<petition><petition_analysis_number>10379402</petition_analysis_number><petition_url>https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/10379402</petition_url><state>Delaware</state><county>New Castle</county><location_type>County</location_type><file_year>1794</file_year><filing_court>Legislative</filing_court><enslaved_count>0</enslaved_count><fpoc_count>0</fpoc_count><total_people_count>10</total_people_count><repository>Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware</repository><abstract>Fifty-nine residents of New Castle County petition for stricter enforcement of the laws prohibiting the enslavement of free people of color and for the gradual abolition of slavery.  "We ask not of your honorable body to put an end at once to slavery, but we desire, that a method may be fallen upon which shall make it gradually disappear."</abstract><subjects><subject>Abolition</subject></subjects></petition>