Introduction to the primary source written by James G. Basker, from James G. Basker (editor) with Nicole Seary, Black Writers of the Founding Era: 1760–1800 (New York: Library of America, 2023), p. 616.
“In this, only the second petition ever presented to Congress by a group of African Americans, seventy-one Black Philadelphians including Absalom Jones and Richard Allen plead for civil rights and an end to the kidnapping of Black people to be sold into the clandestine slave trade. At the core of the petition is the demand that African Americans be included among ‘We the People’ and an accusation that slavery and discrimination are direct violations of the Constitution. The petitioners are bold enough to point out that in the Constitution ‘no mention is made of Black people or slaves’ and therefore, ‘as we are men, we [are entitled to] . . . the Liberties and unalienable Rights therein held forth.’
“Faced with such an embarrassing indictment, on January 2, 1800, Congress allowed the petition to be read and then debated over the course of two days, January 2 and 3, 1800. The debate was dominated by fierce opposition. John Rutledge, Jr., of South Carolina denounced ‘this new-fangled French philosophy of liberty and equality.’ James Jones of Georgia hated the idea that enslaved people had rights under the Constitution: ‘I would ask gentlemen whether, with all their philanthropy, they would wish to see those people deliberating in the councils of the nation?’ Others contended that such petitions were stirring a ‘temper of revolt,’ and would lead to ‘dreadful scenes’ of mayhem and murder.
“In the end, Congress voted 85 to 1 to reject the petition, resolving that the petitioners’ words had ‘a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy’ and should therefore ‘receive no encouragement or countenance from this House.’ The vehemence of the opposition turned a pivotal moment into a lost opportunity in American history.”
To the President, Senate, and House of Representatives of the United States—
The petition of the People of Colour, Freemen, within the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia—
Humbly sheweth,
That thankful to God our Creator and to the Government under which we live, for the blessing and benefit extended to us in the enjoyment of our natural right to Liberty, and the protection of our Persons and property from the oppression and violence, to which so great a number of like colour and National Descent are subjected; We feel ourselves bound from a sense of these blessings to continue in our respective allotments, and to lead honest and peaceable lives, rendering due submission to the Laws, and exciting and encouraging each other thereto, agreeable to the uniform advice of our real friends of every denomination.—Yet, while we feel impress’d with grateful sensations for the Providential favours we ourselves enjoy, We cannot be insensible of the condition of our afflicted Brethren, suffering under various circumstances in different parts of these States; but deeply sympathizing with them, We are incited by a sense of Social duty, and humbly conceive ourselves authorized to address and petition you in their behalf, believing them to be objects of representation in your public Councils, in common with ourselves and every other class of Citizens within the Jurisdiction of the United States, according to the declared design of the present Constitution, formed by the General Convention and ratified by the different States, as set forth in the preamble thereto in the following words—viz—“We the People of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, ensure domestick tranquility, provide for the Common Defence, and to secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain &c.”—We apprehend this solemn Compact is violated by a trade carried on in a clandestine manner to the Coast of Guinea, and other equally wicket practised openly by citizens of some of the Southern States upon the waters of Maryland and Delaware: Men sufficiently callous as to qualify for the brutal purpose, are employed in kidnapping those of our Brethren that are free, and purchasing others of such as claim a property in them; thus these poor helpless victims like droves of Cattle are seized, fettered, and hurried into places provided for this most horrid traffic, such as dark cellars and garrets, as is notorious at Northwest Fork, Chestertown, Eastown, and divers other places:—After a sufficient number is obtained, they are forced on board vessels, crouded under hatches, and without the least commiseration, left to deplore the sad separation of the dearest ties in nature, husband from wife and Parents from children thus pack’d together they are transported to Georgia and other places, and there inhumanly exposed to sale: Can any Commerce, trade, or transaction, so detestably shock the feelings of Man, or degrade the dignity of his nature equal to this, and how increasingly is the evil aggravated when practised in a Land, high in profession of the benign doctrines of our blessed Lord, who taught his followers to do unto others as they would they should do unto them!—
Your petitioners desire not to enlarge, tho Volumes might be filled with the sufferings of this grossly abused class of the human species, (700,000 of whom it is said are now in unconditional bondage in these States,) but, conscious of the rectitude of our motives in a concern so nearly affecting us, and so essentially interesting to real welfare of this Country, we cannot but address you as Guardians of our Civil rights, and Patrons of equal and National Liberty, hoping you will view the subject in an impartial, unprejudiced light.—We do not ask for the immediate emancipation of all, knowing that the degraded state of many and their want of education, would greatly disqualify for such a change; yet humbly desire you may exert every means in your power to undo the heavy burdens, and prepare the way for the oppressed to go free, that every yoke may be broken.
The Law not long since enacted by Congress called the Fugitive Bill, is, in its execution found to be attended with circumstances peculiarly hard and distressing, for many of our afflicted Brethren in order to avoid the barbarities wantonly exercised upon them, or thro fear of being carried off by those Men-stealers, have been forced to seek refuge by flight; they are then hunted by armed Men, and under colour of this law, cruelly treated, shot, or brought back in chains to those who have no just claim upon them.
In the Constitution, and the Fugitive bill, no mention is made of Black people or slaves—therefore if the Bill of Rights, or the declaration of Congress are of any validity, we beseech that as we are men, we may be admitted to partake of the Liberties and unalienable Rights therein held forth—firmly believing that the extending of Justice and equity to all Classes would be a means of drawing down the blessings of Heaven upon this Land, for the Peace and Prosperity of which, and the real happiness of every member of the Community, we fervently pray—Philadelphia 30th of December 1799—
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his John x Smith mark |
his Henry x William mark |
his Thomas x Watson mark |
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his Parker x Harris mark |
Thomas Farmer Lot Rasine |
his Edward x Matthews mark |
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his John x Mang mark |
his Isawe x Williams mark |
his Anthony x Williams mark |
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his David x Jackson mark |
his Jacob x Gibbs mark |
his John x Harris mark |
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his Thomas x Caulker mark |
his Severn x Custom mark James Wilson |
his Philip x Johnson mark |
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his Joseph Houston x Alexander mark |
his Benjamin x Jackson mark |
his Edward x Simon mark |
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his Bartlet x Kinney mark |
his William x Coulson mark |
his Charles x Caldwell mark |
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his James x Brown mark |
Richard Allen his Job x Albert mark |
C Pettingrew
his Ishmael x Robinson mark |
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his William x Squire mark |
his Samuel x Wilson mark |
Jacob Conway his Wiley x Cottanse mark |
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his Adam x James mark |
his John x Nelson mark |
Source: The People of Colour, Freemen Within the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia. The Petition of the People of Colour, Freemen Within the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia: Manuscript, Slave Trade Committee Records (STCR), HR 6A-F 4-2, National Archives. In James G. Basker (editor) with Nicole Seary, Black Writers of the Founding Era: 1760–1800, New York: Library of America, 2023, pp. 617–621.