Quoting the Past: No Slaves Amongst Us

Meetings were to answer queries on the state of society. The version in Baltimore Yearly Meeting read: "Are friends careful to bear a testimony against slavery? Do they provide, in a suitable manner, for those under their care who have had their freedom secured and are they instructed in useful learning" BYM Discipline, 1806 -- the wording in use in in Virginia in 1794 might slightly vary from this. "No slaves among us" should be read as no Quakers held slaves. There were undoubtedly many slaves in the area. Freeing slaves, for Quakers, meant an ongoing responsibility for their welfare and protection. Some formerly enslaved people would likely be able to find work in their trades and could care very well for themselves. Others-- the elderly, the young, the infirm-- might not be able to do so. Quakers were expected to investigate the status of the formerly enslaved, and provide support to those who could not supply themselves. As an editorial comment, this responsibility does not seem to have been regarded by Friends as a form of charity but rather a responsibility for those who had been enslaved and thus were denied the rightful benefits of their own labors.