USA > Massachusetts > Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts > Part 13
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Affa Hall, wife of Prince Hall, Quafh, Robert,
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John Polly, Anthony, Jack Phillips, Peggy, wife of faid An-
George Polly, thony.
Records, 1783, fol. 177, 178.
VIII.
WE return again to trace the progrefs of public opinion on flavery in Maffachufetts during the Revo- lution. It is indicated in part by the public prefs of the time. William Gordon, afterward well known as the author of a hiftory of the Revolution, was very bufy as a writer on this and kindred topics. In Letter V (of a feries), dated Roxbury, September 21, 1776, he fays :
" The Virginians begin their Declaration of Rights with faying, 'that all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive them- felves or their pofterity ; among which are the enjoy- ment of life and liberty.' The Congrefs declare that they ' hold thefe truths to be felf-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among thefe are life, liberty and purfuit of happinefs.' The Continent has rang with affirmations of the like im- port. If thefe, Gentlemen, are our genuine fentiments, and we are not provoking the Deity, by acting hypo- critically to ferve a turn, let us apply earneftly and heartily to the extirpation of flavery from among our- felves. Let the State allow of nothing beyond fervi-
Slavery in Mafachufetts. 177
tude for a ftipulated number of years, and that only for feven or eight, when perfons are of age, or till they are of age : and let the defcendants of the Afri -. cans born among us, be viewed as free-born; and be wholly at their own difpofal when one-and-twenty, the latter part of which age will compenfate for the expenfe of infancy, education, and fo on. 1"
In the Independent Chronicle, November 14, 1776, there is a Plan for the gradual extermination of flav- ery out of the Colony of Connecticut. It was fent to the publifhers by Dr. Gordon, from Roxbury, Nov .. 2, 1776. This plan is very fevere on flaveholders, and portraying the death-bed fcene of one of them, raifes the query, whether he is finner or faint ? Gordon himfelf fays, " I fhall fay nothing further of the plan, than that, tho' I am well pleafed, to have the abfur- dity of perpetuating flavery expofed, I am not for unfainting every man that through the power of prevailing prejudice and cuftom, is chargeable with inconfiftency and abfurdity : for if fo, who then can be faved ?"
A "Son of Liberty" writes vigoroufly againft flavery in the Independent Chronicle, November 28, 1776. He calls loudly for legiflation, etc., "that no laws be in exiftence contrary to found reafon and revelation."
At this period, advertifements of flave-property were common in the newfpapers. We quote a few fpecimens :
1 The methods propofed in this letter do not give any countenance to the modern theories that flavery was illegal, and that hereditary flavery was always contrary to law in Maffachufetts.
I2
8
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From the Independent Chronicle, October 3, 1776.
" To be SOLD A ftout, hearty, likely NEGRO GIRL, fit for either Town or Country. Inquire of Mr. Andrew Gillespie, Dorchefter, Octo. I., 1776."
From the fame, October 10.
" A hearty NEGRO MAN, with a fmall fum of Money to be given away."
From the fame, November 28.
" To SELL-A Hearty likely NEGRO WENCH about 12 or 13 Years of Age, has had the Small Pox, can wafh, iron, card, and fpin, etc., for no other Fault but for want of Employ."
From the fame, February 27, 1777.
" WANTED a NEGRO GIRL between 12 and 20 Years of Age, for which a good Price will be given, if fhe can be recommended."
From the Continental Journal, April 3, 1777.
" To be SOLD, a likely NEGRO MAN, twenty- two years old, has had the fmall-pox, can do any fort of bufinefs ; fold for want of employment."
" To be SOLD, a large, commodious Dwell- ing Houfe, Barn, and Outhoufes, with any quan- tity of land from I to 50 acres, as the Purchafer fhall choofe within 5 miles of Bofton. Alfo a fmart well-tempered NEGRO BOY of 14 years old, not to go out of this State and fold for 15 years only, if he continues to behave well."
From the Independent Chronicle, May 8, 1777.
" To be SOLD, for want of employ, a likely ftrong NEGRO GIRL, about 18 years old, under- ftands all forts of houfehold bufinefs, and can be well recommended."
Slavery in Mafachufetts. 179
Thefe and fimilar advertifements drew forth the following communication to the Printers from Dr. Gordon ; but without any immediate effect, if we may judge from the fact that the laft advertifement above was continued in the fame paper in which was pub- lifhed
MR. GORDON'S HINT ON SLAVERY. Independent Chronicle, May 15, 1777.
