New England Anti-Slavery Society

New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS)

New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), founded January 1, 1832, Boston, Massachusetts, in the black Baptist church on Belknap Street. Its principal founder was William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison largely established the philosophy, goals and objectives orf the Society. The Society advocated for immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery. It stated slavery was immoral. It opposed the objectives of the American Colonization Society (ACS). The ACS wanted to send freedmen to Africa. The Society worked with the General Colored Association of Boston, which was founded earlier. One of the Society’s initial campaigns was to submit a petition against slavery in the District of Colombia. By 1834, the NEASS had obtained almost 2,000 members. Garrison advocated for the idea of “moral suasion,” which was to inform the general public on the evils of slavery and racism. Soon, almost 50 anti-slavery societies resembling the NEASS were established throughout New England. The NEASS sponsored numerous lecturers, called “agents,” who toured through New England speaking at local groups and selling abolitionist documents and copies of Garrison’s The Liberator. The NEASS also organized large yearly meetings, called anti-slavery conventions. In January 1833, the New England Anti-Slavery Society merged with the Massachusetts General Colored Association. Working together, they established anti-slavery conventions and sponsored agents throughout much of New England. After 1833, African Americans became full members of the NEASS. In 1833, Garrison and Arthur Tappan expanded the NEASS and successfully created the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). The NEASS became an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. In 1835, the NEASS reorganized into the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Many of the most prominent abolitionists of the day were among the 12 original members of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. These included Arnold and Elizabeth Buffum, David Lee Child, Henry Grew, Moses Thatcher, Isaac Knapp, and others. (References)

Chapter by Henry Wilson, "New England and New York City Antislavery Societies," in Henry Wilson, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.
Officers, members and supporters of the New England Anti-Slavery Society
Members who attended the founding meeting of the New England Anti-Slavery Society

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Chapter by Henry Wilson, “New England and New York City Antislavery Societies,” in Henry Wilson, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872:

While the doctrine of immediate emancipation, proclaimed with so much earnestness and boldness by "The Liberator," startled and incensed the many, it was welcomed and gladly accepted by a few. Adopting such sentiments, the latter naturally looked to association and co-operative action. Accordingly, on the 13th of November, 1831, fifteen persons met at the office of Samuel K Sewall, then a rising young lawyer of Boston, to consider the expediency of forming an antislavery society. It was the understanding that, if twelve persons were found who would agree on the basis of immediate emancipation, such a society should be formed. As only nine of that number would thus agree no action was taken.

On the 16th of December another conference was held at Mr. Sewall's office. There were present Samuel E. Sewall, Ellis Gray Loring, David Lee Child, lawyers of that city; William Lloyd Garrison, editor, and Isaac Knapp, publisher, of "The Liberator "; Oliver Johnson, Robert B. Hall, Isaac Child, John Cutts Smith, and Joshua Coffin. Mr. Child, Mr. Sewall, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Loring, and Mr. Johnson were appointed a committee to prepare a constitution. The meeting was then adjourned till the first day of January, 1832, at which time there was an additional attendance of Alonzo Lewis, known as the Lynn Bard, William J. Snelling, Dr. Abner Phelps, Rev. Elijah Blanchard, and Dr. Gamaliel Bradford. The committee reported a preamble and constitution. After discussion, the constitution was adopted, and the preamble referred to another committee, to report at an adjourned meeting, to be held on the 6th, in the school room under the African Baptist Church, in Belknap Street.

At that meeting the preamble, which was written by Mr. Snelling, was reported; and, after discussion and amendment, was adopted. The constitution was then signed by William Lloyd Garrison, Oliver Johnson, Robert B. Hall, Arnold Buffum, William J. Snelling, John E. Fuller, Moses Thacher, Joshua Coffin, Stillman B. Newcomb, Benjamin C. Bacon, Isaac Knapp, and Henry K. Stockton. There were in the conferences which preceded the formation of the society differences of opinion in regard to its name, principles, .and policy. David Lee Child, Samuel E. Sewall, and Ellis Gray Loring, members of the committee to prepare the preamble and Constitution, at first declined to identify themselves with the movement, as they did not fully concur in the expediency of putting forth at that time and in that' form all the sentiments contained in the preamble. But after a brief period they became members of the society, and gave to the antislavery cause the earnest and life-long devotion of their large abilities and influence. Among the earliest to join the new society was the venerable John Kenrick, of Newton, who had been for many years an earnest and active Abolitionist. He was subsequently made president, and in his will left the society the first legacy it received. Several colored men soon became members, but at that early period no women joined its ranks.

