Writings of Warner Mifflin: Forgotten Quaker Abolitionist of the Revolutionary Era
edited by Gary B. Nash and Michael R. McDowell
by Warner Mifflin
by Warner Mifflin
University of Delaware Press, 2021
eISBN: 978-1-64453-186-0 | Cloth: 978-1-64453-185-3
See other books on: Nash, Gary B. | Quaker | Revolutionary Era | Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) | Writings
See other titles from University of Delaware Press
eISBN: 978-1-64453-186-0 | Cloth: 978-1-64453-185-3
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In The Writings of Warner Mifflin, Gary Nash and Michael McDowell present the correspondence, petitions, and memorials to state and federal legislative bodies, semi-autobiographical essays, and other materials of the key figure in the U.S. abolitionist movement between the end of the American Revolution and the Jefferson presidency. Virtually unknown to Americans, Mifflin has been brought to life in Nash’s recent biography, Warner Mifflin: Unflinching Quaker Abolitionist (2017). This volume provides an array of insights into the mind of this conscience-bound pacifist Quaker who became instrumental in making Kent County, Delaware, a bastion of free blacks liberated from slavery and a seedbed of a reparationist doctrine that insisted that enslavers owed “restitution” to manumitted Africans and their descendants. Mifflin's writings also show how he became the most skilled lobbyist of the antislavery campaigners who haunted the legislative chambers of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania as well as the halls of the Continental Congress and the First and Second Federal Congresses. An opening introduction and introductions to each of the five chronologically arranged parts of the book provide context for the documents and a narrative of the life of this remarkable American.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
GARY B. NASH is a professor of history emeritus and director emeritus of the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he has taught since 1966. He was co-director of the National History Standards Project in United States and World History and editor of the standards first published in 1994 with a revised edition in 1996. Nash served as President of the Organization of American Historians in 1994-95 and is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Society of American Historians. He was a member of the National Park Service Second Century Commission, which published its report to the U.S. President and Congress in 2010. He also coauthored Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service (2012). He has published many books and essays in his fields of Early American History, African American History, and Native American History. Among them are Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1681-1726 (1968); Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early America, also published in Spanish, 7 editions (1974, 1982, 1992, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2015); The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness and the Origins of the American Revolution (1979); Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia’s Black Community, 1720-1840 (1989); Race and Revolutions (1993); Freedom by Degrees: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in Pennsylvania, 1690-1840, co-author (1994); History on Trial: Culture Wars, and the Teaching of the Past, co-author (1998); Forbidden Love: The Hidden History of Mixed-Race America (1999; revised ed., 2010); First City: Philadelphia and the Forging of Historical Memory (2002); African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom, with Clay Carson and Emma Lapsansky (2005); The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America (2005); The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution (2006); Friends of Liberty: Three Patriots, Two Revolutions, and a Tragic Betrayal in the New Nation: Thomas Jefferson, Tadeuz Kosciuszko, and Agrippa Hull, with Graham Hodges (2008); The Liberty Bell (2010); Revolutionary Founders, coedited with Alfred Young and Ray Raphael (2012); and Warner Mifflin: Unflinching Quaker Abolitionist (2017). He currently resides in Pacific Palisades, California.
MICHAEL R. MCDOWELL, for more than fifteen years, has researched eighteenth-century Delaware Quaker Warner Mifflin’s antislavery activism using primary documents, including Mifflin’s extensive correspondence. McDowell is a member of the board of the historic Hale-Byrnes House in Delaware and has published articles on Mifflin and an early Delaware Quaker antislavery petition in Delaware publications. He has also given presentations on Warner Mifflin’s antislavery activism at Camden Delaware Friends Meeting (2005), Newark Delaware Friends Meeting (2015), and as a part of a 2013 symposium in Wilmington, “Let This Voice be Heard: 18th Century Abolitionists.” McDowell also presented “Laying the Track for the Underground Railroad: Warner Mifflin’s Eighteenth-Century Antislavery Legacy in the Delmarva Peninsula” at the 2016 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference. He currently resides in Newark, Delaware.
