To Thomas Jefferson from John Parrish, 27 October 1804
From John Parrish
Philada 10th Mo. 27th: 1804—
Honoured friend
Thomas Jefferson
My mind for many years have been engaiged in religious concern on account of the sufferings which are inflicted on the African Race more especially in the United States some of which I laid before thee when at the Federal City on my return from our Yerley Meeting in Virginia as they continue unredressed I remain deeply impressed with a weighty consideration thereof and beleive it right to offer to thy serious attention a few observations on the subject. The common reason or excuse for the delay of Justice in their case is that the Constitution does not allow the subject to come before the General Legislature previous to the Year 1808.—The 9th section relating merely to migration and importation cannot I apprehend be extended to an exclusion of that people already in the Country from the benifits of Goverment for if it ment that they should receive no countenance nor be protected in the enjoyment of those privilidges which are declared to be the unalienable rights of every man is it not absurd to make use of them in apportioning the number of representatives to Congress If threefifths of them are admited in constituting members of that body surely a member from one of these States must be in a very awkward situation when after taking his seat he is restrained from appearing on behalf of those he represents in this respect he must be considered as a mere cypher.—The Constitution is silent as to colour nor does it characterise any with the name of slave as this would have been obviously repugnant to the bill of rights ambiguous expressions are resorted to and the supreme Law of the Land which should be in the most clear intelligible unequivocal language is left for constructions which interested men may make extremely injurious to a helpless unoffending people. Whatever distinctions we may attempt they are men they are of one blood with us have the same feelings and are the workmanship of the same Almighty God objects of the same gracious redemtion which Christ our Blessed Lord has purchased for his rational creation and as they act uprightly according to the gift bestowed will be entitled to his heavenly acceptance.—Is it not then beneath the dignity of the statesmen the Christian and the Gentleman to accept a seat in Goverment through their means and at the same time abandon their cause as tho they wore no part of his constituants excuse my freedom. the exercise of my mind is deep and the subject of such importance that necessarily constrains to plainness. Thou hast with pertinance exclaimed in thy notes on Virginia—“With what execration shall the Statesman be loaded that suffers one half of the Citizens to trample on the rights of the other.” As Congress is the grand In Quest of the whole United States over whom thou in the permission of Divine Wisdom doest preside I earnestly beseech that this unhappy oppressed part of our fellow beings may claim the tender regard of thee and all who are intrusted with the reins of Government that your power may be exerted to the utmost for their relief and redress with out delay.—Goverment being of Divine institution and put into the hands of men as we are accountable beings it becomes highly interesting to our eternal felicity that a faithfull execution of the trust be solemnly impressive up on us that mercy and equity may be conscientiously and impartially adhered to.—
through an apprehension of duty required in my advanced time of life I have presented the foregoing for thy serious consideration sincerely desiring thou mayest have no cause to repent when too late that opportunities for contributing thy aid in the cause of righteousness have been neglected.
from thy real friend
John Parrish
RC (ViW: Tucker-Coleman Collection); addressed: “Thomas Jefferson President of the United States City of Washington”; franked; postmarked 29 Oct.; endorsed by TJ as received 31 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.
John Parrish (1729-1807), originally from a prominent Quaker family in Maryland, moved to Pennsylvania, where he became a missionary and minister of the Society of Friends. He traveled to Barbados in 1784 and to New York and the Northwest Territory in the 1790s, serving in Quaker delegations as an observer during treaty negotiations between various Indian tribes and the U.S. government. He also traveled extensively in Pennsylvania and Michigan and kept journals on Native American relations and grievances. Parrish became an active advocate of the total abolition of slavery. He was one of the representatives of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting who petitioned Congress unsuccessfully in 1797-98 on behalf of free blacks in North Carolina who had been captured and returned to bondage. In 1806, he published an abolitionist tract, Remarks on the Slavery of Black People (Susanna Parrish Wharton, The Parrish Family [Philadelphia, 1925], 62-4, 225; , 7:655-70, 1032-3; , 3:94-5; Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 12:417; 13:411-12; Relfs Philadelphia Gazette, 26 Oct. 1807; New York Public Advertiser, 31 Oct. 1807; Parrish, Remarks on the Slavery of Black People; Addressed to the Citizens of the United States, Particularly to Those Who Are in Legislative or Executive Stations in the General or State Governments; and Also to Such Individuals as Hold Them in Bondage [Philadelphia, 1806], 22, 54-7).
According to the ninth section of Article 1 of the Constitution, Congress would not prohibit migration or importation of slaves prior to 1808.
exclaimed in thy notes on Virginia: the line from Query 18 on “Manners” reads “And with what execration should the statesman be loaded, who permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into enemies” (, 162-3). Throughout his pamphlet, Parrish directly challenged TJ and referenced his comments on slavery and race from Notes on the State of Virginia; see Remarks, 9-10, 16, 22, 23, 41.