Its officers consisted of a president, two vice-presidents, a corresponding secretary' a recording secretary' treasurer' and a board of counsellors consisting of six members. Arnold Buffum, a member of the Society of Friends, was made president. His father was a member of the old Abolition Society of Rhode Island, and he was nurtured in the faith of immediate emancipation. Several years before, he had visited England and made the acquaintance of Thomas Clarkson, and other eminent antislavery men and women of that kingdom. He brought to its service faith, earnestness, and devotion. William Lloyd Garrison, whose name is more prominently identified with modern antislavery than that of any other individual, was made correspondi1ig secretary. On the board of counsellors were Moses Thacher, Oliver Johnson, and Robert B. Hall. Mr. Thacher was a clergyman, and somewhat distinguished for his earnest advocacy of the theology of Dr. Emmons, and also for his hostility to the institution of Free Masonry. He was the author of the first address put forth by the society, and continued till the close of the struggle an effective laborer in the cause of emancipation. Mr. Johnson was a young man, intending to enter the ministry. He, however, early identified himself with the antislavery cause, and 'became a practical and efficient worker, sometimes as a lecturer, but more generally as an editor. When the society was organized, he was the conductor of “The Christian Soldier,” which he made at once a champion of the cause. During Mr. Garrison's visit to England, in 1833, he had charge of “The Liberator," and was at times assistant editor. Afterward he was connected for several years with the ''New York Tribune,'' being subsequently, at successive periods, editor of the " Antislavery Bugle," the "Pennsylvania Freeman," and the " Antislavery Standard," each of them a radical antislavery journal. He labored in these different fields with tireless persistency for the emancipation and enfranchisement of the negro race. Mr. Hall entered upon the work with much activity, but his subsequent career hardly came up to his early promise. He became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, and from that or some other cause he lost something of his early zeal; though as a member of the XXXIVth and XXXVth Congresses his votes were steadily on the side of freedom.

In the preamble the declaration was made that every person of full age and sane mind had a right to immediate freedom from personal bondage; that man could not, consistently with reason, religion, and the eternal and immutable principles of justice, be the property of man; that whoever retained his fellow-man in bondage was guilty of a grievous wrong; that difference of complexion was no reason why man should be deprived of his natural rights, or subjected to any political disability. “While we advance these opinions," so read the preamble, "as principles on which we intend to act, we declare that we will not operate on the existing relations of society by other than peaceful and lawful means, and that we will give no countenance to violence or insurrection." Its second article declared " that the objects of the society shall be to endeavor, by all means sanctioned by law, humanity, and religion, to effect the abolition of slavery in the United States, to improve the character and condition of free people of color, to inform and correct public opinion in relation to their situation and rights, and to obtain for them equal political rights and privileges with the whites."

The New England Antislavery Society, beginning its career with the promulgation of the doctrine that immediate emancipation was the duty of the master and the right of the slave, held its first public meeting in Essex Street Church, in Boston, on the 29th of January, when a very able address was delivered by the Rev. Moses Thacher, then editor of the Boston " Telegraph," a Hopkinsian journal of that city. Other public addresses were made. Arnold Buffum and Oliver Johnson were appointed agents, and subsequently did much to arouse public attention by their labors. Eminent philanthropists, in the United States and England, were early chosen honorary members, and the society entered at once upon its work. It issued an address to the people, and voted that, with a copy of the constitution, it be sent to all the editors and clergymen of New England. This address from the pen of Mr. Thacher, chairman of the board of counsellors, was very significant of the spirit and purpose of the Abolitionists at that time, affirming that instead of violent they counselled only moral means. He declared the object of the society to be “neither war nor sedition”; that the only influence it could exert must be that of "moral suasion," not "coercion;" that "in the truth and the God of truth alone we trust for the success of our exertions; and with the truth and in the name of the God of truth we plead for the cause of humanity." The address asserted that the “fundamental principle upon which our constitution is based is our Saviour's Golden Rule: 'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' Hence the grand articles in our creed, that ‘God hath made of one blood all the nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth’; ‘that all men are created equal’; that ‘they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”

The address also declared that the whole American people ought to be an antislavery society; that the spirit of civil and religious liberty, the Declaration of Independence, the spirit and letter of the Constitution, required it; and that the spirit of the gospel of Christ and the voice of public, commutative, and retributive justice imperiously demanded it. The duty of immediate emancipation was unqualifiedly asserted and maintained. “We believe," said the address, “that slavery is an evil now; and, of course, the slaves ought to be now emancipated. If the thief is found in possession of stolen property, he is required immediately to relinquish it. The slaveholder and the man-stealer are in unlawful possession of the stolen sons and daughters of Africa; they ought, therefore, immediately to set them free. Every principle which proves slavery unjust, an evil, and a curse, equally demonstrates the duty of immediate emancipation.''

The number of slaves was then estimated to be two and a quarter millions. Without impugning the motives of persons who had, from feelings of the purest benevolence, advocated the policy of colonization, that scheme was declared to be radically wrong, tending to involve the country in remediless evils. It was contrary to justice, humanity, philanthropy, and the letter and the spirit of the Golden Rule. The right of the emancipated black man to reside in the United States was an inheritance earned by the sweat of his brow. It was affirmed that colored men had the right of protection in their native land, and a right to the constitutional franchises of free citizens. The nation was earnestly called upon to be just, to avert the scenes of San Domingo. There was declared to be but one alternative: “The master must manumit his slave, or the slave will manumit himself. We have no doubt that the God of Heaven, who is a God of justice; is at this moment, in his Word and providence, setting before the Southern planter this very alternative; and this alternative embraces life and death, a blessing and a curse. To choose the first, and say to the slave, BE FREE, is to shut the floodgates of human war and of human blood. To choose the latter, and hold the colored man in vassalage, must erelong break up the fountains of the great deep, and have a direct tendency to unsheathe the sword of vengeance, revolution, carnage, and death."

This address, so earnest, temperate, and firm, appealing not to passion or prejudice, but to conscience and reason, invited the cooperation of every philanthropist and Christian to “show himself a friend to his country and a friend to the black man." Based upon such principles, guided by such maxims, holding such articles of faith, and inspired by a spirit thus pure, humane, and just, the New England Antislavery Society made its appeal and entered upon the work of immediate emancipation. It is a sad commentary on the philanthropy, patriotism, and piety of those days that an association avowing such principles and proposing such measures should have encountered so fierce a storm of obloquy and reproach, and been so long and so persistently opposed by the leading influences in church and state. That simple historical fact utters a language of sterner condemnation than pages of invective and indignant characterization. Still, amid all this opposition, many responded to the appeal, and the members rapidly increased.

