as in this case more forcible than elegant: "Damn it! You've
got me!" This conversion he publicly proclaimed for the sake of its
influence upon others. Many were the instances in which those of
supposed pro-slavery convictions were brought face to face with an
actual case of the threatened reenslavement of a human being escaping
from bondage and were, to their own surprise, overcome by the natural,
humane sentiment which asserted itself. For example, a Cincinnati
merchant, who at the time was supposed to be assisting one of his
Southern customers to recover an escaped fugitive, was confronted at
his own home by the poor half-starved victim. Yielding to the impulse of
compassion, he gave the slave food and personal assistance and directed
the destitute creature to a place of refuge.

The division in the Quaker meeting in Indiana with which Levi Coffin was
intimately associated may serve to exemplify a corresponding attitude
in other churches on the question of slavery. The Quakers availed
themselves of the first great anti-slavery movement to rid themselves
completely of the burden. Their Society itself became an anti-slavery
organization. Yet even so the Friends had differences of opinion as to
fit methods of action. Not only did many of them disapprove of rendering
aid to fugitives but they also objected to the use of the meetinghouses
for anti-slavery lectures. The formation of the Liberty party served to
accentuate the division. The great body of the Friends were anti-slavery
Whigs.

A crisis in the affairs of the Society of Friends in the State of
Indiana was reached in 1843 when the radicals seceded and organized an
independent "Anti-Slavery Friends Society." Immediately there appeared
in numerous localities duplicate Friends' meeting-houses. In and around
one of these, distinguished as "Liberty Hall," were gathered those whose
supreme religious interest was directed against the sin of slavery.
Never was there a church division which involved less bad blood or sense
of injury or injustice. Members of the same family attended separate
churches without the least difference in their cordial relations. No
important principle was involved; there were apparently good reasons
for both lines of policy, and each party understood and respected the
other's position. After the adoption of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
and the passing of the Whig party, these differences disappeared, the
separate organization was disbanded, a