Free-produce movement

In this context, free signifies "not enslaved" (i.e. "having the legal and political rights of a citizen"Merriam Webster Online. Free. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.). It does not mean "without cost".  Similarly, "produce" does not mean just fruits and vegetables, but a wide variety of products made by slaves, including clothing, dry goods, shoes, soaps, ice cream, and candy.

 Lack of success 
The free produce movement was not a success. Many abandoned it after a few years.  Non-slave products were more expensive and sometimes hard to find. At times,  it faced high tariffs blocking imports. In some cases the origin of the goods could not be determined. Sometimes the non-slave goods were of poorer quality; one storeowner "not infrequently received sugar 'with a very disagreeable taste and odor' and rice that was 'very poor, dark and dirty.'" Benefits to slaves or reduction in demand for slave-produced goods was very small. Many abolitionists ignored the issue altogether. Though William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, initially proclaimed at a convention in 1840 that his wool suit was made without slave labor,National Park Service. Women's Rights. Quaker Influence. Retrieved on April 24, 2009. he later examined the results of the movement and criticized it as impossible to enforce, ineffective, and a distraction from more important tasks.Hinks, Peter and McKivigan, John, editors. Williams, R. Owen, assistant editor. Encyclopedia of antislavery and abolition, Greenwood Press, 2007, pp. 266–268.  The national association disbanded in 1847, but Quakers in Philadelphia continued until 1856.

References

Category:Abolitionism