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Portland Anti-Slavery Society

Maine Anti-Slavery Society constitution, ca. 1833

Maine Anti-Slavery Society constitution, ca. 1833

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Maine Historical Society

Click on the audio link below to hear Dr. Elgersman Lee's comments on the Maine Anti-Slavery Society constitution of the 1830s.

Transcription of Dr. Elgersman Lee's comments:

Constitution of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society

Like that of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the Maine Anti-Slavery Society's constitution invokes the language of the Declaration of Independence and a Christianity-informed moral responsibility.

The document called for emancipation to be immediate, comprehensive, uncompensated, non-violent, and non-repatriative.

The Maine Anti-Slavery Society's position on abolition would alienate proslavery and antislavery supporters alike -- not only those who wanted to maintain or even expand the institution, but also those whose antislavery platform included staggering the emancipation process or compensating the slaveocracy.

Abraham Lincoln's own plan for emancipation called for slaveholder compensation and slave expatriation. By disavowing compensation, the Maine Anti-Slavery Society underscored an unwillingness to offer restitution for this sin against God.

At the same time, the Society's position on nonviolence limited its power to words and persuasion. This also illuminates why speakers of regional and national renown were actively pursued to deliver lectures in the state.