liook "^ 4 /C y<^ 
 
/ 
 
 REPORT 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AND VIEWS y: /;r-p 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TAU'NTON vUNIO.N. 
 
 For tbe Relief and Improvement of the 
 
 COLORED RACE; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE 
 
 CONSTITUTION 
 
 OF THE SOCIETY, 
 
 LIST OF OFFICERS, 
 
 CHOSEN, MAY, 1835. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF 
 MANAGERS. 
 
 TAUNTON: 
 PRINTED BY BRADFORD & AMSBCRf"* 
 
 1835. 
 
 y^f 
 

PREFACE. 
 
 The Citizens of Taunton, feeling a deep interest in the degraded 
 condition of the Colored population of our country, yet, disposed to 
 do nothing in the premises, unwarranted by the obligations, which 
 they owe the institutions of the land, or inconsistent wiih the plain 
 precepts of humanity, have, aftei- ,i th(iroii<;li investigation of the 
 subject of Slavery as it exists amonfj us, seen fit to form a Union 
 SociETT, having for its object the Rehef of tlie Colored Race gen- 
 erally. The field is large, sufficiently large, they think, to move 
 efficiently in the cause, and that with great effect, without striking at 
 the root of our well established institutions, endangering the Consti- 
 tution, and through it, the welfare and happiness of twelve miUions 
 of People. 
 
 The Citizens of this place have held several Public Meetings, at 
 the Town Hall, at which the above subject has been fully discussed 
 by gentlemen well qualified Tt the task. — At one of which, the fol- 
 lowing gentlemen were appointed a Committee to embody the views 
 of the meeting, and to report the form of a Constitution, 
 
 Rev. ANDREW BIGELOW, 
 Hon. JAMES L. HODGES, 
 Mr. JOSEPH DIXON, 
 Hon. FRANCIS BAYLIES, 
 JAMES SPROAT, Esq., 
 Mr. S. O. DUNBAR, 
 H. G. O. COLBY, Esq., 
 JOSEPH L. LORD, Esq., 
 Mr. J. C. YOUNG, 
 Rev. JOHN B. DODS, and 
 HORATIO PRATT, Esq. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting of the Citizens, the Committee offered 
 
the Report and Constitution which will be found in the following 
 pages, which were severally adopted. Thereupon, the Society was 
 formed, and is destined, it is believed, to increasing importance and 
 growing usefulness. Being a Peace Society, we do not venture to 
 recriminate, or denounce. We are Abolitionists, as we think, in the 
 proper sense of the term ; we are Colonizationists ; we are Unionists 
 on Constitutional principles, and would cherish and spread afar the 
 spirit of brotherly Kindness and Charity, 
 Taunton, June, 1835, 
 
AMONr.|the benevolent enterprises of the age, most interesting la 
 this people as an important member of t!ic family of nations, that 
 which invites the energies of the Christian and the Patriot to tlie 
 eventual rescue of millions of human beings within our own borders 
 from the condition of abject servitud?"; claims our profound consider- 
 ation. And, it is believed, no one, who has engaged in the se- 
 rious contemplation of this great subject will refuse his assent to 
 these pro[)ositions. — That the subject of slavery is an enormous 
 evil, both in a moral and political point of view : — that the con- 
 dition of those subject to it, ought to be ameliorated, and; that 
 all proper and lawful measures ought to be adopted for the im- 
 provement of the condition of the whole colored race, and for the 
 progressive emancipation of that portion whose servitude can be 
 safely exchanged for civil freedom. In regard to the first pro- 
 position, while it commands the acquiescence of the benevolent 
 and reflecting every where, especially of those devoted to the pre- 
 valence of equal rights in a land blessed, above all others, with 
 civil and religious liberty, may, by its mere abstractness, obscure 
 or postpone circumstances in themselves of vital importance to 
 the existence of ^/irtf ve/\i/ liberty. It is not ditHcult to find in 
 every Commonwealth or State either on this, or the other side of 
 the Atlantic, institutions absolutely wrong in principle, and, of 
 course, injurious in some of their effects; and yet, for sound and 
 obvious reasons the people adected by them, prefer either their 
 gradual mitigation and change or, their continual toleration, un- 
 til public safety, the high end and aim of civil governments, shall 
 justify the use of the strong hand ofexcission or subversion. Nor 
 do the wise and benevolent, in any country abroad, venture to re- 
 vive the spirit that sent forth, in the middle ages of Christianity, 
 H armies to correct the abuses, or to punish the wickedness of 
 1 Foreign lands. The Turks had captured Jerusalem and 
 1 thus desecrated the holiest of cities. This aroused the ferviours 
 1 of Peter, the hermit. I will rouse, said he, to the captives, the 
 f martial nations of Europe in your cause, and Europe was obedi- 
 % ent to the summons. We are not ignorant where lies the martial 
 ^ strengthof this country, but we trust, it will not be roused from 
 ,' I its manly rest, — it will not be evoked to battle with friends and 
 [^ brethren, in a cause theirs alone to mitigate, to suffer or to re- 
 move. The example, most recent and most appalling presented 
 by France when slie proclaimed her philosophy, false and desola- 
 
