Letter by Patrick Henry

From the Essex County Freeman there is a copy of a letter written by Patrick Henry, January 18, 1773.  In it Henry acknowledges his culpability in owning slaves, but writes, ” I believe a time will come when an opportunity will come to abolish this lamentable evil … It is a debt we owe the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variance with that law which warrants slavery.”  (Liberator, May 6, 1853)