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The American Anti-Slavery Society’s “Declaration of Sentiments”

Founded by William Lloyd Garrison, among others, the American Anti-Slavery Society (AAS) arose as one of the major voices of the abolition movement in the 1830s. The AAS called for immediate, uncompensated emancipation, racial equality, and separation of the Free States from the slave states. It was a radical organization that help develop the moral critique of slavery and slaveholders. The selection here lays all that out quite well.

As you read, keep the following questions in mind: How did the authors of the Declaration of Sentiments view the abolition movement’s relationship to the American Revolution? Why did they argue emancipation should not involve compensation? What power did they believe the federal government had over slavery? And how did the AAS propose to proceed against slavery?

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 17

Again, I feel very reluctant to claim to be an Abolitionist, because

I think it to be a very high pretension for a man to make. I am

perfectly willing to bear the obloquy of the name ; but it looks like

pride, and may imply a want of self-knowledge, for a man to claim

with confidence that he is a genuine, thorough-going Garrisonian

Abolitionist. Under these circumstances, I esteem myself honored,

inasmuch as I have been invited to read to you the " Declaration of

Sentiments" upon which this Society was founded; a Declaration

made in this city thirty years ago, and second only in time to the

Declaration of 1776.

DECLARATION OP SENTIMENTS.

The Convention assembled in the city of Philadelphia, to organize

a National Anti-Slavery Society, promptly seize the opportunity to

promulgate the following DECLARATION OP SENTIMENTS,

as cherished by them in relation to the enslavement of one sixth

portion of the American people.

More than fifty-seven years have elapsed since a band of patriots

convened in this place, to devise measures for the deliverance of this

country from a foreign yoke. The corner-stone upon which they

founded the TEMPLE OF FREEDOM was broadly this—"that all men

are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer

tain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, LIBERTY, and

the pursuit of happiness." At the sound of their trumpet-call, three

millions of people rose up as from the sleep of death, and rushed to the

strife of blood ; deeming it more glorious to die instantly as free

men, than desirable to live one hour as slaves. They were few in

number—poor in resources; but the honest conviction that THDTH,

JUSTICE and RIGHT were on their side made them invincible.

We have met together for the achievement of an enterprise, with

out which that of our fathers is incomplete ; and which, for its mag

nitude, solemnity, and probable results upon the destiny of the world,

as far transcends theirs as moral truth does physical force.

In purity of motive, in earnestness of zeal, in decision of purpose,

in intrepidity of action, in steadfastness of faith, in sincerity of spirit,

we would not be inferior to them.

Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors,

and to spill human blood like water in order to be free. Ours forbid

the doing of evil that good may come, and lead us to reject, and to

entreat the oppressed to reject, the use of all carnal weapons for de

liverance from bondage ; relying solely upon those which are spirit

ual, and mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

Their measures were physical resistance — the marshalling in

arms — the hostile array— the mortal encounter. Ours shall be

such only as the opposition of moral purity to moral corruption—

3

18 THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE

the destruction of error by tho potency of truth — the overthrow of

prejudice by the power of love—and the abolition of Slavery by the

spirit of repentance.

Their grievances, great as they were, were trifling in comparison

with the wrongs and sufferings of those for whom we plead. Our

fathers were never slaves—never bought and sold like cattle—never

shut out from the light of knowledge and religion—never subjected

to the lash of brutal taskmasters. •

But those for whose emancipation we are striving—constituting,

at the present time, at least one sixth part of our countrymen—are

recognized by the law, and treated by their fellow-beings, as market

able commodities, as goods and chattels, as brute beasts; are plun

dered daily of the fruits of their toil without redress ; really enjoy

no constitutional nor legal protection from licentious and murderous

outrages upon their persons ; are ruthlessly torn asunder—the tender

babe from the arms of its frantic mother—the heart-broken wife from

her weeping husband—at the caprice or pleasure of irresponsible

tyrants. For the crime of having a dark complexion, they suffer the

pangs of hunger, the infliction of stripes, and the ignominy of brutal

servitude. They are kept in heathenish darkness by laws expressly

enacted to make their instruction a criminal offence.

