Josiah Turner asks the legislature to refrain from passing a law to emancipate three slaves held by the estate of Jehu Whitted. Turner states that Whitted's will directed that if his only child, Anne, died before she reached "full age" without "heirs lawfully begotten," the slaves, James, Duncan, and Stephen, should be emancipated; Anne died in 1819 under age and without heirs. Turner explains, however, that he married Jehu Whitted's widow and they have a son William, who is Anne's half-brother and heir. Reporting that he sued Levi Whitted, Jehu Whitted's executor, to invalidate the will, the petitioner asks that the legislature allow the case to be settled in the courts before passing a law emancipating the slaves. Turner also argues that said slaves "have not the merits nor the moral qualities that would fit them for emancipation." He reminds the legislature that "by the Laws in force, it is not the mere will of the owner which can emancipate a Slave: Free negroes have been always regarded in this State as a dangerous population & must always be so regarded where Slavery exists: Hence good morals & such a course of upright living as will in the emphatic language of the Statute constitute meritorious services are indispensible, as well as the will of the master." Turner argues that “these Slaves have performed so Such Services.”
Result: Refereed to committee; rejected.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
