ISSN:
0021-8758
Source:
Cambridge Journals Digital Archives
Topics:
English, American Studies
,
History
,
Political Science
,
Sociology
,
Economics
Notes:
No fanfare or stirring resolves marked the founding of Connecticut's first antislavery organization. Quietly instituted late in the summer of 1790, the Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Freedom and the Relief of Persons Unlawfully Holden in Bondage soon betrayed a lack of direction and purpose. Upon reading the newly-drafted constitution of the Society, one Connecticut minister decided, “It does not appear that the Society is of much importance as it respects its influence in this State, as there is here scarcely a claim for its exertions.” And yet, during the five uneventful years of its existence, the organization attracted a large contingent of hyper-Calvinist ministers like Benjamin Trumbull, moderate Calvinists like Yale's Ezra Stiles, and unrepentant liberal clergymen like James Dana. All of the ministers involved were Congregationalists. The Society also included a number of prominent and pious laymen and even a sprinkling of prominent and openly irreverent ones. If the Society's work is compared to the ambitious programs of sister organizations in New York and Philadelphia, however, it appears that the Connecticut Society did not do much more than enlist the moral support of religious, political, and social leaders in the state.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021875800005090
Permalink
