Thus manumission went on, some sacrificing more, and
others less; some granting it sooner, and others later; till, in the year
1787[B], there was not a slave in the possession of an acknowledged Quaker.
[Footnote A: One of the brightest instances was that afforded by Warner
Mifflin. He gave unconditional liberty to his slaves. He paid all the
adults, on their discharge, the sum, which arbitrators, mutually chosen,
awarded them.]
[Footnote B: Previously to the year 1787, several of the states had made
the terms of manumission more easy.]
Having given to the reader the history of the third class of forerunners
and coadjutors, as it consisted of the Quakers in America, I am now to
continue it, as it consisted of an union of these with others on the same
continent in the year 1774, in behalf of the African race. To do this I
shall begin with the causes which led to the production of this great
event.
And in the first place, as example is more powerful than precept, we cannot
suppose that the Quakers could have shown these noble instances of
religious principle, without supposing also that individuals of other
religious denominations would be morally instructed by them.
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