Benjamin Lay was known, when in England, to the royal family of that day, into whose private presence he was admitted.

On his return to America, he took an active part in behalf of the oppressed Africans.

In the year 1737, he published a treatise on Slave-keeping.

This he gave away among his neighbours and others, but more particularly among the rising youth, many of whom he visited in their respective schools.

He applied also to several of the governors for interviews, with whom he held conferences on the subject.
Benjamin Lay was a man of strong understanding and of great integrity, but of warm and irritable feelings, and more particularly so when he was called forth on any occasion in which the oppressed Africans were concerned.