" Meffieurs Printers,
" I WOULD hope that you are the Sons of Liberty from principle, and not merely from intereft, with you therefore to be confiftent, and never more to admit the fale of negroes, whether boys or girls, to be advertifed in your papers. Such advertifements in the prefent feafon are peculiarly fhocking. The multiplicity of bufinefs that hath been before the General Court may apologize for their not having attended to the cafe of flaves, but it is to be hoped that they will have an opportunity hereafter, and will, by an Act of the State, put a final ftop to the public and private fale of them, which may be fome help towards eradicating flavery from among us. If God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, I can fee no reafon why a black rather than a white man fhould be a flave.
" Your humble Servant, "WILLIAM GORDON.
"N. B. I mean the above as a hint alfo to the other printers."
But although the Bofton newfpapers ftill continued to advertife flave-property, and, as we fhall hereafter
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fee, in a manner even more fhocking to the modern reader, it is to this period we are to refer the laft attempt in the Legiflature to put an end to flavery in Maffachufetts. It is the moft emphatic, if indeed it is not the only direct, attack made on that inftitution in all their legiflation. The Legiflature were alfo at this time beginning their firft effay at conftitution- making-the eftablifhment of a new fyftem of govern- ment for the State. The failure of this attack on flavery was as fignal and complete as poffible, while the method by which it was accomplifhed prefents a curious illuftration of the growth of the fentiment and principle of nationality. It is not amifs to remember, that in the firft and laft and only direct and formal attempt to abolifh flavery in Maffachufetts, the pop- ular branch of the Legiflature of that State laid the bill for that purpofe on the table, with a direction " that application be made to Congrefs on the fubject thereof."
On the 18th of March, 1777, another petition of Maffachufetts flaves was prefented to the Legis- lature, as appears from the following entry on the Journal of that date :
" A petition of Lancafter Hill, and a number of other negroes, praying the Court to take into con- fideration their ftate of bondage, and pafs an act whereby they may be reftored to the enjoyment of that freedom which is the natural right of all men. Read and committed to Judge Sergeant, Mr. Dalton, Mr. Appleton, Col. Brooks, and Mr. Story."
The original petition is preferved among the Archives of Maffachufetts, and furnifhes fome addi-
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tional interefting particulars. They pray for the paffage of an act, "whereby they may be reftored to the enjoyment of that freedom, which is the natural right of all men, and their children (who were born in this land of liberty) may not be held as flaves after they arrive at the age of twenty-one years." The petition is figned by Lancafter Hill, Peter Befs, Brifter Slenfen, Prince Hall, Jack Pierpont (his x mark), Nero Funelo (his X mark), and Newport Sumner (his X mark). It bears date January 13th, 1777, and has the following endorfement : " Mar. 18. Judge Ser- geant, Mr. Dalton, Mr. Appleton, Coll. Brooks, Mr. Story, Mr. Lowell and to confider ye matter at large Mr. Davis." Mafs. Archives, Revolutionary Refolves, Vol. VII., p. 132.
The addition of "Mr. Lowell and to confider ye matter at large Mr. Davis" indicates further proceed- ings, which we are unable to give, in confequence of the deficiencies in all the copies of the Journals known to us. The action of the Legiflature, however, refult- ed in a bill, which was probably drawn by Judge Sargent, who was the firft named of this committee.
On Monday afternoon, June 9th, 1777, " a Bill entitled an Act for preventing the Practice of hold- ing perfons in Slavery" was "read a firft time, and ordered to be read again on Friday next, at IO o'clock, A. M." Fourn., 19. On the 13th, the bill was " read a fecond time, and after Debate thereon, it was moved and feconded, That the fame lie upon the Table, and that Application be made to Congrefs on the fubject thereof; and the Queftion being put, it paffed in the Affirmative, and Mr. Speaker, Mr.
.
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Wendell, and Col. Orne, were appointed a Com- mittee to prepare a letter to Congrefs accordingly, and report." Journ., 25. On the following day, Satur- day, June 14th, " the Committee appointed to prepare a Letter to Congrefs, on the fubject of the Bill for preventing the Practice of holding Perfons in Slavery, reported." Their report was "Read and Ordered to lie." fourn., 25. We find no further trace of it.
" STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 1777. " An act for preventing the practice of holding perfons in Slavery.
" WHEREAS, the practice of holding Africans and the children born of them, or any other perfons, in Slavery, is unjustifiable in a civil government, at a time when they are afferting their natural freedom ; wherefore, for preventing fuch a practice for the future, and eftablifhing to every perfon refiding within the State the invaluable bleffing of liberty.
