Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society

Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist organization founded in 1833 that became one of the most active and influential local chapters of the national anti-slavery movement. Distinguished from the older Pennsylvania Abolition Society by its more radical approach—demanding immediate emancipation rather than gradual abolition—the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society was also notable for being one of the first such organizations to include both men and women, Black and white members in its leadership. Key figures included James and Lucretia Mott, Robert Purvis, James Forten, and numerous other activists who would shape the Abolition Movement in Philadelphia for decades. The Society organized lectures, published pamphlets, circulated petitions, and supported the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, working to change public opinion and political action on slavery. Though disbanded during the Civil War when its primary goal was achieved, the Society left a lasting legacy of interracial activism and principled advocacy for human rights.

Founding and Principles

The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society grew out of the larger transformation of American abolitionism in the early 1830s. The older approach, represented by the Pennsylvania Abolition Society founded in 1775, had favored gradual emancipation, legal challenges to slavery, and quiet lobbying. A new generation of abolitionists, inspired by William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper "The Liberator" (first published in 1831) and the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, demanded immediate, unconditional emancipation and condemned slavery as a sin requiring repentance, not a problem requiring cautious management. The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society, founded on December 4, 1833, embraced this more militant stance while drawing on Philadelphia's long tradition of anti-slavery activism.

The founding convention drew together a remarkable coalition. James Forten, a wealthy Black sailmaker who had been active in Philadelphia's Free Black Community for decades, provided financial support and served on the organizing committee. Robert Purvis, a mixed-race abolitionist whose personal wealth allowed him to devote himself full-time to activism, became one of the Society's most visible leaders. Lucretia Mott, a Quaker minister whose religious convictions demanded action against slavery, was among the women who attended and would soon lead efforts to form a parallel Female Anti-Slavery Society. The interracial, mixed-gender character of the founding marked the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society as distinctive even among radical abolitionist organizations.

Activities and Methods

The Society employed multiple methods to advance abolition, combining moral suasion with political pressure. Public lectures brought prominent speakers to Philadelphia, including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and other escaped slaves whose firsthand testimony about slavery's horrors proved powerfully persuasive. Pamphlets, tracts, and periodicals circulated abolitionist arguments through the mail and at public gatherings. Petition campaigns collected thousands of signatures demanding congressional action against slavery, though these petitions were often suppressed by the "gag rule" that prevented their consideration. The Society's offices served as a coordination point for the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, with William Still operating from Society headquarters to assist freedom seekers.

The Society also worked to support the Free Black Community and to challenge discrimination in Philadelphia. Members testified in court cases involving kidnapped free Blacks, supported schools for African American children, and agitated for the desegregation of public facilities. The Society recognized that slavery could not be isolated from the broader system of racial prejudice that sustained it, and that true abolition required challenging discrimination throughout society. This comprehensive approach to racial justice distinguished the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society from more narrowly focused organizations and anticipated later civil rights movements.

Women's Participation

The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society's inclusion of women in its activities was both groundbreaking and controversial. Lucretia Mott and other Quaker women participated from the beginning, drawing on traditions of female ministry and activism within their religious community. However, many abolitionists—even those who opposed slavery—considered public speaking by women improper, and the question of women's participation repeatedly divided the movement. When the Female Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1833 as a separate organization, it provided a vehicle for women's activism while acknowledging prevailing gender norms. Yet the Philadelphia movement remained more integrated than most, with women and men frequently cooperating across organizational lines.

The experience of organizing for abolition politicized many women and prepared them for leadership in the women's rights movement. Lucretia Mott, frustrated by her exclusion from full participation in the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 (which refused to seat female delegates), worked with Elizabeth Cady Stanton to organize the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, widely considered the beginning of the organized women's rights movement. The connections between abolition and women's rights were personal and ideological—activists recognized that arguments for human equality applied to both enslaved people and women denied civil rights. Philadelphia's abolitionist women played crucial roles in both movements.

Challenges and Opposition

The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society faced violent opposition from those who considered abolition a threat to social order. In 1838, a mob attacked and burned Pennsylvania Hall, a meeting place built by abolitionists after they were denied use of other facilities. The hall had opened just days earlier; its destruction demonstrated the intensity of anti-abolitionist sentiment in a city that depended on trade with the South. Society members were attacked on the streets, their meetings disrupted, and their publications destroyed. The Nativist Riots of 1844, while directed primarily at Irish Catholics, also threatened the Black community and reminded abolitionists of the precariousness of their position.

The Society also faced internal tensions over strategy and priorities. Garrison's increasingly radical positions—including rejection of political action and denunciation of the Constitution as a pro-slavery document—divided abolitionists nationally and locally. Some Philadelphia activists followed Garrison, while others believed that political engagement offered the best path to abolition. The question of how fully to integrate Black activists into leadership positions also generated debate, with some white abolitionists more committed to interracial equality than others. These tensions reflected broader challenges facing the movement but did not prevent the Society from continuing its work until slavery's abolition made the organization obsolete.

Legacy

The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society disbanded in the 1860s when emancipation achieved its primary goal, but its legacy extended far beyond abolition. The interracial activism it modeled influenced later civil rights movements, demonstrating that Black and white Americans could work together for justice despite the pervasive racism of American society. The women who gained organizing experience in abolition went on to lead the women's rights movement, carrying skills and ideologies learned in the anti-slavery struggle. William Still's records, maintained at Society headquarters, preserved the stories of freedom seekers and became an invaluable historical resource. The Society's example reminds us that committed minorities can challenge entrenched injustice and that moral conviction, sustained organization, and coalition building can eventually overcome even the most powerful opposition.

See Also

• Abolition Movement in Philadelphia
• Underground Railroad in Philadelphia
• William Still
• Free Black Community