Twenty-six "aggrieved" Sussex County residents petition the court, "asking that the laws of the commonwealth be enforced." They submit that three "certain negroes freed by the last will and testament of Nancy Cain ... who were sent to the colony of Liberia (a climate suited to the african race) have returned to this State, representing that they prefer 'American Slavery' to 'Liberian Freedom.' " The citizens acknowledge that they "have waited patiently for twelve months, to see if they (Mark (Collier), Claiborne (Collier) and Eppes (Collier) would change their minds;" they surmise "from the fact however of their remaining, we must take it for granted, that they were serious." They therefore "ask that the law of the State applicable to their cases be enforced." The petitioners put forth that they "have lived long enough to see the evil of a free population mixed with our slaves, and although your Honourable body cannot act without law to remove the whole evil we only beg of you that so far as your Jurisdiction extends you will not fail to carry it out to the letter."
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Repository: Sussex County Courthouse, Sussex, Virginia