MICHAEL R. MCDOWELL, for more than fifteen years, has researched eighteenth-century Delaware Quaker Warner Mifflin’s antislavery activism using primary documents, including Mifflin’s extensive correspondence. McDowell is a member of the board of the historic Hale-Byrnes House in Delaware and has published articles on Mifflin and an early Delaware Quaker antislavery petition in Delaware publications. He has also given presentations on Warner Mifflin’s antislavery activism at Camden Delaware Friends Meeting (2005), Newark Delaware Friends Meeting (2015), and as a part of a 2013 symposium in Wilmington, “Let This Voice be Heard: 18th Century Abolitionists.” McDowell also presented “Laying the Track for the Underground Railroad: Warner Mifflin’s Eighteenth-Century Antislavery Legacy in the Delmarva Peninsula” at the 2016 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference. He currently resides in Newark, Delaware.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Illustrations
Editorial Apparatus
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part One
Before the Revolution
Warner Mifflin’s First Deed of Manumission, ca. mid-1766
To John Pemberton, September 22, 1774
Warner Mifflin’s Second Deed of Manumission, October 22, 1774
Warner Mifflin’s Third Deed of Manumission, January 9, 1775
Part Two
The Revolutionary Years
Warner Mifflin’s Freedom Pass for Manumitted Slave, February 15, 1777
To Unknown Friend, October 16, 1778
To Alexander Huston, January 17, 1779
Mifflin’s Statement Concerning His Refusal to Use and Circulate Continental Currency, August, 1779
From Rebecca Jones, August, 1779
To Nicholas Waln, December 1780
To Henry Drinker, January 11, 1781
To Moses Brown, July 26, 1781
To John Willis, Elias Hicks, and Others, July 26, 1781
To French Naval Officers at Newport, Rhode Island, [after August 6, 1781]
To James Pemberton, August 26[?], 1781
To John Pemberton, August 26, 1781
To Moses Brown, October 3, 1781
To Thomas McKean, November 5, 1781
From David Cooper, December 1781
To John Pemberton, December 5, 1781
Some Remarks Proposed for the Consideration of the People of Virginia, and Particularly of Those in the Legislature and Executive Powers of Government, ca. May 1782
To the Speaker and House of Delegates in Virginia, The Memorial of a Committee of the People Called Quakers, May 29, 1782
To John Parrish, August 18, 1782
To Henry Drinker, September 8, 1782
To John Parrish, October 31, 1782
To John Parrish, January 6, 1783
To James Pemberton, January 6, 1783
To James Pemberton, January 19, 1783
To Henry Drinker, January 19, 1783
To Nicholas Van Dyke, July 16, 1783
To the United States in Congress Assembled, The Address of the People Called Quakers, October 4, 1783
To John Parrish, October 12, 1783
To Nathanael Greene, October 21, 1783
From Nathanael Greene, [late November 1783]
To John Parrish, November 4, 1783
Part Three
After the Revolution
To James Pemberton, December 9, 1783
To John Parrish, December 14, 1783
To John Parrish, May 13, 1784
To James Pemberton, August 17, 1784
To John Parrish, August 27, 1784
To Henry Drinker?, November 16, 1784
To James Pemberton, December 11, 1784
To James Pemberton, January 16, 1785
To James Pemberton, February 16, 1785
To John Parrish, August 22, 1785
To the General Assembly of the Delaware State~The Memorial and Address of the People Call'd Quakers Inhabitants of This State, December 27, 1785
To Daniel Mifflin, June 6, 1786
To John Dickinson, August 11, 1786
To Governor William Smallwood, August 31, 1786
To James Pemberton, December 12, 1786
To James Pemberton, February 3, 1787
To John Parrish, February 9, 1787
To John Parrish, April 30, 1787
To Abigail Parrish, May 13, 1787
To Abigail Parrish, June 4, 1787
To John Parrish, June 19, 1787
To John Parrish, June 29, 1787
To the Archbishop of Canterbury, June 30, 1787
To John Parrish, July 6, 1787
Testimonial for Negro Grace Hicks, August 8, 1787
To Edward Stabler?, October 14, 1787
To Moses Brown, December 3, 1787
To John Parrish, December 13, 1787
To Thomas McKean, December 14, 1787
To John Parrish, December 16, 1787
To James Pemberton, December 21, 1787
Part Four
The Early Republic
To John Parrish, April 5, 1788
To John Parrish, April 16, 1788
To John Parrish, April 19, 1788
To John Parrish, May 11, 1788
To James Pemberton, May 28, 1788
To John Parrish, June 23, 1788
To James Pemberton, November 17, 1788
To John Parrish, November 19, 1788
To John Parrish, November 29, 1788
To James Pemberton, December 29, 1788
From Louis Philippe Gallot de Lormerie, ca. late 1788
To William Tilghman, February 24, 1789
Appointment of Committee by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to Prepare an Antislavery Petition to Congress, September 29, 1789
Memorial of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to Congress, October 3, 1789
Appointment of Committee to Present Petition to Congress, October 3, 1789
