One hundred sixty-four residents of New Bern complain that "many of the free negroes residing in the Town of Newbern, claim the right of voting" and "that fifty or more actually exercise that right" to send a representative to the House of Commons. They point out that the state constitution permits those who possess a freehold, who have lived in the town twelve months, and who have paid taxes to cast their ballots as freemen. But, the petitions argue, free blacks are not freemen: they "are forbidden to contract marriage except with their own class"; they cannot sit on juries or testify in court except in certain cases; and they can be sentenced death on the testimony of a slave. "Can these disabilities," the petitioners ask, "belong to a Freeman?" They ask the legislature “to ascertain and determine the true construction of the Constitution upon the subject matter of this their Memorial."
Result: Senate: referred to judiciary committee.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
