They encountered hostility in the north because they affronted a rigid cultural norm by speaking in public and presuming to instruct men and some northerners thought that women should not instruct men. From the start of their lecturing career, they were bound to protect their right as women to be public supporters of closure and by allegation to protect the rights of all women to list in public their hostility to slavery. While the men joining the sisters meeting were certainly keen to learn from the women’s involvements, the sisters were vengefully attacked by other male forces. The most demoralizing attack came from the religious quarters on July 28, 1837 which the council of congregationalist ministers of Massachusetts delivered a pastoral letter strictly chastising them for engaging in activities which subverted women’s divinely ordained role.
