USA > Massachusetts > Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts > Part 11
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The Continental Affociation, adopted and figned by all the members of the Congrefs on the 20th of October, 1774, for carrying into effect the non-impor- tation, non-confumption, and non-exportation refolve of the 27th of September, provided for the difcon- tinuance of the Slave-Trade. The Continental Con- grefs, on the 6th of April, 1776, formally " Refol- ved, That no flave be imported into any of the thirteen United Colonies." There is reafon to be-
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lieve that this refolution received the unanimous affent of the Congrefs. Force's Dec. of Independence, p. 42. But no provifion was made in the Articles of Confederation to hinder the importation of flaves, and this pernicious commerce was never abfolutely crufhed until the power of the nation was exercifed againft it under the authority of the Conftitution.
Slavery, however, was not forgotten or neglected for want of notice. In the firft Provincial Congrefs of Maffachufetts, October 25, 1774,
" Mr. Wheeler brought into Congrefs a letter di- rected to Doct. Appleton, purporting the propriety, that while we are attempting to free ourfelves from our prefent embarraffments, and preferve ourfelves from flavery, that we alfo take into confideration the ftate and circumftances of the negro flaves in this pro- vince. The fame was read, and it was moved that a Committee be appointed to take the fame into con- fideration. After fome debate thereon, the queftion was put, whether the matter now fubfide, and it paffed in the affirmative." Journals, 29.
In May, 1775, the Committee of Safety (Han- cock and Warren's Committee) came to a formal refolution, which is certainly one of the moft fignifi- cant documents of the period.
" Refolved, That it is the opinion of this Com- mittee, as the conteft now between Great Britain and the Colonies refpects the liberties and privileges of the latter, which the Colonies are determined to maintain, that the admiffion of any perfons, as fol- diers, into the army now raifing, but only fuch as are freemen, will be inconfiftent with the principles that
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are to be fupported, and reflect dishonor on this Colony, and that no flaves be admitted into this army upon any confideration whatever."
This refolution being communicated to the Pro- vincial Congrefs (June 6, 1775), was read, and ordered to lie on the table for further confideration. It was probably allowed to " fubfide," like the former pro- pofition. The prohibition againft the admiffion of flaves into the Maffachufetts Army clearly recognizes flavery as an exifting inftitution.
The negroes of Briftol and Worcefter having petitioned the Committee of Correfpondence of the latter county to affift them in obtaining their free- dom, it was refolved, in a Convention held at Wor- cefter, June 14, 1775, " That we abhor the enflaving of any of the human race, and particularly of the negroes in this country, and that whenever there fhall be a door opened, or opportunity prefent for anything to be done towards the emancipation of the negroes, we will ufe our influence and endeavor that fuch a thing may be brought about." Lincoln's Hift. of Worcester, IIO.
The high tory writers of 1775 were not flow to avail themfelves of the argument of inconfiftency againft the whigs of the day. One writer faid :
" Negroe flaves in Bofton ! It cannot be ! It is neverthelefs very true. For though the Boftonians have grounded their rebellions on the 'immutable laws of nature,' and have refolved in their Town Meetings, that ' It is the firft principle in civil fociety, founded in nature and reafon, that no law of fociety can be binding on any individual, without his confent given by himfelf
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in perfon, or by his reprefentative of his own free election ; yet, notwithftanding the immutable laws of nature, and this public refolution of their own in Town Meetings, they actually have in town two thoufand Negroe flaves, who neither by themfelves in perfon, nor by reprefentatives of their own free elec- tion ever gave confent to their prefent ftate of bond- age." Mein's Sagittarius's Letters, pp. 38, 39.
On June 5th, 1774, two difcourfes on liberty were delivered at the North Church in Newburyport, by Nathaniel Niles, M. A.,-which were printed in a pamphlet of fixty pages. A brief paffage near the clofe of the firft difcourfe prefents a ftrong argument againft the inftitution. pp. 37, 38.
