Andrew Gray asks the legislature to reconsider its decision to reject his original petition of January 1843, and he asks again for compensation for his slave Charles, who was arrested and escaped from jail in 1809. Gray suggests that said rejection may stem from "a latent objection in the minds of some to passing it because of the unpopularity attached to the name of a slaveholder at this day. To them, if any there be, I would say, that although a slaveholder, I am both a professed and practiced abolitionist." Gray asserts that he "inherited a family of young slaves, two of whom only were above the age of twenty one and the whole have been long since liberated." Estimating the value of the freed male slaves to be $400 at the time, he deems it "was a sacrifice which abolitionists who never owned a negro have not incurred and consequently have not given the proof of their zeal in the cause of emancipation."
Or you may view all people.
Repository: Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware
