Editing Lane Seminary (section)

===Sequela (the following events)===
The debates were closely followed by the national press and the religious community.<ref name=Perry/>{{rp|101, 103}}

"The trustees soon expressed a determination to prevent all further discussion of the comparative merits of the policy of the Colonization Society, and the doctrine of immediate emancipation, either in the recitation rooms, the rooms of the students, or at the public table; although no objection had previously been made to the free discussion of any subject whatever. During the vacation that followed, in the absence of a majority of the professors, this purpose was framed into a law, or rule, of the seminary, and obedience to it required from all."<ref name=Arthur/>{{rp|227}}

The trustees laid down the doctrine that "no associations or societies ought to be allowed in the seminary, except such as have for their immediate object, improvement in the prescribed course of 
studies." This was followed by an order in these words: "Ordered that the students be required to discontinue those societies [the Anti-slavery and Colonization societies] in the seminary."<ref name=Arthur>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofarthurtapp00tapp_1/page/226|title=The Life of Arthur Tappan|location=New York|publisher=[[Hurd and Houghton]]|year=1870|first=Lewis|last=Tappan|author-link=Lewis Tappan}}</ref>{{rp|227}}

The event resulted in the dismissal of a professor, John Morgan, and the departure of a group of 40 students and a trustee. It was one of the first significant tests in the United States of [[academic freedom]] and the right of students to participate in free discussion. It also marked the first organized student body in American history. Several of those involved went on to play an important role in the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] movement and the buildup to the [[American Civil War]].

At the end of the debate, many of the participants concluded not only that slavery was a sin, but also that the policy of the American Colonization Society to send blacks to Africa was wrong. As a result, these students formed an antislavery society and began organizing activities and outreach work among the black population of Cincinnati. They intended to attain the emancipation of blacks, not by rebellion or force, but by "approaching the minds of slave holders with the truth, in the spirit of the Gospel."<ref name=Fletcher/>