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American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
Born from a major split in the abolition movement, this 1840 society pushed for the immediate end of slavery while taking a more conservative stance than some of its fellow reformers. Its story opens a revealing window into the alliances, arguments, and moral urgency that shaped antislavery activism in the United States.
1 Audiobook
Facts for the People of the Free States
by American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
About the author
The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1840 after breaking away from the American Anti-Slavery Society. The split grew out of disagreements over strategy and over whether women should take active leadership roles in abolitionist organizations. The new group focused narrowly on antislavery work and opposed linking that cause with other reform movements.
Arthur Tappan served as its first president, and Lewis Tappan was also a key figure in its leadership. The society aimed to pursue abolition through organized advocacy and political action, and it maintained connections with broader antislavery efforts in Britain and the United States.
Remembered today as part of the larger struggle to end slavery, the society shows how even people committed to the same moral cause could sharply disagree about leadership, tactics, and social change. Its history helps place abolition not just as a movement of shared purpose, but also as one shaped by debate from within.