Twenty-eight residents of Horry District "renew their memorial which was laid before your Honorable bodies at the last Session of the Legislature relative to Free persons of colour." They declare that "they still feel that it is a class of population unproductive to the general prosperity of the State" and that "it is a class well calculated to corrupt the Slave." The petitioners further espouse that "it is a class typical of what the whole coloured race would be without the superior controling influence of white superiority; a thriftless race receding from its present enlightenment and happiness to savage barbarism." They therefore pray that a law be passed "giving to the free Coloured population of the State the Choice either of emigrating to a Colder and more Congenial climate within Six months from the passage of such Law or to be Sold into Slavery under restrictions that would ensure them a good master, such restrictions to give them first the benefit of choosing the Master."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
