by the
Delaware River After the founding of
Pennsylvania in 1682,
Philadelphia became the region's main port for the import of slaves. Throughout the colony and state's history, most slaves lived in or near that city. Although most slaves were brought into the colony in small groups, in December 1684, the slave ship
Isabella unloaded a cargo of 150 slaves from Africa. Accurate population figures do not exist for the early colonial period, but more demographic data is available after 1750. Estate records from 1682 to 1705 reveal that fewer than 7% of families in Philadelphia owned slaves. The first recorded formal protest against slavery, the
1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery, was signed by German members of a
Quaker meeting. Philadelphia Quakers rejected the petition, writing, "We having inspected ye matter, above mentioned, and considered of it, we find it so weighty that we think it not expedient for us to meddle with it here." Some Pennsylvania Quakers remained slaveholders through the first half of the eighteenth century even as individual abolitionist Quakers like
Benjamin Lay,
John Woolman, and
Anthony Benezet questioned the practice. In 1776, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting forbade members from owning slaves. (See:
Quakers in the Abolition Movement)
William Penn, the proprietor of the
Province of Pennsylvania, held at least 12 slaves. They took part in the construction of the main house and outbuildings on his estate,
Pennsbury. Penn left the colony in 1701, and never returned.
Laws (), a Pennsylvania slave known as a source of
oral history and for her claim to have lived to 116 years of age. Until 1700, enslaved people came under the same laws that governed indentured servants. Beginning that year, the colony passed laws to try slaves and
free blacks in non-jury courts rather than under the same terms as other residents of the colony. Under
An Act for the Better Regulating of Negroes in this Province (March 5, 1725 – 1726), numerous provisions restricted slaves and free blacks. • (Section I) if a slave was sentenced to death, the owner would be paid full value for the slave. • (Sec II) Duties on slaves transported from other colonies for a crime are doubled. • (Sec III) If a slave is freed, the owner must have a sureties bond of £30 to indemnify the local government in case he/she becomes incapable of supporting himself. • (Sec IV) A freed slave fit but unwilling to work shall be bound out [as an indentured servant] on a year-to-year basis as the magistrates see fit. And their male children may be bound out until 24 and women children until 21. • (Sec V) Free
Negroes and
Mulattoes cannot entertain, barter or trade with slaves or bound servants in their homes without leave and consent of their master under penalty of fines and whipping. • (Sec VI) If fines cannot be paid, the freeman can be bound out. • (Sec VII) A minister, pastor, or magistrate who marries a negro to a white is fined £100. • (Sec VIII) If a white cohabits under pretense of being married with a negro, the white will be fined 30 shillings or bound out for seven years, and the white person's children will be bound out until 31. If a free negro marries a white, they become slaves during life. If a free negro commits fornication or adultery with a white, they are bound out for 7 years. The white person shall be punished for fornication or adultery under existing law. • (Sec IX) Slaves tippling or drinking at or near a liquor shop or out after nine, 10 lashes. • (Sec X) If more than 10 miles from their master's home, 10 lashes. • (Sec XI) Masters not allowed to have their slaves to find and or go to work at their own will receive a 20 shilling fine. • (Sec XII) Harboring or concealing a slave: a 30 shillings a day fine. • (Sec XIII) Fine to be used to pay the owners of slaves sentenced to death. This law was repealed in 1780. During the colonial era, the
Pennsylvania General Assembly passed laws that imposed duties on importing enslaved Africans to the colony, beginning in 1700. The officials of the
Board of Trade rescinded the duties, which the general assembly subsequently reimposed: 1700: 20 shillings per person, 1750: 40 shillings, 1712: £20, 1715 to 1722 and again in 1725: £5: each time the Board of Trade overturned the laws, they were re-established by the general assembly. In rural areas, slaves generally worked as household servants or farmhands, and sometimes both depending on need, just as farm families took on all jobs. In Southeastern Pennsylvania, iron masters who owned slaves sometimes leased them out locally to work at charcoal manufacture and the surface mining of limestone and iron ore. Due to a lack of sanitation and understanding of disease transmission, Philadelphia was an unhealthy place during the colonial period, with a death rate of 58 per 1,000. Many slaves were among those who died early. As more males were imported than females at the time, family formation was limited. Without the continued importation of new slaves, the slave population would not have increased. ==Resistance and abolition==