Third class of forerunners and coadjutors, up to 1787,
consists of the Quakers and others in America.--Yearly meeting for
Pennsylvania and the Jerseys takes up the subject in 1696; and continue
it till 1787.--Other five yearly meetings take similar
measures.--Quakers, as individuals, also become labourers; William
Burling and others.--Individuals of other religious denominations take
up the cause also; Judge Sewell and others.--Union of the Quakers with
others in a society for Pennsylvania, in 1774; James Pemberton; Dr.
Rush.--Similar union of the Quakers with others for New York and other
provinces.
The next class of the forerunners and coadjutors, up to the year 1787,
will consist, first, of the Quakers in America; and then of others, as
they were united to these for the same object.
It may be asked, How the Quakers living there should have become
forerunners and coadjutors in the great work now under our
consideration. I reply, first, that it was an object for many years with
these to do away the Slave Trade as it was carried on in their own
ports. But this trade was conducted in part, both before and after the
independence of America, by our own countrymen. It was, secondly, an
object with these to annihilate slavery in America; and this they have
been instruments in accomplishing to a considerable extent. But any
abolition of slavery within given boundaries must be a blow to the Slave
Trade there. The American Quakers, lastly, living in a land where both
the commerce and slavery existed, were in the way of obtaining a number
of important facts relative to both, which made for their annihilation;
and communicating many of these facts to those in England, who espoused
the same cause, they became fellow-labourers with these in producing the
event in question.
The Quakers in America, it must be owned, did most of them originally as
other settlers there with respect to the purchase of slaves. They had
lands without a sufficient number of labourers, and families without a
sufficient number of servants, for their work. Africans were poured in
to obviate these difficulties, and these were bought promiscuously by
all. In these days, indeed, the purchase of them was deemed favourable
to both parties, for there was little or no knowledge of the manner in
which they had been procured as slaves. There was no charge of
inconsistency on this account, as in later times. But though many of the
Quakers engaged, without their usual consideration, in purchases of this
kind, yet those constitutional principles, which belong to the society,
occasioned the members of it in general to treat those whom they
purchased with great tenderness, considering them, though of a different
colour, as brethren, and as persons for whose spiritual welfare it
became them to be concerned; so that slavery, except as to the power
legally belonging to it, was in general little more than servitude in
their hands.
This treatment, as it was thus mild on the continent of America where
the members of this society were the owners of slaves, so it was equally
mild in The West India Islands where they had a similar property. In the
latter countries, however, where only a few of them lived, it began soon
to be productive of serious consequences; for it was so different from
that which the rest of the inhabitants considered to be proper, that the
latter became alarmed at it. Hence in Barbados an act was passed in
1676, under Governor Atkins, which was entitled, An Act to prevent the
people called Quakers from bringing their Negroes into their meetings
for worship, though they held these in their own houses. This act was
founded on the pretence, that the safety of the island might be
endangered, if the slaves were to imbibe the religious principles of
their masters. Under this act Ralph Fretwell and Richard Sutton were
fined in the different sums of eight hundred and of three hundred
pounds, because each of them had suffered a meeting of the Quakers at
his own house, at the first of which eighty negroes, and at the second
of which thirty of them were present. But this matter was carried still
further; for in 1680, Sir Richard Dutton, then governor of the island,
issued an order to the Deputy Provost Marshal and others, to prohibit
all meetings of this society. In the island of Nevis the same bad spirit
manifested itself. So early as in 1661, a law was made there prohibiting
members of this society from coming on shore. Negroes were put in irons
for being present at their meetings, and they themselves were fined
also. At length, in 1677, another act was passed, laying a heavy penalty
on every master of a vessel who should even bring a Quaker to the
island. In Antigua and Bermudas similar proceedings took place, so that
the Quakers were in time expelled from this part of the world. By these
means a valuable body of men were lost to the community in these
islands, whose example might have been highly useful; and the poor
slave, who saw nothing but misery in his temporal prospects, was
deprived of the only balm which could have soothed his sorrow--the
comfort of religion.
But to return to the continent of America. Though the treatment which
the Quakers adopted there towards those Africans who fell into their
hands, was so highly commendable, it did not prevent individuals among
them from becoming uneasy about holding them in slavery at all. Some of
these bore their private testimony against it from the beginning as a
wrong practice, and in process of time brought it before the notice of
their brethren as a religious body. So early as in the year 1688, some
emigrants from Krieshiem in Germany, who had adopted the principles of
William Penn, and followed him into Pennsylvania, urged, in the yearly
meeting of the society there, the inconsistency of buying, selling, and
holding men in slavery, with the principles of the Christian religion.
In the year 1696, the yearly meeting for that province took up the
subject as a public concern, and the result was, advice to the members
of it to guard against future-importations of African slaves, and to be
particularly attentive to the treatment of those who were then in their
possession.
In the year 1711, the same yearly meeting resumed the important subject,
and confirmed and renewed the advice which had been before given.
From this time it continued to keep the subject alive; but finding at
length, that though individuals refused to purchase slaves, yet others
continued the custom, and in greater numbers than it was apprehended
would have been the case after the public declarations which had been
made, it determined, in the year 1754, upon a fuller and more serious
publication of its sentiments; and therefore it issued, in the same
year, the following pertinent letter to all the members within its
jurisdiction:--
Dear Friends,
It hath frequently been the concern of our yearly meeting to
testify their uneasiness and disunity with the importation and
purchasing of negroes and other slaves, and to direct the
overseers of the several meetings to advise and deal with such
as engage therein. And it hath likewise been the continual care
of many weighty friends to press those who bear our name, to
guard, as much as possible, against being in any respect
concerned in promoting the bondage of such unhappy people. Yet,
as we have with sorrow to observe, that their number is of late
increased among us, we have thought it proper to make our advice
and judgment more public, that none may plead ignorance of our
principles therein; and also again earnestly to exhort all to
avoid, in any manner, encouraging that practice of making slaves
of our fellow-creatures.
Now, dear friends, if we continually bear in mind the royal law
of doing to others as we would be done by, we should never think
of bereaving our fellow-creatures of that valuable
blessing--liberty, nor endure to grow rich by their bondage. To
live in ease and plenty by the toil of those whom violence and
cruelty have put in our power, is neither consistent with
Christianity nor common justice; and, we have good reason to
believe, draws down the displeasure of Heaven; it being a
melancholy but true reflection, that, where slave-keeping
prevails, pure religion and sobriety decline, as it evidently
tends to harden the heart, and render the soul less susceptible
of that holy spirit of love, meekness and charity, which is the
peculiar characteristic of a true Christian.
