David Cooper

David Cooper (February 20, 1725 – April 1, 1795) was an American farmer, Quaker, pamphleteer and an author of abolitionist ideals in the latter 1700s. A native of New Jersey, he lived the greater part of his life in and around Gloucester and Salem, New Jersey. Cooper was vocal on the issue of slavery and was devoted to the abolitionist movement before, during and after the American Revolution. A devout Quaker, he made numerous comparisons between abolition and Biblical thought in his writings and orations. By submitting pamphlets and petitions, Cooper appealed to and encouraged George Washington and the Congress to make efforts to abolish slavery. He is noted for writing a 22-page anti-slavery tract addressed to the "Rulers of America", which was distributed to members of Congress, a copy of which Washington signed and kept in his personal library.

Personal life David Cooper was born in Woodbury, New Jersey located along the Delaware River, close to Philadelphia, on February 20, 1725. His father was John Cooper; his mother, Ann Clarke. David married Sybil Matlack Cooper. They had at least two children who survived their childhood: Amos Cooper and Martha Allinson. David's father, John, received a sizable inheritance from his grandfather. John Senior died in 1730, when David was six. Subsequently, David and his siblings were raised by their mother who was a devoted Quaker. The community he was raised in was also largely devoted to the Quaker ethic. David's maternal grandfather, Benjamin Clarke, was among the first Quaker abolitionists in colonial America. David in turn received an inheritance from his late father, which included a plot of land; he used his inheritance to launch a successful business, for which he felt he was blessed.

David's older brother, John, died in 1728 at the age of ten. A year later David's parents gave birth to another son whom they also named John, who lived to adulthood. i.e. John Cooper, David's younger brother, became a notable figure during the American Revolution, and was the author of the New Jersey Constitution of 1776. He was also elected to the Second Continental Congress in 1776, but it is unclear whether he attended or not.

On October 22, 1777, the Coopers fled from their homes in Woodbury during the failed Hessian assault on Fort Mercer during the Battle of Red Bank. After the British gained control over the area, British General Charles Cornwallis used the home of David's brother John as his temporary headquarters.

In his memoirs, Cooper documents his early life, family history, marriage, the birth of his children, his involvements with the Quakers, and the various struggles he faced with his faith. He also recounts his work as a New Jersey representative in 1761, along with an account of his participation at Quaker Meetings. He wrote the manuscript during his final years, for his children, when his health was failing, so that they would have a personal record of his life and work after he had died. David Cooper died in 1795, at age 70, in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

Quaker and abolitionist Brought up in a household that condemned slavery, David came to regard slavery as an institution contrary to natural law. His sense of the injustice of slavery, which largely arose from the injustices and inhumanity involved with the Atlantic slave trade, became evident in his 1772 correspondence with Granville Sharp, a leading and outspoken English abolitionist. As a dedicated Quaker and a staunch abolitionist Cooper petitioned Congress three times in his effort to advance abolition legislature and abolish slavery, lobbied President George Washington, and wrote about these prospects at length in his diary and other writings. He also criticized the American Patriot's use of violence during the American Revolutionary War as Quakers were pacifists and were opposed to violence.

For eight years, beginning in 1761, Cooper served in the State of New Jersey as an elected member of the New Jersey House of Assembly.

In 1772 he wrote and published Mite cast into the treasury: or, Observations on slave-keeping, which was coauthored by Anthony Benezet another leading abolitionist. In the introduction Cooper definitively summarized his position regarding prejudice and slavery: "The power of prejudice over the minds of mankind is very extraordinary; hardly any extremes too distant, or absurdities too glaring for it to unite or reconcile, if it tends to promote or justify a favorite pursuit. It is thus we are to account for the fallacious reasonings and absurd sentiments used and entertained concerning negroes, and the lawfulness of keeping them slaves"

In 1785 Cooper, along with other Quakers, like Samuel Allinson, submitted petitions to the Legislature for purposes of enacting emancipation legislation. The bills failed but the Legislature instead passed a law the next year that helped expedite manumissions, which stipulated that slave owners provide education for their slaves. The law also added penalties for any abuses to slaves, while also outlawing the slave trade.

Address to Rulers of America In 1783 Cooper wrote a 22-page declaration condemning slavery, which was published in a leading Quaker abolitionist tract, addressed to the U.S. government; the Address was entitled A Serious Address to the Rulers of America, on the Inconsistency of Their Conduct Respecting Slavery. The pamphlet was a treatise written in strong and unforgiving terms, accusing American slaveholders of "treason" against the natural rights of man, and of making a "mockery" of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout his Serious Address Cooper appealed to Americans' "regard for the honour of America", regarding equality and liberty against perceived British tyranny, as contradictory with the practice of American slavery. The Serious Address contained numerous references and parallels to the revolutionary ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence of 1776, Congressional Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms, of 1775; Congressional Declaration of Rights and Grievances of 1774 and other such declarations from the various states. Alongside of his arguments Cooper made references to quotations taken from these documents.

Cooper published the tract with the intention that it be read aloud in the various colonies at a time when the Quakers were not in the best favor due to their non-violent and passive involvement in the American Revolution. As a result, Cooper decided to publish his tract anonymously, concealing its Quaker origins. One year before his death, Anthony Benezet presented copies to George Washington and members of Congress along with a copy to each member of the New Jersey Assembly.

Cooper's tract asserted that the Golden Rule was a natural law from Christ that outlawed slavery. and was displeased with Benezet that he had published his authorship and revealed his real identity. Writing Cooper, Benezet asked if one of his pamphlets could be "stiched together" with Cooper's and published. His request was not well received by Cooper. In a letter of June 15, 1783, to Samuel Allinson, Cooper expressed his concerns about anonymity, protesting that Benezet "...knows how careful I was of having the author suspected. ... I regret he saw it", concluding, "I might near as well have put my name to it". He sent one to each member of Congress, and to our own Assembly at Burlington, and is about writing to our Governor." Benezet had also given a copy to George Washington. Cooper and some of his Quaker contemporaries continued with their efforts to bring about abolition. Writing in 1779, Cooper advocated the boycott of any goods produced by slave labor.

Concept of emancipation and abolition Cooper's concept of emancipation and abolition is delineated in his writings, and in other pamphlets published by Quakers during the latter half of the eighteenth century, with the idea of gradual emancipation being the central idea. Cooper disagreed with lifelong bondage and felt that masters should give their slaves a home and education and that slaves should be granted their freedom at a given age, in accordance with natural law.