THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT - The University of Texas at Arlington

executive committee, the BFASS called instead for a general meeting of all female
abolitionists believing “the united wisdoms of all the societies” might better serve the
development of a plan of cooperation among women’s anti-slavery societies. 54
The first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women grew out of the
compromises of the executive committee debate. Bringing women together at the
national level, as the Convention did for the first time in 1837 in New York, emphasized
the moral nature of slavery and abolitionism by transcending regional boundaries. The
national meeting provided women with an opportunity to meet face-to-face to organize
and to further develop connections within their abolitionist community. In each of the
three conventions women passed free-produce resolutions, keeping the tactic of
abstinence central to their anti-slavery activism. Significantly, free produce was deeply
intertwined in their efforts to define women’s place in the abolitionist movement and to
achieve racial equality.
Gender and race concerns figured prominently in the planning of the convention.
The BFASS, the PFASS, and the Grimké sisters were the primary forces behind the first
convention, however, they worried that local women might dominate the proceedings.
Many of the leading abolitionists in New York were evangelical ministers. The women
of the Ladies’ New York Anti-Slavery Society tended to follow the lead of their fathers,
brothers, and husbands, embracing traditional ideas about gender and race. The Society
had few African American members and had not elected any African American women
54 Minutes, August 11, 1836, September 8, 1836, February 9, 1837, and March 9, 1837, PFASS
HSP; Maria Weston Chapman to Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, January 12, 1837, PFASS
HSP; Salerno, Sister Societies, 52-54.
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