LIFE AND CHARACTER 17 



Now Brethren, since it is plain from the above principles . . . that 

 it is our moral conduct towards each other which constitutes true 

 Religion. ... It seriously behoves us to . . . consider our past & present 

 conduct whether it accords . . . with the commands of the Universal 

 lord and Sovereign of this World. . . . 



Ye Chiefs of this Nation whome the people have chosen and 

 appointed as Watchmen ... for their safety. . . . Recollect the funda- 

 mental principle, the first articles of the constitution of the United States, 

 viz. We hold it as a sacred truth, that all men are born free, and have 

 an equal unalienable right to Life, Liberty and property, etc. 



. . . Do we not continue in a woefull predicament by suffering the 

 Black People who are fellow citizens of our Nation to be held in per- 

 petuall Bondage and slavery, being drag'd in chains from Africa their 

 native Land many most of them for no crime whatever & none for any 

 crime or harm that they have rendered us : incredible that an enlightened 

 People as we would feign be should continue to afflict them. . . . 



Ye chiefs in the National Council, do you not confess while ye sit 

 in the Assembly that those poor illtreated People are fellow citizens. 

 Consider God is no respector of Persons & that the Black White Red & 

 Yellow People are equally dear to him and under his protection and 

 favour & that sooner or later ye must render full retribution. . . . 



Americans ye do not know your own interests by keeping these 

 inocent people in bondage against their will. . . .^^ 



The paper ends with a prophecy of the day when these afflicted 

 people will have full satisfaction for their oppressions. 



The sentiments expressed are representative of the views held 

 generally by Quakers, including his father, on the subject of 

 Negro slavery. Anthony Benezet, for example, another Phila- 

 delphia Friend, published in 1766 A Caution and Warning to 

 Great Britain and her Colonies: 



At a time when the general rights and liberties of mankind, and the 

 preservation of those valuable privileges transmitted to us from our 

 ancestors, are become . . . the subjects of universal consideration, can it 

 be an inquiry indefferent to any, how many of those who distinguish 

 themselves as the advocates of liberty, remain insensible ... to the 

 treatment of thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow men who 

 from motives of avarice, and the inexorable decree of tyrant custom, 

 are at this very time kept in the most deplorable state of slavery, in 

 many parts of the British Dominions.^ . . . 



. . . They are put on board the vessels, the men being shackled with 



Bartram Papers, I. 



