Why the New York Conference Was “An (Ineffective) Auxiliary of the Colonization Society in Everything but Name”: Rejection, Apathy, (Lack of) Funding, and (Its Own) Abolitionists

Authors

• Philip Hardt, Riverhead UMC (NY)

Abstract

Several years after the founding of the American Colonization Society (hereafter, ACS) in 1816, Methodist clergy and laymen in the New York Conference and especially in New York City began to support its twin goals of evangelization and emigration of free blacks to Africa. Of course, they did not expect the entire black population to emigrate. Instead, they (mistakenly, for the most part) thought many free blacks would prefer to leave the racism of America and start a new life in Africa. Their efforts, however, met with little success because of nearly unanimous black opposition, general white apathy, chronic financial difficulties, and an increasingly strident abolitionism within its own conference.

DOI

10.7252/Journal.02.2026F.12

Recommended Citation

Hardt, Philip (2026) "Why the New York Conference Was “An (Ineffective) Auxiliary of the Colonization Society in Everything but Name”: Rejection, Apathy, (Lack of) Funding, and (Its Own) Abolitionists," The Asbury Theological Journal: Vol. 81: No. 2, p. 632-656.
Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/asburyjournal/vol81/iss2/13