How then can we, who have been concerned to publish the Gospel
of universal love and peace among mankind, be so inconsistent
with ourselves, as to purchase such as are prisoners of war, and
thereby encourage, this anti-Christian practice; and more
especially as many of these poor creatures are stolen away,
parents from children, and children from parents; and others,
who were in good circumstances in their native country,
inhumanly torn from what they esteemed a happy situation, and
compelled to toil in a state of slavery, too often extremely
cruel!
What dreadful scenes of murder and cruelty those barbarous
ravages must occasion in these unhappy people's country are too
obvious to mention. Let us make their case our own, and consider
what we should think, and how we should feel, were we in their
circumstances. Remember our blessed Redeemer's positive
command--to do unto others as we would have them do unto
us;--and that with what measure we mete, it shall be measured to
us again. And we intreat you to examine, whether the purchasing
of a negro, either born here or imported, doth not contribute to
a further importation, and, consequently, to the upholding of
all the evils above mentioned, and to the promoting of
man-stealing, the, only theft which by the Mosaic law was
punished with death;--He that stealeth a man and selleth him or
if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.'
The characteristic and badge of a true Christian is love and
continual exercise of them: 'Love one, another,' says he, 'as I
have loved you.' But how can we be said to love our brethren who
bring, or, for selfish ends, keep them in bondage? Do we act
consistently with this noble principle, who lay such heavy
burdens on our fellow creatures? Do we consider that they are
called and do we sincerely desire that they may become heirs
with us in glory, and that they may rejoice in the liberty of
the sons of God, whilst we are withholding from them the common
liberties of mankind? Or can the spirit of God, by which we have
always professed to be led, be the author of these oppressive
and unrighteous measures? Or do we not thereby manifest, that
temporal interest hath more influence on our conduct herein,
than the dictates of that merciful, holy, and unerring Guide?
And we, likewise, earnestly recommend to all who have slaves, to
be careful to come up in the performance of their duty towards
them, and to be particularly watchful over their own hearts, it
being, by sorrowful experience, remarkable that custom and a
familiarity with evil of any kind, have a tendency to bias the
judgment and to deprave the mind; and it is obvious, that the
future welfare of these poor slaves, who are now in bondage, is
generally too much disregarded by those who keep them. If their
daily task of labour be but fulfilled, little else, perhaps, is
thought of: nay, even that which in others would be looked upon
with horror and detestation, is little regarded in them by their
masters; such as the frequent separation of husbands from wives,
and wives from husbands, whereby they are tempted to break their
marriage covenants, and live in adultery, in direct opposition
to the laws of God and men, although we believe that Christ died
for all men without respect of persons. How fearful then ought
we to be of engaging in what hath so natural a tendency to
lesson our humanity, and of suffering ourselves to be inured to
the exercise of hard and cruel measures, lest thereby, in any
degree, we lose our tender and feeling sense of the miseries of
our fellow-creatures, and become worse than those who have not
believed.
And, dear friends, you, who by inheritance have slaves born in
your families, we beseech you to consider them as souls
committed to your trust, whom the Lord will require at your
hand, and who, as well as you, are made partakers of the Spirit
of grace, and called to be heirs of salvation. And let it be
your constant care to watch over them for good, instructing them
in the fear of God and the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ,
that they may answer the end of their creation, and that God may
be glorified and honoured by them, as well as by us. And so
train them up, that if you should come to behold their unhappy
situation, in the same light that many worthy men who are at
rest have done, and many of your brethren now do, and should
think it your duty to set them free, they may be the more
capable of making proper use of their liberty.
Finally, brethren, we intreat you, in the bowels of Gospel-love,
seriously to weigh the Cause of detaining them in bondage. If it
be for your own private gain, or any other motive than their
good, it is much to be feared that the love of God, and the
influence of the Holy Spirit, are not the prevailing principles
in you, and that your hearts are not sufficiently redeemed from
the world, which, that you with ourselves may more and more come
to witness, through the cleansing virtue of the Holy Spirit of
Jesus Christ, is our earnest desire. With the salutation of our
love we are your friends and brethren:--
_"Signed, in behalf of the yearly meeting, by_
JOHN EVANS, ABRAHAM FARRINGDON,
JOHN SMITH, JOSEPH NOBLE,
THOMAS CARLETON, JAMES DANIEL,
WILLIAM TRIMBLE, JOSEPH GIBSON,
JOHN SCARBOROUGH, JOHN SHOTWELL,
JOSEPH HAMPTON, JOSEPH PARKER."
This truly Christian letter, which was written in the year 1754, was
designed, as we collect from the contents of it, to make the sentiments
of the society better known and attended to on the subject of the Slave
Trade. It contains, as we see, exhortations to all the members within
the yearly meeting of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, to desist from
purchasing and importing slaves, and, where they possessed them, to have
a tender consideration of their condition. But that the first part of
the subject of this exhortation might be enforced, the yearly meeting
for the same provinces came to a resolution in 1755, That if any of the
members belonging to it bought or imported slaves, the overseers were to
inform their respective monthly meetings of it, that "these might treat
with them, as they might be directed in the wisdom of truth."
In the year 1774, we find the same yearly meeting legislating again on
the same subject. By the preceding resolution they who became offenders,
were subjected only to exclusion from the meetings for discipline, and
from the privilege of contributing to the pecuniary occasions of the
Society; but, by the resolution of the present year, all members
concerned in importing, selling, purchasing, giving, or transferring
negro or other slaves, or otherwise acting in such manner as to continue
them in slavery beyond the term limited by law[A] or custom, were
directed to be excluded from membership or disowned. At this meeting
also all the members of it were cautioned and advised against acting as
executors or administrators to estates, where slaves were bequeathed, or
likely to be detained in bondage.
[Footnote A: This alludes to the term of servitude for white persons in
these provinces.]
In the year 1776, the same yearly meeting carried the matter still
further. It was enacted, That the owners of slaves, who refused to
execute proper instruments for giving them their freedom, were to be
disowned likewise.
In 1778 it was enacted by the same meeting, that the children of those
who had been set free by members, should be tenderly advised, and have a
suitable education given them.
It is not necessary to proceed further on this subject. It may be
sufficient to say, that from this time the minutes of the yearly meeting
for Pennsylvania and the Jerseys exhibit proofs of an almost incessant
attention, year after year[B], to the means not only of wiping away the
stain of slavery from their religious community, but of promoting the
happiness of those restored to freedom, and of their posterity also; and
as the yearly meeting of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys set this bright
example, so those of New England, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and of
the Carolinas and Georgia, in process of time followed it.
[Footnote B: Thus in 1778-1782, 1784-1786. The members also of this
meeting petitioned their own legislature on this subject, both in 1783
and in 1786.]
