New England Non-Resistance Society

The New England Non-Resistance Society was organized by radical members within the American Peace Society at the Boston Peace Convention in September 1838, with William Lloyd Garrison, Adin Ballou, William Ladd, Charles Whipple, and others, among the leadership. The Non-Resisters opposed all wars and admitted all who adhered to that principle to membership, with voting rights, regardless of race or gender. Additionally, they opposed the whole penal system, capital punishment and human government. During the Civil War, many members proved to be more devoted to abolition than to pacifism, abandoning their non-resistant position; others, such as Adin Ballou, remained true to the Society's original principle of opposition to all wars.