Excerpt:

Altho our Skins are different in Colour, from those who we serve, yet Reason & Revelation join to declare, that we are the Creatures of that God who made of one Blood, and Kindred, all the Nations of the Earth; we perceive by our own Reflection, that we are endowed, with the same Faculties, with our Masters, and there is nothing, that leads us to a Belief, or Suspicion, that we are any more obliged to serve them, than they us […] we have Endeavoured rightly to understand, what is our Right, and what is our Duty, and can never be convinced, that we were made to be Slaves.

Prime and Prince, Petition to the Connecticut General Assembly, 1779. Connecticut State Library

During the American Revolution, Prince and Prime, two enslaved men from Fairfield, petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly to end slavery in the state. This was the first such petition to ask for a total end to slavery in Connecticut, and it was written with the help of local leader (and slaveholder) Jonathan Sturges. The petition was denied. 

Subscribe Now!

Login

Lost your password?