To James Pemberton, December 28, 1789
To Henry Drinker, February 1790
Testimony to the House of Representatives Select Committee, February 15, 1790
To Abiel Foster, Chairman of the House Select Committee, ca. February 17–26, 1790
Queries to the House Select Committee, March 2, 1790
To William Loughton Smith, March 10, 1790
To President George Washington, March 12, 1790
To Members of Congress, March 16, 1790
To John Parrish, April 10, 1790
Editorial Apparatus
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part One
Before the Revolution
Warner Mifflin’s First Deed of Manumission, ca. mid-1766
To John Pemberton, September 22, 1774
Warner Mifflin’s Second Deed of Manumission, October 22, 1774
Warner Mifflin’s Third Deed of Manumission, January 9, 1775
Part Two
The Revolutionary Years
Warner Mifflin’s Freedom Pass for Manumitted Slave, February 15, 1777
To Unknown Friend, October 16, 1778
To Alexander Huston, January 17, 1779
Mifflin’s Statement Concerning His Refusal to Use and Circulate Continental Currency, August, 1779
From Rebecca Jones, August, 1779
To Nicholas Waln, December 1780
To Henry Drinker, January 11, 1781
To Moses Brown, July 26, 1781
To John Willis, Elias Hicks, and Others, July 26, 1781
To French Naval Officers at Newport, Rhode Island, [after August 6, 1781]
To James Pemberton, August 26[?], 1781
To John Pemberton, August 26, 1781
To Moses Brown, October 3, 1781
To Thomas McKean, November 5, 1781
From David Cooper, December 1781
To John Pemberton, December 5, 1781
Some Remarks Proposed for the Consideration of the People of Virginia, and Particularly of Those in the Legislature and Executive Powers of Government, ca. May 1782
To the Speaker and House of Delegates in Virginia, The Memorial of a Committee of the People Called Quakers, May 29, 1782
To John Parrish, August 18, 1782
To Henry Drinker, September 8, 1782
To John Parrish, October 31, 1782
To John Parrish, January 6, 1783
To James Pemberton, January 6, 1783
To James Pemberton, January 19, 1783
To Henry Drinker, January 19, 1783
To Nicholas Van Dyke, July 16, 1783
To the United States in Congress Assembled, The Address of the People Called Quakers, October 4, 1783
To John Parrish, October 12, 1783
To Nathanael Greene, October 21, 1783
From Nathanael Greene, [late November 1783]
To John Parrish, November 4, 1783
Part Three
After the Revolution
To James Pemberton, December 9, 1783
To John Parrish, December 14, 1783
To John Parrish, May 13, 1784
To James Pemberton, August 17, 1784
To John Parrish, August 27, 1784
To Henry Drinker?, November 16, 1784
To James Pemberton, December 11, 1784
To James Pemberton, January 16, 1785
To James Pemberton, February 16, 1785
To John Parrish, August 22, 1785
To the General Assembly of the Delaware State~The Memorial and Address of the People Call'd Quakers Inhabitants of This State, December 27, 1785
To Daniel Mifflin, June 6, 1786
To John Dickinson, August 11, 1786
To Governor William Smallwood, August 31, 1786
To James Pemberton, December 12, 1786
To James Pemberton, February 3, 1787
To John Parrish, February 9, 1787
To John Parrish, April 30, 1787
To Abigail Parrish, May 13, 1787
To Abigail Parrish, June 4, 1787
To John Parrish, June 19, 1787
To John Parrish, June 29, 1787
To the Archbishop of Canterbury, June 30, 1787
To John Parrish, July 6, 1787
Testimonial for Negro Grace Hicks, August 8, 1787
To Edward Stabler?, October 14, 1787
To Moses Brown, December 3, 1787
To John Parrish, December 13, 1787
To Thomas McKean, December 14, 1787
To John Parrish, December 16, 1787
To James Pemberton, December 21, 1787
Part Four
The Early Republic
To John Parrish, April 5, 1788
To John Parrish, April 16, 1788
To John Parrish, April 19, 1788
To John Parrish, May 11, 1788
To James Pemberton, May 28, 1788
To John Parrish, June 23, 1788
To James Pemberton, November 17, 1788
To John Parrish, November 19, 1788
To John Parrish, November 29, 1788
To James Pemberton, December 29, 1788
From Louis Philippe Gallot de Lormerie, ca. late 1788
To William Tilghman, February 24, 1789
Appointment of Committee by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to Prepare an Antislavery Petition to Congress, September 29, 1789
Memorial of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to Congress, October 3, 1789
Appointment of Committee to Present Petition to Congress, October 3, 1789
To James Pemberton, December 28, 1789
To Henry Drinker, February 1790
Testimony to the House of Representatives Select Committee, February 15, 1790
To Abiel Foster, Chairman of the House Select Committee, ca. February 17–26, 1790
Queries to the House Select Committee, March 2, 1790
To William Loughton Smith, March 10, 1790
To President George Washington, March 12, 1790
To Members of Congress, March 16, 1790
To John Parrish, April 10, 1790
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