[165] It has been suggested that it was milder than the system under which redemptioners were held, and that hence “Quaker scruples against slavery were either misplaced or insincere.” C. A. Herrick, “Indentured Labor in Pennsylvania,” (MS. thesis, University of Pa.), 89. An examination of the Quaker records would have shown that the last part of this statement is not true. See below, chaps. [IV], [V].
[166] It is of course possible that some of these negroes had been servants, and that their period of service was over.
[167] “Where As William Clark did buy ... An negor man Called and knowen by the name of black Will for and during his natrill Life; never the Less the said William Clark doe for the Incourigment of the sd neagor servant hereby promise Covenant and Agree; that if the said Black Will doe well and Truely sarve the said William Clark ... five years ... then the said Black Will shall be Clear and free of and from Any further or Longer Sarvicetime or Slavery ... as wittnes my hand this Thurteenth day of ... June Anno; Din; 1682.” MS. Ancient Rec. of Sussex Co., 1681–1709, p. 116.
[168] “My will is that my negroes John and Jane his wife shall be set free one month after my decease.” Ashmead, History of Delaware County, 203.
[169] “I give to ... my blacks their freedom as is under my hand already” ... MS. Will of William Penn, Newcastle on Delaware, 30th 8br, 1701. This will, which was left with James Logan, was not carried out. Penn’s last will contains no mention of his negroes. He frequently mentions them elsewhere. Cf. MS. Letters and Papers of William Penn (Dreer), 29 (1689), 35 (1690); Pa. Mag., XXXIII, 316 (1690); MS. Logan Papers. II, 98 (1703). Cf. also Penn. MSS., Official Correspondence, 97.
[170] Col. Rec., II, 120.
[171] Jane “a free negro woman” ... MS. Rec. Christ Church, 46.
[172] “Whereas ’tis found by experience that free negroes are an idle, slothful people and often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and afford ill examples to other negroes” ... “An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.” Stat. at L., IV, 61.
[173] “Our Ancestors ... for a long time deemed it policy to obstruct the emancipation of Slaves and affected to consider a free Negro as a useless if not a dangerous being” ... Letter of W. Rawle (1787), in MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Slavery.
[174] Votes and Proceedings, II, 336, 337.