But, whilst the Quakers were making these exertions at their different
yearly meetings in America, as a religious body, to get rid both of the
commerce and slavery of their fellow-creatures, others, in the same
profession; were acting as individuals, (that is, on their own grounds,
and independently of any influence from their religious communion,) in
the same cause, whose labours it will now be proper, in a separate
narrative, to detail.
The first person of this description in the Society, was William
Burling, of Long Island. He had conceived an abhorrence of slavery from
early youth. In process of time he began to bear his testimony against
it, by representing the unlawfulness of it to those of his own Society,
when assembled at one of their yearly meetings. This expression of his
public testimony, he continued annually on the same occasion. He wrote
also several Tracts with the same design, one of which, published in the
year 1718, he addressed to the elders of his own church, on the
inconsistency of compelling people and their posterity to serve them
continually and arbitrarily, and without any proper recompense for their
services.
The next was Ralph Sandiford, a merchant in Philadelphia. This worthy
person had many offers of pecuniary assistance, which would have
advanced him in life, but he declined them all because they came from
persons who had acquired their independence by the oppression of their
slaves. He was very earnest in endeavouring to prevail upon his friends,
both, in and out of the society, to liberate those whom they held in
bondage. At length he determined upon a work called the _Mystery of
Iniquity_, in a brief examination of the practice of the times. This he
published in the year 1780, though the chief judge had threatened him if
he should give it to the world, and he circulated it free of expense
wherever he believed it would be useful. The above work was excellent as
a composition; the language of it was correct; the style manly and
energetic; and it abounded with facts, sentiments, and quotations,
which, while, they showed the virtue and talents of the author, rendered
it a valuable appeal in behalf of the African cause.
The next public advocate was Benjamin Lay[A], who lived at Abington, at
the distance of twelve or fourteen miles from Philadelphia. Benjamin Lay
was known, when in England, to the royal family of that day, into whose
private presence he was admitted. On his return to America, he took an
active part in behalf of the oppressed Africans. In the year 1737, he
published a _Treatise on Slave-Keeping_. This he gave away among his
neighbours and others, but more particularly among the rising youth,
many of whom he visited in their respective schools. He applied also to
several of the governors for interviews, with whom he held conferences
on the subject. Benjamin Lay was a man of strong understanding and of
great integrity, but of warm and irritable feelings, and more
particularly so when he was called forth on any occasion in which the
oppressed Africans were concerned; for he had lived in the island of
Barbados, and he had witnessed there scenes of cruelty towards them
which had greatly disturbed his mind, and which unhinged it, as it were,
whenever the subject of their sufferings was brought before him. Hence,
if others did not think precisely as he did, when he conversed with them
on the subject, he was apt to go out of due bounds. In bearing what he
believed to be his testimony against this system of oppression, he
adopted sometimes a singularity of manner, by which, as conveying
demonstration of a certain eccentricity of character, he diminished in
some degree his usefulness to the cause which he had undertaken; as far,
indeed, as this eccentricity might have the effect of preventing others
from joining him in his pursuit, lest they should be thought singular
also, so far it must be allowed that he ceased to become beneficial. But
there can be no question, on the other hand, that his warm and
enthusiastic manners awakened the attention of many to the cause, and
gave them first impressions concerning it, which they never afterwards
forgot, and which rendered them useful to it in the subsequent part of
their lives.
[Footnote A: Benjamin Lay attended the meetings for worship, or
associated himself with the religious society of the Quakers. His wife,
too, was an approved minister of the Gospel in that society; but I
believe he was not long an acknowledged member of it himself.]
The person who laboured next in the society, in behalf of the oppressed
Africans, was John Woolman.
John Woolman was born at Northampton, in the county of Burlington and
province of Western New Jersey, in the year 1720. In his very early
youth he attended, in an extraordinary manner, to the religious
impressions which he perceived upon his mind, and began to have an
earnest solicitude about treading in the right path. "From what I had
read and heard," says he, in his Journal[A], "I believed there had been
in past ages, people who walked in uprightness before God in a degree
exceeding any, that I knew or heard of, now living. And the apprehension
of there being less steadiness and firmness among people of this age,
than in past ages, often troubled me while I was a child." An anxious
desire to do away, as far as himself was concerned, this merited
reproach, operated as one among other causes to induce him to be
particularly watchful over his thoughts and actions, and to endeavour to
attain that purity of heart, without which he conceived there could be
no perfection of the Christian character. Accordingly, in the
twenty-second year of his age, he had given such proof of the integrity
of his life, and of his religious qualifications, that he became an
acknowledged minister of the Gospel in his own society.
[Footnote A: This short sketch of the life and labours of John Woolman,
is made up from his Journal.]
At a time prior to his entering upon the ministry, being in low
circumstances, he agreed for wages to "attend shop for a person at Mount
Holly, and to keep his books." In this situation we discover, by an
occurrence that happened, that he had thought seriously on the subject,
and that he had conceived proper views of the Christian unlawfulness of
slavery. "My employer," says he, "having a Negro woman, sold her, and
desired me to write a bill of sale, the man being waiting who bought
her. The thing was sudden, and though the thought of writing an
instrument of slavery for one of my fellow-creatures made me feel
uneasy, yet I remembered I was hired by the year, that it was my master
who directed me to do it, and that it was an elderly man, a member of
our society, who bought her. So through weakness I gave way and wrote,
but, at executing it, I was so afflicted in my mind, that I said before
my master and the friend, that I believed slave-keeping to be a practice
inconsistent with the Christian religion. This in some degree abated my
uneasiness; yet, as often as I reflected seriously upon it, I thought I
should have been clearer, if I had desired to have been excused from it,
as a thing against my conscience; for such it was. And some time after
this, a young man of our society spoke to me to write a conveyance of a
slave to him, he having lately taken a Negro into his house. I told him
I was not easy to write it; for though many of our meeting, and in other
places, kept slaves, I still believed the practice was not right, and
desired to be excused from the writing. I spoke to him in good-will; and
he told me that keeping slaves was not altogether agreeable to his mind,
but that the slave being a gift to his wife he had accepted of her."