img in polilics am! religion, as it wns lo the souls of men, and 
 fatal lo millions oi" human lives as its sanguinary progress among 
 the nations, had but too deplorably proved, will not be adduced, 
 it is hoped, to justify another similar iiUorference on the part of 
 one community, however inspired with a supposed philanthropy, 
 with the dearest interests and sacred rights of another. Liberty, 
 freedom, by whatever name personal exemption from the power 
 of a master may be called, is undoubtedly a fit object of desire 
 and pursuit. Yet it may be pursued and even gained at a sacti- 
 fice crreater than the benefit conferred. The learned and excen- 
 tric Jeremy Taylor gives an anecdote, somewhat in point. St. 
 Louis, Kin'T of France sentlvo. Bishop ofChatres on an Embassy. 
 The Bishop returned and informed the king, that he met a grave 
 and stately matron on theway^, with a censer of fire in one hand, 
 and a vessel of water in the other; and observing her to have a 
 remarkably religious and phantastic deportment and look, he 
 asked her what those symbols meant, and what she meant to do 
 with her fire and water ? she answered, my purpose is with the 
 fire to burn paradise, and with my water to quench the flames of 
 hell, that men may serve God, purely for the love of God. So, 
 purely for the love of liberty, regardless of the existing association 
 of circumstances or of probable consequences, the immediate ab- 
 olition of Slavery is preached, and to be effected, not, perha[3# in- 
 tentionally, by the preachers or partizans of the cause, through 
 the agency oi" fire and water, but we have no doubt, the new a- 
 potheosis they would render to civil liberty, would, be celebrated 
 by the instrumentality of those elements of nature, in combina- 
 tions as direful and elToctive as human skill and malignity can 
 devise. That passion, revenge, whose universality and cruelty 
 in man, it is the noble aim and peculiar duty of Christianity to 
 subdue, will have a sway, which, flames may, indeed, illustrate 
 with the horrors of a servile war, but which many waters cannot 
 quench. We would honor the cause of human liberty but we 
 would not distress or disgrace the cause of humanity. 
 
 These general remarks naturally spring from considering 
 measures, so vehemently urged, as we have lately witnessed, 
 with a view to the immediate and entire abolition of Slavery in 
 certain States in our Confederacy. These states, in relation to 
 their possession and management of a slave population, are as 
 truly independent of other states, as are the distant nations of the 
 world, of each other. The national Constitution, we all know, is 
 a document imparting none but specific or necessarily implied 
 powers, explicitly declaring all others to be reserved to the States, 
 respectively. And, moreover, it takes special notice, by recognition 
 and provision, of the institution of Slavery, as pertaining, cxclu- 
 siveli/, to the sovereignty of the States. Perhaps in no aspect of 
 that grave, yet much vexed and abused instrument, the Consti- 
 tution, can we perceive a more clear demarcation of individ- 
 ual State power on the one hand, and exclusion of all other, 
 whether of the Union, or, of co-ordinate states, on the other, that 
 
