agent of the colonization society in the Southwest--a mission
which he undertook from a sense of duty.

In his travels throughout the region assigned to him, Birney
became aware of the aggressive designs of the planters of the
Gulf States to secure new slave territories in the Southwest. In
view of these facts the methods of the colonization society
appeared utterly futile. Birney surrendered his commission and,
in 1833, returned to Kentucky with the intention of doing himself
what Henry Clay had refused to do three years earlier, still
hoping that Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee might be induced to
abolish slavery and thus place the slave power in a hopeless
minority. His disappointment was extreme at the pro-slavery
reaction which had taken place in Kentucky. The condition called
for more drastic measures, and Birney decided to forsake entirely
the colonization society and cast in his lot with the
abolitionists. He freed his slaves in 1834, and in the following
year he delivered the principal address at the annual meeting of
the American Anti-Slavery Society held in New York. His gift of
leadership was at once recognized. As vice-president of the
society he began to travel on its behalf, to address public
assemblies, and especially to confer with members of state
legislatures and to address the legislative bodies. He now
devoted his entire time to the service of the society, and as
early as September, 1835, issued the prospectus of a paper
devoted to the cause of emancipation. This called forth such a
display of force against the movement that he could neither find
a printer nor obtain the use of a building in Dansville,
Kentucky, for the publication. As a result he transferred his
activities to Cincinnati, where he began publication of the