Part 5 (1/2)

I was so fortunate as to find, also, in the New York Historical Society's library, the minutes of the conventions of 1795 and 1797. The convention of 1795 met in the City Hall, at Philadelphia, January 7, and continued in session till the 14th of that month. The societies represented, and delegates, were as follows:

_Rhode Island Society_--Theodore Foster. The credentials from the president of the society stated that George Benson was also appointed to represent the society; but he did not appear.

_Connecticut Society_--Jonathan Edwards, Uriah Tracy, Zephaniah Swift.

_New York Society_--John Murray, Jr., William Johnson, Lawrence Embree, William Dunlap, William Walton Woolsey.

_New Jersey Society_--James Sloan, Franklin Davenport. Other delegates appointed, Joseph Bloomfield, William c.o.xe, Jr., and John Wistar, did not appear. It was explained to the convention that the absence of Mr. Bloomfield was occasioned by sickness.

_Pennsylvania Society_--William Rawle, Robert Patterson, Benjamin Rush, Samuel Coates, Caspar Wistar, James Todd, Benjamin Say.

_Was.h.i.+ngton (Pa.) Society_--Thomas Scott, Absalom Baird, Samuel Clark.

_Delaware Society_--Richard Ba.s.sett, John Ralston, Allen McLane, Caleb Boyer.

_Wilmington (Del.) Society_--Cyrus Newlin, James A. Bayard, Joseph Warner, William Poole.

_Maryland Society_--Samuel Sterett, Adam Fonerdon, Joseph Townsend, Joseph Thornburgh, George Buchanan, John Bankson, Philip Moore.

_Chester-town (Md.) Society_--Edward Scott, James Houston.

Dr. Benjamin Rush was elected President; Walter Franklin, Secretary; and Joseph Fry, Door-keeper.

Jonathan Edwards, William Dunlap, Caspar Wistar, Cyrus Newlin, Caleb Boyer, Philip Moore, and James Houston were appointed the committee on business. Memorials were prepared, and adopted by the convention, to be sent to the legislatures of South Carolina and Georgia, as both States still persisted in the importation of slaves. An address to the Abolition Societies of the United States was also adopted, the spirit of which may be inferred from the following extract:

”When we have broken his chains, and restored the African to the enjoyment of his rights, the great work of justice and benevolence is not accomplished. The new-born citizen must receive that instruction, and those powerful impressions of moral and religious truths, which will render him capable and desirous of fulfilling the various duties he owes to himself and to his country. By educating some in the higher branches, and all in the useful parts of learning, and in the precepts of religion and morality, we shall not only do away the reproach and calumny so unjustly lavished upon us, but confound the enemies of truth, by evincing that the unhappy sons of Africa, in spite of the degrading influence of slavery, are in nowise inferior to the more fortunate inhabitants of Europe and America.”

The fourth annual convention of the Abolition Societies of the United States was held in the Senate Chamber, at Philadelphia, May 3, 1797. The societies represented, and delegates, were as follows:

_New York Society_--Willett Seaman, Thomas Eddy, Samuel L.

Mitch.e.l.l, William Dunlap, Elihu Hubbard Smith.

_New Jersey Society_--Joseph Bloomfield, Richard Hartshorne, Joseph Sloan, William c.o.xe, Jr., William Carpenter.

_Pennsylvania Society_--Benjamin Rush, William Rawle, Samuel P.

Griffitts, Casper Wistar, Samuel Coates, Robert Patterson, James Todd.

_Maryland Society_--Francis Johonnett, Jesse Tyson, Gerrard T.

Hopkins.

_Choptank (Md.) Society_--Seth Hill Evitts.

_Virginia Society_ (at Richmond)--Joseph Anthony.

_Alexandria (Va.) Society_--George Drinker.

Joseph Bloomfield was elected President; Thomas P. Cope, Secretary; and Jacob Meyer, Door-keeper.