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AN ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 QUARTERLY, MONTHLY AND PREPARATIVE MEETINGS, 
 AND THE MEMBERS THEREOF, 
 
 COMPOSING THE 
 
 YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS, 
 
 HELD IN PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 By the Committee appointed at the late Yearly Meeting 
 to have charge of the 
 
 SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PRINTED BY JOHN RICHARDS, 
 
 No. 130 North Third Street. 
 1839. 
 

 t:' ^ .A n 
 
 
Minutes of the Yearly Meeting of Men and Wo- 
 men Friends, appointing the Committee to 
 have charge of the subject of Slavery. 
 
 Seventeenth of the 5th mo. 1839. 
 " A concern being spread before this meeting on 
 subjects connected with the welfare of the people 
 of colour, both bond and free; and it being be- 
 lieved that an advantage would arise not only to 
 that deeply injured people, but also to those who 
 hold them in bondage, as well as to the support of 
 our christian testimony against Slavery, from the 
 appointment of a Committee to take charge of the 
 subject generally; upon consideration, a Commit- 
 tee of four Friends from each Quarterly Meeting 
 was appointed, to unite with women Friends in at- 
 tending to the concern as way may open, and to 
 report to our next Yearly Meeting." 
 
 Extracted from the Minutes, 
 
 Benjamin Price, Jr. Clerk. 
 
 "By a deputation from the men's meeting, we 
 are informed that the deeply interesting subject of 
 
Slavery, in its various aspects, has claimed its atten- 
 tion, and that the exercise produced thereby has re- 
 sulted in a belief that it will conduce to the benefit 
 of our Society, and the advancement of its testimony 
 in this respect, to appoint a Committee to have charge 
 of this concern the ensuing year; much unity has 
 been expressed with it in this meeting, and a Com- 
 mittee was appointed to unite with our brethren 
 therein.'' 
 
 Extracted from the Minutes of the Yearly Meet- 
 ing of women Friends, 
 
 Deborah F. Wharton, Clerk. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Dear Friends, 
 
 In accordance with the object of our appoint- 
 ment, we feel engaged affectionately to address you. 
 In referring to the history of our Religious Society, 
 from its rise to the present day, abundant evidence 
 is given that it was called to maintain christian testi- 
 monies, which are eminently designed to exalt the 
 standard of truth and righteousness, and to promote 
 the present and everlasting welfare of the human 
 family. Yet, on the very threshold of this subject, 
 we are arrested with a fact, calculated to clothe us 
 with an humbling evidence of human weakness, 
 and to inculcate a lesson of charity. Many of our 
 forefathers were slave-holders, and the unrighteous 
 ])ractice of holding our fellow-creatures in bondage, 
 was not then forbidden by our discipline. 
 
 In process of time, individuals were raised up in 
 the Society, who saw with clearness the injustice 
 1* 
 
and cruelty of this practice, and endeavoured to 
 convince their brethren. Among these we find 
 Anthony Benezet and John Woolman. The calm 
 and cogent reasoning of the latter, as manifested in 
 his appeal to slave-holders, must have exerted a 
 powerful influence. He addressed his " Considera- 
 tions" to the understanding and inward sense of 
 right, aiming to reach the judgment and awaken the 
 conscience, being clothed in an eminent degree with 
 the benign and peaceable spirit of his Divine Mas- 
 ter. After years of patient and faithful exercise, 
 the efforts of himself and his co-labourers were sig- 
 nally blessed; the scales fell from the eyes of their 
 fellow members, and the Religious Society of Friends 
 cleared itself from the enormous evil of holding 
 their fellow-creatures in unconditional bondage. 
 
 Having liberated their own slaves, they felt re- 
 ligiously concerned to labour with others, and the 
 voice of the Society was repeatedly heard on behalf 
 of the oppressed, in the state legislatures, and in the 
 Congress of the United States. The public and 
 private labours of some members, at this period, 
 were very arduous, and they devoted much time in 
 pleading the cause of the slave. Purity, integrity, 
 and christian meekness, adorned, to a great extent, 
 the lives of these early advocates of human rights. 
 The long known and established principles of peace 
 which marked the Society of Friends as a body, 
 
placed them in a position peculiarly calculated to 
 gain the attention and confidence of slave-holders. 
 Added to this, their honesty of purpose, and, in 
 pursuance of this object, their exemption from po- 
 litical plans and personal aggrandizement, were un- 
 doubted; and their faithful efforts had an important 
 influence over the minds of many oppressors. 
 
 For some years, this interesting subject has taken 
 a deeper hold of many friends of humanity, who are 
 not associated with us in religious fellowship. It 
 has risen like a stream that at first reached only to 
 the ankles, but is now become as a mighty river, 
 apparently resistless in its course. Not only within 
 our own land, but from Isles and Nations afar 
 ofif, the responsive voice of Philanthropy is borne 
 as on the wings of the wind, enforcing the prac- 
 tical injunction of our blessed Lord, " Whatsoever 
 ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
 so to them." 
 
 The advancement of this righteous concern, and 
 the increase of light upon the subject of hum.an 
 rights, are causing this system of iniquity to totter 
 to its base. Hence, under the influence of fearful 
 excitement, many are putting forth their strength 
 to impede the progress of principles, which, if ul- 
 timately triumphant, will break the fetters of the 
 slave. A part of the trading interests at the North 
 
8 
 
 is evidently involved with those of the South, and 
 an influence is in this way exerted against the on- 
 ward course of Emancipation; thus light and dark- 
 ness antagonize each other. 
 