In 1774, Deacon Benjamin Colman, of Byfield Church, Newbury, Maffachufetts, made himfelf con- spicuous in his neighborhood by his exertions againft flavery. In the Effex Journal, of Newburyport, July 20, 1774, an effay of his was publifhed, in which he fays :
" And this iniquity is established by law in this province, and although there have been fome feeble attempts made to break the yoke and fet them at liberty, yet the thing is not effected, but they are ftill kept under the civil yoke of bondage.' Coffin's New- bury, 340.
In the following year, Sept. 16, 1775, the fame zealous deacon addreffed a letter to a member of the General Court, " by whom (he thought) this idolatry fhould be thrown down, and a reformation take place by the authority of that legiflative power." His appeals to the love of freedom, which was then the
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cry of the whole land, are moft forcible, and his ftrong fears of the further judgments of God as a confe- quence of this " capital fin of thefe States," flavery, are full of warning. He concludes with the follow- ing paragraph, which is not lefs interefting in this connection from the fpecial reference to Bofton-in his pious improvement of an important fact already fet forth in thefe Notes :
" But, Sir, you may be ready too haftily to con- clude from this writing that my mind is fo faftened upon the flave-trade, as if it were the only crime that we were chargeable with, or that God was chaftening us for. As I have faid before, fo fay I again, our tranfgreffions are multiplied, but yet this crime is more particularly pointed at than any other. WAS BOSTON THE FIRST PORT ON THIS CONTINENT THAT BEGAN THE SLAVE-TRADE, and are they not the first Shut up by an opprefive att, and brought almost to defolation, wherefore, Sir, though we may not be peremptory in apply- ing the judgments of God, yet I cannot pass over fuch providences without a remark. But to conclude. I entreat and befeech you by all the love you have for this town, by all the regard you have for this diftreffed, bleeding province, as for the American Colonies in general, that you exert yourfelf, and improve your utmoft endeavors at the Court to obtain a difcharge for the flaves from their bondage. If this was done, I fhould expect fpeedy deliverance to arife to us, but if this opprefion is ftill continued and maintained by authority, I can only fay, my foul fhall weep in fecret places for that crime." Ibid., 342.
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VII.
IN the autumn of 1776, fympathy for the flave in Maffachufetts received a frefh impulfe. Two negro men, captured on the high feas, were advertifed for fale at auction, as a part of the cargo and appurte- nances of a prize duly condemned in the Maritime Court.1 This advertifement roufed the fpirit of hoftility to flavery to a remarkable degree, and the Legiflature were excited to begin the work of reform apparently with great earneftnefs and vigor.
On Friday, Sept. 13, 1776, at the afternoon feffion, the Maffachufetts Houfe of Reprefentatives
" Refolved, That Wednefday next, at three o'clock in the afternoon, be affigned for choofing a committee to be joined with a Committee of the Honorable Board, to take under confideration the condition of the African Slaves, now in this State, or that hereafter may be brought into it, and to report." four. H. of R., 105.
We find no record of proceedings in accordance with this refolution until a little more than a month later, when, on the 19th of October, 1776, it was "Ordered, that Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Murrey, Mr. Appleton, and Capt. Stone, with fuch as the honorable
I This was the Hannibal, a floop of fixty tons, commanded by William Fitzpatrick, and taken while on a voyage from Jamaica to Turk's Island. Am. Archives, v., iii., 258. An advertifement in the New England Chronicle, Auguft 15, 1776, announces the Maritime Court for ye Middle Diftrict to be held at Bofton, 5th September, 1776, to try the Juftice of the Capture of the Sloop called the Hannibal, etc., and her Cargo and Appur- tenances.
