John Beaty states that his slave Charles, "anxious to obtain his freedom," agreed in 1830 "to pay him the sum of $450," whereupon Beaty would then "emancipate him according to the laws then in force in the State." Beaty reports that Charles had paid him $126.25 when the new emancipation law passed 16 December 1831 and that he has since paid the outstanding balance. Noting that "Said Charles has a Wife & children in this county and does not, therefore, wish to leave the State as he would have to do, on emancipation, according to the act of 1831," the petitioner prays "the General Assembly to pass a law authorising the emancipation of said Charles without subjecting him to the painful condition of leaving the State."
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
