the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Pennsylvania urged the members
of that denomination in 1787 to give their slaves "such good education
as to prepare them for a better enjoyment of freedom."[3] In reply to
the inquiry as to what could be done to teach the poor black and white
children to read, the Methodist Conference of 1790 recommended the
establishment of Sunday schools and the appointment of persons to
teach gratis "all that will attend and have a capacity to learn."[4]
The Conference recommended that the Church publish a special text-book
to teach these children learning as well as piety.[5] Men in the
political world were also active. In 1788 the State of New Jersey
passed an act preliminary to emancipation, making the teaching of
slaves to read compulsory under a penalty of five pounds.[6]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies_, 1797.]

[Footnote 2: _Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies_, 1797.]

[Footnote 3: Locke, _Anti-slavery_, etc., p. 44.]

[Footnote 4: Washington, _Story of the Negro_, vol. ii, p. 121.]

[Footnote 5: _Ibid._, p. 121.]

[Footnote 6: Laws of New Jersey, 1788.]

With such influence brought to bear on persons in the various walks of
life, the movement for the effective education of the colored people
became more extensive. Voicing the sentiment of the different local