11483514https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/11483514Tennessee1835Archives0010Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TennesseeOne hundred fifty-seven petitioners, lamenting the deplorable condition of people of color and citing rights promised in the Constitution, seek a gradual end to slavery. The petitioners argue that slaveholders should be permitted to free their slaves on terms that will not involve their estates so long as the emancipated slaves can maintain themselves. They also argue that descendants of slaves born after the passage of an emancipation law should be freed when they reach a certain age. Black people to be freed should be taught a useful occupation and to read the Scriptures. Lastly, a law should be passed prohibiting within the state “the inhuman practice of separating husbands and wives.”owner(s)/citizens manumit/free slaveEnslavers without landEducation and literacy (enslaved)Term slaveryWhite affection (enslaved family)