Editing Lane Seminary (section)

===The stated topics of the debates===
The two specific questions addressed were:

* ''"Ought the people of the slaveholding states abolish slavery immediately?"'', and
* ''"Are the doctrines, tendencies, and measures of the [[American Colonization Society]], and the influence of its principal supporters, such as render it worthy of the patronage of the Christian public?"''<ref name=Courant>{{cite news
|title=Re-Creating 1834 Debates on Abolition
|first=Jesse
|last=Leavenworth
|newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]]
|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2003-05-22-0305221555-story.html
|date=May 22, 2003
|access-date=January 27, 2020
|archive-date=January 27, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127202141/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2003-05-22-0305221555-story.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Cincinnati>{{cite book
|title=Fifth annual report of the trustees of the Cincinnati Lane Seminary: together with the laws of the institution and a catalogue of the officers and students, November, 1834
|location=Cincinnati
|year=1834
|publisher=Corey & Fairbank
|author=Cincinnati Lane Seminary
|url=https://archive.org/details/fifthannualrepor00lane}}</ref>{{rp|34–35}}

The debates were not transcribed, and there was no attempt afterwards, as there would be later with [[Pennsylvania Hall (Philadelphia)|Pennsylvania Hall]], to collect the texts which were written out — not all were — and make a booklet of them. However, Garrison promptly published a pamphlet,<ref name=Letter/> and there are excerpts in newspapers and books.

Each question was debated for two and a half hours a night for nine nights. Among the participants:

* Eleven had been born and brought up in slave states.
* Seven were sons of slaveowners.
* One had only recently ceased to be a slaveowner.
* One, Bradley, had been a slave and had bought his freedom.
* Ten had lived in slave states.
* One, Birney, had been an agent of the Colonization Society.

Arguments addressing the first question in favor of the immediate abolition of slavery included:

* Slaves long for freedom.
* When inspired with a promise of freedom, slaves will toil with incredible alacrity and faithfulness.
* No matter how kind their master is, slaves are dissatisfied and would rather be hired servants than slaves.
* Blacks are abundantly able to take care of and provide for themselves.
* Blacks would be kind and docile if immediately emancipated.

In response to the second question, the Reverend [[Samuel H. Cox]], who had served as an agent for the Colonization Society, testified that his view of the Society's plan changed when he realized that no blacks, despite the claims of those who ventured to speak for them, would ever consent to be removed from their native country and transplanted to a foreign land. He reasoned, therefore, that the plan could only be enacted by a "national society of kidnappers".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem%2Frbaapc%3A%40field%28DOCID+%40lit%28rbaapc29400div2%29%29%3A |title=American Memory from the Library of Congress |access-date=May 17, 2022 |archive-date=March 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302195424/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem%2Frbaapc%3A%40field%28DOCID+%40lit%28rbaapc29400div2%29%29%3A |url-status=dead }}</ref>