The First Anti-Slavery Society in America
Founded by Anthony Benezet in 1775:

  Quaker abolitionist Anthony Benezet (1713-84) was a primary founder of the anti-slavery movement in America. He was born in Saint-Quentin, France, before moving to Philadelphia where he became a leader of the Quaker anti-slavery community.
Benezet transformed Quaker anti-slavery ideals into an international movement. He founded the African Free School in Philadelphia. His students included future abolition leaders such as Absalom Jones and James Forten. Benezet influenced numerous cultural leaders of his era including Ben Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Abbé Raynal, Granville Sharp, and John Wesley.

  Anthony Benezet worked closely with John Woolman, who was another Quaker leader and abolitionist. In 1754 they collaborated in writing the anti-slavery document Epistles of Caution and Advice, Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves.
In 1775 Benezet became the first president of the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Nine year later, in 1784 after Benezet’s death, Ben Franklin and other abolitionists changed this organization into the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Three years later Ben Franklin became the honorary head of this organization.
Benezet also led Benjamin Rush into the abolition movement. Under Benezet’s leadership, Rush wrote anonymous tracts condemning slavery. In 1803 Rush became the head of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, after Ben Franklin had been leader of this organization.

1780: The First Anti-Slavery Law in the U. S.
Influenced by Anthony Benezet:

Anthony Benezet played a crucial role in laying the groundwork for Pennsylvania’s Gradual Abolition Act of 1780, the first law in the Western Hemisphere to begin ending slavery. His efforts helped shift public opinion and influenced lawmakers.

1. Moral and Intellectual Leadership

Anthony Benezet was one of the most prominent abolitionist thinkers and activists in colonial America. Through his writings and public advocacy, he argued that slavery was morally wrong, un-Christian, and economically unsound. He wrote many influential pamphlets to present his cause.

2. Education and Advocacy

Anthony Benezet founded a school for Black children in Philadelphia in the 1770s, demonstrating his belief in their intellectual potential and humanity. This challenged racist assumptions used to justify slavery and underscored his commitment to racial equality.

3. Political Influence

Anthony Benezet and other Quakers formed the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, which lobbied the state legislature. Though he died in 1784, Benezet's earlier work influenced a generation of lawmakers and religious leaders, including people like Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin, who supported abolition and helped push for reform.

4. Changing Public Sentiment

Anthony Benezet’s decades of persistent anti-slavery work helped create a political and moral climate in Pennsylvania where gradual emancipation became possible. The 1780 Act reflected the ideas Benezet had long promoted. It didn’t free all enslaved people immediately, but it banned the importation of slaves and declared that children born to enslaved mothers after that date would be freed at age 28.

 A Biography of Anthony Benezet in 2010
By Dr. Maurice Jackson:

 Portrait of Anthony Benezet:

The finely crafted Benezet house on Chestnut Street was built ca. 1700 by David Breintnall, a Philadelphia Quaker. This residence was one of the first brick houses built in Philadelphia
The builder, David Breintnall, soon realized his new house was too fancy for his plain Quaker identity. He “deeming it too fine for his plain cloth and profession, hired it for the use of the governor of Barbados (or of Bermuda, as said by some) who had come here for the recovery of his health. …The house having been a good specimen of respectable architecture was drafted [drawn] by Mr. Strickland just before it was taken down in 1818, and an engraving made from it was published in the Port Folio of that year.” Quote: Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, John F. Watson,