[African-Americana] (Bacon, Benjamin C.) Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society Printed Circular

"MILLIONS OF HUMAN BEINGS are degraded and held down to the condition of PROPERTY-to the the level of BRUTES-in a land professing to respect equality of human rights, and to be governed by impartial law!"

Boston, February 15, 1835. Bifolium, 9 3/4 x 8 in. (248 x 203 mm). Two-page printed circular, signed in type by Benjamin C. Bacon, Secretary and agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. In part: "The mouth of the nation is filled with please for a continuance of the wrong. The North will not assert the rights of the slaves, because that would injure her trade! The South will not free them, because they are her PROPERTY...In view of these facts, permit me, in behalf of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, to address you, as a man, a patriot, and a Christian, and ask, What will you do to relieve the oppressed, to save your country, to honour that gospel which commands, 'Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them?'...There are two obvious ways of operating to change public sentiment...But the press cannot be used without funds...Under this urgent necessity, the Board of Managers propose the following plan..." Manuscript note on third page, "This is sent you, that you may see what measure we are pursuing to raise funds. It has been sent to all The Anti Slavery Societies in the State." Creasing from old folds; scattered light foxing.

Rare printed circular published by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, extolling abolitionist sentiments, and calling for donations to the cause. This copy was sent to American minister and abolitionist, Rev. Samuel J. May, who is cited in the letter as an agent of the Society.

The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was unofficially formed in the early 1830s by William Lloyd Garrison, Rev. May, Samuel Sewall, and others. It later became the state chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Society, a larger organization founded in 1833 by a conglomeration of famed abolitionists, such as Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Beriah Green, John Greenleaf Whittier, John Rankin, Benjamin C. Bacon, and others.

During the early years of the Society's activities, its enterprises were funded completely though private donations. In addition to spreading printed anti-slavery sentiments, fundraising was one of it's core efforts. As anti-slavery societies were formed across many different states through the 1830s, the American Anti-Slavery Society became the conduit for spreading the movements platform, through their publication of the American Anti-Slavery Reporter, as well as Garrison's The Liberator.

Rev. Samuel J. May (1797-1871) was an American Unitarian minister, and ardent supporter of abolition, women's rights, and educational reform. Born in Boston, he was a descendant of two renowned colonial families, the Quincys and the Hancocks. His sister, Abby May Alcott was the mother of author Louisa May Alcott. May was one of the founding members of the New England Anti-Slavery society, being a close supporter of William Lloyd Garrison, the publisher of the famous Liberator newspaper. Throughout the 1830s and 40s, he was actively involved in the national abolition movement, traveling throughout the northeastern United States to local anti-slavery chapters or societies as a lecturer and agent. A friend to Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Douglass, May aided freedom seekers directly, led the Syracuse Fugitive Aid Society, and founded one of the nation's first Freedmen's Relief Associations in 1862. He was a prolific author and orator, writing a multitude of essays and speeches on reforming political and religious society until his death in 1871.

Benjamin C. Bacon was a Boston abolitionist and founding member and secretary of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. During the 1830s he served as office agent for William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, and as secretary of the Anti-Slavery Depository, where he managed the sale of anti-slavery publications. He later moved to Philadelphia, where he joined the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, and served as an executive committee member. In 1838, he assisted Black abolitionist Charles W. Gardner compile a census of the city's Black population, and in 1856 he published Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia.

From the personal papers of American minister and abolitionist, Rev. Samuel J. May (1797-1871), thence by descent in the family

[African-Americana] (Bacon, Benjamin C.) Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society Printed Circular