On the 9th of January, 1833, its first annual meeting was holden in Boston. At this meeting Samuel E. Sewall introduced a resolution in favor of the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, and earnestly exhorted the society to exert itself to put an end to that atrocious system tolerated at the seat of government. David Lee Child submitted a resolution declaring that free people of color and slaves had less liberty and were less protected by law in the United States than in any part of the world, In support of his resolution, Mr. Child demonstrated, in an elaborate and, exhaustive speech and by references to the CIVIL LAW, that the slaves were far better protected in their rights in the French,. Spanish, and Portuguese colonies than in the United States. Amasa Walker, then a merchant of Boston, submitted and ably supported a resolution proclaiming the objects of the New England Antislavery Society to be in strict accordance with the plainest principles of religion, philanthropy, and patriotism.

An elaborate report of the board of managers was read by Mr. Garrison. It fully explained the objects and vindicated the principles of the society. It pronounced immediate abolition a necessity. It sharply criticised the Colonization Society, because "it neither calls for any change of conduct toward people of color on the part of the nation, nor has in itself any principle of reform." It asserted that immediate abolition would remove the cause of bloodshed and insurrection; give protection to millions who are now at the mercy of irresponsible masters and drivers; annihilate the system of licentiousness, incest, blood, and cruelty; open an immense market to mechanics and manufacturers, and afford facilities for educating the slaves in morals, science, and literature ; extinguish the fires of division between the North and the South, and make the bonds of union stronger than chains of iron; permit every slave to be supplied with a Bible, and place a hundred thousand infants annually born of slave parents in primary and Sabbath schools. It conjured Abolitionists to maintain their ground firmly and confidently. It closed by proclaiming that the blood of millions who have perished unredressed in this guilty land, the sufferings and lamentations of the millions who yet remain in cruel servitude the groans and supplications of bleeding Africa, the cries of the suffering victims in the holds of slave-ships now wafted on the ocean, and the threatenings and the judgments of the God of all flesh, all demand the utter and immediate annihilation of slavery. At this annual meeting John Kenrick of Newton was chosen president, Samuel E. Sewall and Oliver Johnson were made corresponding and recording secretaries. On motion of Mr. Garrison, the board of managers were authorized to call a meeting of the friends of abolition, for the purpose of forming a national antislavery society, as being “essential to the complete regeneration of public sentiment on the subject of slavery and to the speedy overthrow of that iniquitous system."

Organized on the basis of the common rights of human nature and the laws of God, the New England Antislavery Society had proclaimed that the sin of slavery and the duty of repentance belonged to that generation. Its outspoken, clear, and distinct enunciation of the sin of oppression and the duty of immediate repentance had, during the first year of its existence, been welcomed with enthusiasm by thousands. During no previous year in the history of the country had the questions pertaining to the existence of slavery been so lifted up to the domain of reason and conscience.'' Never had the cause of the slave been so uncompromisingly held before the American people.

Source: Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230.

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Officers, Members and Supporters:

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879, journalist, printer, preeminent American abolitionist leader. Founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833. President and Member of the Executive Committee, AASS, 1843-1864. Founder, editor, Liberator, weekly newspaper founded in 1831, published through December 1865. Corresponding Secretary, 1840-1844, Counsellor, 844-1860, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) on January 1, 1832 in Boston. Garrison advocated for immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery. He was strongly opposed to the ideas and policies of the American Colonization Society, which wanted to send freedmen and freed slaves to Africa. He believed that “moral suasion,” and not coercion, was the way to convince the general population to support the abolition of slavery. Garrison believed in the Golden Rule: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

(Blue, 2005; Drake, 1950, pp. 185, 187; Dumond, 1961, pp. 137, 167, 168, 169, 172, 173, 179, 182, 190, 273, 283, 286-287; Filler, 1960; Garrison, 1885-1889, 4 volumes; Goodell, 1852, 1852, pp. 396-397, 401, 405, 410, 419, 436, 455-456, 458-459, 460, 469, 512, 541; Harrold, 1995; Kraditor, 1969; Mabee, 1970, pp. 2, 8, 26, 28, 131, 149, 152, 376, 378, 398n15; Mayer, 1998; Mitchell, 2007; Newman, 2002; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 41-42, 106, 131, 152, 179, 208-209, 289, 307-309, 321, 378, 463; Sorin, 1971; Stewart, 1992; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 610-612; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 168; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 332-334; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 8, p. 761; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 305-306; Merrill, Walter M. Against the Wind and Tide. 1963; Thomas, John L. The Liberator: William Lloyd Garrison. 1963; First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Buffum, Arnold, 1782-1859, Smithfield, Rhode Island, Indiana, New York, New York, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, abolitionist leader, temperance reformer, philanthropist. Mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts. Member, Massachusetts House of Representatives. Co-founder (with William Lloyd Garrison) and first President of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), in 1832. Also served as an Agent of the NEASS. Manager and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society in December 1833. Manager, Massachusetts, 1833-1837; Manager, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1835-1837; Vice President, 1834-1836. Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1846-1855. Lectured extensively against slavery. Visited England to promote abolitionism. Was influenced by English anti-slavery leaders Clarkson and Wilberforce.

