Chapman was a prolific writer in her own right, publishing "Right and Wrong in Massachusetts" in 1839 and "How Can I Help to Abolish Slavery?" in 1855. Aside from these works, she published her poems and essays in abolitionist periodicals. In 1840 divisions between Garrisonians and the more political wing of the anti-slavery movement split the AASS and correspondingly the BFASS into two opposing factions. Maria, nicknamed "Captain Chapman" and the "great goddess" by her opponents and "Lady Macbeth" even by her friends, outmaneuvered the opposition. She took control of a resurrected BFASS, which from then on mainly focused on organizing the Boston bazaar as a major fundraiser for abolitionism.