Call Number:

MC.975.07.071

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.02 linear ft. (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

"Thoughts on Slavery" (HC.MC.975.07.071), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1800 (inclusive)

Creator:

Parrish, John, 1729-1807

Form:

manuscripts (documents)

Abstract:

In his essay, "Thoughts on Slavery," John Parrish discusses the religious and moral reasons in favor of abolishing slavery in the United States, as well as a short history of slavery in the United States, and the responsibilities of the United States government to those they are oppressing through slavery.

John Parrish (1729-1807) was a Quaker abolitionist and a proponent of Native American rights. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1729 to John Parrish and Elizabeth Roberts. He married Elizabeth Durrant in Philadelphia in 1753. In his adult years, he lived with his wife and daughter in Philadelphia, although as a young man he resided in Maryland. It is also known that he suffered from a stroke in 1807 while in Philadelphia, and is thought to have died as a result.

Parrish is best remembered for authoring "Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People." Published in 1806, Parrish's pamphlet ran to nearly 70 pages and ranged over such issues as Biblical antislavery, constitutional rationales for emancipation, colonization, and African-American political protest. Parrish believed that Americans needed to redouble their antislavery efforts to avert either eternal damnation or massive uprising of the enslaved--or both.

This collection is comprised of the single volume handwritten manuscript of John Parrish's essay, "Thoughts on Slavery," in which Parrish discusses the religious and moral reasons in favor of abolishing slavery in the United States, as well as a short history of slavery in the United States, and the responsibilities of the United States government to those they are oppressing through slavery.