(Drake, 1950, pp. 137, 157-158, 162-163, 178; Newman, 2002, pp. 125, 141, 154-157; Pease, 1965, pp. 418-427; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 218, 401, 433; Staudenraus, 1961, pp. 195-198, 209-210; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 18, 20, 22, 58, 62, 66, 67; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Buffum, Arnold, Lectures Showing the Necessity for a Liberty Party, and Setting Forth its Principles, Measures and Object, 1844; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. II, Pt. 1, p. 241; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 320; First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Dole, Ebenezer, Hallowell, Maine, abolitionist leader, Vice President and co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832 (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Kenrick, John, Newton, Massachusetts, President and co-founder of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS). (Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Jocelyn, Simeon S., New Haven, Connecticut, New York, NY, abolitionist leader. Vice President, 1834-1835, Manager and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. Member of the Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1855. Co-founded the Amistad Committee. Vice President and co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (Dumond, 1961, pp. 169, 171, 175-176; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 30, 31, 150, 235, 396n5; Sorin, 1971; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 326; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Lewis, Alonzo, abolitionist leader, Vice President and co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832 (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Osidorne, James C., abolitionist leader, Vice President and co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832 (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Wells, E. M. P., abolitionist, founding member and Vice President of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Coffin, Joshua, 1792-1864, Tyngborough, PA, educator, author, ardent abolitionist, co-founder of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) in 1832. He was its co-founder and first recording secretary. Manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1834-1837. (Coffin, 1860; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, 675 First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Biography fom Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

COFFIN, Joshua, antiquary, b. in Newbury, Mass., 12 Oct., 1792; d. there, 24 June, 1864. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1817, and taught for many years, numbering among his pupils the poet Whittier, who addressed to him a poem entitled “To My Old School-Master.” Mr. Coffin was ardent in the cause of emancipation, and was one of the founders of the New England anti-slavery society in 1832, being its first recording secretary. He published “The History of Ancient Newbury” (Boston, 1845), genealogies of the Woodman, Little, and Toppan families, and magazine articles. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 675.

Simpson, Michael H., abolitionist leader, Treasurer, Counsellor, co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Appleton, Isaac, abolitionist, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), Counsellor and co-founder, 1832 (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Bacon, Benjamin C., abolitionist, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), counsellor and co-founder, 1832, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Recording Secretary, 1835-36. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Follen, Charles Theodore, 1796-1840, Massachusetts, educator, professor, writer, clergyman, Unitarian minister, abolitionist. Fired from Harvard University for his anti-slavery oratory. Wrote Lectures on Moral Philosophy, which strongly opposed slavery. Influenced by abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier and abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, he became active in the New England Anti-Slavery Society. American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice President, 1834-1835, 1836-1837, Member Executive Committee, 1837-1838, 1860-1863. Counsellor of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1859-1960. Wrote anti-slavery Address to the People of the United States, which he delivered to the Society’s first convention in Boston. Supported political and legal equality for women. (Goodell, 1852, pp. 418, 469; Pease, 1965, pp. lxi, 224-233; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 288; Sinha, 2016; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 491-492; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 2, p. 492; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 301-302)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

FOLLEN, Charles Theodore Christian, educator, b. in Romrod, Germany, 4 Sept., 1796; d. in Long Island sound, 13 Jan., 1840. He was the second son of Christopher Follen, an eminent jurist. He was educated at the preparatory school at Giessen, where he distinguished himself for proficiency in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, and Italian. At the age of seventeen he entered the University of Giessen, and began the study of jurisprudence, but presently, on hearing the news of Napoleon's defeat at Leipsic, he enlisted in a corps of riflemen. A few weeks after enlisting, his military career was cut short by an acute attack of typhus fever, which seemed for a time to have completely destroyed his memory. After his recovery he returned to the university, where he took the degree of doctor of civil law in 1817. In the following year he lectured on the pandects in the University of Jena. Here he was arrested on suspicion of complicity with the fanatical assassin, Sand, in the murder of Kotzebue. The suspicion was entirely groundless. After his acquittal he returned to Giessen, but soon incurred the dislike of the government through his liberal ideas in politics. His brother had already been thrown into jail for heading a petition begging for the introduction of a representative government. Dr. Follen, perceiving that he was himself in danger, left Germany and went to Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Lafayette. In 1820 the French government ordered all foreigners to quit France, and Dr. Follen repaired to Zurich, where he became professor of Latin in the cantonal school of the Grisons. He was soon afterward transferred to the University of Basel, as professor of civil law, and here. in association with the celebrated De Wette, he edited the literary journal of the university, and published an essay on the “Destiny of Man,” and another on “Spinoza's Doctrine of Law and Morals.” In 1824 the governments of Russia, Austria, and Prussia demanded of the Swiss government that Dr. Follen should be surrendered to “justice” for the crime of disseminating revolutionary doctrines, and, finding the Swiss government unable to protect him, he made his escape to America, and, after devoting a year to the study of the English language, was appointed instructor in German at Harvard. He studied divinity with Dr. W. E. Channing, began preaching in 1828, and also served as instructor in ecclesiastical history in the Harvard divinity-school. In 1830 he was appointed professor of German literature at Harvard. There was no regular foundation for such a professorship it was merely continued from time to time by a special vote of the corporation. About this time Dr. Follen became prominently connected with the anti-slavery movement, which was then extremely unpopular at Harvard, and in 1834 the corporation refused to continue his professorship. Thrown thus upon his own resources, after nearly ten years of faithful and valuable service at the university, Dr. Follen supported himself for a time by teaching and writing, living at Watertown, Milton, and Stockbridge. In 1836 he was formally ordained as a Unitarian minister, and preached occasionally in New York, Washington, and Boston. He continued conspicuous among the zealous advocates of the abolition of slavery. In 1840 he was settled over a parish in East Lexington, Mass., but while on his way from New York to Boston he lost his life in the burning of the steamer “Lexington.” He published a “German Reader” (Boston, 1831; new ed., with additions by G. A. Schmitt, 1858); and “Practical Grammar of the German Language” (Boston, 1831). His complete works, containing lectures on moral philosophy, miscellaneous essays and sermons, and a fragment of a treatise on psychology, and a memoir by his widow, were published after his death (5 vols., Boston, 1842). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 491-492.

