The American Anti-Slavery Society's Plea for Funding to Abolitionist Groups Across the Country

"the work is not complete. The slave is yet in chains. And now, to the main question, WHAT SHALL BE DONE?...We must have immediate and general, and liberal aid, or greatly curtail our operations..."

New York, October 4, 1837. Printed circular on bifolium, titled "An Appeal to Abolitionists", sent to reformer and abolitionist Rev. Samuel J. May, addressed in manuscript to "Worthy Coadjutors", with a short post-script signed by abolitionist James G. Birney. Printed letter lays out the various efforts of the American Anti-Slavery Society, to illustrate their financial needs. In part: "you undoubtably recognize the American Anti-Slavery Society as the grand central point of union....That Society now cries for help...The crisis demands that several of our leading publications should be immediately distributed gratuitously. Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, should be put into the hands of every lawyer and legislator...The Bible Argument, contained in the Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine, ought to be furnished to every clergyman...Jay's Inquiry...Gerrit Smith's Review of Smylie; Angelina E. Grimke's Appeal...all of these should be thoroughly circulated. The friends of the cause should furnish us with the means to put a copy of the Anti-Slavery Almanack into every family in the free states...We lose very much for lack of the means to seize favorable opportunities to influence the public...We now employ 35 traveling, and about 150 local lecturers. To the traveling lecturers, we pay barely enough for their comfortable support...To abolitionists chiefly must we look for the money...Our only hope is in making every ABOLITIONIST GIVE SOMETHING..." Short manuscript note signed by James Birney at conclusion, "We are expending much in your State- will you aid us immediately." Hand-addressed and docketed on verso. Wax seal remnant. Creasing from old folds; scattered stains.

Rare printed circular of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) outlining their efforts in the abolitionist movement, while simultaneously requesting donations for their operation. During the early years of the AASS, its enterprises were funded completely through private donations. As a result, in addition to spreading printed anti-slavery sentiments, fundraising was one of it's core efforts.

Formed in Philadelphia in 1833 by 60 prominent abolitionists, the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was a nationwide organization committed to the immediate emancipation of all enslaved people. The group employed a wide range of tactics, including the publication of pamphlets, broadsides, and circulars, the sponsoring of lectures, the encouragement of acts of civil disobedience, and the boycotting of goods produced by enslaved labor, to compel a national moral reckoning with slavery. Among the society's founding figures was the Rev. Samuel J. May (1797–1871). Though initially drawn to colonization as a young man, May underwent a shift in conviction around 1830 when William Lloyd Garrison persuaded him to embrace immediate abolitionism. From that point forward, May dedicated himself to the cause, even in the face of mob violence. Together with Garrison, he helped establish both the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS) and the AASS itself, where he sat on the executive committee alongside Lewis Tappan and worked as a paid agent.

May's activism extended beyond the organization's leadership. He publicly supported Prudence Crandall's effort to operate a school for Black girls in Canterbury, Connecticut, and he published The Unionist, an abolitionist newspaper, beginning in 1833. He also lent his assistance to the formation of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. Deeply committed to racial equality, May consistently advocated for racial and gender-integrated meetings at a time when many reformers favored segregation based on race or sex. He actively aided people escaping from bondage and was an acquaintance with Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass. He served as president of the Syracuse Fugitive Aid Society, and on behalf of the AASS, he traveled to Canada to visit communities of formerly enslaved people who had settled there. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he founded one of the earliest Freedmen's Relief Associations, in 1862. During the postwar period he became a vocal proponent of Radical Reconstruction, and championed voting rights, education, and land redistribution for the newly freed population.

James G. Birney (1792-1857) was a successful lawyer, politician, and abolitionist. At one point a plantation owner that used enslaved labor, he reevaluated his views on the subject, and joined first the American Colonization Society, and later the American Anti-Slavery Society.