he convention of 1821, for revising the constitution of the
State, the question of equal rights having been introduced, Doctor
Clarke among other things said, "In the war of the Revolution, these
people helped to fight our battles by land and by sea. Some of your
states were glad to turn out corps of colored men, and to stand
'shoulder to shoulder' with them. In your late war, they contributed
largely towards some of your most splendid victories. On lakes Erie and
Champlain, where your fleets triumphed over a foe superior in numbers
and engines of death, they were manned in a large proportion with men of
color. And in this very house, in the fall of 1814, a bill passed
receiving all the branches of your government, authorising the governor
to accept the services of a corps of two thousand free people of color.
These were times when a man who shouldered his musket did not know but
he bared his bosom to receive a death wound from the enemy ere he laid
it aside; and in these times these people were found as ready and as
willing to volunteer in your service as any other. They were not
compelled to go; they were not draughted.... They were volunteers...."
Said Martindale of New York in congress 22 of first month 1828: "Slaves,
or negroes who had been slaves, were enlisted as soldiers in the War of
the Revolution; and I myself saw a battalion of them, as fine martial
looking men as I ever saw, attached to the northern army in the last
war, on its march from Plattsburg to Sackett's Harbor."

PENNSYLVANIA contributes an important share in the stock of
Independence, as will be seen by the following historical reminiscence:
"On the capture of Washington by the British forces, it was judged
expedient to fortify without delay, the principal towns and cities
exposed to similar attacks. The Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia
waited upon three of the principal Colored citizens, namely, James
Forten, Bishop Allen, and Absalom Jones, soliciting the aid of the
people of Color in erecting suitable defences for the city. Accordingly
two thousand five hundred Colored men assembled in the State House yard,
and from thence marched to Gray's Ferry, where they labored for two
days, almost without intermission. Their labors were so faithful and
efficient, that a vote of thanks was tendered them by the Committee. A
battalion of Colored troops were at the same time organized in the city,
under an officer of the United States army; and they were on