Reply to Br. PrynePryne, Abram

Abram Pryne (c. 1822-62), a theologically liberal clergyman, entered New York abolitionist circles in the 1850s. Originally a supporter of Gerrit Smith and the Liberty Party, he served a term in the state legislature as a Republican representative from Wayne County (1860-62). In September 1858 Pryne and Tennessee minister, William G. Brownlow, participated in a public debate over slavery, which was stenographically reported and published as a book. Along with his clerical responsibilities, Pryne also edited a newspaper, the Progressive Christian, in the mid-1850s and later assisted Douglass with editorial tasks on the Frederick Douglass` Paper and the Douglass` Monthly. Ought American Slavery to be Perpetuated? A Debate Between Rev. W. G. Brownlow and Rev. A. Pryne (Philadelphia, 1858); DM, 3: 724 (October 1862); Lib., 30 October 1862. .

I observe in your paper of Sept. 11th, a criticism on Abby KellyFoster, Abigail Kelley

Abby Kelley (1811-87) was born in Pelham village, Worcester County, Massachusetts, the seventh daughter of Wing Kelley, a farmer, and Diana Daniels, his second wife. Kelley was heavily influenced by her Quaker upbringing, but she later broke from the church because of its relative conservatism. Although her early schooling was scanty and deficient, Kelley saved and borrowed money in order to attend the New England Friends Boarding School in Providence, Rhode Island. At age nineteen she returned home and then began a career of teaching in Lynn, Massachusetts, where she became an abolitionist through the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society. In 1838 Kelley spoke at Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia as it was being attacked by an angry protesting mob. In the same year she joined the New England Anti-Slavery Society, previously a male-only organization. She began a career as a lecturer, at both women's and men's gatherings, especially in conservative Connecticut. Kelley married Stephen Symonds Foster, another radical abolitionist, on 21 December 1845. Traveling together on the reform circuit, they were among the most prominent antislavery lecturers in the 1840s and 1850s. Sterling, Ahead of Her Time; EAAH, 2:39-40. Perhaps the best known female American abolitionist. Abigail Kelley Foster (1810-87) was born in Pelham, Massachusetts. She was educated at the Friends School, Providence, Rhode Island, and later taught at a similar establishment in Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1837 she joined the antislavery movement and two years later, following the path blazed by Angelina Grimké, embarked on a career as an abolitionist lecturer. Her talents led Garrisonian abolitionists to choose her as an officer of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, provoking antifeminist abolitionists to bolt the organization. She continued to lecture and raise funds for the Garrisonians and in 1845 married Stephen S. Foster. another prominent abolitionist lecturer. In the 1850s both Fosters became outspoken advocates for women's rights in addition to abolition. Quarrels with Garrison over political action led Abby Foster and her husband to become inactive in the American Anti-Slavery Society in the late 1850s. Ill health forced her to be less active as a reformer after the Civil War, but in 1873 she attracted considerable publicity for woman suffrage by refusing to pay taxes on the family farm in protest against her disenfranchisement. The Fosters and Douglass had lectured together in Rhode Island in November and December 1841. Jane Hanna Pease, “The Freshness of Fanaticism: Abby Kelley Foster: An Essay in Reform" (PhD. diss., Univ. of Rochester, 1969); C. B. Galbreath, “Anti-Slavery Movement in Columbiana County," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, 30: 391-92 (1921); DAB, 6: 542-43. and Stephen FosterFoster, Stephen Symonds

Born in Canterbury, New Hampshire, radical abolitionist Stephen Symonds Foster (1809-81) studied at Dartmouth College. In 1837, a year before his graduation, he helped to organize the New Hampshire Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society. Foster briefly attended Union Theological Seminary in New York, but by 1839 he had repudiated the ministry. He developed his criticisms of American churches most fully in The Brotherhood of Thieves; or, A True Picture of the American Church Clergy (1843). His practice of interrupting a church service to speak out against complicity with slavery frequently provoked violent reaction. While Foster and his wife, Abby Kelley, whom he married in 1815, were agents for the American Anti-Slavery Society for nearly twenty years, their relationship with the Garrisonians was at best one of strained cooperation. Although Foster believed that the Constitution was a proslavery document, he periodically dabbled in politics. In 1843-44 he endorsed the Liberty party. In the late 1850s, having altered his view of the nature of the Constitution, Foster sought to establish a disunion party "whose avowed aim. . .[would] be the overthrow of the government. . .& whose will. . .[would] be expressed through the ballot box." In the mid-1850s he also argued in favor of slave rebellion in his Revolution the Only Remedy for Slavery (1855). A proponent of distributing land to the freedmen, Foster was disappointed with federal Reconstruction policies. He devoted the last years of his life to agitating on behalf of temperance and women's rights. Parker Pillsbury, Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles (Concord, N.H., 1883), 123-55; Lillie B. Chace Wyman, "Reminiscences of Two Abolitionists," New England Magazine, 27:536-50 (January 1903); Parker Pillsbury, "Stephen Symonds Foster,'' Granite Monthly, 5:369-75 (August 1882); Jane H. Pease and William H. Pease, Bound with Them in Chains: A Biographical History of the Antislavery Movement (Westport, Conn., 1972), 191-217; Louis Filler, "Parker Pillsbury: An Anti-Slavery Apostle," NEQ, 19:315-37 (September 1946); ACAB, 2:514-15; NCAB, 2:328-29; DAB, 6:558-59. by Br. Pryne, which I regard as calculated to mislead. They held in this region some twelve or fifteen meetings. I attended nearly all of them, and would say that their efforts were the most effective and left the most happy results of any series of meetings held in this region for a number of years past.—The view they take of the Constitution is, of course, different from ours. Two things now lie across the pathway of anti-slavery success, and do more to prevent the progress of the anti-slavery cause than all others put together, viz: "the Pro-Slavery Political Parties" and the "Normal Church."

Br. Pryne says, "Many seem to overlook the fact that there is a great difference between the reformer and the destroyer." Now Br. Pryne proposes everywhere he goes to destroy both these. With regard to the pro-slavery political parties, he is for their annihilation. And as to the "Normal Church," he has long since ceased to recognize membership with them. Their records say he is a member at Macedon Locks; he says he is a member of the "Church of Christ" by virtue of his regeneration, and a member of the church of South Butler by virtue of his residence there. On the ruins of the one, Br. P. proposes to rear a righteous civil government; on that of the other, the Church of Christ. I have yet to learn that Mr. and Mrs. Foster aim at anything different from that. They, like yourself, told us that the

present administration of the government was a conspiracy, and then told us what would be a righteous civil government. They told us what was Christianity, and then showed us the counterfeit.

Br. Pryne says, "This country unfortunately had a visitation from a class of talkers who did not leave the most happy influence behind them." No so fast, brother. Permit me to reveal a fact I have not yet seen in print, viz: during the stay of Mrs. Foster here, there was pending in the Legislature of this State a bill to aid the Colonization Society out of the people's money, $20,000 annually for two years; making $40,000 in all, and the bill had actually passed the Assembly with but one dissenting vote. A member of that body was present and heard Mrs. Foster expose the iniquity of that society. He returned to Albany, and was the means of defeating the bill when it came up at [the] extra session. "Honor to whom honor is due." Let us, Br. Pryne, not forbid them casting out devils, though they follow not us. Had you, brother, heard them, instead of "hearing of them," I assure you, you would not have written the letter. In all we do, let us remember the Bible says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

Your brother, in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,

Levi J. HicksHicks, Levi J.

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Walworth, Oct. 1st, 1851.