Members of the Manumission Society seek a law prohibiting the importation of slaves "from any other State or Country, Either to Sell, or retain & use as Slaves." They propose that, before the sale of any slave, the seller should be required to produce a deposition, sworn before a magistrate, stating that the slave had resided in North Carolina for a given number of years. The petitioners also ask that the state make it easier for owners to emancipate their slaves through their wills, noting that "the Slave laws of the State and adjudications made thereon, do operate with serious restraint on the consciences of men by making it Unlawful, for a man to do that in his last moment, which he knows to be his duty." By adopting such "cautious and wise" policies, the petitioners purport that we "may avert from our beloved Country the impending dangers consequent on a State of Slavery" and that "the Children of injured Africa may be restored, to civilize, & Christianize, the land of their Fathers."
Or you may view all people.
Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
