hing to
the Negroes that their enemies demanded legislation to prevent them
from gaining ascendancy over the minds of the slaves. Accordingly, to
make the colored people of that colony inaccessible to these workers
it was deemed wise in 1672 to enact a law prohibiting members of that
sect from taking Negroes to their meetings. In 1678 the colony enacted
another measure excluding Quakers from the teaching profession by
providing that no person should be allowed to keep a school in
Virginia unless he had taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy.[2]
Of course, it was inconsistent with the spirit and creed of the
Quakers to take this oath.

[Footnote 1: Quaker Pamphlet, p. 9.]

[Footnote 2: Hening, _Statutes at Large_, vol. i., 532; ii., 48, 165,
166, 180, 198, and 204. _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed_.,
1871, p. 391.]

The settlers of North Carolina followed the same procedure to check
the influence of Quakers, who spoke there in behalf of the man of
color as fearlessly as they had in Virginia. The apprehension of the
dominating element was such that Governor Tryon had to be instructed
to prohibit from teaching in that colony any person who had not
a license from the Bishop of London.[1] Although this order was
seemingly intended to protect the faith and doctrine of the Anglican
Church, rather than to prevent the education of Negroes, it operated
to lessen their chances for enlightenment, since missionaries from
the Established Church did not reach all parts of the colony.[2] The
Quakers of North Carolina, however, had local schools and actually
taught slaves. Some of these could read and write as early as 1731.
Thereafter, household servants were generally given the rudiments of
an English education.

[Footnote 1: Ashe, _History of North Carolina_, vol. i., p. 389. The
same instructions were given to Governor Francis Nicholson.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., pp. 389, 390.]

It was in the settlements of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York
that the Quakers encountered less opposition in carrying out their
policy of cultivating the minds of colored people. Among these Friends
the education of Negroes became the handmaiden of the emancipation
movement. While John Hepburn, William Burling, Elihu Coleman, and
Ralph Sandiford largely confined their attacks to the injustice of
keeping slaves, Benjamin Lay was working for their improvement as a
prerequisite of emancipation.[1] Lay entreated the Friends to "bring
up t