Drawing its strength from points west of New England, the opposing faction included a score of outstanding figures, among them the Tappans, James G. Birney, Gerrit Smith, Judge William Jay, Henry B. Stanton, and Joshua Leavitt. Negro abolitionists split also, generally in accordance with the sectional pattern.
The schism had its dress rehearsal in Massachusetts, the key issue being the viewpoints of Garrison. By 1839 Garrison had become an unsparing critic of clergymen, charging them with upholding slavery. Negroes supported Garrison in his strictures on the church, but with some misgivings. On one occasion they stated that Garrison's religious opinions were not necessarily related to the abolitionist movement, and on another they pointed out that they were Garrison's followers as far as abolition was concerned, "but on religious points we follow Jesus."
Garrison's critics justly charged him with espousing re- forms that were far afield from abolitionism, such as the nonresistance movement. Considering the existing peace societies unsatisfactory, Garrison was a founder in 1838 of the New England Non-Resistant Society. Garrison scorned the belief that the Bible was of divine inspiration; moreover, he was an anti-Sabbatarian, holding that no day of the week was holier than any other and hence regarding as superstition the setting aside of Sunday for religious worship.
Garrison was a nonvoter; he vowed that he would never hold office or exercise the franchise in a government that in- cluded slaveholders. In a public letter to the Negroes of Boston in December 1834, urging them not to support the Whig ticket, Garrison wrote that he saw little intelligence, and scarcely any conscience, honesty, or fear of God, at the polls. 2 Garrison reasoned that a political party in a country in which slavery existed had to be a proslavery party. Moreover, the Constitution, as Garrison saw it, was a proslavery instrument and hence not to be supported by a true abolitionist.
By 1839 Garrison's critics within the abolitionist ranks felt that a change of leadership was mandatory. At Boston during the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in May, they raised an objection to women voting at the ses- sions. Many abolitionists believed that the battle for woman's rights, however praiseworthy, should not be tied to the cause of the slave, and it was on this key issue that they chose to make their stand at the Massachusetts Society. But to no avail. The ruling of the chair that women should vote was approved by a large majority. The defeated faction withdrew, forming without delay a rival state organization, the Massachusetts Abolition Society.
Within a week the Negro abolitionists held a mass meeting in Boston to consider the schism. Predictably they did two things—expressed regret at the division in the ranks and pledged their unanimous support to the Garrison group. For its leader they had nothing but fulsome praise. They denounced any colored person, "if any there be," who was hostile to Garrison, likening such an ingrate to a man who fell off a ship and when rescued by a Negro went dripping to the captain to ask "if there was no one on board to save him but a nigger." A week later a mass meeting of Negroes at New Bedford took similar action, affirming that Garrison was right and condemning the Massachusetts Abolition Society. "Utter abhorrence" of the new organization was the sentiment of a Negro gathering in Salem. From Philadelphia, Grace and Sarah Douglass sent Garrison a supporting letter that was couched in religious and moralistic tones.
Negroes in Massachusetts were of a mood to stand by Garrison "shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot," as David Ruggles put it. Hence they were greatly vexed when the Reverend Jehiel C. Beman took a job with the Massachusetts Abolition Society. With headquarters in Boston, Beman was to travel to various towns seeking job opportunities for Negroes, and he was to advertise his services in The Colored American and elsewhere.4 But he got a colder reception in New England than he had anticipated. Garrison and the Boston Negroes, acting in unison, condemned him as a dupe designed to "entrap" colored people into the new organization.
The script for schism was enacted on a wider scale at the annual meeting of the parent society in mid-May 1840. Garrison was well prepared for the showdown with the New York abolitionists, even though the site was New York itself. Garri- son had made travel arrangements for over four hundred fol- lowers, hiring boats and extra trains, a step which enabled him to transport his Negro supporters with a minimum of jimcrow, thus ensuring their attendance.
The Abolitionist Crusade
