Petition Against the Slave Trade
12/30/1799
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Petitioning to end slavery was ongoing since the nation's founding. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right ''to petition the government for a redress of grievances.'' On December 30, 1799, the Reverend Absalom Jones and other free blacks of Philadelphia sent this petition to Congress.
The petition complains that the new fugitive slave law was resulting in the apprehension of freemen. They wrote that the Southerners’ practice of kidnapping free African Americans and transporting them to Southern states in order to sell them violated the “solemn Compact” of the Constitution.
The petition also expresses hope for the elimination of slavery, stating: "We do not ask for the immediate emancipation of all...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..."
The petition caused controversy when it was presented to Congress. Because of the section calling for the end of slavery, only those parts that related to U.S. laws regarding either fugitive slaves or the slave trade from the United States to foreign places were referred to the committee. By a vote of 85 to 1, the resolution of referral was amended (see the note on the back) to state that "such part of the said petition, which invite Congress to legislate upon subjects from which the general government is precluded by the Constitution have a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought therefore to receive no encouragement or countenance from this House."
The petition complains that the new fugitive slave law was resulting in the apprehension of freemen. They wrote that the Southerners’ practice of kidnapping free African Americans and transporting them to Southern states in order to sell them violated the “solemn Compact” of the Constitution.
The petition also expresses hope for the elimination of slavery, stating: "We do not ask for the immediate emancipation of all...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..."
The petition caused controversy when it was presented to Congress. Because of the section calling for the end of slavery, only those parts that related to U.S. laws regarding either fugitive slaves or the slave trade from the United States to foreign places were referred to the committee. By a vote of 85 to 1, the resolution of referral was amended (see the note on the back) to state that "such part of the said petition, which invite Congress to legislate upon subjects from which the general government is precluded by the Constitution have a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought therefore to receive no encouragement or countenance from this House."
Transcript
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 denominations. – Yet, while 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 – vis – “We the People of the United States “in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestick “tranquility, provide for the Common Defence, and to secure the blessings of “Liberty to ourselves and 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 another equally wicked practiced 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[?] Chester-town, Eastown, and divers other places; -- After a sufficient number is obtained, they are forced on board vessels, crowded 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 inhumanely 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, the Volumes might be filled with the sufferings of the 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
[Signatures]
[Reverse of signature page]
Petition of Absalom Jones and others.
2nd January 1800
A motion was made to refer such parts of the petition as relates to laws of the United States respecting the slave trade from the United States to any foreign place or country – and the laws respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters, to the Committee appointed on the 12th day of December last, to take into consideration the laws of[?] the United States, relating to the Slave Trade.
3rd[?] January, 1799
Motion of yesterday agreed to, with the following amendment. “And that such parts of the said petition, which invite Congress to legislate upon subjects from which the general government is precluded by the Constitution have a tendency[?] to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought therefore to receive no encouragement or countenance from this House.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. House of Representatives.
National Archives Identifier: 7594794
Full Citation: Petition of Absalom Jones and Others — People of Color and Freemen of Philadelphia — Against the Slave Trade to the Coast of Guinea; 12/30/1799; (HR 6A-F4.2); Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/petition-against-the-slave-trade, March 20, 2025]Activities that use this document
- Analyzing a Petition about Slavery
Created by the National Archives Education Team - From Slavery to Juneteenth: Emancipation and Ending Enslavement
Created by the National Archives Education Team
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