l^s there presented ia relation to tliis subject. Here, then, we 
 meet a political impediment which should restrain the true patri- 
 ot from a course o(' imprudent interference, whose results, com- 
 mencing in impudent rashness, may very naturally, grow to an- 
 archy, violence, murder and the universal dissolution of the fab- 
 ric of our national entity. Still, the philanthropist need not be 
 deterred from prosecuting a feasible plan of benevolence toward 
 the Slaves because he may not rush into the temple of our com- 
 rrion, political salvation, with a blazing torch, or may not apply it 
 td^me of its dark and noisome appendages. No, that cause, 
 true to its origin and to its tendencies, whose object is the doing- 
 much good, and avoiding and removing all possible evil, need 
 not forego'the use of the numerous.multiform agencies which may 
 be put forth for the melioration of the whole colored race, and 
 the gradual liberation of the enslaved. And we would point to 
 some of the means which may properly be employed in aid of 
 this great and good cause. Tiie education, moral and religious 
 of the free blacks, throughout our wide country, in the non slave- 
 holding as well as the slave holding States, demands the strenuous 
 and constant exertions of the enlightened and benevolent. To 
 this great class much and permanent good, pure and free from 
 peril may and ought to be effected by organized bodies. The 
 inculcation of moral and religious truth on the minds and hearts 
 of the e«5/are^, and their still more minute and business aiding 
 instruction, with the consent of their masters, is an imperative du- 
 ty on those who would prepare the bondman for freedom. To 
 this end, moral suasion must be used, to convince the master and 
 the mistress who will listen to the friendly appeal, of their deep- 
 responsibilities, of their bounden duty, and of their perils wheth- 
 er immediate or contingent ; — in short, being the almost absolute 
 controllers of the destinies of their fellow men in bonds, " of sin, 
 of righteousness and of judgment." For, after all the zeal and 
 eloquence and toil we witness going forth to preach or to break 
 down the deep-rooted institution of Slavery, as it exists in our 
 land, these are the persons to whom the language of fraternal re- 
 monstrance and counsel must first be addressed ; in whose ears 
 alone the tocsin of alarm must be sounded, and from whom a- 
 lone can proceed, efficient measures for the redemption of the en- 
 slaved. By them, principally, are the evils of the accursed sys- 
 tem experienced, to many of them it is an acknowledged burthen, 
 and to all, to them and to us, it will eventually prove a fatal ex- 
 crescence on the body politic, unless timely measures be adopted 
 for its reduction and final extirpation. To this end, much must 
 be done within the slave possessing states, to prepare general so- 
 ciety and to mature legislation for the probable benefits of manu- 
 mission. 
 
 And this vast and difficult work must be done amidst the hom- 
 es and citadels of Slavery ; and it will require the forecast and 
 caution proper to an untried, perilous and far extending experi- 
 ment on a degraded race and the accustomed happiness of free- 
 