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Houfe may join be a Committee to take under con- fideration the condition of the African flaves now in this State [or that may be hereafter brought into this State] or may be hereafter brought into it and report." Fournal H. of R., p. 127. This refolution was con- curred in by the Council, and William Sever, Benja- min Greenleaf, and Daniel Hopkins, Efqrs., were joined on the part of the Board. Gen. Court Records, Vol. XXXIII., P. 55. We have made diligent fearch for further action under this refolution and appointment of the Committee, but have failed to difcover any trace of it. The matter was probably "allowed to fubfide " again.
On the fame day, however, in which the Houfe firft determined to give attention to the condition of the African flaves, on the 13th of September, 1776, their refolution to that effect was immediately followed by another "to prevent the fale of two negro men lately brought into this State, as prifoners taken on the high feas, and advertifed to be fold at Salem, the 17th inft., by public auction." Journal, p. 105. The refolve does not appear on the Journal, but from the files preferved among the Archives of the State, we are enabled to prefent it as thus originally paffed, viz. :
" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SEPT. 13, 1776:
" WHEREAS this Houfe is credibly informed that two negro men lately brought into this State as prifoners taken on the High Seas are adver- tifed to be fold at Salem, the 17th inftant, by public auction,
" Refolved, That the felling and enflaving the human fpecies is a
ยท
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direct violation of the natural rights alike vefted in all men by their Creator, and utterly inconfiftent with the avowed principles on which this and the other United States have carried their ftruggle for liberty even to the laft appeal, and therefore, that all perfons connected with the faid negroes be and they hereby are forbidden to fell them or in any manner to treat them otherways than is already ordered for the treatment of prifoners of war taken in the fame veffell or others in the like employ and if any fale of the faid negroes fhall be made, it is here- by declared null and void.
" Sent up for concurrence,
" SAME. FREEMAN, Speaker, P. T.
" In Council, Sept. 14, 1776. Read and concurred as taken into a new draught. Sent down for concurrence.
JOHN AVERY, Dpy. Secy.
" In the Houfe of Reprefentatives, Sept. 14, 1776. Read and non- concurred, and the Houfe adhere to their own vote. Sent up for concurrence.
J. WARREN, Speaker.
" In Council, Sept. 16, 1776. Read and concurred as now taken into a new draft. Sent down for concurrence.
JOHN AVERY, Dpy. Secy.
" In the Houfe of Reprefentatives, Sept. 16, 1779. Read and con- curred.
J. WARREN, Speaker.
" Confented to.
JER. POWELL,
JABEZ FISHER,
W. SEVER,
B. WHITE,
B. GREENLEAF,
MOSES GILL,
CALEB CUSHING,
DAN'L. HOPKINS,
B. CHADBOURN,
BENJ. AUSTIN,
JOHN WHETCOME,
WM. PHILLIPS,
ELDAD TAYLOR,
D. SEWALL,
S. HOLTEN,
DAN'L HOPKINS."
We give a more particular account of the legifla- tive hiftory and progrefs of this refolve, derived from the journals.
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The fubject reappears on the Journal of the Houfe of the 14th September, as follows :
" David Sewall, Efq., brought down the refolve which paffed the Houfe yefterday, forbidding the fale of two negroes, with the following vote of Council thereon, viz. : In Council, Sept. 14, 1776. Read and concurred, as taken into a new draught. Sent down for concurrence. Read and non-concurred, and the Houfe adhere to their own vote. Sent up for con- currence." Ibid., 106. "
The members of the Council prefent on the 14th September, 1776, were
JAMES BOWDOIN, MOSES GILL,
BENJAMIN GREENLEAF,
BENJAMIN AUSTIN,
RICHARD DERBY,
SAMUEL HOLTEN,
JER. POWELL,
BENJAMIN WHITE,
CALEB CUSHING, HENRY GARDNER,
BENJAMIN CHADBURN, JABEZ FISHER,
WILLIAM SEAVER,
WILLIAM PHILLIPS,
JOHN WINTHROP,
DAVID SEWALL,
THOMAS CUSHING,
JOSEPH CUSHING,
ELDAD TAYLOR,
DANIEL HOPKINS.
