One hundred sixty-two "Mechanics and Workingmen of the City of Charleston" report that, "at a large and enthusiastic meeting of their body, held on the evening of the eighth of October last," they agreed "that a baneful evil exists in our City and State at large, to wit: the hiring by slaves of their own time, affecting not only the interests of the mechanic and workingman, but also of the owner of the slave, as well as the property itself." Believing that "our Legislature have enacted laws which are as yet a dead letter," the petitioners resolved that a committee be appointed to petition the next legislature to increase the penalties and more rigidly enforce laws against slaves hiring their own time.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
