[189] _Cf._ preamble to the act of 1780. _Stat. at L._, X, 67, 68. A negro twenty-one years old was manumitted because "all mankind have an Equal Natural and Just right to Liberty." MS. Extracts Rec. Goshen Monthly Meeting, 415 (G. Cope). [190] MS. General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, Phila. Co., 1773-1780. Franklin, Letter to Dean Woodward, Apr. 10, 1773, in _Works_ (ed. Sparks), VIII, 42. [191] In 1751 the number of negroes in Pennsylvania, including Delaware, was thought to be 11,000. _Cf._ above, p. 12. The negroes in Pennsylvania alone by 1780 probably did not exceed the same number. Of these 6,000 were said to be slaves. _Cf._ above, _ibid._ In some places by this time manumission was nearly complete. _Cf._ W. J. Buck, in _Coll. Hist. Soc. Pa._, I, 201. [192] MSS. Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. [193] MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl., I, 19, 27, 29, 43, 67, and _passim_. [194] A MS. dated Phila., 1769, contains a list of persons who had promised to contribute towards purchasing a negro's freedom. Among the memoranda are: "John Head agrees to give him Twenty Shillings and not to be Repaid ... John Benezet twenty Shillings ... Christopher Marshall /7/6.... If he can raise with my Donation enough to free him I agree to give him three pounds and not otherwise I promise Saml Emlen jur ... Joseph Pemberton by his Desire [Five _erased_] pounds £3." MS. Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. [195] Misc. MSS. 1744-1859. Northern, Interior and Western Counties, 191 (1782). [196] In 1779 a negro of Bucks County to secure the freedom of his wife gave his note to be paid by 1783. In 1782, having paid part, he was allowed to take his wife until the next payment. In 1785 she was free. MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl., I, 27-43. In 1787 negro Samson had purchased his wife and children for ninety-nine pounds. _Ibid._, I, 67. James Oronogue, who had been hired by his master to the keeper of a tavern, gained by his obliging behavior sixty pounds from the customers within four years' time, and at his master's death was allowed to purchase his freedom for one hundred pounds. He paid besides fifty pounds for his wife. _Ibid._, I, 69. When Cuff Douglas had been a slave for thirty-seven years his master promised him freedom after four years more. On the master agreeing to take thirty pounds in lieu of this service, Douglas hired himself out, and was free at the end of sixteen months. He then began business as a tailor, and presently was able to buy his wife and children for ninety pounds, besides one son for whom he paid forty-five pounds. _Ibid._, I, 72. Also _ibid._, I, 79, 91.