Thomas M'Clintock

Anti-slavery activist and devoted Hicksite Quaker Thomas M’Clintock was born in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware in 1792. The names of Thomas’s parents were, Thomas and Mary Allen M’Clintock. Thomas's father was a Presbyterian and his mother a Quaker although their marriage resulted in her being removed from the Quaker rolls for marrying out of meeting. Thomas became a druggist or pharmacist which, at the time would have been achieved through an apprenticeship. Thomas became a Quaker by commitment in 1811. At the age of twenty-two Thomas began working as a druggist, and six years later, in 1820, he married his wife Mary Ann Wilson M’Clintock in Burlington, New Jersey. They began their life together in Philadelphia, where they lived for the first seventeen years of their marriage, and where Thomas M’Clintock began his involvement in abolitionism. During their years in Philadelphia Thomas and Mary Ann had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood.

In 1827, Thomas M’Clintock co-founded the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania along with James Mott and others and became its first secretary. This predominantly Quaker movement was an effort to promote the exchange of goods not involving any slave labor. In doing such, the members hoped to create a demand for “free” produce. The Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania felt their agenda was a peaceful and reasonable way to combat slavery.

That same year Thomas M’Clintock was an instrumental force in the Hicksite Schism. This separation resulted from disagreements on to what role doctrine should play in the church and how much one should participate in social activism. M’Clintock’s extensive knowledge of early Quaker theology was used to form debilitating arguments against Orthodox Quakers. His arguments caused so much tension that even ten years later, in 1837, he and his family were forced to move to Waterloo, New York. While in New York, the M’Clintocks aligned themselves with William Lloyd Garrison and his American Anti-Slavery Society. After a few years of passionate work, in 1843, Thomas was elected to manager and later vice president positions of the society.

Thomas M’Clintock was also a member of the Society of Friends, another organization which championed abolition, temperance, and Native American rights. Thomas and his wife organized anti-slavery petitions, gave refuge to black children, and continued the Free Produce Movement. Controversy erupted between moderate and radical members over whether the Society had the right to discipline members for individual acts. As a result, the M’Clintocks organized a new group called the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends, which became official in 1853 after the schism of the Society of Friends in 1848. This new group, later renamed the Friends of Human Progress in 1854, had strong ties to the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends because it was also founded by Thomas M’Clintock.

As Thomas’ wife Mary became a more active political figure, his attention in July 1848 focused on organizing the first women’s rights convention to be held at Seneca Falls. He was instrumental in the writing of the landmark Declaration of Sentiments, a document similar to the Declaration of Independence but included “women” in addition to “men.” The entire M’Clintock family was involved in the convention, and they even helped to organize a follow-up convention later in August.

In 1860, at the age of sixty-eight, Thomas M’Clintock and family moved back to Philadelphia. Thomas returned to his trade as a pharmacist until about 1866. He died on March 19, 1876 at the age of eighty-four. His wife died eight years later on May 21, 1884. Thomas M’Clintock is remembered for his contributions to the anti-slavery movement and his impact on the first women’s rights movements.

References

Densmore, Christopher and Wellman, Judith, “M’Clintock, Mary Ann Wilson and Thomas M’Clintock”, American National Biography Online Feb. 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00461.html

National Park Service Online. “Thomas M’Clintock”; November 9, 2006; http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/thomas-mclintock.htm

Nelson, Robert Kent. “Society of Souls: Spirit, Friendship, and the Antebellum Reform Imagination.” PhD diss., College of William and Mary, 2006.

Nuermberger, Ruth K.. The Free Produce Movement: A Quaker Protest Against Slavery. Durham: Duke University Press, 1942.

Wellman, Judith. The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Women's Rights Convention. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004.