Members of the Mechanical Society of Wilmington join other inhabitants of the town to contest "the practice of many Owners of Slaves in Town, to hire to them their own time." The petitioners argue that said slaves as "mechanics" take on "work on their own account at, sometime less, than one half the rate that a regular bred white Mechanic could afford to do." They also point out that this practice affords slaves with "so much time to themselves" to consort "daily and nightly together" whereby "insurrections, and plans against the lives and property of the citizens may be formed, matured, and carried into execution with unanimity, secrecy and dispatch." They therefore pray that "one particular civil officer" be authorized "to adopt and pursue such vigorous measures for prevention of abuse" of the self-hiring of skilled slaves, whom they consider to be "the irreconcilable enemies of the Whites."
Result: Senate: read, referred.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