Forbes, Abner, abolitionist, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), Counsellor and co-founder, 1832 (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Fuller, John E., Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist leader, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), Counsellor and co-founder, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Counsellor, 1835-39 (First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Hall, Robert Bernard, 1812-1868, Episcopal clergyman, member of the Massachusetts State Senate, U.S. Congressman, 1855-1859, one of twelve founders of the New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston in 1832 and co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia in 1832. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 43; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 315; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Biography fom Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

HALL, Robert Bernard, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 28 Jan., 1812; d. in Plymouth, Mass., 15 April, 1868. He entered the Boston public Latin-school in 1822, and studied theology at New Haven in 1833-'4. He was ordained to the ministry of the orthodox Congregational church, but afterward became an Episcopalian. In 1855 he was a member of the Massachusetts senate and was elected to congress in 1855 on the Know-Nothing ticket, and again in 1857 on the Republican ticket. He was a delegate to the Union convention in Philadelphia in 1866. Mr. Hall was one of the twelve founders of the New England anti-slavery society in Boston in January, 1832, and was one of the founders of the American antislavery society in Philadelphia in December, 1833. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Iowa central college in 1858. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 43.

Hughes, Frederick, abolitionist, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), Counsellor and co-founder, 1832 (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Johnson, Oliver, 1809-1889, anti-slavery leader, newspaper editor, printer, reformer. An early supporter of William Lloyd Garrison. American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), Member Executive Committee, 1841-1843, Manager, 1852-1853. Occasionally helped Garrison in the editing of The Liberator. In 1832, co-founded and was Consellor for the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) in Boston. Lectured extensively against slavery. Johnson edited various anti-slavery newspapers, including the National Anti-Slavery Standard, the Pennsylvania Freeman, the Anti-Slavery Bugle, and the Christian Soldier.

(Mabee, 1970, pp. 86, 87, 214, 215, 226, 261, 262, 297, 335, 368; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 367; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 446; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 412; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 107; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Biography fom Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

JOHNSON, Oliver; editor, b. in Peacham, Vt., 27 Dec., 1809; d. in Brooklyn, N.Y., 10 Dec., 1889. He served in the office of the “Watchman,” at Montpelier, Vt., and in 1831 became the editor of the newly established “Christian Soldier.” From 1865 till 1870 he was managing editor of the “Independent,” after which he became the editor of the “Weekly Tribune,” which post he resigned in 1872 to become editor of the “Christian Union.” He was active in the cause of anti-slavery as lecturer and editor, and was one of the twelve that organized the New England anti-slavery society in 1832. He published “William Lloyd Garrison and his Times, or Sketches of the Anti-slavery Movement in America” (Boston, 1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 446.

Knapp, Isaac, 1804-1843, Boston, Massachusetts, printer, newspaper editor and publisher, abolitionist. Helped William Lloyd Garrison found abolitionist newspaper, Liberator, in 1831. Served as editor and publisher of the Liberator until 1841. Knapp published numerous anti-slavery and abolitioninst books, reports and articles. Manager, 1833-1837, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. He was indicted in Raleigh, North Carolina, for circulating the paper there. Counsellor and co-founder of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) on January 1,1832, in Boston. Published and distributed numerous anti-slavery pamphlets. (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 463; Sinha, 2016; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Loring, Ellis Gray, 1803-1858, Boston, Massachusetts, lawyer, abolitionist leader. Manager and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833. Manager, AASS, 1833-1840, 1840-1843, Executive Committee, 1843-1844. Husband to abolitionist Louisa Loring of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS). Auditor, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1844-1845. Co-founded and wrote the constitution of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) in 1833. Financially aided the abolitionist newspaper the Liberator. Was the attorney for the defense of a slave child in Massachusetts Supreme Court. This resulted in a landmark ruling that every slave brought to the state by the owner was legally free. (Dumond, 1961, pp. 186, 317; Mabee, 1970, p. 124; Sinha, 2016, 222-223; Yellin, 1994, p. 51; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 27; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 416; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 318; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Biography fom Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

LORING, Ellis Gray, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1803; d. there, 24 May, 1858. He entered Harvard college in 1819, but was not graduated with his class, afterward studied law, was admitted to the Suffolk bar, and became eminent. He was one of the twelve that formed the first anti-slavery society in Boston in 1833. He distinguished himself chiefly in the defence of the slave-child “Med” in the Massachusetts supreme court, where he succeeded in obtaining the decision that every slave brought on Massachusetts soil by the owner was legally free; a case precisely analogous to the celebrated “Somerset” case in England. By this argument he achieved the unusual success of convincing the opposing counsel, Benjamin R. Curtis, afterward justice of the U. S. supreme court, who shook hands with him after the trial, saying: “Your argument has entirely converted me to your side, Mr. Loring.” He also attracted some attention as the author of a “Petition in behalf of Abner Kneeland,” which was headed by the name of Rev. Dr. William E. Channing; Abner Kneeland (q. v.) was a professed atheist who was indicted for blasphemy, and Mr. Loring's petition was a strong plea in behalf of freedom of speech. Several of Mr. Loring's arguments and addresses were published at different times, including “An Address before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society” (Boston, 1838). At the New England anti-slavery convention, 27 May, 1858, two days after his death, Wendell Phillips said: “The great merit of Mr. Loring's anti-slavery life was, he laid on the altar of the slave's needs all his peculiar tastes. Refined, domestic, retiring, contemplative, loving literature, art, and culture, he saw there was no one else to speak, therefore he was found in the van. It was the uttermost instance of self-sacrifice—more than money, more than reputation, though he gave both.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 27.