We may easily conceive that a person so scrupulous and tender on this
subject, (as indeed John Woolman was on all others,) was in the way of
becoming in time more eminently serviceable to his oppressed
fellow-creatures. We have seen already the good seed sown in his heart,
and it seems to have wanted only providential seasons and occurrences to
be brought into productive fruit. Accordingly we find that a journey,
which he took as a minister of the Gospel in 1746 through the provinces
of Maryland, Virginia, and, North Carolina, which were then more noted
than others for the number of slaves in them, contributed to prepare him
as an instrument for the advancement of this great cause. The following
are his own observations upon this journey:--"Two things were remarkable
to me in this journey; first, in regard to my entertainment. When I ate,
drank, and lodged free-cost, with people who lived in ease on the hard
labour of their slaves, I felt uneasy; and, as my mind was inward to the
Lord, I found, from place to place, this uneasiness return upon me at
times through the whole visit. Where the masters bore a good share of
the burden and lived frugally, so that their servants were well provided
for; and their labour moderate, I felt more easy; but where they lived
in a costly way, and laid heavy burdens on their slaves, my exercise was
often great, and I frequently had conversations with them in private
concerning it. Secondly, this trade of importing slaves from their
native country being much encouraged among them, and the white people
and their children so generally living without much labour, was
frequently the subject of my serious thoughts: and I saw in these
southern provinces so many vices and corruptions, increased by this
trade and this way of life, that it appeared to me as a gloom over the
land."
From the year 1747 to the year 1758, he seems to have been occupied
chiefly as a minister of religion, but in the latter year he published a
work upon slave-keeping; and in the same year, while travelling within
the compass of his own monthly meeting, a circumstance happened which
kept alive his attention to the same Subjects.
"About this time" says he, "a person at some distance lying sick, his
brother came to me to write his will. I knew he had slaves, and asking
his brother was told he intended to leave them as slaves to his
children. As writing was a profitable employ, and as offending sober
people was disagreeable to my inclination, I was straitened in my mind,
but as I looked to the Lord he inclined my heart to his testimony; and I
told the man that I believed the practice of continuing slavery to this
people was not right, and that I had a scruple in my mind against doing
writings of that kind; that, though many in our society kept them as
slaves, still I was not easy to be concerned in it, and desired to be
excused from going to write the will. I spoke to him in the fear of the
Lord; and he made no reply to what I said, but went away: he also had
some concerns in the practice, and I thought he was displeased with me.
In this case I had a confirmation, that acting contrary to present
outward interest from a motive of Divine love, and in regard to truth
and righteousness, opens the way to a treasure better than silver, and
to a friendship exceeding the friendship of men."
From 1753 to 1755, two circumstances of a similar kind took place, which
contributed greatly to strengthen him in the path he had taken; for in
both these cases the persons who requested him to make their wills were
so impressed by the principle upon which he refused them, and by his
manner of doing it, that they bequeathed liberty to their slaves.
In the year 1756, he made a religious visit to several of the society in
Long Island. Here it was that the seed, now long fostered by the genial
influences of Heaven, began to burst forth into fruit; Till this time he
seems to have been a passive instrument, attending only to such
circumstances as came in his way on this subject. But now he became an
active one, looking out for circumstances for the exercise of his
labours.
"My mind," says he; "was deeply engaged in this visit, both in public
and private; and at several places, observing that members kept slaves,
I found myself under a necessity, in a friendly way, to labour with
them, on that subject, expressing, as the way opened, the inconsistency
of that practice with the parity of the Christian religion, and the ill
effects of it as manifested amongst us."
In the year 1757, he felt, his mind so deeply interested on the same
subject, that he resolved to travel over Maryland, Virginia, and North
Carolina, in order to try to convince persons, principally in his own
society, of the inconsistency of holding slaves. He joined his brother
with him in this arduous service. Having passed the Susquehanna into
Maryland, he began to experience great agitation of mind. "Soon after I
entered this province," says he, "a deep and painful exercise came upon
me, which I often had some feeling of since my mind was drawn towards
these parts, and with which I had acquainted my brother, before we
agreed to join as companions."
"As the people in this and the southern provinces live much on the
labour of slaves, many of whom are used hardly, my concern was that I
might attend with singleness of heart to the voice of the true Shepherd,
and be so supported, as to remain unmoved at the faces of men."
It is impossible for me to follow him in detail, through this long and
interesting journey, when I consider the bounds I have prescribed to
myself in this work. I shall say, therefore, what I propose to offer
generally, and in a few words.
It appears that he conversed with persons occasionally, who were not of
his own society, with a view of answering their arguments, and of
endeavouring to evince the wickedness and impolicy of slavery. In
discoursing with these, however strenuous he might appear, he seems
never to have departed from a calm, modest, and yet dignified and even
friendly demeanour. At the public meetings for discipline, held by his
own society in these provinces, he endeavoured to display the same
truths, and in the same manner, but particularly to the elders of his
own society, exhorting them, as the most conspicuous rank, to be careful
of their conduct, and to give a bright example in the liberation of
their slaves. He visited, also, families for the same purpose: and he
had the well-earned satisfaction of finding his admonitions kindly
received by some, and of seeing a disposition in others to follow the
advice he had given them.
In the year 1758, he attended the yearly meeting at Philadelphia, where
he addressed his brethren on the propriety of dealing with such members
as should hereafter purchase slaves. On the discussion of this point he
spoke a second time, and this to such effect that, he had the
satisfaction at this meeting to see minutes made more fully than any
before, and a committee appointed for the advancement of the great
object, to which he had now been instrumental in turning the attention
of many, and to witness a considerable spreading of the cause. In the
same year, also, he joined himself with two others of the society to
visit such members of it as possessed slaves in Chester county. In this
journey he describes himself to have met with several who were pleased
with his visit, but to have found difficulties with others, towards
whom, however, he felt a sympathy and tenderness, on account of their
being entangled by the spirit of the world.
In the year 1759, he visited several of the society who held slaves in
Philadelphia. In about three months afterwards, he travelled there
again, in company with John Churchman, to see others under similar
circumstances. He then went to different places on the same errand. In
this last journey he went alone. After this he joined himself to John
Churchman again, but he confined his labours to his own province. Here
he had the pleasure of finding that the work prospered. Soon after this
he took Samuel Eastburne as a coadjutor, and pleaded the cause of the
poor Africans with many of the society in Bucks county, who held them in
bondage there.
In the year 1760, he travelled, in company with his friend Samuel
Eastburne, to Rhode Island, to promote the same object. This island had
been long noted for its trade to Africa for slaves. He found at Newport,
the great sea-port town belonging to it, that a number of them had been
lately imported. He felt his mind deeply impressed on this account. He
was almost over-powered in consequence of it, and became ill. He thought
once of prompting a petition to the legislature, to discourage all such
importations in future. He then thought of going and speaking to the
House of Assembly, which was then sitting; but he was discouraged from
both these proceedings. He held, however, conference with many of his
own society in the meeting-house chamber, where the subject of his visit
was discussed on both sides with a calm and peaceable spirit. Many of
those present manifested the concern they felt at their former
practices, and others a desire of taking suitable care of their slaves
at their decease. From Newport he proceeded to Nantucket; but observing
the members of the society there to have few or no slaves, he exhorted
them to persevere in abstaining from the use of them, and returned home.
