New England Anti-Slavery Society

The New England Anti-Slavery Society (1831–1837) was formed by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of ''The Liberator,'' in 1831. ''The Liberator'' was its official publication.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, members of the New England Anti-slavery Society supported immediate abolition and viewed slavery as immoral and non-Christian (sinful). It was particularly opposed to the American Colonization Society, which proposed sending African Americans to Africa.

The founding meeting took place on January 1, 1831, in the vestry of the Belknap Street Church. (Some sources list the date as January 1, 1832.) Garrison was the principal founder. The other founding members were: Benjamin Bierly of Amesbury, Massachusetts, Reverend Elijah Blanchard, Dr. Gamaliel Bradford, Elizabeth B. Chase, Joshua Easton, also a member of the Massachusetts General Colored Association, Charles Theodore Follen, Reverend Henry Grew, Reverend Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor, Ellis Gray Loring, Captain Jonas Parker of Reading, Massachusetts, Reverend Perry of Mendon, Massachusetts, Reverend Amos August Phelps, Reverend Aaron Pickett of Reading, Massachusetts, Samuel Edmund Sewall, Horace Wakefield, Amasa Walker, and a Reverend Yates.

The society sponsored lecturers or "agents" who traveled throughout the New England area, speaking in local churches or halls, and also selling abolitionist tracts or ''The Liberator''. Whenever possible, the Society's agents would also encourage the formation of local anti-slavery societies. By 1833 there were 47 local societies in ten northern states, 33 of them in New England. The society also sponsored mass mobilizations such as yearly anti-slavery conventions and celebrations of July 4 or — preferred by those who believed celebrating July 4 was unacceptable since the U.S. Constitution accepted slavery — the Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in the West Indies, August 1.

John Levy, "a colored gentleman" from Lowell, decries insufficient involvement of free Negroes in the struggle. Garrison, Birney, Burleigh, Henry Stanton, and other stalwarts speak at length. Provided by Wikipedia