Fifty-eight citizens of Smithville, in the County of Brunswick, and "some of us Mechanics," consider "the great injury done us by Colored persons in taking contracts at a lower rate than we can afford, thereby depriving us of the means of supporting our families." They therefore pray "your Honorable bodies to pass an act to prevent free colored persons from becoming contractors for any mechanical work such as building houses vessel &c. And especially to pass more stringent laws against slaves hiring their own time." The petitioners purport that "the evil has become a serious one, and we most earnestly believe that sound policy no less than our own interest requires that white mechanics should be protected against the competition of colored persons whether free or slave."
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