May, Samuel Joseph, Reverend, 1797-1871, Brooklyn, Connecticut, reformer, abolitionist leader, temperance advocate, clergyman, early advocate of women’s rights. Unitarian minister. Organized local auxiliary of the American Colonization Society. May was an advocate for immediate, uncompensated emancipation of slaves. Vice president, 1848-1861, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. Vice President and co-founder, lecturer and agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS). He was an officer of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. May was opposed to both the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War. He adamantly opposed the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law and actively advocated resistance to it. Active in Underground Railroad in Syracuse, New York. In 1851, he helped rescue a fugitive slave, Jerry McHenry, from the federal government. Early supporter of William Lloyd Garrison. In 1856, he joined the anti-slavery Republican Party, supporting John Frémont for the presidency of the United States.

(Bruns, 1977, p. 456; Drake, 1950, p. 176; Dumond, 1961, pp. 182, 211-212, 273, 276; Filler, 1960, pp. 34, 44, 59, 65-66, 216; Mabee, 1970, pp. 12, 13, 20, 22-24, 26, 28, 29, 35, 37, 43-48, 78-79, 93, 124, 132, 149, 156, 168-170, 232, 272, 287, 289, 296, 300, 307, 308, 310, 359, 360, 368; Sernett, 2002, pp. 63, 102, 132, 134-144, 175, 176, 274-275, 312-313n39; Sinha, p. 222; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 273; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 447; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 585-586; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 313; May, Samuel Joseph. Memoir of Samuel Joseph May. Boston, 1873; May, Samuel Joseph, Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict. Boston, 1868; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 169. Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 127; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Biography fom Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

MAY, Samuel Joseph, reformer, b. in Boston, Mass., 12 Sept., 1797; d. in Syracuse, N. Y., 1 July, 1871. He was graduated at Harvard in 1817, studied divinity at Cambridge, and in 1822 became pastor of a Unitarian church at Brooklyn, N. Y. He was early interested in the anti-slavery cause, wrote and preached on the subject, and in 1830 was mobbed and burned in effigy at Syracuse for advocating immediate emancipation. He was a member of the first New England anti-slavery society m 1832, and, when Prudence Crandall (q. v.) was proscribed and persecuted for admitting colored girls to her school in Canterbury, Conn., he was her ardent champion. He was also a member of the Philadelphia convention of 1833 that formed the American anti-slavery society, and signed the “Declaration of Sentiments,” of which William Lloyd Garrison was the author. In 1835 he became the general agent of the Massachusetts anti-slavery society, for which, by a union of gentleness and courage, he was peculiarly fitted, and in this capacity he lectured and travelled extensively. He was pastor of the Unitarian church at South Scituate, Mass., in 1836-'42, and became at the latter date, at the solicitation of Horace Mann, principal of the Girls' normal school at Lexington, Mass. He returned to the pulpit in 1845, and from that date till three years previous to his death was pastor of the Unitarian society in Syracuse, N.Y. Mr. May was active in all charitable and educational enterprises, and did much to increase the efficiency of the public-school system in Syracuse. He published “Education of the Faculties” (Boston, 1846); “Revival of Education” (Syracuse, N. Y., 1855); and “Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict” (Boston, 1868). See “Memoir of Samuel Joseph May,” edited by George B. Emerson, Samuel May, and Thomas J. Mumford (Boston, 1873). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 273.

Sewall, Samuel E., Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist leader. Vice President and co-founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), founded January 1, 1832, in Boston, Massachusetts. Manager, 1833-1837, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. Leader, active member, Liberty Party. Sewall was a close working associated of abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison. (Dumond, 1961, pp. 301, 405n12; Sinha, 2016, pp. 222-223; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Snowden, Samuel, Reverend, abolitionist, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), Counsellor and co-founder, 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Stimpson, John, abolitionist leader, Counsellor and co-founder, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Thatcher, Moses, N. Wrentham, Massachusetts, abolitionist leader, American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), Manager, 1833-37, New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), Vice President, Counsellor, and co-founder, Boston, 1832. (First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 8)

Chase, Elizabeth Buffum, 1806-1899, Society of Friends, Quaker, women’s suffrage leader, penal reform leader, abolitionist leader. Co-founder of the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Fall River, Massachusetts, 1836. Member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, founded by her father, Arnold Buffum, in 1832. Contributed articles for abolitionist newspaper, Liberator. Her home was a station on the Underground Railroad. She resigned from the Society of Friends in 1843 as a result of its continuing pro-slavery position. At the end of the Civil War, she was elected Vice President of the American Anti-Slavery Society. She published her memoirs in 1891, Anti-Slavery Reminiscences. Her grandfather, parents, husband, two sisters, and two brothers-in-law were all abolitionists.