In the year 1761, he visited several families in Pennsylvania, and, in
about three months afterwards, others about Shrewsbury and Squan in New
Jersey. On his return he added a part to the treatise before published
on the keeping of care which had been growing upon him for some years.
In the year 1762, he printed, published, and distributed this treatise.
In 1767, he went on foot to the western shores of the same province on a
religious visit. After having crossed the Susquehanna, his old feelings
returned to him; for coming amongst people living in outward ease and
greatness, chiefly on the labour of slaves, his heart was much affected,
and he waited with humble resignation to learn how he should further
perform his duty to this injured people. The travelling on foot, though
it was agreeable to the state of his mind, he describes to have been
wearisome to his body. He felt himself weakly at times, in consequence
of it, but yet continued to travel on. At one of the quarterly meetings
of the society, being in great sorrow and heaviness, and under deep
exercise on account of the miseries of the poor Africans, he expressed
himself freely to those present, who held them in bondage. He expatiated
on the tenderness and loving-kindness of the apostles, as manifested in
labours, perils, and sufferings, towards the poor Gentiles, and
contracted their treatment of the Gentiles with it, whom he described in
the persons of their slaves; and was much satisfied with the result of
his discourse.
From this time we collect little more, from his journal concerning him,
than that, in 1772, he embarked for England on a religious visit. After
his arrival there, he travelled through many counties, preaching in
different meetings of the society, till he came to the city of York. But
even here, though he was far removed from the sight of those whose
interests he had so warmly espoused, he was not forgetful of their
wretched condition. At the quarterly meeting for that county, he brought
their case before, those present in an affecting manner. He exhorted
these to befriend their cause. He remarked that as they, the society,
when under outward sufferings, had often found a concern to lay them
before the legislature, and thereby, in the Lord's time, had obtained
relief; so he recommended this oppressed part of the creation to their
notice, that they might, as, the way opened, represent their sufferings
as individuals, if not as a religious society, to those in authority in
this land. This was the last opportunity that he had of interesting
himself in behalf of this injured people for soon afterwards he was
seized with the small-pox at the house of a friend in the city of York,
where he died.
The next person belonging to the society of the Quakers, who laboured in
behalf of the oppressed Africans, was Anthony Benezet. He was born
before, and he lived after, John Woolman; of course he was contemporary
with him. I place him after John Woolman, because he was not so much
known as a labourer, till two or three years after the other had begin
to move in the same cause.
Anthony Benezet was born at St. Quintin, in Picardy, of a respectable
family, in the year 1713. His father was one of the many Protestants
who, in consequence of the persecutions which followed the revocation of
the edict of Nantz, sought an asylum in foreign countries. After a short
stay in Holland, he settled, with his wife and children, in London, in
1715.
Anthony Benezet having received from his father a liberal education,
served an apprenticeship in an eminent mercantile house in London. In
1731, however, he removed with his family to Philadelphia, where he
joined in profession with the Quakers. His three brothers then engaged
in trade, and made considerable pecuniary acquisitions in it. He himself
might have partaken both of their concerns and of their prosperity; but
he did not feel himself at liberty to embark in their undertakings. He
considered the accumulation of wealth as of no importance, when compared
with the enjoyment of doing good; and he chose the humble situation of a
schoolmaster, as according best with this notion, believing, that by
endeavouring to train up youth in knowledge and virtue, he should become
more extensively useful than in any other way to his fellow-creatures.
He had not been long in his new situation, before he manifested such an
uprightness of conduct, such a courtesy of manners, such a purity of
intention, and such a spirit of benevolence, that he attracted the
notice, and gained the good opinion, of the inhabitants among whom he
lived. He had ready access to them, in consequence, upon all occasions;
and, if there were any whom he failed to influence at any of these
times, he never went away without the possession of their respect.
In the year 1756, when a considerable number of French families were
removed from Acadia into Pennsylvania, on account of some political
suspicions, he felt deeply interested about them. In a country where few
understood their language, they were wretched and helpless; but Anthony
Benezet endeavoured to soften the rigour of their situation, by his kind
attention towards them. He exerted himself, also, in their behalf, by
procuring many contributions for them, which, by the consent of his
fellow-citizens, were intrusted to his care.
As the principle of benevolence, when duly cultivated, brings forth
fresh shoots, and becomes enlarged, so we find this amiable person
extending the sphere of his usefulness by becoming an advocate for the
oppressed African race. For this service he seems to have been
peculiarly qualified. Indeed, as in all great works, a variety of
talents is necessary to bring them to perfection, so Providence seems to
prepare different men as instruments, with dispositions and
qualifications so various, that each, in pursuing that line which seems
to suit him best, contributes to furnish those parts which, when put
together, make up a complete whole. In this point of view, John Woolman
found in Anthony Benezet the coadjutor whom, of all others, the cause
required. The former had occupied himself principally on the subject of
slavery. The latter went to the root of the evil, and more frequently
attacked the trade. The former chiefly confined his labours to America,
and chiefly to those of his own society there. The latter, when he
wrote, did not write for America only, but for Europe also, and
endeavoured to spread a knowledge and hatred of the traffic through the
great society of the world.
One of the means which Anthony Benezet took to promote the cause in
question, (and an effectual one it proved, as far as it went,) was to
give his scholars a due knowledge and proper impressions concerning it.
Situated as they were likely to be in after-life, in a country where,
slavery, was a custom, he thus prepared many, and this annually, for the
promotion of his plans.
To enlighten others, and to give them a similar bias, he had recourse to
different measures from time to time. In the almanacs published annually
in Philadelphia, he procured articles to be inserted, which he believed
would attract the notice of the reader, and make him pause, at least for
a while, as to the licitness of, the Slave Trade. He wrote also, as he
saw occasion, in the public papers of the day. From small things he
proceeded to greater. He collected, at length, further information on
the subject, and, winding it up with observations and reflections, he
produced several little tracts, which he circulated successively (but
generally at his, own expense), as he considered them adapted to the
temper and circumstances of the times.
In the course of this his employment, having found some who had approved
his tracts, and, to whom, on that account, he wished to write, and
sending his tracts to others, to whom he thought it proper to introduce
them by letter, he found himself engaged in a correspondence which much
engrossed his time, but which proved of great importance in procuring
many advocates for his cause.
