Free Black Men File First Anti-Slavery Petition to Congress

In January 1797, four free Black men from North Carolina — including Absalom Jones — filed a petition to Congress protesting a state law that required freed enslaved people to return to slavery and challenging the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. It was the first anti-slavery petition to Congress by Black Americans. Congress voted 50–33 to refuse even to receive the petition. Representative John Swanwick of Pennsylvania was among the few who argued the petition deserved a hearing.