Slavery, as well as indentured servitude, existed in Illinois as late as 1845,(491) and the “Black Laws” of the state were repealed on February 7, 1865.(492) From 1787 until years after 1830 the slavery question was an unsettled one. In addition to the arguments for or against the institution that were used everywhere, the pro-slavery party in Illinois asserted that as the Ordinance of 1787 guaranteed to the French inhabitants their property, the French could hold slaves, and that as all citizens of a state had equal rights other persons in Illinois could hold slaves. The reply was that the Ordinance plainly forbade slavery.(493) Whatever the merits of the argument, slavery did exist in Illinois. The fear of the French that they might lose their slaves, and the desire to attract slaveholders to Illinois, led to determined and repeated efforts to legalize slavery. Early in 1796 a petition was sent from Kaskaskia to Congress, praying that the anti-slavery article in the Ordinance of 1787 might be either repealed or so altered as to permit the introduction of slaves from the original states or elsewhere into the country of Illinois, that a law might be enacted permitting the introduction of such slaves as servants for life, and that it might be declared for what period the children of such servants should serve the masters of their parents. This petition was signed by four men, including some of the largest landowners in Illinois, but as the petition, while purporting to come from Illinois alone, concerned the entire Northwest Territory, as there was no indication that the four petitioners represented Illinois sentiment, and as the congressional committee was informed that many of the inhabitants of the territory did not desire the proposed change, the prayer of the petition was denied.(494)