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

presented a resolution to dissolve the association. After an “animated discussion,” the
motion was voted down “by an apparently unanimous vote.” Though the report does not
elaborate on the phrase “animated discussion,” it does note that during the debate the
membership read a letter from Aaron L. Benedict of Delaware County, Ohio, reporting
the successful organization of the Western Free Produce Society. Benedict’s letter was
reprinted in full in the AFPA’s annual report, suggesting its importance to the
membership. “No house in the vicinity being half large enough to convene the people,
the meeting was held in a grove,” Benedict wrote. According to Benedict, a plan had
been established to form free-produce societies in every county in Ohio where “friends of
abstinence reside.” Benedict described a vigorous free-produce movement under
development in the West, one which the newly formed society hoped the AFPA would
support through the supply of free-labor goods. The promise of new supporters may have
been sufficient cause for the AFPA members to postpone any plans of dissolution.
Indeed, free-produce activism in the Old Northwest increased in the 1840s; however, that
activity was not enough to forestall the eventual demise of the AFPA. 25
Participation in the American Free Produce Association steadily declined after its
first annual meeting in 1839. The meeting minutes for 1839 contain a complete list of
delegates along with the name of their sponsoring organization. Most meeting minutes
for subsequent years contain no listing of delegates to the annual meeting. In 1845, the
annual meeting had to be rescheduled due to a lack of delegates. And in 1846 and 1847,
25 Minutes, October 21, 1842, AFPA, HSP. See also Nuermberger, The Free Produce Movement,
50-51; Robertson, Hearts Beating for Liberty, ch. 3.
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