{"petition":[{"petition_analysis_number":"10380704","petition_url":"https:\/\/dlas.uncg.edu\/petitions\/petition\/10380704","state":"Delaware","county":"","file_year":1807,"filing_court":"Archives","enslaved_count":0,"fpoc_count":0,"total_people_count":10,"repository":"Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware","abstract":"Nineteen citizens of Delaware demand the abolition of slavery in their state as, they believe, \"that freedom is the natural and inalienable right of man; and that, to deprive him of it, is highly unjust, immoral, anti-christian.\"  They argue that Delaware would benefit economically and morally from abolition citing that the end of slavery in New York brought improvements of every kind and a permanent rise in the value of real property, while slavery in Virginia \"has cast Virginia down from her proud pre-eminence -- Slaves have devoured her strength.\"  They further believe that abolition would also end “that most detestable of all crimes, so common among us, the crime of man-stealing.\"  The petitioners therefore \"confidently, yet respectfully solicit you, as the guardians of the publick welfare, to designate a day, after which all coloured children born in our State shall be free.\"","subjects":[{"subject":"Theft by enslaved"},{"subject":"Abolition"}]}]}