 While all around us exhibits awful collisions, and 
 the inflamed and angry passions of men, are com- 
 parable to the troubled sea casting up mire and dirt, 
 we, as a body of christians, are imperiously called 
 upon, to seek and rely upon that Almighty Power 
 which can alone " control the whirlwind and direct 
 the storm." The mantle which covered our fore- 
 fathers in their labours in the cause of human rights, 
 we humbly hope has fallen on us. Let us then 
 stand at the mouth of the cave, as the warring ele- 
 ments are passing before us, let us wrap the face 
 in the mantle, waiting to hear that still small voice, 
 which speaks from heaven. 
 
 That conflicting opinions, as to the course proper 
 to be pursued, do now exist in our Society, is ob- 
 vious. But if we, as a people, dwell near the foun- 
 tain of Divine Goodness, we shall be equally pre- 
 served from apathy and negligence on the one hand, 
 as from intemperate zeal and creaturely activity on 
 the other; so that in the peaceable spirit and wis- 
 dom of Jesus, all may join in harmonious labour, as 
 with the heart of one man. 
 
Within a few years, great events have occurred in 
 relation to Slavery, and much light has been spread 
 on the subject. The experience derived from Eman- 
 cipation in the British West Indies, has opened a 
 new era. In the midst of violent opposition, the 
 great truth has been successfully realized, that libe- 
 rated slaves may with safety immediately become 
 freemen; and that the actual interests of their for- 
 mer masters, as well as their own, may be greatly 
 promoted by the change. 
 
 On this point as well as others, it is thought much 
 benefit would result from spreading correct informa- 
 tion among all our members; fully believing that 
 as Friends are apprized of well authenticated facts, 
 connected with this deeply affecting question as it 
 now stands, that their interest and zeal will also in- 
 crease in the promotion of our righteous testimony 
 against Slavery; and as we reverently seek for Di- 
 vine direction under an humbling sense of our own 
 weakness, we shall be brought near to each other 
 in the unity of the Spirit, which is the bond of 
 peace. 
 
 Although we would avoid entering far into par- 
 ticular views, yet there is one portion of our south- 
 ern brethren on whose account our sympathetic 
 feelings are called forth. While we have painful 
 evidence that a great body of slave-holders are in- 
 
10 
 
 fluenced by injustice and cruelty, while they stiff- 
 en their necks, and harden their hearts, against all 
 entreaties on behalf of their oppressed slaves, we 
 believe this is far from being the case with all who 
 hold their fellow-creatures in bondage. There are 
 many w^hose consciences are burdened by a system 
 which they derived from their ancestors, who find 
 themselves surrounded by iniquitous and restraining 
 laws against Emancipation. A swift witness in the 
 soul assures them that their obedience in this in- 
 stance to the laws of man, is a fearful violation of 
 the law of God. These feel the want of kind and 
 judicious advisers to aid in extricating them from 
 their tried situation. 
 
 Self-interest might prompt them speedily to free 
 themselves from difficulty; the money of the slave- 
 trader is temptingly held up before them; but hu- 
 manity shudders at the thought: they cannot sepa- 
 rate the tender ties of family connexion among 
 their slaves; they dare not receive the price of 
 blood. They look on the right hand and there is 
 none to help, on the left, and there is none to up- 
 hold. We believe they are fervently desiring the 
 deliverance of master and slave, from the bondage 
 to which both are subjected. Their hearts have 
 bounded with joy at the success of Emancipation in 
 the British West Indies; it has opened a door of 
 hope that they also may be legally permitted to 
 
11 
 
 prove the advantage of requited labour, over that 
 which is extorted by the lash of the oppressor. 
 
 As the secret exercises and prayers of these as- 
 cend before the Lord of Sabaoth, whose ear is open 
 to their cry, and as they are faithful to the convic- 
 tions of duty, they will become as a city set on an 
 hill; their example will aid in dispelling the cloud 
 of thick darkness which now envelopes so many in 
 their various neighbourhoods. 
 
 Thus, dear brethren and sisters, we have entered 
 on the duties assigned us by our late Yearly Meet- 
 ing. We trust we are aware of the responsibility 
 involved in our appointment, and are sensible of our 
 own weakness and insufficiency for the work before 
 us. But this work is the Lord's, and as we conse- 
 crate ourselves to his service, attentively watching 
 the pointings of duty, and moving under the banner 
 of the Prince of Peace, we may hope that a blessing 
 will attend our labours. 
 
 Believing an advantage will arise in reviving the 
 exercise which prevailed in our Yearly Meeting in 
 1837, we subjoin the report which was read and 
 united with, and sent down in the Extracts of that 
 year, viz: 
 
 " The Committee appointed by the Yearly Meet- 
 
12 
 
 ing to take into consideration the subject of Slavery, 
 brought up from last year, report, 
 
 " That having deliberated on this interesting sub- 
 ject, the Committee are free to propose that the 
 Yearly Meeting recommend to our members, to 
 embrace every right opening to maintain and exalt 
 our righteous testimony against Slavery; and where 
 any of our members feel any religious scruples as 
 to the use of the products of slave labour, that they 
 faithfully attend thereto; and also that the attention 
 of Friends be directed to the education and moral 
 improvement of the people of colour in their seve- 
 ral neighbourhoods." 
 
 In closing, we desire the aid of your spirits, and 
 ask your earnest and faithful co-operation in the 
 promotion of a cause so deeply interesting to the 
 welfare of the human family. 
 
 Signed by direction and on behalf of the Com- 
 mittee, by 
 
 John Jackson, Clerk. 
 
 54 W 
 

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