(Drake, 1950, p. 158; Mabee, 1970, pp. 225, 280, 290, 424n54; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 44, 218; Salitan, 1994; Stevens, 2003; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 22, 37, 49-52, 58, 67, 69-71, 73, 159, 171, 191-192, 208-209, 219-221, 232n5; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 1, p. 584; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 158-159; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 4, p. 609; First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35)

Child, David Lee 1794-1874, Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist leader, author, journalist. Founding officer of the New England Anti-slavery Society (NEASS), Boston, 1832. Leader, manager and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. 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; Newman, 2002, p. 154; 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; First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Biography fom Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

CHILD, David Lee, journalist, b. in West Boylston, Mass., 8 July, 1794; d. in Wayland, Mass., 18 Sept., 1874. He was graduated at Harvard in 1817, and was for some time sub-master of the Boston Latin-school. He was secretary of legation in Lisbon about 1820, and subsequently fought in Spain, "defending what he considered the cause of freedom against her French invaders." Returning to this country in 1824, he began in 1825 to study law with his uncle, Tyler Bigelow, in Watertown, Mass., and was admitted to the bar. He went to Belgium in 1836 to study the beet-sugar industry, and afterward received a silver medal for the first manufacture of the sugar in this country. He edited the "Massachusetts Journal," about 1830, and while a member of the legislature denounced the annexation of Texas, afterward publishing a pamphlet on the subject, entitled "Naboth's Vineyard." He was an early member of the anti-slavery society, and in 1832 addressed a series of letters on slavery and the slave-trade to Edward S. Abdy, an English philanthropist. He also published ten articles on the same subject (Philadelphia, 1836). During a visit to Paris in 1837 he addressed an elaborate memoir to the Société pour l'abolition d'esclavage, and sent a paper on the same subject to the editor of the "Eclectic Review" in London. John Quincy Adams was much indebted to Mr. Child's facts and arguments in the speeches that he delivered in congress on the Texan question. With his wife he edited the "Anti-Slavery Standard" in New York in 1843-'44. He was distinguished for the independence of his character, and the boldness with which he denounced social wrongs and abuses. Source: Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 603-604.

Emmons, abolitionist, member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Grew, Henry, 1781-1862, Society of Friends, Quaker, clergyman, religious writer, reformer, abolitionist. Daughters were Mary and Susan Grew, both abolitionists. Active in abolition movements. Founding officer of the New England Anti-Slavery Soceity (NEASS) in Boston, 1832. Attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England, in June 1840. (Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 312, 333; First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35).

Kimball, David T., abolitionist, Andover Anti-Slavery Society, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Newcomb, Stillman B., abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Russell, Reverend, Watertown, Massachusetts, abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Smith, John Cutts, abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Snelling, William J., abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Stockton, Henry K., abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230)

Walker, Amasa, 1799-1875, Boston, Massachusetts, political economist, abolitionist. Republican U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts. Active and vigorous opponent of slavery. Walker was a supporter of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. He submitted a resolution outlining the objectives of the Society to be the principles of religion, philanthropy and patriotism. American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) Manager, 1837-1840, 1840-1841, 1843-1844, Counsellor, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1841. Co-founder of Free Soil Party in 1848. Served in Congress December 1862 through March 1863.

(Filler, 1960, pp. 60, 254; Mabee, 1970, pp. 258, 340, 403n25; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 324-325; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 338; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 22, p. 485; Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230))

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography :

WALKER, Amasa, political economist, b. in Woodstock, Conn., 4 May, 1799; d. in Brookfield, Mass., 29 Oct., 1875. He received a district-school education in North Brookfield, where among his fellow-students was William C. Bryant. In 1814 he entered commercial life, and in 1820 formed a partnership with Allen Newell in North Brookfield, but three years later withdrew to become the agent of the Methuen manufacturing company. In 1825 he formed with Charles G. Carleton the firm of Carleton and Walker, of Boston, Mass., but in 1827 he went into business independently. In 1840 he withdrew permanently from commercial affairs, and in 1842 he went to Oberlin, Ohio, on account of his great interest in the college there, and gave lectures on political economy at that institution until 1848. After serving in the legislature, he became the Free-soil and Democratic candidate for speaker, and in 1849 was chosen to the Massachusetts senate, where he introduced a plan for a sealed-ballot law, which was enacted in 1851, and carried a bill providing that Webster's Dictionary should be introduced into the common schools of Massachusetts. He was elected secretary of state in 1851, re-elected in 1852, and in 1853 was chosen a member of the convention for revising the state constitution, becoming the chairman of the committee on suffrage. He was appointed in 1853 one of the examiners in political economy in Harvard, and held that office until 1860, and in 1859 he began an annual course of lectures on that subject in Amherst, which he continued until 1869. Meanwhile, in 1859, he was again elected to the Massachusetts legislature, and in 1860 he was chosen a member of the electoral college of that state, casting his ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He was also elected as a Republican to congress, and served from 1 Dec., 1862, till 3 March, 1863. Mr. Walker is best known for his work in avocating new and reformatory measures. In 1839 he urged a continuous all-rail route of communication between Boston and Mississippi river, and during the same year he became president of the Boston temperance society, the first total abstinence association in that city. He was active in the anti-slavery movement, though not to the extent of recommending unconstitutional methods for its abolition, and in 1848 he was one of the founders of the Free-soil party. Mr. Walker was a member of the first International peace congress in London in 1843, and was one of its vice-presidents, and in 1849 he held the same office in the congress in Paris. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Amherst in 1867. In 1857 he began the publication of a series of articles on political economy in “Hunt's Merchant's Magazine,” and he was accepted as an authority on questions of finance. Besides other contributions to magazines, he published “Nature and Uses of Money and Mixed Currency” (Boston, 1857), and “Science of Wealth, a Manual of Political Economy” (1866), of which eight editions have been sold, and it has been translated into Italian. With William B. Calhoun and Charles L. Flint he issued “Transactions of the Agricultural Societies of Massachuetts” (7 vols., 1848-'54). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 324-325.

