Petition #11382603

Abstract

One hundred fifty-nine petitioners, members of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce and other citizens, seek to repeal an 1823 and 1825 act regarding persons of color who arrive in port as cooks or stewards on vessels from Europe, the West Indies, Mexico, South America, states north of the Potomac River, and the District of Columbia. The petitioners assert that said laws "have proved extremely detrimental to the commerce of Charleston and of the state at large" in "a variety of way"; for example, preventing "masters of vessels from employing colored persons or slaves in the line of business in which they would be most useful and profitable" and thus compelling "them to employ whites at a very heavy expense and consequent loss" is one of “the grievances to which the mercantile community is subjected” by the operation of said laws. They therefore "earnestly solicit your serious attention to the following points, ... whether so much of these Laws may not be repealed without injury to the public safety, as Compels vessels arriving in our ports having on board colored persons as cooks and Steward to load and unload" them and "whether so much of these laws may not be repealed, without injury as prohibits the employment of Slaves as mariners, Cooks and Stewards in our trade with slave holding colonies in the West Indies."

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Citation information

Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina

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