To the Honourable Councel and House of Representatives in General Court for the State of Massachuset

The petition of several poor Negroes…we being chiefly of the African Extract and by Reason of Long Bondage and hard Slavery we have been deprived of Enjoying the Profits of our Labour or the advantage of Inheriting Estates from our Parents as our Neighbours the white people do having some of us not long Injoyed our own freedom…have been and now are Taxed…if [continued will] reduce us to a state of beggary whereby we shall become a burden to others...while we are not allowed the privilege of freeman of the State having no vote or influence in the election of those that tax us yet many of our colour have cheerfully entered the field of battle in the defense of the common cause…we most humbly request therefore that you would…grant us relief from taxation.

1. What are the petitioners in the above passage asking of the State legislature? On what grounds do they do so?

2. What, if any, is the significance of the fact that the petition was sent to the State legislature and not another government body?

3.

What events leading up to the petition would have led the petitioners to write the State legislature?