AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY An outgrowth of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1831 by WilliamLloyd Garrison, the American Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1833 as a national organization dedicated to the immediate and uncompensated abolition of slavery in the United States. A massive publicity program was instigated by the Society in an attempt to bolster membership. As the result of this campaign, which included the publication of numerous periodicals and the mass circulation of antislavery pamphlets, the Society could claim over two thousand local chapters with a total membership of approximately 200,000 by 1850. Aside from Garrison, who more or less dominated the organization with his uncompromising and militant brand of charismatic leadership, other leaders of the American Anti-Slavery Society included Theodore D. Weld, George G. Finney and the Tappan brothers, Arthur and Lewis.