Seacoast slavery

A look back at ‘fundamental injustice’ done in ‘Live Free or Die’ state — including Portsmouth, Exeter and Dover On Nov. 12, 1779, a petition was signed by 20 Portsmouth slaves and delivered to the Council and House of Representatives sitting at Exeter, then the seat of government in the state. Signers included Pharaoh Rogers, Romeo Rindge, Cato Newmarch, Cesar Gerrish, Cipio Hubbard, Seneca Hall, Quam Sherburne and Prince Whipple. The petition read in small part that these “Natives of Africa, most forcibly detained in Slavery in said State most humbly Sheweth that the God of Nature, gave them Life and Freedom, upon the terms of the most perfect Equality with others; that Freedom is an inherent Right of the human species, not to be surrendered, but by Consent, for the Sake of social Life; That private or public Tyranny, and... [read full story]                    

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