Forty-one citizens seek legislation to remedy the fact that a large portion of the slave population is "prohibited by those who have the power, from knowing or hearing anything of the christian religion." The petitioners believe that "the most effectual, perhaps the only way of rendering your peculiar institution permanently safe, is to remove at once, every sound objection that can, with truth, be urged against them." They further state that "it would be simple to deny that in a christian land, it is a sound, though not a conclusive, objection to that system, that your slaves may at any time be, arbitrarily, debarred from hearing the word of God." Instead, they "think that the effectual mode of sustaining your system is not by shutting your eyes to existing evils but rather by removing those evils whenever the remedy can, with safety, be applied." Of the opinion that "the present memorial ... comes within this rule," the petitioners "do not presume to suggest to your Honorable bodies the specific remedy which should be applied in this case but having called your attention to the evil they humbly pray that you will grant such ... relief as, to your wisdom & humanity, you may deem most expedient."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
