ABOLISH SLAVERY MAINE

ABOUT ABOLISH SLAVERY MAINE

Abolish Slavery Maine (ASM) is a local branch of the Abolish Slavery National Network (ASNN), a grassroots movement to abolish legalized slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States for all people without exception.  We strongly believe that these practices are gross moral violations of human rights and hence crimes against humanity.  Therefore, we propose the addition of language to the Maine State Constitution to protect all citizens in the state from these crimes and to support the national effort to ratify the Abolition Amendment.

PROPOSED LANGUAGE TO THE MAINE STATE CONSTITUTION

Maine State Constitution, Article I, Section I amended to read: "Natural rights.  All people are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.  There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state." (Inserted language in italics.)

historical context

“The fundamental principles of this Society are, that slaveholding is a heinous sin against God, & therefore that immediate Emancipation, without the condition of expatriation, is the duty of the master & the right of the slave.” Maine Anti-Slavery Society Constitution, Article II, May 1833 (Source: Maine Anti-Slavery Society constitution, ca. 1833 via Maine Memory Network)
Prominent author, poet, and speaker for the Maine Anti-Slavery Society Frances Ellen Watkins: "God is on the side of freedom; and any cause that has God on its side, I care not how much it may be trampled upon, how much it may be trailed in the dust, is sure to triumph. The message of Jesus Christ is on the side of freedom, 'I come to preach deliverance to the captives, the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound.' The truest and noblest hearts in the land are on the side of freedom. They may be hissed at by slavery’s minions, their names cast out as evil, their characters branded with fanaticism, but O, 'to side with Truth is noble when we share her humble crust Ere the cause bring fame and profit and it’s prosperous to be just.'" [Source: Frances Ellen Watkins, "Liberty For Slaves" (1857) via blackpast.org]

MAINE STATEHOOD AND NATIONAL ENSLAVEMENT

MAINE, THE 13TH AMENDMENT, AND ABOLITION