Ninety-nine Washington County residents represent "that the selling of Spirituous Liquors to free negroes, has become a great nuisance to us." They purport that "the large portion of them [free negroes] are "idle, & intemperate." They acknowledge that "the laws are now so strict as to prevent the sale of spirituous Liquors to Slaves, but these laws are evaded, by selling it to the free negroes, who are but the tools, in the hands of the Slaves, to procure it." The petitioners therefore pray "that such laws may be passed as ... may correct the evil complained of."
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
