William and Ellen Craft, Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom

Preface

RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES FOR FREEDOM
OR, THE ESCAPE OF WILLIAM AND ELLEN CRAFT FROM SLAVERY.

"Slaves cannot breathe in England: if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall."
COWPER

LONDON:
WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND.
------
1860.

LONDON:
RICHARD BARRETT, PRINTER,
MARK LANE.

RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES

FOR FREEDOM

[frontispiece omitted]

PREFACE

---------

HAVING heard while in Slavery that "God made of one blood all nations of men," and also
that the American Declaration of Independence says, that "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness;" we could not understand by what right we were held as "chattels."
Therefore, we felt perfectly justified in undertaking the dan- gerous and exciting task
of "running a thousand miles" in order to obtain those rights which are so vividly set
forth in the Declaration. I beg those who would know the particulars of our journey, to
peruse these pages. This book is not intended as a full history of the

iv PREFACE.

life of my wife, nor of myself; but merely as an account of our escape; together with
other matter which I hope may be the means of creating in some minds a deeper abhorrence
of the sinful and abominable practice of enslaving and brutifying our fellow-creatures.
Without stopping to write a long apology for offering this little volume to the public,
I shall commence at once to pursue my simple story.

W. CRAFT.

12, CAMBRIDGE ROAD,
HAMMERSMITH,
LONDON.