These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more

than two millions of our people, the proof of which may be found

in thousands of indisputable facts, and in the laws of the slavehold-

ing States.

Hence we maintain—that in view of the civil and religious privi

leges of this nation, the guilt of its oppression is unequalled by any

other on the face of the earth ; and, therefore,

That it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy burden, to

break every yoke, and to let the oppressed go free.

We further maintain—that no man has a right to enslave or im-

brute his brother—to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, as

a piece of merchandize—to keep back his hire by fraud—or to bru

talize his mind by denying him the means of intellectual, social and

moral improvement.

The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it is to usurp

the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his own

body—to the products of his own labor—to the protection of law—

and to the common advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or

steal a native African, and subject him to servitude. Surely the sin

is as great to enslave an AMERICAN as an AFRICAN.

Therefore we believe and affirm—That there is no difference, in

principle, between the African slave trade and American Slavery :

That every American citizen, who retains a human being in invol

untary bondage as his property, is, according to Scripture, (Ex. 21 :

16,) a MAN-STEALER !

That the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought under

the protection of the law :

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 19

That if they had lived from the time of Pharaoh down to the

present period, and had been entailed through successive generations,

their right to be free could never have been alienated, but their

claims would have constantly risen in solemnity : =

That all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right of I

Slavery, are therefore, before God, utterly null and void ; being an }

audacious usurpation of the Divine prerogative, a daring infringement

on the i^w jj' nature, a base overthrow of the very foundations of ir >

the socjal^aispact, a complete extinction of all the relations, endear- *•*> /-

ments, and obligations of mankind, and a presumptuous transgression

of all the holy commandments—and that, therefore, they ought in

stantly to be abrogated.

We further believe and affirm—that all persons of color who

possess the qualifications which are demanded of others, ought to be

admitted forthwith to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and the

exercise of the same prerogatives, as others ; and that the paths of

preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence, should be opened as

widely to them as to persons of a white complexion.

We maintain that no compensation should be given to the planters

emancipating their slaves ;

Because it would be a surrender of the great fundamental princi

ple, that man cannot hold property in man ;

Because SLAVERY is A CRIME, AND THEREFORE is NOT AN ARTICLE

TO BE SOLD;

Because the holders of slaves are not the just proprietors of what

they claim ; freeing the slaves is not depriving them of property, but

restoring it to its rightful owners ; it is not wronging the master, but

righting the slave—restoring him to himself;

Because immediate and general emancipation would only destroy

nominal, not real property ; it would not amputate a limb, or break

a bone of the slaves, but, by infusing motives into their breasts, would

make them doubly valuable to the masters as free laborers ; and

Because, if compensation is to be given at all, it should be given

to the outraged and guiltless slaves, and not to those who have plun

dered and abused them.

We regard as delusive, cruel and dangerous, any scheme of expa

triation which pretends to aid, either directly or indirectly, in the

emancipation of the slaves, or to be a substitute for the immediate

and total abolition of Slavery.

We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of each State

to legislate exclusively on the subject of the Slavery which is tole- j

rated within its limits ; we concede that Congress, under the pzesent ""i

natiojial_ compact, has no right to interfere with any of the Slave

States, in relation to this momentous subject :

But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly bound,

to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several States, and

to abolish Slavery in those portions of our territory which the Con

stitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction. ^

20 THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE

We also maintain that there are, at the present time, the highest

obligations resting upon the people of the Free States to remove

Slavery by moral and political action, as prescribed in the Constitu

tion of the United States. They are now living under a pledge of

their tremendous physical force to fasten the galling fetters of

tyranny upon the limbs of millions in the Southern States; they are

liable to be called at any moment to suppress a general insurrection

of the slaves ; they authorize the slave-owner to vote on three fifths

of his slaves as property, and thus enable him to perpetuate his op

pression ; they support a standing army at the South for its protec

tion ; and they seize the slave who has escaped into their territories,

and send him back to be tortured by an enraged master or a brutal

driver. This relation to Slavery is criminal, and full of danger : IT

MUST BE BROKEN UP.

