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At a meeting of a respectable portion of the free
people of color of the city of Richmond, on Friday, January 24, 1817,
William Bowler was appointed chairman, and Lentey Craw, secretary. The
following preamble and resolution were read, unanimously adopted, and
ordered to be printed.
Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of government, for the purpose
of colonizing, with their own consent, the free people of color of the
United States; therefore, we, the free people of color of the city of
Richmond, have thought it advisable to assemble together under the sanction
of authority, for the purpose of making a public expression of our
sentiments on a question in which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly
agree with the Society, that it is not only proper, but would ultimately
tend to the benefit and advantage of a great portion of our suffering fellow
creatures, to be colonized; but while we thus express our approbation of a
measure laudable in its purposes, and beneficial in its designs, it may not
be improper in us to say, that we prefer being colonized in the most remote
corner of the land of our nativity, to being exiled to a foreign country-and
whereas the president and board of managers of the said Society have been
pleased to leave it to the entire discretion of Congress to provide a
suitable place for carrying these laudable intentions into effect -- Be it
therefore
Resolved, That we respectfully submit to the wisdom of Congress whether it
would not be an act of charity to grant us a small portion of their
territory, either on the Missouri river, or any place that may seem to them
most conducive to the public good and our future welfare, subject, however,
to such rules and regulations as the government of the United States may
think proper to adopt. |