Slavery In Pennsylvania

Before the advent of the European into North America, the continent had never been a lonely land. The Native Americans had a well structured and functioning society that shared common cultural and religious values. Natives lived in peace and harmony; they had various crops and plants for consumption and also for their well being. But then the European came in with diverse cultural and religious values that not only clashed with the Natives, but also revolutionize their entire nation permanently. The meeting of the two worlds was a great clash of people, opinions, religions, and cultures. The Europeans had come with the intent to trade and explore the New World, but ultimately with the goal of colonization through land acquisitions, and religious
Pennsylvania was a colony that was established by William Penn in 1861 after he received the charter for what he called “Holy Experiment” that would be based on religious Freedom and tolerance. Incidentally, Penn had included a bill that addresses human rights in the framework of the Pennsylvania government, but shockingly, the bill failed to address the issue of slavery. Due to the shortage of labor in the New World, the English Quakers, including Penn himself, who had settled in Pennsylvania decided to purchase slaves that were brought from Africa, to help cultivate and the develop the colony. And for about four years, slavery thrived in the Pennsylvanian
The letter happened to be the first of its kind ever written or addressed against slavery in the new world. The group led by Pastorius was among the first set of Germans in the colony. According to them, they believed that everyone is a carrier of God’s light and that they find it very unbelievable that slavery would even be allowed in the Colony. The letter was first sent to the local weekly meeting of the Society of Friends. But because Society of Friends felt the issue was too important and controversial, they sent it to the Monthly Meeting in Dublin, Philadelphia. The monthly meeting acknowledged the content of the letter and forwarded it to the quarterly meeting. Still, it did not pass at the quarterly until it found its way to the yearly meeting in Burlington, New Jersey. Unfortunately, the yearly meeting only received the petition but failed to take any meaningful position on it; they claimed that the letter could impact the colony in a negative