Ninety citizens of Fayetteville seek the passage of a law prohibiting free blacks from voting in town elections. Although an amendment to the state constitution excludes their casting ballots in state elections, "that by Laws relating to the Town of Fayetteville they are entitled to and do exercise that right in the municipal elections of this Town." The petitioners assert that, "with a few exceptions," free persons of color are "totally unfitted either by intent or by property to exercise such a right," yet they "compose quite a large class here."
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
