On this day, February 18, 1688, the first formal protest against slavery was organized by Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania.1 Noting William Penn’s negligence to ban slavery as part of his “Utopian Society,” notable lawyer and public official of the time, Francis Daniel Pastorius and a small group of German settlers set out to do just that. Citing the golden rule and religious teachings, the group spoke publically, of the hypocrisy detestable nature of slavery.2 The Quakers, also known as The Pennsylvania Society of Friends, would continue to Pennsylvania’s anti-slavery movement into the mid and late 1700s until on March 1, 1780, when the Pennsylvania Assembly passed a law calling for the gradual emancipation of slavery- the first of its kind in the United States.3 Although the law did little to protect slaves that were previously registered, slavery was said to decline after the passage of the act. The sentiment of the group may tell it best:
"These are the reasons why we are against the traffik of men-body... Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? ...There is a saying, that we shall doe to all men, like as we will be done our selves: making no difference of what generation, descent, or colour they are. And those who steal or rob men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike?”
“Germantown Friend’s Protest Against Slavery”, 1688