In the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee conditions were a little more encouraging, especially between 1817 and 1830.  The anti-slavery work in Kentucky seemed to owe its beginning to certain “Emancipating Baptists.”  Early in the history of that State six Baptist preachers, Carter Tarrant, David Darrow, John Sutton, Donald Holmes, Jacob Gregg, and George Smith, began an anti-slavery campaign, maintaining that there should be no fellowship with slaveholders.[31] They were unable to effect much, however, because of the fact that they had no extensive organization through which to extend their efforts.  Every church remained free to decide for itself and even in Northern States the Baptists later winked at slavery.  More effective than these efforts of the Baptists was the work of the Scotch-Irish.  Led by David Rice, a minister of the Presbyterian Church, the anti-slavery element tried to exclude slavery from the State when framing its first constitution in the Convention of 1792.[32] Another effort thus to amend the fundamental law was made at the session of the legislature of 1797-98, and had it not been for the excitement aroused by the Alien and Sedition Laws, the bill probably would have passed.[33]

Many successful efforts were made through the anti-slavery bodies.  The society known as “Friends of Humanity” was organized in Kentucky in 1807.  It had a constitution signed by eleven preachers and thirteen laymen.  The organization was in existence as late as 1813.  The records of the abolitionists show that there was another such society near Frankfort between 1809 and 1823.[34] Birney then appeared in the State and gave his influence to the cause with a view to promoting the exportation of Negroes to Liberia.[35] A number of citizens also memorialized Congress to colonize the Negroes on the public lands in the West.[36] In the later twenties an effort was made to unite the endeavors of many wealthy and influential persons who were then interested in promoting abolition.  Lacking a vigorous and forceful leader, they appealed to Henry Clay, who refused.[37] They fought on, however, for years to come.  A contributor to the Western Luminary said, in 1830, that the people of Kentucky were finding slavery a burden.[38] Evidently a good many of them had come to this conclusion, for a bill providing for emancipation introduced in the Legislature was postponed indefinitely by a vote of 18 to 11.[39] So favorable were conditions in Kentucky at this time that it was said that Tennessee was watching Kentucky with the expectation of following her lead should the latter become a free State as was then expected.