American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society facts for kids
The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was a group formed in 1840. It broke away from another important group called the American Anti-Slavery Society. The main reason for the split was a big disagreement about whether women should be allowed to be leaders and active members in anti-slavery organizations. The new Society believed women should not have these roles.
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Why They Formed a New Group
The split happened because some leaders, like Lewis Tappan and his brother Arthur, disagreed with William Lloyd Garrison's ideas. Garrison wanted to bring many different social issues into the anti-slavery movement, including women's rights. The Tappan brothers wanted a group that would focus only on ending slavery. They also wanted to work within existing churches and government systems, rather than trying to change them completely. For example, they disagreed with Garrison's view that the U.S. Constitution supported slavery and needed to be replaced.
Key People and Their Beliefs
Within two years of 1840, many people left the American Anti-Slavery Society to form the new American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. This happened after a disagreement about Abby Kelley joining a business committee and efforts to link the fight against slavery with the early women's rights movement.
Important figures who joined the new Society included:
- Lewis Tappan
- Arthur Tappan
- Henry Highland Garnet
- Samuel Cornish
- Edward Beecher
- John Greenleaf Whittier
- James G. Birney
- Theodore S. Wright
- Amos A. Phelps
These members believed that focusing on women's rights took attention away from the main goal of ending slavery. They felt that topics about gender should be kept separate from the fight against slavery.
Different Ideas Within the Society
Even within the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, there were different ideas. Some members, like James G. Birney, thought they should form a national political party to fight slavery. Others disagreed with this idea.
Some African-American men also joined this Society. They were concerned that female leadership in the original American Anti-Slavery Society might focus too much on the rights of white women. Later, the formation of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 and some statements by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her newspaper, The Revolution, seemed to confirm these worries for some of these men. However, six black women did become members of the National Woman Suffrage Association, but this happened after the Reconstruction era, which was the period after the American Civil War.
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