Your Committee having taken under consideration the petition of the people of Pasquotank relative to the slaves—liberated by the quakers came to the following opinion—that the conduct of the said Quakers in setting their slaves free at a time when our open & declared Enemies were endeavouring to bring about an insurrection of the slaves was highly criminal & reprehensible and that it was also directly contrary to the known and Established Laws of the Country—That upon the late happy change in our government, the former Laws prohibiting the freeing of slaves, except under certain circumstances, could not be carried into execution, because on the change of governmt. there remained no church wardens to execute the same & it of course became necessary to make provision against the evil then in practice & more alarming than ever & to answer this End an act was passed at a Genl. Assembly held at newbern the 8th day of April 1777, and as some doubts have arisen whether the slaves liberated before the passing of that act were subject to the same penalties & [illegible] proceedings as slaves liberated afterwards your Committee are of opinion that Justice & policy require that a Bill should now be brought in in declaring the intention of [illegible] to explain the said ^act &^—to confirm all sales ^of slaves hereto made^ bonafide made in consequence of it—in order that the evil intended to be guarded against may be fully answered & fair & honest purchasers under the sanction of ^the sd.^ Law may be quieted in their respective possessions