In the year 1762, when he had obtained a still greater store of
information, he published a larger work. This, however, he entitle _A
short Account of that part of Africa inhabited by the Negroes_ In 1767
he published _A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and her colonies on
the calamitous state of the enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions_;
and soon after this appeared, _An Historical Account of Guinea, its
Situation, Produce, and the general Disposition of its Inhabitants: with
an Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, its Nature,
and Calamitous Effects._ This pamphlet contained a clear and distinct
development of the subject, from the best authorities. It contained
also, the sentiments of many enlightened upon it; and it became
instrumental beyond any other book ever before published, in
disseminating a proper knowledge and detestation of this trade.
Anthony Benezet may be considered as one of the most zealous, vigilant,
and active advocates which the cause of the oppressed Africans ever had.
He seemed to have been born and to have lived for the promotion of it
and therefore he never omitted any the least opportunity of serving it.
If a person called upon him who was going a journey his first thoughts
usually were how he could make him an instrument in its favour; he
either gave him tracts to distribute or he sent letters by him, or he
gave him some commission on the subject; so that he was the means of
employing several persons at the same time, in various parts of America;
in advancing the work he had undertaken.
In the same manner he availed himself of every other circumstance, as
far as he could, to the same end. When he heard that Mr. Granville Sharp
had obtained; in the year 1772, the noble verdict in the cause of
Somerset the slave, he opened a correspondence with him which he kept
up, that there might be an union of action between them for the future,
as far as it could be effected, and that they might each give
encouragement to the other to proceed.
He opened also a correspondence with George Whitfield and John Wesley
that these might assist him in promoting the cause of the oppressed.
He wrote also a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon on the following
subject:--She had founded a college, at the recommendation of George
Whitfield, called the Orphan-house near Savannah, in Georgia, and had
endowed it. The object of this institution was to furnish scholastic
instruction to the poor, and to prepare some of them for the ministry.
George Whitfield, ever attentive to the cause of the poor Africans,
thought that this institution might have been useful to them also; but
soon after his death, they who succeeded him bought slaves, and these in
unusual numbers to extend the rice and indigo plantations belonging to
the college. The letter then in question was written by Anthony Benezet,
in order to lay before the Countess, as a religious woman, the misery
she was occasioning in Africa, by allowing the managers of her college
in Georgia to give encouragement to the Slave Trade. The Countess
replied, that such a measure should never have her countenance, and that
she would take care to prevent it.
On discovering that the Abbé Raynal had brought out his celebrated work,
in which he manifested a tender feeling in behalf of the injured
Africans, he entered into a correspondence with him, hoping to make him
yet more useful to their cause.
Finding, also, in the year 1783 that the Slave Trade, which had greatly
declined during the American war, was reviving, he addressed a pathetic
letter to our Queen, (as I mentioned in the last chapter,) who, on
hearing the high character of the writer of it from Benjamin West,
received it with marks of peculiar condescension and attention. The
following is a copy of it:--
TO CHARLOTTE, QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Impressed with a sense of religious duty, and encouraged by the
opinion generally entertained of thy benevolent disposition to
succor the distressed, I take the liberty; very respectfully, to
offer to thy perusal some tracts, which, I believe, faithfully
describe the suffering condition of many hundred thousands of
our fellow-creatures of the African race, great numbers of whom,
rent from every tender connexion in life, are annually taken
from their native land; to endure, in the American islands and
plantations, a most rigorous and cruel slavery; whereby many,
very many of them, are brought to a melancholy and untimely end.
When it is considered that the inhabitants of Great Britain, who
are themselves so eminently blessed in the enjoyment of
religious and civil liberty, have long been, and yet are, very
deeply concerned in this flagrant violation of the common rights
of mankind, and that even its national authority is exerted in
support of the African Slave Trade, there is much reason to
apprehend that this has been, and, as long as the evil exists,
will continue to be, an occasion of drawing down the Divine
displeasure on the nation and its dependencies. May these
considerations induce thee to interpose thy kind endeavours in
behalf of this greatly injured people, whose abject situation
gives them an additional claim to the pity and assistance of the
generous mind, inasmuch as they are altogether deprived of the
means of soliciting effectual relief for themselves; that so
thou mayest not only be a blessed instrument in the hand of him
'by whom kings reign and princes decree justice,' to avert the
awful judgments by which the empire has already been so
remarkably shaken, but that the blessings of thousands ready to
perish may come upon thee, at a time when the superior
advantages attendant on thy situation in this world will no
longer be of any avail to thy consolation and support.
To the tracts on this subject to which I have thus ventured to
crave thy particular attention, I have added some which at
different times I have believed it my duty to publish[A], and
which, I trust, will afford thee some satisfaction, their design
being for the furtherance of that universal peace and good-will
amongst men, which the Gospel was intended to introduce.
[Footnote A: These related to the principles of the religious
society of the Quakers.]
"I hope thou wilt kindly excuse the freedom used on this
occasion by an ancient man, whose mind, for more than forty
years past, has been much separated from the common intercourse
of the world, and long painfully exercised in the consideration
of the miseries under which so large a part of mankind, equally
with us the objects of redeeming love, are suffering the most
unjust and grievous oppression, and who sincerely desires thy
temporal and eternal felicity, and that of thy royal consort.
"ANTHONY BENEZET."
Anthony Benezet, besides the care he bestowed upon forwarding the cause
of the oppressed Africans in different parts of the world, found time to
promote the comforts, and improve the condition of those, in the state
in which he lived. Apprehending that much advantage would arise both to
them and the public from instructing them in common learning, he
zealously promoted the establishment of a school for that purpose. Much
of the two last years of his life he devoted to a personal attendance on
this school, being earnestly desirous that they who came to it might be
better qualified for the enjoyment of that freedom to which great
numbers of them had been then restored. To this he sacrificed the
superior emoluments of his former school, and his bodily ease also,
although the weakness of his constitution seemed to demand indulgence.
By his last will he directed, that, after the decease of his widow, his
whole little fortune (the savings of the industry of fifty years)
should, except a few very small legacies, be applied to the support of
it. During his attendance upon it he had the happiness to find, (and his
situation enabled him to make the comparison,) that Providence had been
equally liberal to the Africans in genius and talents as to other
people.
After a few days' illness, this excellent man died at Philadelphia, in
the spring of 1784. The interment of his remains was attended by several
thousands of all ranks, professions, and parties, who united in
deploring their loss. The mournful procession was closed by some
hundreds of those poor Africans who had been personally benefited by his
labours, and whose behaviour on the occasion showed the gratitude and
affection they considered to be due to him as their own private
benefactor, as well as the benefactor of their whole race.
