nd
the convention approved the project, _provided_ the Negroes had a
majority of at least one on the board of trustees. An illuminating
address to the public called attention to the progress of emancipation
abroad, to the fact that it was American persecution that led to the
calling of the convention, and that it was this also that first induced
some members of the race to seek an asylum in Canada, where already
there were two hundred log houses, and five hundred acres under
cultivation.

In 1832 eight states were represented by a total of thirty delegates. By
this time we learn that a total of eight hundred acres had been secured
in Canada, that two thousand Negroes had gone thither, but that
considerable hostility had been manifested on the part of the Canadians.
Hesitant, the convention appointed an agent to investigate the
situation. It expressed itself as strongly opposed to any national aid
to the American Colonization Society and urged the abolition of slavery
in the District of Columbia--all of which activity, it is well to
remember, was a year before the American Anti-Slavery Society was
organized.

In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, now of
Washington, was chosen president. The convention again gave prominence
to the questions of Canada and colonization, and expressed itself with
reference to the new law in Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other
states from attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was
held in New York. Prudence Crandall[1] was commended for her stand in
behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a day for prayer and
addresses on the condition of the Negro throughout the country. By
this time we hear much of societies for temperance and moral reform,
especially of the so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in
general culture--literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these
organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion Church, was
general president, and among the directors were Rev. Peter Williams,
Boston Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul
Quinn, afterwards a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835
and 1836 meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the
students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their zeal in
the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to look into the
dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia and generally to review the
work of the Colonizat