Draft of Samuel Allinson letter to Patrick Henry

              Draft of a letter
"to P. Henry esq."   17 10 mo. 1774

	Altho' a stranger to thy person I am not quite so to thy
Character, which emboldens me to take the freedom of addressg.
thee on a subject that often ocurs to me as an important one,
I mean the case of the poor Negroes in Slavery - a case which never
call'd louder for a candid consideration and just conclusions
than at a time when may or all the inhabitants of North America are groang.
under unconstitutional impositions distructive of their Liberty.
	How far the present troubles may be brought upon
a people so highly savored by the Almighty as 
of those colonies have been since their settlement as a punishment in kind for this very thing is not for a 
mortal to determine, but the [?itori?x] of mankind shews that national
injustice has drawn down divine vengeance upon a whole people until
the evil has been expiated.  We complain of the violence done to 
the constitution by which we as Englishmen Claim many immunities
but seem to forget that there is a more general constitution
[?] + delivered to us
from Heaven, by which all mankind is included &
injoined, that "whatever we would that men should do unto us, we should do even 
"unto them," and we are expressly told "the Law and the pro=
phets were for this end."
	Let us consider, whether a Negro is not intitled to the same [?=]
=tial Justice with ourselves in "one of the Gifts of God to to Man at his creation when
he endow'd him with the faculty of free will."  I hope it is un-
=necessary to cite authorities or add arguments to convince
thee that Slavery is not warrented by the [?] One [?] Spirit of our Const[?]
is contrary to reason; and inconsistent with the D[?] of 
the divine Legislator, and tho' it has been permitted by him for
purposes we know not,
we submit to thy consid.: whether, in this [?toned] age it will 
not be remembered to the lasting disgrace of so respectable a body of 
Men as the Congress if they shou'd spend so much time to secure
							their