General Court Records, etc., p. 581.
The Council Minutes, as contained in the General Court Records, March 13, 1776-Sept. 18, 1776, pp. 581-2, under the date of September 14th, 1776, give the refolve as finally paffed, with the addition, "In Council. Read and concurred. Confented to by the major part of the Council." This, however, is an error, as appears not only from the entry on the
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Journal of the Houfe and the original document from the files as given above, but alfo from the following minute of the Council in the fame volume of Records. Under date of 16th September-the following mem- bers of Council being prefent,
JER. POWELL,
BENJAMIN GREENLEAF,
JOHN WINTHROP,
ELDAD TAYLOR,
JNO. WHETCOMB,
WILLIAM PHILLIPS,
WILLIAM SEAVER,
CALEB CUSHING,
BENJAMIN CHADBURN, SAMUEL HOLTEN,
JABEZ FISHER, DAVID SEWALL,-
Rev. Mr. [John] Murray came up with a Meffage from the Houfe to acquaint the Board that it was their defire to know whether the refolve refpecting the fale of Negroes at Salem had paffed.
David Sewall, Efq., went down with a meffage to acquaint the Hon. Houfe that it was under confidera- tion of the Board. Ibid., pp. 585, 589.
On the fame day, 16th September, 1776, the final difpofition of the matter in the Houfe is thus recorded in their journal.
" John Whitcomb, Efq., brought down the refolve forbidding the fale of two negroes, with the following vote of Council thereon, viz. : In Council, Sept. 16, 1776. Read and concurred, as now taken into a new draught. Sent down for concurrence. Read and concurred." Ibid., 109. The refolve, as finally paffed by the General Court, appears in the printed volume of refolves for that period.
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Slavery in Mafachufetts.
"LXXXIII. Refolve forbidding the fale of two Negroes brought in as Prifoners ; Paffed September 14, [16th,] 1776.
" Whereas this Court is credibly informed that two Negro Men lately taken on the High Seas, on board the floop Hannibal, and brought into this State as Prifoners, are advertized to be fold at Salem, the 17th inftant, by public Auction :
" Refolved, That all Perfons, concerned with the faid Negroes be, and they are hereby forbidden to fell them, or in any manner to treat them otherwife than is already ordered for the Treatment of Prifoners taken in like manner; and if any Sale of the faid Negroes fhall be made it is hereby declared null and void; and that whenever it fhall appear that any Negroes are taken on the High Seas and brought as Prifoners into this State, they fhall not be allowed to be Sold, nor treated any otherwife than as Prifoners are ordered to be treated who are taken in like Manner." Refolves, p. 14.
The high-toned, bold, and unequivocal declaration of anti-flavery principles, with which it originally fet out, is gone; but it is ftill the moft honorable docu- ment of Maffachufetts legiflation concerning the negro. To appreciate its importance and properly to underftand this fubject of negro captures and recap- tures, it is neceffary to extend our inquiry beyond the limits of the legiflation of a fingle Colony ; and we fhall therefore make no apology for prefenting to the reader in this place the refults of our examination of the national legiflation and action with reference thereto.
Its practical importance was obvious, and the neceffity of an uniform rule was too apparent to admit of a doubt. Accordingly the Continental Con- grefs, on the 14th of October, 1776-juft one month after the proceedings in the Legiflature of Maffachu-
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fetts concerning the two negroes captured in the Hannibal-appointed a fpecial Committee of three members (Mr. Rich. Henry Lee, Mr. Wilfon, and Mr. Hall) " to confider what is to be done with Ne- groes taken by veffels of war, in the fervice of the United States." We have found no report of this Committee, nor are we able to fay what action, if any, was taken until a later period of the war.
