Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery | “to extend the blessings of freedom to every part of the human race”

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery

The Constitution of the Pennsylvania Society, for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Begun in the year 1774, and enlagred [sic] on the twenty-third of April, 1787. To which are added, the Acts of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, for the Gradual Abolition of slavery. Philadelphia: Printed by Joseph James, in Chesnut-Street, M.DCC.LXXXVII (1787)

8vo (198 x 128 mm). Half-title; lightly browned, some light dampstaining to upper margin of last few leaves. Stab-sewn in original blue wrappers; soiled, long, clean tear to front wrapper.

First edition, first issue, with misspelling enlagred on title-page.

In 1774 Anthony Benezet called the first meeting of the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully held in Bondage; most of its members were Quakers. The Society grew in numbers and reorganized several times; and it was joined by such prominent figures as Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush, who helped write the Society's new constitution—which was drafted and published in the same year and the same city—Philadelphia—as the Constitution of the United States, of which, of course, Franklin was also a significant framer. The preamble, or introduction, to the Society’s constitution states:

“It having pleased the Creator of the world, to make of one flesh, all the children of men—it becomes them to consult and promote each other’s happiness, as members of the same family, however diversified they may be, by colour, situation, religion, or different states of society. It is more especially the duty of those persons, who profess to maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who acknowledge the obligations of Christianity, to use such means as are in their power, to extend the blessings of freedom to every part of the human race; and in a more particular manner, to such of their fellow-creatures, as are entitled to freedom by the laws and constitutions of any of the United States, and who, notwithstanding, are detained in bondage, by fraud or violence.— From a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles—from a desire to diffuse them, wherever the miseries and vices of slavery exist, and in humble confidence of the favour and support of the Father of Mankind, the subscribers have associated themselves under the title of the ‘Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of slavery, and the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage.’”

Inevitably, some modern historians have questioned the sincerity of Franklin’s commitment to abolition; for example, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner writes, “But in the end, Franklin’s abolitionism remains something of an enigma, replete with questions, contradictions, inconsistencies. Some have argued that Franklin’s apparent antislavery energy was little more than the backwater of his wife’s commitment to the cause. … The fact that there is no evidence that Franklin ever made friends with a black person gives cause to raise such a question. Apparently new insights did not alter his behavior toward the black people surrounding him” (“At the End, an Abolitionist?,” in Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, ed. Talbott, pp. 294–96).

However, the letter that Franklin sent to Samuel Huntington, Governor of Connecticut, 12 January 1788, just three days after that state had ratified the proposed Constitution of the United States, leaves little doubt of the genuine abhorrence with which the elder statesman viewed slavery: “The Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of Slavery, & the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage have taken the liberty to request your Excellencys acceptance of a few copies of their Constitution and the laws of Pennsa. which relate to one of the objects of their Institution. … The Society have heard with great distress that a considerable part of the Slaves, who have been sold in the Southern States since the establishment of the peace have been imported in vessels fitted out in the United States. From your Excellencys station they hope your influence will be exerted hereafter to prevent a practice which is so evidently repugnant to the political principles & forms of government lately adopted by the Citizens of the United States, & wch. cannot fail of delaying the enjoyment of the blessings of Peace & Liberty by drawing down the displeasure of the great and impartial ruler of the Universe upon our Country.” (Franklin’s letter to Huntington was sold by Sotheby’s New York, 7 December 1999, lot 34A, and, at $305,000, is the most expensive letter by Franklin ever sold at auction. The letter remains unpublished, but will be included in a forthcoming volume of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin; in the meantime, the text, without editorial apparatus, is available at franklinpapers.org.)

REFERENCES

ESTC W30521; Evans 20636; Federal Hundred 14; Sabin 60364