men. Thus, in the lapse ofycars fraught with wise efforts,the Con- 
 gress of tlie U. S. may receive the appeal of the Soutliern and 
 South western States witli a favor which shall attach tiic cordial 
 concurrence of the non slave holtliiifr States in the enactment of 
 laws for the care and safety of the freed man and his master. In 
 this conviction, we would solicit attention to a fact tvkich the 
 piiblic friends of abolitionism seem not to have regarded. Tiiey 
 insist on the duty of immediate emancipation, and of conferring on 
 the quondam Slaves, the rights and privileges of freemen ; or, as 
 some seem to apprehend, this may be too large a boon, they WQuld 
 curtail and modify it in form and degree. Now, Civil Lib*ty, 
 that which every freeman claims as his inalienable birthright, iu 
 this country, knows no neighborhood but that ofabsoluCe Slavery. 
 The legal freeman is so absolutely. Under our polity, there can 
 be no other rank of men, except minors, insane persons and those 
 condemned for crime or supposed violation of standing laws, and 
 this class of persons, it is presumed, is not to be taken as the ex- 
 ample for the grand accession to the body of the free, contemplat- 
 ed by the abolitionists. Have they then duly considered the im- 
 portance of extending an equal participation in the rights and 
 privileges of freemen to some two or three millions of human be- 
 ings, whom, an hitherto unbroken, servile bondage of body ^nd 
 mind has made unlit for any condition but that of a degraded 
 labor without intellect, or of brutish passions without virtue 1 And 
 do they accustom themselves to compare the free and noble in- 
 stitutions of our common country with those of any other, even 
 with those of England, our Father land, wherein Slavery has 
 been abolished 1 No government on earth can bring the Slave 
 to a freedom so expansive and so responsible, as our own. The 
 liberty of the manumitted of the hither Islands of England, is but 
 an exemption from bondage. Those of our country would be- 
 come positively free citizens capable of uniting in, and it may be, 
 of controling the election of civil officers and legislators. Yes, 
 with or without the aid of demagogues and aspirants of our own 
 complexion, " our own kiih and kin," they may decide the elec- 
 tion of Governors, and Senators and Representatives and even 
 that of the Chief Magistrate of the Union, and their voice may 
 preponderate in that of Representatives in the, councils of the Na- 
 tion. Are we prepared fur such results ? But say the preachers 
 of absolute and immediate abolition, *' we do not mean it shall 
 take place to-day, or to-morrow, or even next year, but the duty 
 is immediately pressing and the sin of Slavery ought instantly to 
 be washed out." How is this solemn, moral precept and dicta- 
 tion to be understood 1 We say as firmly and as conscientious- 
 ly as the abolitionists. Slavery ought to be discontinued and forev- 
 er cease to be ; We, too would breathe " the spirit of universal 
 emancipation." Cut we would require time, during which appro- 
 priate means should be employed to eflect the desired end. It 
 would seem, the controversy, in some of its stages, is merely a 
 matter of verbal criticism, indeed, a sort of Logomachy. Yet the 
 