The Continental Congrefs, by refolutions of 25th November, 1775, had recommended it to the feveral Legiflatures to erect Courts, or give jurifdiction to the Courts in being, for the purpofe of determining con- cerning captures. Still, from the beginning, Congrefs exercifed the power of controlling, by appeal, the feveral admiralty jurifdictions of the States. Journal, 6th March, 22d May, 1779, 21ft March, 24th May, 1780. Journal H. of R. Pa., Jan. 31, 1780.
Congrefs had prefcribed a rule of the diftribution of prizes, and an early act of Maffachufetts is curioufly illuftrative of the doctrine of a divided fovereignty. By Chapter XVI. of the laws of 1776, it was provi- ded that diftribution fhould take place according to the Laws of this Colony, when prizes were taken by the Forces or the Inhabitants thereof; and when they fhall be taken by the fleet and army of the United Colonies, then to diftribute and difpofe of them ac- cording to the Refolves and Orders of the Congrefs. Compare Chapter x., 1776, and Chapter I., 1775, P. 9.
Maffachufetts ratified the Articles of Confedera- tion in 1778, and the confederation was completed March Ift, 1781. The ninth article gave to the United States in Congrefs affembled the fole and ex-
Slavery in Mafachufetts. +155
clufive right of eftablifhing rules for deciding, in all cafes, what captures on land or water fhall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the fervice of the United States fhall be divided or appropriated, as well as eftablifhing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cafes of captures.
Accordingly, Congrefs proceeded to legiflate 'on the fubject, and, during the year 1781, completed an ordinance, afcertaining what captures on water fhall be lawful, in purfuance of the powers delegated by the confederation in fuch cafes. On the 4th of June, 178I, an ordinance was reported for eftablifhing a court of appeals, etc. On the 25th of the fame month the fubject was difcuffed, and, on the 17th of July, 1781, the ordinance having been further de- bated, was recommitted, and the committee were inftructed to prepare and bring an ordinance for regu- lating the proceedings of the admiralty courts of the feveral States in cafes of capture, to revife and collect into one body the refolutions of Congrefs and other convenient rules of decifion, and to call upon the feveral Legiflatures to aid by neceffary provifions the powers referved to Congrefs by the Articles of Con- federation on the fubject of captures from the enemy. On the 21ft of September, 1781, Congrefs refumed the fecond reading of the ordinance refpecting cap- tures, and on the queftion to agree to the following paragraph, the yeas and nays were required by Mr. Matthews, of South Carolina : "On the recapture by a citizen of any negro, mulatto, Indian, or other perfon from whom labor or fervice is lawfully claimed
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by another citizen, fpecific reftitution fhall be adjudged to the claimant, whether the original capture fhall have been made on land or water, a reafonable falvage being paid by the claimant to the recaptor, not exceed- ing one-fourth part of the value of fuch labor or fervice, to be eftimated according to the laws of the State of which the claimant Shall be a citizen : but if the fervice of fuch negro, mulatto, Indian or other perfon, captured below high water mark, fhall not be legally claimed by a citizen of thefe United States, he fhall be fet at liberty."
It was adopted by a vote of twenty ayes to two noes. Both noes were from the South Carolina delegates. By the method of voting in that Congrefs, the vote was feven States in the affirmative, and one in the negative-four States not voting. The affirma- tive States were Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Penn- fylvania, New York, Rhode Ifland, and Maffachufetts. States not voting, North Carolina, Delaware, New Jerfey, and Connecticut, although all their delegates prefent voted in the affirmative. On the 27th Sep- tember, when the ordinance came up for a third read- ing, an attempt was made to obtain a fecond vote on this paragraph, but it was ruled to be out of order. The ordinance was farther debated November 8, 13, 30, and fome important changes were made, which will appear on comparifon of the paffages in italics. It was finally paffed, apparently without oppofition, on the 4th of December, 1781, as follows :
"On the recapture by a citizen of any negro, mulatto, Indian, or other perfon, from whom labor or fervice is lawfully claimed by a State or a citizen of
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Slavery in Mafachufetts.
a State, fpecific reftitution fhall be adjudged to the claimant, whether the original capture fhall have been made on land or water, and without regard to the time of poffeffion by the enemy, a reafonable falvage being paid by the claimant to the recaptor, not exceeding 1-4th of the value of fuch labor or fervice, to be eftimated according to the laws of the State under which the claim Shall be made.
