Seventeen citizens of Delaware express concern about the increasing number of kidnappings of free people of color, who are "wrested from their families and carried into perpetual bondage." They assert that this "iniquitous traffic" is "both known and deplored by many of the members of the Legislature themselves; but bounds can never be set to its progress, till some Law be granted whose penalty shall exceed the hope of advantage from this commerce." They further note that the grand jury of Baltimore County "are among others, petitioners to the Legislature of Maryland, for a Law of similar effect with that for which we petition." The petitioners "therefore submit our Memorial and Petition to the Legislature, expecting its success from their justice, and hoping it from their humanity."
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Repository: Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware
