2 Modern Slavery INTRODUCTION Today we hold a common understanding that slavery is an abusive, inhumane, and evil practice. In fact, every country in the world has passed a law prohibit- ing slavery and involuntary servitude. However, for over two centuries, slavery was an acceptable practice and fl ourished in West European countries and the United States, as well as other parts of the world. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, over 12.5 million people were shipped to the Americas, and 10.7 million survived the Middle Passage, the dangerous, life-threatening part of the slave trade where people were packed tightly in ships and brought from Africa to the New World. Of that number, in 1688, about 15,000 slaves had been brought to the United States. Yet a few prescient souls were already questioning the moral- ity of slavery. The earliest known antislavery document in the United States came from the Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as the Quakers), exhorting Quakers to turn against slavery in the New World. Over the next century, a move- ment grew, driven fi rst by activists in the Church, and later by abolitionists who con- demned slavery as a crime against humanity. Some of these abolitionists were freed slaves who survived to speak truth to power. This chapter explores some of the fi rst lone “voices in the wilderness,” who spoke out against various forms of slavery and exploitation. It also highlights key leaders in the long arduous move toward the abolition of slavery. A MINUTE AGAINST SLAVERY: THE GERMANTOWN PETITION (1688) Document: “A Minute Against Slavery,” Addressed to German- town Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends When: February 18, 1688 Where: Germantown, PA Signifi cance: This short petition is commonly accepted as the fi rst written argument against slavery in the United States. It was drafted by Francis Daniel Pastorius and signed by him and three other Quak- ers living in Germantown, Pennsylvania (now part of Philadelphia). Their plea to abolish slavery and the slave trade was aimed not at the general public, but at Quakers themselves, for though Quakers believed it was a sin to swear or take oaths, to fi ght in wars, or to use the death penalty, shockingly over 70 percent of Quakers owned slaves from 1681 to 1705. This 1688 petition made a personal plea for Quakers to examine their consciences, and to apply the God’s Word to the problem of slavery. It was forwarded to the monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings thereafter. Unfortunately, no action was taken on it. In fact, it took many more such petitions and ac- tions on the part of other Quakers to convince the Quakers that no
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