A Resentful No: Financial Difficulty and The Realization to Reform

The Tenth Annual Report of the American Bible Society, 1826

Ten years after its founding, the American Bible Society's financial health was in danger. According to its annual report in 1826, the society had just $264.35 in its account with an impending bill that would leave it $800 in debt.

The American Bible Society and the Baptists: Shall the Whole Word of God be Given to the Heathen?

Despite the financial support that Baptists had given the American Bible Society to fund the distribution of Bibles, their money was, instead, used to pay debts, a mismanagement on the part of the ABS.

Thirtieth Annual Report of the American Bible Society, 1846

By 1846, the American Bible Society was still struggling to improve its financial wellbeing. The society predominantly relied on inconsistent donations and unreliable Bible sales, causing the society to incur debt at the end of almost every fiscal year.

A Plea for the Restoration of the Scriptures to the Schools

After years of financial decline, the American Bible Society proposed that schools restore religious education, providing a consistent venue for Bible sales, creating "immediate profit."

The Bible for the World

As a result of unreliable domestic support, the American Bible Society, by 1846, shifted its attention to international distribution, asking, "does not the whole world need the Bible?"