Such, then, were the labours of the Quakers in America; of individuals,
from 1718 to 1784, and of the body at large, from 1696 to 1787, in this
great cause of humanity and religion. Nor were the effects produced from
these otherwise than corresponding with what might have been expected
from such an union of exertion in such a cause; for both the evils, that
is, the evil of buying and selling, and the evil of using slaves, ceased
at length with the members of this benevolent society. The leaving off
all concern with the Slave Trade took place first. The abolition of
slavery, though it followed, was not so speedily accomplished; for,
besides the loss of property, when slaves were manumitted, without any
pecuniary consideration in return, their owners had to struggle, in
making them free, against the laws and customs of the times. In
Pennsylvania, where the law in this respect was the most favourable, the
parties wishing to give freedom to a slave were obliged to enter into a
bond for the payment of thirty pounds currency, in case the said slave
should become chargeable for maintenance. In New Jersey the terms were
far less favorable, as the estate of the owner remained liable to the
consequences of misconduct in the slave, or even in his posterity. In
the southern parts of America manumission was not permitted but on terms
amounting nearly to a prohibition. But, notwithstanding these
difficulties, the Quakers could not be deterred, as they became
convinced of the unlawfulness of holding men in bondage, from doing that
which they believed to be right. Many liberated their slaves, whatever
the consequences were; and some gave the most splendid example in doing
it, not only by consenting, as others did, thus to give up their
property, and to incur the penalties of manumission, but by calculating
and giving what was due to them, over and above their food and clothing,
for wages[A] from the beginning of their slavery to the day when their
liberation commenced. Thus manumission went on, some sacrificing more;
and others less; some granting it sooner, and others later; till, in the
year 1787[B] there was not a slave in the possession of an acknowledged
Quaker.
[Footnote A: One of the brightest instances was that afforded by Warner
Mifflin. He gave unconditional liberty to his slaves. He paid all the
adults, on their discharge, the sum, which arbitrators, mutually chosen,
awarded them.]
[Footnote B: Previously to the year 1787, several of the states had made
the terms of manumission more easy.]
Having given to the reader the history of the third class of forerunners
and coadjutors, as it consisted of the Quakers in America, I am now to
continue it, as it consisted of an union of these with others on the
same continent, in the year 1774, in behalf of the African race. To do
this, I shall begin with the causes which led to the production of this
great event.
And, in the first place, as example is more powerful than precept, we
cannot suppose that the Quakers could have shown these noble instances
of religious principle, without supposing also that individuals of other
religious denominations would be morally instructed by them. They who
lived in the neighborhood where they took place, must have become
acquainted with the motives which led to them. Some of them must at
least have praised the action, though they might not themselves have
been ripe to follow the example: nor is it at all improbable that these
might be led, in the course of the workings of their own minds, to a
comparison between their own conduct and that of the Quakers on this
subject, in which they themselves might appear to be less worthy in
their own eyes. And as there is sometimes a spirit of rivalship among
the individuals of religious sects, where the character of one is
sounded forth as higher than that of another; this, if excited by such a
circumstance, would probably operate for good. It must have been
manifest also to many, after a lapse of time, that there was no danger
in what the Quakers had done, and that there was even sound policy in
the measure. But, whatever were the several causes, certain it is, that
the example of the Quakers in leaving off all concern with the Slave
Trade, and in liberating their slaves, (scattered, as they were, over
various parts of America,) contributed to produce in many of a different
religious denomination from themselves, a more tender disposition than
had been usual towards the African race.
But a similar disposition towards these oppressed people was created in
others, by means of other circumstances or causes. In the early part of
the eighteenth century, Judge Sewell of New England came forward as a
zealous advocate for them: he addressed a memorial to the legislature,
which he called, _The Selling of Joseph_, and in which he pleaded their
cause both as a lawyer and, a Christian. This memorial produced an
effect upon many, but particularly upon those of his own persuasion; and
from this time the Presbyterians appear to have encouraged a sympathy in
their favour.
In the year 1739, the celebrated George Whitfield became an instrument
in turning the attention of many others to their hard case, and of
begetting in these a fellow sympathy towards them. This laborious
minister, having been deeply affected with what he had seen in the
course of his religious travels in America, thought it his duty, to
address a letter from Georgia to the inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia,
and North and South Carolina. This letter was printed in the year above
mentioned, and is in part as follows:--
As I lately passed through your provinces in my way hither, I
was sensibly touched with a fellow-feeling for the miseries of
the poor negroes. Whether it be lawful for Christians to buy
slaves, and thereby encourage the nations, from whom they are
bought, to be at perpetual war with each other, I shall not take
upon me to determine. Sure I am, it is sinful, when they have
bought them to use them as bad as though they were brutes, nay,
worse; and whatever particular exceptions there may be, (as I
would charitably hope there are some,) I fear the generality of
you who own negroes are liable to such a charge; for your
slaves, I believe, work as hard, if not harder, than the horses
whereon you ride. These, after they have done their work, are
fed and taken proper care of; but many negroes when wearied with
labour, in your plantations, have been obliged to grind their
corn after their return home: your dogs are caressed and fondled
at your table, but your slaves, who are frequently styled dogs
or beasts, have not an equal privilege; they are scarce
permitted to pick up the crumbs which fall from their master's
table: not to mention what numbers have been given up to the
inhuman usage of cruel taskmasters, who, by their unrelenting
scourges have ploughed their backs and made long furrows, and at
length brought them even unto death. When, passing along, I have
viewed your plantations cleared and cultivated, many spacious
houses built and the owners of them faring sumptuously every
day, my blood has frequently almost run cold within me, to
consider how many of your slaves had neither convenient food to
eat, nor proper raiment to put on, notwithstanding most of the
comforts you enjoy were solely owing to their indefatigable
labours.
The letter, from which this is an extract, produced a desirable effect
upon many of those who perused it, but particularly upon such as began
to be seriously disposed in these times. And as George Whitfield
continued a firm friend to the poor Africans, never losing an
opportunity of serving them, he interested, in the course of his useful
life, many thousands of his followers in their favour.
To this account it may be added, that from the year 1762 ministers, who
were in the connection of John Wesley, began to be settled in America,
and that as these were friends to the oppressed Africans also, so they
contributed in their turn[A] to promote a softness of feeling towards
them among those of their own persuasion.
[Footnote A: It must not be forgotten, that the example of the Moravians
had its influence also in directing men to their duty towards these
oppressed people; for though, when they visited this part of the world
for their conversion, they never meddled with the political state of
things, by recommending it to masters to alter the condition of their
slaves, as believing religion could give comfort in the most abject
situations in life, yet they uniformly freed those slaves who came into
their own possession.]
