Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 1

The significant articles of the Constitution of the American Anti-Slavery Society, adopted at Philadelphia, read as follows:

Article II:

The objects of this Society are the entire abolition of slavery¹ in the United States. While it admits that each State in which slavery exists has, by the Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its abolition in said State, it shall aim to convince all our fellow-citizens, by arguments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slaveholding is a heinous crime in the sight of God, and that the duty, safety, and best interests of all concerned require its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The Society will also endeavor, in a constitutional way, to influence Congress to put an end to the domestic slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all those portions of our common country which come under its control, especially in the District of Columbia—and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any State that may be hereafter admitted to the Union.²

Article III:

This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, that thus they may, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites of civil and religious privileges; but this Society will never, in any way, countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by resorting to physical force.

Article IV:

Any person who consents to the principles of this Constitution, who contributes to the funds of this Society, and is not a slaveholder,³ may be a member of this Society, and shall be entitled to vote at the meetings.

In choosing the officers of the new Society, Arthur Tappan was fitly made President. Though compelled to be absent from the Convention, he was not and could not