Hadley, Moses, District of Columbia, abolitionist, Agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS). (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Johnson, Oliver, abolitionist, Agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS). (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Murray, Orson S., abolitionist, Agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS). (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Members of the New England Anti-Slavery Society at the founding meeting on January 1, 1832, were:

Bierly, Benjamin, Amesbury, Massachusetts, abolitionist, member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1835. (First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35)

Blanchard, Elijah, Reverend, abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Bradford, Gamaliel, Dr., abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 223-230; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Chase, Elizabeth B., abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Easton, Joshua, African American, abolitionist, member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. Representative, Massachusetts General Colored Association. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833, p. 7)

Follen, Charles Theodore, 1796-1840, Cambridge, Massachusetts, educator, professor, writer, clergyman, Unitarian minister, abolitionist. Fired from Harvard University for his anti-slavery oratory. Wrote Lectures on Moral Philosophy, which strongly opposed slavery. Influenced by abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier and abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, he was a founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice President, 1834-1835, 1836-1837, Member Executive Committee, 1837-1838, 1860-1863. Counsellor of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1859-1960. Wrote anti-slavery Address to the People of the United States, which he delivered to the Society’s first convention in Boston. Supported political and legal equality for women. (Goodell, 1852, pp. 418, 469; Pease, 1965, pp. lxi, 224-233; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 288; Sinha, 2016; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 491-492; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 2, p. 492; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 301-302; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography :

Grew, Henry, Reverend, 1781-1862, Boston, Massachusetts, Society of Friends, Quaker, clergyman, religious writer, reformer, abolitionist. Daughters were Mary and Susan Grew, both abolitionists. Active in abolition movements. Founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Soceity, 1832. Attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England, in June 1840. (Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 312, 333; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Grosvenor, Cyrus Pitt, Reverend, 1792-1879, Salem, Massachusetts, clergyman, abolitionist leader, anti-slavery agent, anti-slavery Baptist minister, educator. Lectured on anti-slavery. Founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) Vice President, 1834-1835, Manager, 1839-1840, 1840-1841. Member of the Liberty Party. Leader of the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts and Connecticut. (Dumond, 1961, pp. 188, 285, 393n24; Putnam, 1893, p. 14, “Friend of Man,” October 6, 1836, May 10, 1837; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Parker, Jonas, Captain, Reading Massachusetts, abolitionist, member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1835. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Perry, Reverend, Mendon, Massachusetts, abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Phelps, Amos Augustus, Reverend, 1805-1847, Boston, Massachusetts, clergyman, editor. Founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. Manager and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833; Manager, 1834-1835, Vice-President, 1834-1835, Executive Committee, 1836-1838, Recording Secretary, 1836-1840. Editor, Emancipation and The National Era. Husband of abolitionist Charlotte Phelps.

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 182, 185, 266, 276, 285; Pease, 1965, pp. 71-85; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 290; Yellin, 1994, pp. 47, 54, 54n, 59-60, 125; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 751; Phelps, “Lectures on Slavery and its Remedy,” Boston, 1834; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 132, 228-229; First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography :

PHELPS, Amos Augustus, clergyman, b. in Farmington, Conn., in 1805; d. in Roxbury, Mass., 12 Sept., 1847. He was graduated at Yale in 1826, and at the divinity-school there in 1830, was pastor of Congregational churches in Hopkinton and Boston, Mass., in 1831-'4, became agent of the Massachusetts anti-slavery society at the latter date, and was pastor of the Free church, and subsequently of the Maverick church, Boston, in 1839-'45. He also edited the “Emancipation,” and was secretary of the American anti-slavery society for several years. He published “Lectures on Slavery and its Remedy” (Boston, 1834); “Book of the Sabbath” (1841); “Letters to Dr. Bacon and to Dr. Stowe” (1842); and numerous pamphlets on slavery. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 751.

Pickett, Aaron, Reverend, Reading, Massachusetts, abolitionist, member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1835. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

Wakefield, Horace, Esq., Boston, abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

WALKER, Amasa, 1799-1875, Boston, Massachusetts, political economist, abolitionist. Republican U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts. Active and vigorous opponent of slavery. Walker was an early supporter of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, 1834. He submitted a resolution outlining the objectives of the Society to be the principles of religion, philanthropy and patriotism. American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) Manager, 1837-1840, 1840-1841, 1843-1844, Counsellor, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1841. Co-founder of Free Soil Party in 1848. Served in Congress December 1862 through March 1863.

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography :

Yates, Reverend, abolitionist, founding member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), 1832. (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833)

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References

(Blue, 2005, pp. 21-22, 41; Dumond, 1961, p. 172; Filler, 1960, pp. 22, 61, 66; Newman, 2002; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 41, 218, 401; Salitan, 1994; Sinha, 2016, 230, 233, 238; Stevens, 2003; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 18, 31, 58, 62; First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833-35)