In consequence then of these and other causes, a considerable number of
persons of various religious denominations, had appeared at different
times in America, besides the Quakers, who, though they had not
distinguished themselves by resolutions and manumissions as religious
bodies, were yet highly friendly to the African cause. This friendly
disposition began to manifest itself about the year 1770; for when a few
Quakers, as individuals, began at that time to form little associations
in the middle provinces of North America, to discourage the introduction
of slaves among people in their own neighbourhoods, who were not of
their own Society, and to encourage the manumission of those already in
bondage, they, were joined as colleagues by several persons of this
description[A], who co-operated with them in the promotion of their
design.
[Footnote A: It then appeared that individuals among those of the Church
of England, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and others had
begun in a few instances to liberate their slaves.]
This disposition, however, became more manifest in the year 1772; for
the house of burgesses of Virginia presented a petition to the king,
beseeching his majesty to remove all those restraints on his governors
of that colony, which inhibited their assent to such laws as might check
that inhuman and impolitic commerce, the Slave Trade: and it is
remarkable, that the refusal of the British government to permit the
Virginians to exclude slaves from among them by law, was enumerated
afterwards among the public reasons for separating from the mother
country.
But this friendly disposition was greatly increased in the year 1773, by
the literary labours of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia[B], who, I
believe, is a member of the Presbyterian Church: for in this year, at
the instigation of Anthony Benezet, he took up the cause of the
oppressed Africans in a little work, which he entitled, _An Address to
the Inhabitants of the British Settlements, on the Slavery of the
Negroes_; and soon afterwards in another, which was a vindication of the
first, in answer to an acrimonious attach by a West Indian planter.
These publications contained many new observations; they were written in
a polished style; and while they exhibited the erudition and talents,
they showed the liberality and benevolence of the author. Having had a
considerable circulation, they spread conviction among many, and
promoted the cause for which they had been so laudably undertaken. Of
the great increase of friendly disposition towards the African cause in
this very year, we have this remarkable proof: that when the Quakers,
living in East and West Jersey, wished to petition the legislature to
obtain an act of assembly for the more equitable manumission of slaves
in that province, so many others of different persuasions joined them,
that the petition was signed by upwards of three thousand persons.
[Footnote B: Dr. Rush has been better known since for his other literary
works, such as his _Medical Dissertations_, his _Treatises on the
Discipline of Schools_, _Criminal Law_, &c.]
But in the next year, or in the year 1774[A], the increased good-will
towards the Africans became so apparent, but more particularly in
Pennsylvania, where the Quakers were more numerous than in any other
state, that they, who considered themselves more immediately as the
friends of these injured people, thought it right to avail themselves of
it: and accordingly James Pemberton, one of the most conspicuous of the
Quakers in Pennsylvania, and Dr. Rush, one of the most conspicuous of
those belonging to the various other religious communities in that
province, undertook, in conjunction with others, the important task of
bringing those into a society who were friendly to this cause. In this
undertaking they succeeded. And hence arose that union of the Quakers
with others, to which I have been directing the attention of the reader,
and by which the third class of forerunners and coadjutors becomes now
complete. This society, which was confined to Pennsylvania, was the
first ever formed in America, in which there was an union of persons of
different religious denominations in behalf of the African race.
[Footnote A: In this year, Elhanan Winchester, a supporter of the
doctrine of universal redemption, turned the attention of many of his
hearers to this subject, both by private interference, and by preaching
expressly upon it.]
But this society had scarcely begun to act, when the war broke out
between England and America, which had the effect of checking its
operations. This was considered as a severe blow upon it. But as those
things which appear most to our disadvantage, turn out often the most to
our benefit, so the war, by giving birth to the independence of America,
was ultimately favourable to its progress. For as this contrast had
produced during its continuance, so it left, when it was over, a general
enthusiasm for liberty. Many talked of little else but of the freedom
they had gained. These were naturally led to the consideration of those
among them who were groaning in bondage. They began to feel for their
hard case. They began to think that they should not deserve the new
blessing which they had acquired if they denied it to others. Thus the
discussions, which originated in this contest, became the occasion of
turning the attention of many, who might not otherwise have thought of
it, towards the miserable condition of the slaves.
Nor were writers wanting, who, influenced by considerations on the war,
and the independence resulting from it, made their works subservient to
the same benevolent end. A work, entitled _A Serious Address to the
Rulers of America on the Inconsistency of their Conduct respecting
Slavery, forming a Contrast between the Encroachments of England on
American Liberty and American Injustice in tolerating Slavery_; which
appeared in 1783, was particularly instrumental in producing this
effect. This excited a more than usual attention to the case of these
oppressed people, and where most of all it could be useful; for the
author compared in two opposite columns the animated speeches and
resolutions of the members of congress in behalf of their own liberty
with their conduct in continuing slavery to others. Hence the
legislature began to feel the inconsistency of the practice; and so far
had the sense of this inconsistency spread there, that when the
delegates met from each state to consider of a federal union, there was
a desire that the abolition of the Slave Trade should be one of the
articles in it. This was, however, opposed by the delegates from North
and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia, the five states
which had the greatest concern in slaves. But even these offered to
agree to the article, provided a condition was annexed to it, (which was
afterwards done,) that the power of such abolition should not commence
in the legislature till the 1st of January, 1808.
In consequence then of these different circumstances, the Society of
Pennsylvania, the object of which was "for promoting the abolition of
slavery and the relief of free negroes unlawfully held in bondage,"
became so popular, that in the year 1787 it was thought desirable to
enlarge it. Accordingly several new members were admitted into it. The
celebrated Dr. Franklin, who had long warmly espoused the cause of the
injured Africans, was appointed president; James Pemberton and Jonathan
Penrose were appointed vice-presidents; Dr. Benjamin Rush and Tench
Coxe, secretaries; James Star, treasurer; William Lewis, John D. Coxe,
Miers Fisher, and William Rawle, counsellors; Thomas Harrison, Nathan
Boys, James Whiteall, James Reed, John Todd, Thomas Armatt, Norris
Jones, Samuel Richards, Francis Bayley, Andrew Carson, John Warner, and
Jacob Shoemaker, junior, an electing committee; and Thomas Shields,
Thomas Parker, John Oldden, William Zane, John Warner, and William
McElhenny, an acting committee for carrying on the purposes of the
institution.
I shall now only observe further upon this subject, that as a society,
consisting of an union of the Quakers, with others of other religious
denominations, was established for Pennsylvania in behalf of the
oppressed Africans; so different societies, consisting each of a similar
union of persons, were established in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey,
Delaware, Maryland, and other states for the same object, and that these
afterwards held a correspondence and personal communion with each other
for the promotion of it.