Province. A general petition for the emancipation of slaves by law was
presented to the Legislature during this same year; but the wise
law-makers replied, that "it was neither just nor convenient to set
them at liberty." The bill passed on the 7th of June, 1712, but was
disapproved by Great Britain, and was accordingly repealed by an Act
of Queen Anne, Feb. 20, 1713. In 1714 and 1717, Acts were passed to
check the importation of slaves. But the English government, instead
of being touched by the philanthropic endeavors of the people of
Pennsylvania, was seeking, for purposes of commercial trade and gain,
to darken the continent with the victims of its avarice.

Negroes had no political rights in the Province. Free Negroes were
prohibited from entertaining Negro or Indian slaves, or trading with
them. Masters were required, when manumitting slaves, to furnish
security, as in the other colonies. Marriages between the races were
forbidden. Negroes were not allowed to be abroad after nine o'clock at
night.

In 1773 the Assembly passed "_An Act making perpetual the Act
entitled, An Act for laying a duty on negroes and mulatto slaves_,"
etc., and added ten pounds to the duty. The colonists did much to
check the vile and inhuman traffic; but, having once obtained a hold,
it did eat like a canker. It threw its dark shadow over personal and
collective interests, and poisoned the springs of human kindness in
many hearts. It was not alone hurtful to the slave: it transformed and
blackened character everywhere, and fascinated those who were anxious
for riches beyond the power of moral discernment. Here, however, as in
New Jersey, the Negro found the Quaker his practical friend; and his
upper and better life received the pruning advice, refining and
elevating influence, of a godly people. But intelligence in the slave
was an occasion of offending, and prepared him to realize his
deplorable situation. So to enlighten him was to excite in him a deep
desire for liberty, and, not unlikely, a feeling of revenge toward his
enslavers. So there was really danger in the method the guileless
Friends adopted to ameliorate the condition of the slaves.

When England began to breathe out threatenings against her
contumacious dependencies in North America, the people of Pennsylvania
began to reflect upon the probable outrages their Negroes would, in
all probability, commit. They inferred that the Negroes would be their
enemy because they were