Dr. Rush, of Pennsylvania, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, in a letter to Granville Sharpe, May 1, 1773, says:  “A spirit of humanity and religion begins to awaken in several of the colonies in favor of the poor negroes.  Great events have been brought about by small beginnings. Anthony Benezet stood alone a few years ago in opposing negro slavery in Philadelphia, and NOW THREE-FOURTHS OF THE PROVINCE AS WELL AS OF THE CITY CRY OUT AGAINST IT.”—­[Stuart’s Life of Granville Sharpe, p. 21.]

In the preamble to the act prohibiting the importation of slaves into Rhode Island, June, 1774, is the following:  “Whereas the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which that of personal freedom must be considered the greatest, and as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others, therefore,” &c.

October 20, 1774, the Continental Congress passed the following:  “We, for ourselves and the inhabitants of the several colonies whom we represent, firmly agree and associate under the sacred ties of virtue, honor, and love of our country, as follows:” 

“2d Article. We will neither import nor purchase any slaves imported after the first day of December next, after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and we will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it.”

The Continental Congress, in 1775, setting forth the causes and the necessity for taking up arms, say:  “If it were possible for men who exercise their reason to believe that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and unbounded power over others,” &c.

In 1776, Dr. Hopkins, then at the head of New England divines, in “An Address to the owners of negro slaves in the American colonies,” says:  “The conviction of the unjustifiableness of this practice (slavery) has been increasing, and greatly spreading of late, and many who have had slaves, have found themselves so unable to justify their own conduct in holding them in bondage, as to be induced to set them at liberty. * * * * * Slavery is in every instance, wrong, unrighteous, and oppressive—­a very great and crying sin—­there being nothing of the kind equal to it on the face of the earth.”

The same year the American Congress issued a solemn MANIFESTO to the world.  These were its first words:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Once, these were words of power; now, “a rhetorical flourish.”