304 Political Activity and Resistance to Oppression: From the American Revolution to the Civil War
constituency both, were mixed. Much like the AASS, the
AFASS was committed to racial equality in theory but oft en
fell short of its own high ideals, frequently marginalizing
its African American members. Despite these failings, some
African American abolitionists nonetheless embraced the
AFASS, pleased by its emphasis on political activism. To
some African American abolitionists, the AFASS’s strong
focus on politics seemed more likely to advance their goal
of achieving black male suff rage than the AASS’s denuncia-
tion of any political activity did. Other African American
abolitionists, deeply loyal to Garrison, remained within the
ranks of the AASS. But the majority of African American
abolitionists agreed with Frederick Douglass and sought
to remain neutral in the power struggle between the AASS
and the AFASS.
Despite hopes that the rift within the movement would
soon be overcome, and that AFASS members would soon
return to the AASS fold, the AFASS endured until 1855.
During its 15 years of existence, the AFASS served not only
as a divisive, negative force but also as a positive, creative
vehicle for social change, which fostered the development
of a strong political antislavery movement and worked to
persuade free American Christians that slavery was a moral
evil that needed to be rapidly brought to an end.
See also: Abolition, Slavery; American Anti-Slavery Soci-
ety (AASS); Douglass, Frederick; Garrison, William Lloyd;
Smith, Gerrit; Tappan, Arthur; Tappan, LewisHolly M. KentBibliography
Friedman, Lawrence Jacob. Gregarious Saints: Self and Community
in American Abolitionism, 1830–1870. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1982.
Strong, Douglas. Perfectionist Politics: Abolitionism and the Reli-
gious Tensions of American Democracy. Syracuse, NY: Syra-
cuse University Press, 1999.
Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War
Against Slavery. New York: Athenaeum, 1971.American Anti-Slavery Society
(AASS)
Th e American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was the fi rst
national antislavery organization in the United States.
Founded in 1833, it advocated for immediate emancipation
and political equality for African Americans. Criticizedmany evangelical abolitionists profoundly uneasy, fearful
that American abolitionism was becoming increasingly un-
moored from traditional Christian institutions and values.
Many abolitionists were also displeased by Garrison’s adop-
tion of the principle of “non-resistance”: the belief that abo-
litionists ought to abstain from any involvement in politics
because the American government was an essentially cor-
rupt, violent institution. Garrison’s call to avoid any partici-
pation in politics angered numerous members of the AASS,
who had begun to feel that political action would be vital in
bringing slavery to an end.
Perhaps most controversially, by 1840, Garrison and
his supporters had fi rmly blended together the abolitionist
cause with the emerging struggle for women’s rights. Dur-
ing the 1830s, female abolitionists such as Maria W. Stewart,
Angelina Grimké, and Sarah Grimké took the radical step
of speaking publicly in favor of the antislavery cause, both
implicitly and explicitly insisting on women’s right to fully
participate in American society as they did so. Garrison
wholeheartedly supported these female activists, seeking to
thoroughly integrate women into all levels of the antislav-
ery movement. Numerous male abolitionists disapproved
of this blending of women’s rights and abolitionism, fearing
that integrating the two causes would alienate many mem-
bers of the American public, who might otherwise be re-
ceptive to the antislavery message. Th e question of women’s
involvement in abolition was brought to a head at the 1840
AASS convention, during which abolitionist and women’s
rights activist Abby Kelley was nominated to the powerful
business committee. Aft er Kelley was appointed to the com-
mittee by a vote of 557 to 451, many abolitionists left the
AASS in disgust, vowing to form their own organization.
Th is new organization, the AFASS, was lea by white,
male abolitionists including Lewis Tappan, Gerrit Smith,
and Elizur Wright Jr. Th ese leaders quickly set about draw-
ing up a constitution that articulated the new group’s goals
and ideals. Th e AFASS, its constitution affi rmed, would
not involve itself in questions of women’s rights; would re-
gard American churches not as morally suspect stumbling
blocks to the advancement of abolition, but rather as vital
allies to the cause; and would adopt an aggressive approach
with regard to antislavery activism. Th is would entail taking
the antislavery fi ght into the South itself (by disseminating
abolitionist propaganda there) and also becoming involved
in antislavery politics.
African American abolitionists’ responses to the
AFASS, which had a predominantly white leadership and