O Say Can You See

The Petition of David Queen a black man respectfully sheweth.

That your Petitioner is descended from a free white woman named Mary Queen your Petitioner being the Son of Nanny who was the Daughter of the said Mary. That your Petitioner, altho entitled to Freedom, is unjustly & unlawfully held in Bondage & as a Slave by the Reverend Sylvester Boarman of Harford County. He therefore prays subpœna in the usual form agt. the said Sylvester Boarman to answer the Premises and that your Petitioner may by the Judgment of this Honble Court be adjudged and declared free and that he may have such other Relief as the nature of his Case requires & he will pray &c.

Wm. Pinkney
for Petr.