American Anti-Slavery Society

This article is about the 19th century organization. For the modern-day organization, see American Anti-Slavery Group.

American Anti-Slavery Society
AbbreviationAASS
FoundedDecember 4, 1833; 190 years ago (December 4, 1833)
Dissolved1870; 154 years ago (1870)
Succeeded byAmerican and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (1840)
Liberty Party (1840)
HeadquartersNew York City
NewspaperNational Anti-Slavery Standard (1840-1870)
IdeologyAbolitionism
The Liberty Bell. Boston: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1856. Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections. Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University.
Program for the 29th anniversary of the Anti-Slavery Society

The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an abolitionist society in the United States. AASS formed in 1833 in response to the nullification crisis and the failures of existing anti-slavery organizations, such as the American Colonization Society. AASS formally dissolved in 1870.

AASS was founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader in AASS, who often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown, also a freedman, also often spoke at meetings. By 1838, AASS had 1,346 local chapters. In 1840, AASS claimed about 200,000 members.

Prominent members included Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Theodore Dwight Weld, Lewis Tappan, James G. Birney, Lydia Maria Child, Maria Weston Chapman, Nathan Lord, Augustine Clarke, Samuel Cornish, George T. Downing, James Forten, Abby Kelley Foster, Stephen Symonds Foster, Henry Highland Garnet, Beriah Green, Lucretia Mott, Wendell Phillips, Robert Purvis, Charles Lenox Remond, Sarah Parker Remond, Lucy Stone, and John Greenleaf Whittier, among others.