9 
 
 abolilionlats zealously, aye, furiously insist on iUe right, tha duty 
 and imperious obligation of immediate emancipation of the entire 
 mass of the Slaves ! Well, if this be the true position, we say, 
 the emancipated should step forth from their degradation, to enjoy 
 equally with ourselves, all the immunities and benefits of citizen- 
 ship. To return to the argument, the freed men of the Isles re- 
 ferred to, have no such power ; no power of action in the great ma- 
 chinery of government, nay, no liberty to approach its remotest 
 muniments, in the altitude of citizenship, or with such attributes 
 as those with which wo dignify the free, of whatever complexion. 
 And we would not pretermit or disparage the fact that our citizens 
 have been always pre-eminently educated to civil liberty ; that 
 our fathers during many generations understood and enjoyed it, 
 that patriarciial colonies of them, brought it hither as among the 
 holiest of their possessions, and its light has been shining on their 
 posterity with increasing splendor, ever since. Yet, do we not. 
 feel the necessity (how often too fearfully !) of appropriating for 
 our behoof as men, and, especially as fellow-citizens, all the ap- 
 pliances of useful education and liberal learning ? The press 
 and the pulpit, the school-room and the university, the frequent 
 assemblies of townsmen and the halls of legislation are all found 
 necessary to keep alive the spirit of civil and religious liberty in 
 ourselves and for its transmission to the extended, crowded host 
 of coming generations. Without pursuing this topic further, can 
 there be safety, we would not say, benefit, but even the possibility 
 of safety, either for our sacred, time-hallowed institutions, or to 
 the liberated blacks, shouhl they be suifcred, en masse, or in any 
 great numbers, to approach these institutions in the all-pervading 
 and tremendous name of equal liberty and equal rights? A mo- 
 ment's reflection will convince any one not devoted to a favourite 
 scheme of inconsiderate philanthropy, that those who have never 
 been able to govGrii themselves and have been brought up under 
 no higher motives th.an those peculiar to a state of servitude, can- 
 not at a moment and without a fitting education, be capable of self- 
 government, much less, of that of the great Commonwealth. The 
 Exodus and subsequent history of the Jews under Moses and Aa- 
 ron at the command of God, as the Bible informs us, is illustra- 
 tive of this point. These Jews had been slaves in Egypt 430 years, 
 and were brought out of bondage as destined to an inheritance in 
 Canaan. Yet so vile, ignorant and idolatrous were they, that God 
 would not leave them to freedom and self-government. And, af- 
 ter a severe probation of forty years under the moral law, thun- 
 dered into their ears at Mount Sinai, and camp laws and various 
 disciplinary regulations as preparative to their enjoyment of the 
 promised land, they had not become fit for that great favor, and 
 it was not bestowed. They all, but Caleb and Joshua, died in an 
 ignorance and wickedness so incorrigible, even under the perpet- 
 ual tuition of wise judges nnd rulers appointed under the author- 
 ity of Jehovah, as to be unfit for the ble.sfjings and duties cf Lib- 
 erty. Hera is a Bible instance, in point, solemnly commendiflj^ 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 to our regard, the plan of progressive instruction and gradual 
 emancipation. The celebrated Dr. Adam Clarke has this note 
 on the 14th verse of the 2d chapter of Exodus. " He, (Moses,) 
 saw that the Israelites were not yet prepared to leave their bon- 
 •dage and that though God had called him to be their leader, yet 
 his providence had not sufficiently opened the way. So that, a 
 preparation of mind and morals was requsite for tliese people, even, 
 before their departure from Egypt, and afterwards, a severe disci- 
 pline and a probation of forty years in the wilderness; and all this 
 proved to be ineffectual. Moses was truly a colonizationist. We 
 would yield our cordial approval of tlie generous scheme and ef- 
 forts of the American Colonization Society, whose benevolence 
 has only been limited, by the want of pecuniary mean?, and of 
 ■that universal co-operation, which it earnestly desires and eminent- 
 ly deserves. Comprising as it does nearly all the prominent plans 
 of Christian benevolence of the present age, it, moreover, proffers 
 the happiest avenue of escape from danger, both to the master 
 -and the liberated slave. Thus considered, it comes to the aid of 
 the cause of gradual emancipation and will readily and comforta- 
 bly transfer the colored freeman, with his own consent, to the land 
 of his fathers, nay more, to a community of enlightened, indus- 
 trious. Christian freeinen of his own race. Thus may be obviq^d 
 the objection which has been urged, founded on the dangers 
 apprehended from the emancipation of Slaves, who might, in 
 great masses abide, thereafter, in the immediate vicinity of their 
 former masters. Enlarge but the operations of the Society and 
 the general correction of the impolicy and injustice of the sys- 
 tem of Slavery will bs proportionately realized. The Society in- 
 tend to effect all that the most sanguine liberators can consid- 
 erately desire, unless he shall desire multipled exasperations, 
 sufferings and wrongs between the master and the Slave or freed- 
 man; or, an unnatural amalgamation of the races; or, an isolated 
 settlement of the colored one within our Country's domain. In 
 relation to the first of these consequences, enough has already 
 been said. The second, supposes an intermingling of blood from 
 which all our belter feelings turn with abhorrence, and which, to 
 urge, or seriously suggest, is the arousing an indomitable spirit in 
 a deservedly proud, intelligent, chivalric race, on the one hand, 
 and, to fasten stronger and stronger, to sink deeper and deeper, 
 the chains and manacles of Slavery, on the other. 
 
 The other potential plan in the contemplation of the liberators, 
 that of a distinct location of the emancipated, we would not, at 
 this time, discuss. Its feasibility and advantages, as well as its 
 difficulties and dangers can be better understood by those in 
 whose neighborhood, it would be brought into operation, and by 
 whom, its effects, whether for good or for evil, would be most sen- 
 sibly, most extensively and most permanently felt. The Com- 
 mittee deeply impressed with a sense of the magnitude of the 
 subject before them, and of the solemn duty of relieving and 
 roaking better for this world and the next, that great portiou of 
 
ri 
 
 rur bictliicii, the colored race, boll), those who being free, oaght! 
 lo enjoy the full benelits of freedom, and, 
 
 "Tiiose, whose very souls are moulded to the yoke. 
 
