Bill Text: NH SB187 | 2013 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Posthumously emancipating enslaved Africans in New Hampshire.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)

Status: (Passed) 2013-07-11 - Signed by the Governor on 07/09/2013; Chapter 0204; Effective 07/09/2013 [SB187 Detail]

Download: New_Hampshire-2013-SB187-Chaptered.html

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CHAPTER 204

SB 187 – FINAL VERSION

03/14/13 0801s

24Apr2013… 1275h

06/06/13 2019EBA

2013 SESSION

13-0926

08/03

SENATE BILL 187

AN ACT posthumously emancipating enslaved Africans in New Hampshire.

SPONSORS: Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21; Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. Boutin, Dist 16; Sen. Larsen, Dist 15; Rep. Cushing, Rock 21; Rep. Cali-Pitts, Rock 30; Rep. Wazlaw, Rock 29; Rep. Gerald Ward, Rock 28; Rep. Pantelakos, Rock 25

COMMITTEE: Public and Municipal Affairs

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill posthumously emancipates certain enslaved Africans.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03/14/13 0801s

24Apr2013… 1275h

06/06/13 2019EBA

13-0926

08/03

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Thirteen

AN ACT posthumously emancipating enslaved Africans in New Hampshire.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

204:1 Purpose.

I. In the midst of the Revolutionary War, 20 enslaved Africans from Portsmouth presented a petition to the general court asking it to abolish slavery so “that the name of slave may not more be heard in a land gloriously contending for the sweets of freedom.” The general court denied the petition, stating “…[A]t this time, the House is not ripe for a Determination in this matter: Therefore ordered that the further consideration and determination of the matter be postponed till a more convenient opportunity.” Fourteen of the men died as slaves.

II. The 20 men quoted the ideals of the Revolution in their petition, rightly stating that “Freedom is an inherent right of the human species, not to be surrendered but by consent, for the sake of social life [and] that private or public tyranny and slavery are alike detestable to minds conscious of the equal dignity of human nature.”

III. According to historian Valerie Cunningham, by 1800, “six petitioners became free and independent family heads: Peter Warner, Pharaoh Shores, Jack Odiorne, Prince Whipple, Cesar Gerrish, and Romeo Rindge.”

IV. This act would answer that petition by posthumously declaring those who died in slavery free men 234 years after their first request.

204:2 Emancipation. The following men are hereby declared emancipated freed men in gratitude for their service to the colonial foundations of New Hampshire:

Samuel Wentworth Winsor Moffatt

Cato Warner Garrett Colton

Kittindge Tuckerman Peter Frost

Seneca Hall Nero Brewster

Pharaoh Rogers Quam Sherburne

Cato Newmarch Will Clarkson

Zebulon Gardner Cipio Hubbard

204:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved: July 9, 2013

Effective Date: July 9, 2013