These are our views and principles—these our designs and meas

ures. With entire confidence in the overruling justice of God, we

plant ourselves upon the Declaration of Independence and the

truths of divine revelation as upon the Everlasting Hock.

We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in every

city, town and village in our land.

We shall send forth agents to lift up the voice of remonstrance, of

warning, of entreaty and rebuke.

We shall circulate, unsparingly and extensively, Anti-Slavery

tracts and periodicals.

We shall enlist the pulpit and the press in the cause of the suffer

ing and the dumb.

We shall aim at a purification of the churches from all participa

tion in the guilt of Slavery.

We shall encourage the labor of freemen rather than that of

slaves, by giving a preference to their productions : and

We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole nation

to speedy repentance.

Our trust for victory is solely in God. We may be personally

defeated, but our principles never. TRUTH, JUSTICE, REASON, HU

MANITY, must and will gloriously triumph. Already a host is coming

up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, and the prospect

before us is full of encouragement.

Submitting this DECLARATION to the candid examination of

the people of this country, and of the friends of Liberty throughout

the world, we hereby affix our signatures to it ; pledging ourselves

that, under the guidance and by the help of Almighty God, we will

do all that in us lies, consistently with this Declaration of our prin

ciples, to overthrow the most execrable system of Slavery that has

ever been witnessed upon earth—to deliver our land from its dead

liest curse— to wipe out the foulest stain which rests upon our

national escutcheon—and to secure to the colored population of the

United States all the rights and privileges which belong to them as

men and as Americans—come what may to our persons, our inter

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEKY SOCIETY. 21

ests, or our reputation—whether we live to witness the triumph of

LIBERTY, JUSTICE and HUHAHITY, or perish untimely as martyrs in

this great, benevolent and holy cause.

Done at Philadelphia, the 6th day of December, A. D. 1833.

I am informed that of the sixty persons and upwards, who appended

their names to this Declaration, only fifteen have died, when the an

ticipation here expressed has been realized. The large body of the

signers " lire to witness the triumph of liberty, justice and humanity."

You all know what have been the weapons of our friends in the

great war in which they have been engaged. If our country had

responded to these sentiments thirty years ago, as they responded to

the tidings of the attack upon Fort Sumter, slavery would have been

utterly abolished by this time, without the shedding of a single drop

of blood. But there is a homely proverb, that it is in vain to talk

about what might have been, or what should have been. Blood is

running like water, and the consolation and reward of our friends is,

that when the South broke out in brutal assault upon the life of the

nation, that the nation was so well prepared for the hour was due in

great part to the fidelity with which they have redeemed the pledges

they gave in this Declaration, in forming Anti-Slavery Societies

throughout all the North, and in sending every where anti-slavery

information.

I confess there are very strong points of resemblance between the

Abolitionists of the North and the conspirators of the South. Our

friends at the North, thirty years ago, undertook to fire the Northern

heart, insensible to the fact that they were in danger of firing the

Southern heart at the same time. So, also, a few years ago, the '

leading conspirators at the South undertook to fire the Southern

heart, never dreaming what a tremendous fire they were going to

kindle in the Northern heart. So that, in this respect, the Aboli

tionists of the North and the Fire-eaters of the South resembled

each other; with this difference —that the Abolitionists undertook to

kindle the Northern heart with fire from heaven ; the Fire-eaters

undertook to kindle the Southern heart with fire from—the other

place. (Applause.)

SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.

On the Fourth of July, 1776, our fathers put their names to the

Declaration of American Independence. They testified before the