

Pennsylvania having enacted a gradual emanci-pation law in 1780, in 1791 a bill was introducedin the Assembly, which if made a law would havepermitted officers of the United States Governmentto hold slaves in this state. The Abolition Societyorganized and conducted a vigorous opposition tothe bill, which was subsequently defeated. TheSociety thus scored its first substantial legislativevictory.

In 1 813 the Society opened a school in a buildingerected for the purpose on Cherry Street, for the


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education of colored children. In 1 8 1 5 , by resolutionof the Society, this building was named ClarksonHall, in honor of the English Abolitionist, ThomasClarkson.There are frequent references to memorials to the

Legislature and Congress on various phases of theAbohtion question, but the Society had its periodof ups and downs, the gradual emancipation inPennsylvania rendering its local work less necessary.The general apathy which seemed to come over thewhole country after the invention of the cotton gin,and the enlarged financial interest thus conferredupon the institution of slavery, had its effect uponthe Society.

In 1818, when the colonization movement wasinaugurated, the Society gave some attention to thematter, but with no very active sympathy in themovement. It seems to have, in the main, ap-proved the position of the American Anti-SlaveryConvention, that emancipation should precede col-onization.

It co-operated by resolution and otherwise in thefutile attempt to make the territory of Missouri afree state.

In 1820, the Society memorialized the Legisla-ture for the immediate abolition of all slaves in theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania, who were still


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held in bondage under the provisions of the grad-ual emancipation act.

In 1823, the state of Maryland by legislative res-olution, entered a complaint against the difficultyof recapturing fugitive slaves in Pennsylvania whohad escaped from the state of Maryland, audit wassuggested that this state prohibit the settlement ofpeople of color within its borders. A committee ofthe Abolition Society replied somewhat vigorouslyto this strange suggestion on the part of the stateof Maryland.

In 1823, resolutions were adopted in condemna-tion of South Carolina for its treatment of free col-ered people coming into the state from outside itsborders. It was provided by statute that any freeperson of color entering the state on a vessel orotherwise, should be committed and detained in jailuntil the departure of the vessel, and if the expensesconnected with the detention of such person werenot paid, they would be sold into slavery.The Society was energetic in memorializing Con-

gress in behalf of the abolition of slavery in theDistrict of Columbia. It also gave substantial sup-port and encouragement to Benjamin Lundy whenhe began his abolition propaganda by the publica-tion of 'The Genius of Universal Emancipation."With the perfection of the aboHtion of slavery in

the state of Permsvlvania, verv manv free colored


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people were subjected to annoyances, and were notinfrequently kidnapped. The Pennsylvania Abo-lition Society was energetic in petitioning the Leg-islature for a redress of these grievances.

It may be conceived that the PennsylvaniaAbolition Societ}'^, was, in the main, a conservativeinstitution, standing firmly in favor of gradualemancipation, but when the full-fledged emancipa-tion of slavery appeared on the scene, it gave sup-port to the question of immediate emancipationwith dignity and positiveness.

In 1837, a concern arose in the Society for amore close investigation of the condition of coloredpeople, and a committee was appointed to visitsuch persons in their families, public meetings andother institutions, and to gather statistical infor-mation in regard to the same.With the intensification of the slavery question,

the Pennsylvania Society more and more lined upwith the ideals contained in its name, and antici-pated in its charter. Its roll of members containedthe names of a number of the most strenuous aboli-tionists in our own and other lands, not confiningits members to citizens of Pennsylvania. Fromoutside the United States, Thomas Clarkson, Gran-ville Sharp, William Pitt, and William Wilberforce,of England, and L'Abbe Raynal, of France, weremembers. At home, such non-residents as Joshua


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R. Giddings, William Lloyd Garrison and Freder-ick Douglass, were on the roll, and at an earlierperiod John Jay, of New York, first Chief Justiceof the United States, was not ashamed to be asso-ciated with the men belonging to this Society.Among the well-known Pennsylvanians who be-came associated with tbe Society, and famous asaboHtionists, were Passmore Williamson, Isaac T,Hopper, Daniel Neal, James Mott and EdwardHopper. Going back to the colonial and early con-stitutional period, we find Dr. George Logan, grand-son of Penn's secretary, and for six years UnitedStates senator, among the members. In the Hstofot^cers given further on in this story, will be foundnot a few famous Pennsylvanians.During the period from 1835 until the abolition

of slavery, the Abolition Society was more or lesseffective in most of the efforts looking towardsemancipation. In the "petition" campaign, for-warded by the venerable John Ouincy Adams, thisSociety took a considerable part.

