Abolitionist feminists of the Anti -Slavery Convention of American Women of 1837: The role of theological vision and the ethic of sympathy

This study focuses on the 1837 Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women in order to broaden the understanding of the origins of American feminism. It challenges the monolithic and linear view of American feminism presented as (1) having begun at the Seneca Falls Convention, (2) having been planned and executed solely by educated white women, and (3) having been a secular movement, based on the natural-rights theory of the Enlightenment and motivated solely by the socio-economic conditions of the period. This traditional rendition of the beginnings of American feminism leaves many women on the margins of history. This work attempts to honor some of these forgotten women, whose experiences alter the way we understand the beginning of American feminism, and contributes to other histories that offer a corrective viewpoint.;This study strives to honor a group of abolitionist feminists who came together at the 1837 Convention with an impulse towards racial and gender equity. These women wanted not only to write about this new state of consciousness, but also embody it in their everyday lives, despite tremendous backlash.;Using both a narrative and interpretive methodology, this work looks at the women's motivation through a theological lens, with a special reference to divine harmony, and through a psychological lens, with special reference to the concept of sympathy. The power that comes with a fusion of religious faith and social justice work is also shown through the illustration of the abolitionist feminists' total commitment to sympathetic relation. It was a work more important than their own lives. The sacralizing of their mission fueled a political fire, the effects of which are still being felt almost two hundred years later.