" But if the fervice of fuch negro, mulatto, Indian, or other perfon, captured below high water mark, fhall not be legally claimed within a year and a day from the Sentence of the Court, he fhall be fet at liberty." Thus the action of the legiflative authorities-colonial or ftate and continental or national-was virtually an affirmation of the received law on the fubject, which was founded on the doctrine of poft liminium derived from the civil law.
This, however, applied only to recaptures. There is no fpecial provifion for cafes of capture of flaves belonging to the enemy-to whom probably the old doctrine was held to apply, that they were lawful prize, and as fuch liable to fale for the benefit of the captors. This had been the general, if not univerfal, rule.
Sir Leoline Jenkins, in a letter written in 1674, refpecting negroes in a Dutch prize-veffel, fays that it will not be controverted that on the ftatute of Prize " negroes are to be reputed Goods and merchandizes in this fhip, as they are, generally fpeaking, a part of the commerce of thofe parts." Wynne's Life of Sir L. Jenkins, p. 707, quoted by John C. Hurd.
Negroes, captured in Canada, during the wars
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between the Englifh and French, were fent to the Weft India Iflands for fale. Col. Doc., x., 131 .; bis, 138, 140. In 1747, the Englifh having captured a negro fervant, the French took pains to reclaim him, but the Englifh refufed to furrender him on the ground that every negro is a flave, wherever he happens to be, and in whatever Country he may refide. N. Y. Col. Doc., x., 210. This precedent was referred to in a fimilar cafe in 1750, with a fimilar decifion, which was acquiesced in by both English and French. Ib., 213. See alfo the 47th article of Capitulation for the Sur- render of Canada in 1760. N. Y. Col. Doc., x., 1118.
In 1761, upon the reduction of Martinico, Maj .- Gen. Monckton ordered the negroes which were taken to be fold, and the money to be divided amongft the fubalterns attached to his army. Ibid., VIII., 250.
During the American War, the flaves of the rebel colonifts were regarded by the Englifh as proper fubjects of prize and booty. The N. E. Chronicle, July 4, 1776, ftates that the " negroes carried off when the [Britifh] Army and Fleet were obliged to evacuate the Town and Harbor [of Bofton] were fent to Louisburgh, to dig Coal for their Tyrannical Mafters. Thefe Blacks, were commanded by a cer- tain Captain Lindfey." It was eftimated that not lefs than 30,000 were carried off from Virginia. Hil- dreth, III., 355. And thoufands were carried off from South Carolina, Georgia, and other States. Mr. Jeffer- fon, in his letter to Gordon, refers to thofe who were fent to the Weft Indies, and exchanged for rum, fugar, coffee, and fruit. Works, II., 427.
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In 1779, Sir Henry Clinton iffued the following proclamation :
" By his Excellency, Sir HENRY CLINTON, K.B., General, and Com- mander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's Forces within the Colonies lying on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to Weft Florida, inclufive, &c., &c., &c. :
" PROCLAMATION.
" WHEREAS, The Enemy have adopted a practice of enrolling NEGROES among their troops : I do hereby give Notice, that all NEGROES taken in Arms, or upon any military Duty, fhall be pur- chafed for [the public fervice at] a ftated price; the Money to be paid to the Captors.
" But I do moft ftrictly forbid any Perfon to fell or claim Right over any NEGROE, the Property of a Rebel, who may take refuge with any part of this Army : And I do promife to every NEGROE who fhall defert the Rebel Standard full Security to follow within thefe Lines any occupation which he fhall think proper.
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