After the passage of the fugitive slave law byCongress in 1851, there was consternation amongthe colored people of Philadelphia, for fear that thelaw would annoy the free men and women of therace, as well as imperil the fugitives from slaverywho might be resident here. To allay these fearsthe AboHtion So.'^iety published an address counsel-


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iiig forbearance under the accumulated wrongs in-flicted upon the race. This address was distrib-uted by the Society's Visiting Committee in person.The Acting Committee of the Society did a large

amount of work in the period from 1849 on to thecoming of the Civil War, in attempting to securejustice for free negroes who were harrassed by kid-nappers, and in securing the liberation of such ofthem as were actually stolen by kidnappers. Italso made a successful effort to procure the releaseof three free men who were confined in jail at Nor-folk, Virginia, in consequence of an attempt of asea captain to sell them into slavery. Many of theefforts of the committee were crowned with success.

It is interesting to note that in 1852, the Societydisbursed $5,378.12 in its various activities, thelarger part being for educational purposes.

In 1856 the Society issued a report being a sta-tistical inquiry into the cordition of the coloredpeople in Philadelphia. Tl e report was preparedby Benjamin C. Bacon, and published by order ofthe Society. This is an exceedingly interesting com-pilation, especially so in view of the fact that therewere a number of private schools conducted at thattime for the benefit of the colored people. Therewere in the Sabbath Schools of the city, 1,677colored children, and at that time 9,000 adult col-ored persons over twenty years of age residing in


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Philadelphia. About one-seventh of them wereable to read and write. More than one-third ofthem were born in slavery, and one-eighth of thenumber had been manumitted. There were i,6ooand over engaged in work as skilled laborers. Thereport went quite extensively into the criminal sta-tistics of the city, showing that the colored peoplerepresented seventeen per cent, of the criminal pop-ulation in the Eastern Penitentiary.As nearly as we can ascertain from the recordsand published statements of the Society from time

to time, it is evident that at the beginning and forthe major part of its existence, it was purely a men'sorganization. It is less than a generation ago thatthe names of women appear on its roll of members.For an organization at the beginning, and all alongthe line, so largely composed of Friends, this ignor-ing of women seems, to say the least, strange.

It should be remembered that it was not untilsome time after the civil war, that colored peoplewere accorded transit privileges on the Philadel-phia street cars. In the effort to remove this re-pressive rule, and permit colored persons to be pas-sengers on these public service conveyances, theAbolition Society bore an honorable part.From time to time the Pennsylvania Abolition

Society has received certain bequests, the proceedsof w^hich it has distributed according: to its best


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judgment for the improvement of the people ofcolor in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

In 1894, in addition to its other obUgations, thisSociety became the trustee of the Laing School atMt. Pleasant, South Carolina. This relation wascreated at the request of the late Henry M, Laing.The Society holds trust deeds to all of the schoolproperty at Mt. Pleasant, occupied by the coloredschool managed by Abby D. Munro. It also holdsand administers the endowment fund of the LaingSchool, paying the proceeds to the manager of theschool.

For a number of years the distribution of its ownincome, and the administration of the Laing Schoolfund, has constituted the bulk of the Society's la-bors. That its work under its title and chartercould be very much enlarged, admits of no doubt.From various statements in the past literature ofthe Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the assertionseems warranted that it was the first regularly or-ganized society in this country formed with thepurpose to produce the elimination of the institu-tion of slavery from the United States. With anhonorable but quiet record for 136 years behind it,if one were writing prophesy rather than history,the temptation would be strong to suggest an in-crease of the resources, and an enlarged activity ofthe Soc'ety. It might well become the clearing


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Documents

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery--The Oldest Abolition Society (1911)