Existing comment:
Slaves Petition for Freedom, 1777
Free and enslaved blacks pressed for emancipation during the Revolutionary era in states including Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Connecticut. On January 13, 1777, slaves led by Prince Hall and Lancaster Hill petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for their freedom. The petitioners challenged state leaders to examine their consciences and the laws of nature established by the great "parent of the universe" to decide whether the slaves should be free. They proposed that slavery was untrue to the Christian faith and questioned how white citizens who followed "the mild religion of Jesus" could hold fellow human beings in perpetual bondage. |