Document 2a
Agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society traveled throughout the United States to urge the abolition of
slavery.
Dear Sir—You have been appointed an Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society; …
… Our object is, the overthrow of American slavery, the most atrocious and oppressive system
of bondage that has ever existed in any country. We expect to accomplish this, mainly by showing
to the public its true character and legitimate fruits [real effects], its contrariety [opposition] to
the first principles of religion, morals, and humanity, and its special inconsistency with our
pretensions [aims], as a free, humane, and enlightened people. In this way, by the force of truth,
we expect to correct the common errors that prevail respecting slavery, and to produce a just
public sentiment, which shall appeal both to the conscience and love of character, of our slaveholding
fellow-citizens, and convince them that both their duty and their welfare require the
immediate abolition of slavery.…
Source: Barnes and Dumond, eds., Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld and
Sarah Grimké, 1822–1844, American Historical Association, 1934
Based on this document, state one reason the American Anti-Slavery Society opposed slavery.