 And stamped with servitude" — 
 liave turned their attention to the recent " Exposition of the plans 
 and objects ot the American Union, for the Relief and Improve- 
 ment of the Colored Race." A brief history and synopsis of 
 this Society, we will hero present, while we commend to tlie 
 Public, the Document referred to. Many distinguished philan- 
 thropists, jurists and eminent Christians in our country had — for 
 years, contemplated a plan, whereby measures might be put into 
 successful and safe operation, 'for the melioration and emancipa- 
 tion of the Colored Race, without trenching on the rights of 
 individuals or any body of men, and, without exciting sectional 
 jealousies, or the dormant energies of servitude. More than one 
 hundred of such men coming from ten of the United States, 
 assembled in Boston, January 14th, 1835; and with a serious- 
 ness and carefulness befitting the momentous occasion, came 
 forth to the world under the title we have already named; pro- 
 claiming no hostility to any other Society, and making no boast 
 of superior piety or a pre-eminent charitif. Let us, then, advert 
 lo its avowed intentions and purposes. In the first place, they 
 invite all the friends of this cause to associated, local efforts for 
 the improvement of the people of color in all our cities and larger 
 towns. The Society proposes " religious instruction, by affec- 
 tionate, discreet and faithful teachers, to be provided for the free 
 colored people, in such forms as may be best suited to their 
 wants." They propose " schools to be provided in which every 
 colored child shall be enabled to acquire as good an education, 
 as is due by birthright to the other inhabitants of this Country. 
 They propose the bringing up the children of the emancipated 
 to respect-.ible and regular employments. For, lamentably defic- 
 ient are these, in the facilities enjoyed by others in gaining an 
 adequate acquaintance with the mechanic arts and the diversifi- 
 ed business of the social condition. Thus, they would implant 
 the principles of common prudence and private economy, of sav- 
 ing and self-denial, of individual responsibility and self respect, of 
 ho°iest industry and its sure result, the satisfactions of thrift and 
 importance in community. They propose " the bringing forward 
 promising young men of color and aiding their education in the 
 higher branches" of knowledge." These, it is believed, may be 
 sent out as preachers of civilization and Christianity, to the desti- 
 tute myriads of the colored race in the British Colonies, now 
 either emancipated, or passing through the process of emancipa- 
 tion. In Hayti, too, it is well understood, such missionaries 
 would be well received, where those of our own comple.xion, 
 would be resisted or avoided. And we might appeal to the gene- 
 rous sympathies of our entire Republic, and, with a fraternal af- 
 fection for our Southern brethren, and ask, what may not be th« 
 malign influences to them and to us all, when we regard the proK- 
 
n 
 
 iinity of these Islands to our own sliorcs and the free intercoufise 
 subsisting between them and our countrymen ; unless education 
 on principles of Christian civilization, which we respect as the 
 guardians of our political peace, indeed the very elements of our 
 existence, shall be recognized and cherished in those Islands? 
 In benighted, wretched Africa, the natal region of the blacks, 
 whither the sympathies and prayers of the Christian world are go- 
 ing forth with an accelerated energy peculiar to the passing age 
 of high moral as well as physical power, the properly trained 
 colored men of oar land can do more to enlighten and elevate their 
 race, than the combined learning, piety and zeal of our own could 
 effect, under the most favorable auspices. The American Union 
 proposes to ascertain facts by all proper available means, in relation 
 to the condition, moral and religious; free and servile, of the 
 whole colored race. This they would do, not for the mere purpose 
 oUiaving information but for using it to the effectuating great and 
 beneficent results. They invite intelligence from all quarters 
 and would be prepared by knowledge, to put forth their great 
 plan of improvement and salvation, casting themselves on the 
 wisdom of the just and merciful in the cause cf human liberty, 
 wherever they may be, and above all, looking to the providence of 
 God, whence alone can proceed the consummation of their houes 
 and desires. The plan and object of this society, your commit- 
 tee, in the main, cordially approve, and in the conviction, that 
 no other has hitherto been devised so well calculated to avoid 
 evils and to promote substantial, unstained good,iii the grand yet 
 perilous enterprize of improving and emancipating the colored 
 race, would cheerfully commend tiiis institution to the favor of 
 the public, and especidlly those among us who would strive with 
 a well regulated Christian energy, and not insanely, against the 
 mighty. 
 
