The Atlantic slave trade was still operating at the beginning of the 19th Century, but there was a growing abolitionist movement in the United States. The state of Pennsylvania had passed a Gradual Ab

Letter #2

Those patriotic citizens, who, after resting from the toils of an arduous war, which achieved our independence and laid the foundation of the only reasonable Republic on Earth, associated together, and for the protection of those inestimable rights for the establishment of which they had exhausted their blood and treasure, framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania, have by the ninth article declared, “that all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying life and liberty.” Under the restraint of wise and well administered laws, we cordially unite in the above glorious sentiment, but by the bill upon which we have been remarking, it appears as if the committee who drew it up mistook the sentiment expressed in this article, and do not consider us as men, or that those enlightened statement who formed the constitution upon the basis of experience intended to exclude us from its blessings and protection. If the former, why are we not to be considered as men. Has the God who made the white man and the black, left any record declaring us a different species. Are we not sustained by the same power, supported by the same food, hurt by the same wounds, pleased with the same delights, and propagated by the same means. And should we not them enjoy the same liberty, and be protected by the same laws – We would wish not to legislate, for our means of information and the acquisition of knowledge are, in the nature of things, so circumscribed, that we must consider ourselves incompetent to the task: but let us, in legislation be considered men. It cannot be that the authors of our Constitution intended to exclude us from its benefits, for just emerging from unjust and cruel emancipation, their souls were too much affected with their own deprivations to commence the reign of terrour over others. They know we were deeper skinned than they were, but they acknowledged us as men, and found that many an honest heart beat beneath a dusky bosom. They felt that they had no more authority to enslave us, than England had to tyrannize over them. They were convinced that if amenable to the same laws in our actions, we should be protected by the same laws in our rights and privileges. Actuated by these sentiments they adopted the glorious fabric of our liberties, and declaring “all men” free, they did not particularize white and black, because they never supposed it would be made a question whether we were men or not. Sacred be the ashes, and deathless be the memory of those heroes who are dead; and revered be the persons and the characters of those who still exist and lift the thunders of admonition against the traffic in blood. And here my brethren in colour, let the tear of gratitude and the sigh of regret break forth for that great and good man, who lately fell a victim the promiscuous fury of death, in whom you have lost a zealous friend, a powerful, an herculean advocate, a sincere adviser, and one who spent many an hour of his life to break your fetters and ameliorate your condition – I mean the ever to be lamented Dr. Benjamin Rush.

It seems almost incredible that the advocates of liberty should conceive the idea of selling a fellow creature to slavery. It is like the heroes of “Vive la Republic,” while the decapitated Nun was precipitate into the general reservoir of death, and the palpitating embryo decorated the point of the bayonet. Ye, who should be our protectors, do not destroy – We will cheerfully submit to the laws, and aid in bringing offenders against them of every colour to justice; but do not let the laws operate so severely, so degradingly, so unjustly against us lone.

Let us put a case, in which the law in question operates peculiarly hard and unjust – I have a brother, perhaps, who, resides in a distant part of the Union, and after a separation of years, actuated by the same fraternal affection which beats in the bosom of a white man, he comes to visit me. Unless that brother be registered in twenty-four hours after, and be able to produce a certificate to that effect, he is liable, according to the second and third sections of the bill, to a fine of twenty dollars, to arrest, imprisonment and sale. Let he unprejudiced mind ponder upon this, and then pronounce it the justifiable act of a free people, if he can. To this we trust our cause, without fear of the issue. The unprejudiced must pronounce any act tending to deprive a free man of his right, freedom and immunities, as not only cruel in the extreme, but decidedly unconstitutional both a regards the letter and spirit of that glorious instrument. The same power which protects the white man, should protect the black.

Color Code Meaning:

The state of Pennsylvania had fought in the American Revolution and wrote a Constitution that said “all men are born equally free and independent,” and have certain rights that include the ability to pursue life and liberty

There is new legislation in the state that does not recognize us (black men) to be men.

This section asks why black men are not considered men – and asks whether God somehow made black and white two different species. The law should consider black men to be men.

The authors of the United States Constitution had just fought a war to achieve their own freedom – and wrote a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution that acknowledged the freedom of all men. They didn’t say white men because it wasn’t a question.

Acknowledging the death of Benjamin Rush, who had fought for freedom in the Revolution and as a legislator in Pennsylvania

Again – how could people who fought the revolution ever think it’s okay to sell a fellow creature into slavery? We support our laws and believe everyone should follow them, but there should not be laws that target only black men.

Here is an example – if my brother visits me from another state and cannot prove that he is free and register as a visitor, he would be fined, arrested, put in jail, and then sold into slavery. It seems obvious from this example that black men are being denied freedom and that the law is cruel. The same laws that apply to white men should apply to black men.