Paola Brown

“ Here they found the theoretical maxim of the American Constitution, that 'All men are born equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,' practically in existence—here no distinction of color, race, language, or religion, prevails to deprive a single individual of his civil and religious rights in the amplest sense. When they resided in the States they were taught to believe that theirs was the only free Government, the only country where republican principles were fostered. ”

“ They relied, however, on the goodness of Almighty God, and were animated by the most ardent desire of redeeming themselves from bondage, for those who are in the legal condition of slaves in the States, are not the only slaves, but the free people of color, so called as it were in mockery, are slaves perhaps in a worse sense, from their legal disabilities, their rejection from society, and the utter contempt in which they are held by the whites. ”

“ Being thus emancipated from the House of Bondage, under the yoke of which they lived in the free States of America, and worshipping the Deity of the Christians, with all humility and resignation, and that too in a country, in which all religions are permitted, they are desirous, for the observation of the particular tenets that have been inculcated on their minds, and in which they wish to educate their children, to erect a place of worship, and for education, there, where they are now settled. ”