 DeprecTting Slavery, as an evil originating in Sin, and to be 
 tolerated only by the force of circumstances, and to be abandoned 
 so soon as these shall justify the righteous and equitable Act of 
 Emancipation ; we would always bend on our Southern brethren, 
 an eye of sympathy for the trials and perils to which they are 
 subjected, and we would not exacerbate the sources of misery to 
 which they are exposed, by a mawkish philanthropy, or a severe 
 code of supposed duly utterly at variance with the solemn stipula- 
 tions of our entire Confederacy. These stipulations, we have no 
 right to annul, nor have we a right to disturb injuriously to either 
 party, the ancient, numerous, delicate and difficult relations, 
 bubsisting between the master and Slave. Here then we propose 
 two principles of action founded in religion and the social com- 
 part, in morality and fraternal kindness. On these, we fix our- 
 selves, in dissent from modern abolitionism and its awful conse- 
 quences. But we would not fold our arms or close our hearts 
 against the evils of Slavery. No, as we have already indicated, 
 we would hail with gratitude as we would aid with pleasure, all 
 Christian, constitutional measures for iheir entire extermination. 
 
CONSTITUTION. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 This Society shall be called the " Taunton Union, for the 
 Rei.ief and Improvement of the Colored Race." 
 
 ARTICLE IL 
 
 The object of this Association being the benevolent effort to 
 promote in all suitable and peaceable ways, the intellectual and 
 moral elevation of the Colored Race ; and especially, by collect- 
 ing and diffusing usefnl information, and exerting a kind, moral 
 innuence, to seek and apply the most judicious, and practicable 
 means, for the final extinction of the System of Slavery in our 
 land ; it will lend its aid and influence to the " American Union," 
 or any other Society, having for its object the same motives and 
 principles of action, by which this association will be governed. 
 
 ARTICLE in. 
 
 Any person may become a member of this Society, by signing 
 this Constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 The officers of this Society shall be a President, two Vice 
 Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, 
 and Treasurer, who shall be chosen annually, in such manner as 
 the Society shall prescribe, and shall perform the duties incident 
 to such offices respectively. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 There shall also be an executive committee of five members, 
 who, together with the Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, 
 shall constitute a board of Managers to transact the business of 
 the Society. The President, Vice Presidents and Treasurer, shall 
 be, El officio, members of the board. 
 
14 
 
 A RTICLE VI. 
 
 It shall be llie duty of the Recording Secretary, to keep a true 
 irecord of the proceedings of the society. 
 
 ARTICLE Vli. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Treasurer, to take charge of all such 
 monies, as may be obtained by subscription or donation in aid of 
 the objects of the society, to be appropriated under the direction 
 of the board of Managers, for the general purposes mentioned in 
 Article 2, of this Constitution. 
 
 A R T I C L E VIII. 
 
 The annual meeting of the Society, shall be held on the third 
 Wednesday in May, at which time the officers shall be chosen, a 
 report presented from the board of Managers, and such other busi- 
 ness be transacted, as may require consideration. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 The President of the Society, or in his absence, either of tl>e 
 Vice Presidents, may call special meetings of the Association at 
 such other times, as they may ihink proper. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 This Constitution may be altered at any annual meetmg by a 
 vote of two thirds of the members present. 
 
LIST OF OFFICERS 
 
 PRESIDENT, 
 
 Hon. JOHN M. WILLIAMS. 
 
 VICE PRESIDENTS. 
 
 First Hon. JAMES L. HODGES, 
 
 Second Hon. FRANCIS BAYLIES. 
 
 CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 
 
 Rev. ANDREW BIGELOW. 
 
 RECORDING SECRETARY, 
 
 HORATIO PRATT, Esq. 
 
 TR E ASUR E R, 
 
 HIRAM M. BARNEY, Esq. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 
 
 Mr. JOSEPH DIXON, 
 JAMES SPROAT, Esq., 
 CHARLES RICHMOND, Esq, 
 H. G. O. COLBY, Esq. 
 Mh. THOMAS C. BROWN.