“A Minute against Slavery, Addressed to Germantown Monthly Meeting”

On February 18, 1688, Quakers met in Germantown, Pennsylvania, located about five miles northwest of Philadelphia, and issued the first known statement in British North America proclaiming the evils of slavery and urging the abolition of the institution. The petition, titled “A Minute against Slavery, Addressed to Germantown Monthly Meeting,” raised points that would become the basis for eighteenth-century arguments for the abolition of slavery: It violated the Golden Rule, to do unto others as you would have done to you; it was theft; it inspired the growth of vices such as adultery and caused family dissolution; it detracted from the humanity of the owner; and it presented the constant threat of insurrection and rebellion by those enslaved.

The members of the Germantown Monthly Meeting drafted the resolutions in accordance with their interpretations of the belief system governing Quakers throughout the colony. Part of the most radical faction of the Protestant Reformation, Quakers acknowledge the primacy of following the divine presence known as the Inner Light and, as a consequence, relegate man-made dogmas and rites to lesser significance. The group also adheres to the concept of the “brotherhood” of all individuals and the basic equality of all souls. Finally, they agree that individuals can and should work to remove all taint of sin from their souls and their lives while on earth. The significance of their beliefs and their desire to put into practice what they preach is evident in the Germantown Quakers’ statements condemning slavery.