A group of slaves, who had fought in the Revolutionary War, filed a petition to the New Hampshire government on Nov. 12, 1779 to get their freedom. Their petition was never granted before their deaths. Friday, Gov. Maggie Hassan signed a symbolic bill giving 14 soldiers a posthumous freedom, according to the Associated Press.
The slaves had petitioned the New Hampshire General Assembly while the war was still going on. They pointed out since the colonists were fighting for their freedom from the British government, they should have freedom from slavery.
They added that “public tyranny and slavery are alike detestable to minds and conscious of the equal dignity of human nature.”
"Their plea fell on deaf ears," Gov. Maggie Hassan said. "It is a source of deep shame that our predecessors didn't honor this request. But today, more than 230 years too late for their petition, we say that freedom truly is an inherent right not to be surrendered."
The petition was discovered in the state’s archives almost three decades ago. However, it wasn’t pushed until this year because the community wanted to bring more attention to a burial ground, which had contained the bodies of six African slaves. Supporters from the area, which is in Portsmouth, wanted to commemorate the historical site.
When slavery began in New Hampshire around the middle of the 17th century, most of it occurred in Portsmouth. Eric Spear, the city’s mayor, said he wants younger generations to understand the city’s history.
It wasn’t until 1857 that a law was passed which read, "No person, because of descent, should be disqualified from becoming a citizen of the state."
"When you think about slavery as 'down there' or 'over there,' it has a distance that doesn't make it as real," said Spear. "All the future residents are going to know a little bit more about their own history, their own land and how slavery was a part of that.
"The public acknowledgement of our mistakes is really the first step in the process of reconciliation that all societies must go through if they're going to address injustice," said Portsmouth Athenaeum President Tom Watson. Watson said the law shows how important African-Americans were to making the state what it is today. He also said it displays a gesture of just doing the right thing.
"Let's celebrate today with the expectation that this symbolic act will remind us to continue working for social justice here in the Granite State," said Valerie Cunningham, who has written about Portsmouth slavery.
She added that the slaves were not asking for any incentives or for their own freedom. They were simply asking for the freedom of every slave, once and for all.
