Baptist Slavery Massachusetts historic document.

A volunteer searching the archives of the American Baptist in Massachusetts has found a nearly 180-year-old document shedding light on the church’s support for ending slavery. The 5-foot-long scroll is a handwritten declaration signed by 116 New England ministers saying they “disapprove and abhor the system of American slavery.” The document was signed two years after the issue of slavery prompted Baptists in the south to break away and form the Southern Baptist Convention. Church officials consider the scroll one of the most important abolitionist-era Baptist documents. It was discovered in a storage room in Groton, Massachusetts.