It was soon after the close of the revolution-
-ary war that she chanced, at the village
"meeting-house" in
Sheffield, to hear the declara
-tion of Independence read. She went the
next day to the Office of Mr Theodore Sedgwick
then in the beginning of his honorable politi
-cal & legal career. "Sir" said she "I
heard that paper read yesterday that
says 'all men are born equal -- &, that
every man has a right to freedom' -- I
am not a dumb Critter, wont the law
give me my freedom"? I can imagine
her upright form as she stood dilating
with her fresh hope based on the declara-
-tion of her intrinsic inalienable right. --
Such a resolve as hers is like God's messengers
wind snow & hail, irresistible.
Her application was made to one who
had generosity as well as intelligence
to meet it. Mr Sedgwick
imme
-diately