Metadata
Title
Christ Church and St. Peter's draft petition concerning Philadelphia burial grounds, 1793
Date
1793
Digital Identifier
ChristChurch.CorporationCorrespondence_4-2-0-13
Call Number
4.2.0.13; F501
Description
Includes draft petition reacting to an apparent municipal order to remove burial grounds from city limits. The order was probably in response to the yellow fever epidemics which severely effected Philadelphia's population in the 1790s. The petition is in favor of keeping burial grounds within city limits.
Subject
Place
Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Congregation
Christ Church, Philadelphia, PA
Extent
2 documents, 6 pages
Format (Digital)
tiff
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
Language
eng
Type
Text
Abstract
Draft of a memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania from the Rector, Church Warden, and Vestrymen of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia [p.1]. The memorialists express alarm at the 21st Section of a bill entitled "an Act for establishing a Health Office," which intends to secure the city from pestilential and contagious diseases. They request that the 21st Section relating to Burying Grounds be expunged [p.1]. The petitioners argue that the section involves many sacred interests and should be a separate law [p.2-3]. Furthermore, they claim that based on the experience of London after the plague, burying grounds do not cause infection, and that there is still room in the church burying grounds [p.2-3]. They call the clause repugnant and unconstitutional, as it would wrest the grounds from their sacred use without equivalent or replacement, and object to the penalties for burying corpses [p.2-3, p.3]. They state they cannot apply the places to other uses, as they will not dig up the bones of their ancestors for building lots [p.4]. They are not averse to well-digested regulations in cases of imminent danger but pray the bill passes without the 21st Section [p.4, p.5r].
Thumbnail
IIIF Manifest
https://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/iiif.cfm/ChristChurch.CorporationCorrespondence_4-2-0-13/manifest