" Be it Enacted, by the Council and Houfe of Reprefentatives, in General Court affembled, and by the authority of the fame,-That all perfons, whether black or of other complexion, above 21 years of age, now held in Slavery, fhall, from and after the day of
next, be free from any fubjection to any mafter or miftrefs, who have claimed their fervitude by right of purchafe, heirfhip, free gift, or otherwife, and they are hereby entitled to all the freedom, rights, priv- ileges and immunities that do, or ought of right to belong to any of the fubjects of this State, any ufage or cuftom to the contrary notwith- standing.
" And be it Enacted, by the authority aforefaid, that all written deeds, bargains, fales or conveyances, or contracts without writing, whatfoever, for conveying or transferring any property in any perfon, or to the fervice and labor of any perfon whatfoever, of more than twenty-one years of age, to a third perfon, except by order of fome court of record for fome crime, that has been', or hereafter fhall be made, or by their own voluntary contract for a term not exceeding feven years, fhall be and hereby are declared null and void.
" And WHEREAS, divers perfons now have in their fervice negroes,
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Slavery in Mafachufetts.
mulattoes or others who have been deemed their flaves or property, and who are now incapable of earning their living by reafon of age or in- firmities, and may be defirous of continuing in the fervice of their mas- ters or miftreffes,-be it therefore Enacted, by the authority aforefaid, that whatever negro or mulatto, who fhall be defirous of continuing in the fervice of his mafter or miftrefs, and fhall voluntarily declare the fame before two juftices of the County in which faid mafter or miftrefs refides, fhall have a right to continue in the fervice, and to a mainte- nance from their mafter or miftrefs, and if they are incapable of earning their living, fhall be fupported by the faid mafter or miftrefs, or their heirs, during the lives of faid fervants, anything in this act to the con- trary notwithftanding.
" Provided, neverthelefs, that nothing in this act fhall be under- ftood to prevent any mafter of a veffel or other perfon from bringing into this State any perfons, not Africans, from any other part of the world, except the United States of America, and felling their fervice for a term of time not exceeding five years, if twenty-one years of age, or, if under twenty-one, not exceeding the time when he or fhe fo brought into the State fhall be twenty-fix years of age, to pay for and in confideration of the tranfportation and other charges faid mafter of veffel or other perfon may have been at, agreeable to contracts made with the perfons fo tranfported, or their parents or guardians in their behalf, before they are brought from their own country." Mafs. Archives : Revolutionary Refolves, Vol. vii., p. 133.
An endorfement on the bill is, "Ordered to lie till the fecond Wednefday of the next Seffion of the General Court." It was not taken up at that time, nor at any other time that we can difcover.
We have faid that Judge Sargent was probably the author of this bill. He was a very ftrong advocate of anti-flavery doctrines, and fubfequently, in his career as a Judge of the Supreme Court, had a principal agency in accomplifhing the overthrow of flavery by judicial conftruction, without the aid of legiflation in which he had failed.
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There is among the archives of Maffachufetts the following draft of a bill, evidently the original of the preceding act, which appears to have been written by Judge Sargent on the back of a note addreffed to him by Rev. Dr. Eliot, an eminent minifter of Bofton who took a very prominent part in the patriotic pro- ceedings of the Revolutionary period.
"IN YE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1777.
" AN ACT for preventing ye wicked & unnatural Practice of holding Perfons in Slavery.
" WHEREAS ye unnatural practice in this ftate of holding certain Perfons in Slavery, more particularly thofe tranfported from Africa & ye children born of fuch perfons, is contrary to ye laws of Nature, a fcandal to profeffors of ye Religion of Jefus, & a difgrace to all good Governments, more efpecially to fuch who are ftruggling againft Op- preffion & in favour of ye natural & unalienable Rights of human nature-
" Wherefore in fome meafure to fecure the bleffings of freedom to fuch who fhall be hereafter born within this State-
" Be it Enacted by ye Council & Houfe of Reprefentatives in gene- ral court affembled & by ye authority of ye fame that all perfons who fhall be born within ye limits of this ftate from & after ye day of
next whether their parents be black or white, or efteemed Bond or free, of whatfoever nation, People or condition, fuch perfons born as afores'd fhall be & hereby are intitled to all ye freedom, Rights, Liberties, privileges & immunities that do or of right ought to belong unto free & natural born fubjects of this State, any ufage or cuftom to ye contrary notwithftanding-
" And for ye effectual preventing of ye unnatural practice of felling promifcuoufly and transferring a property in our fellow creatures, dis- graceful to human nature, & a fcandal to profeffing chriftians-There- fore Be it Enacted by ye authority aforefaid that all bargains, fales, conveyances & other writings or contract without writing whatfoever for ye conveying or transferring of any property in our fellow creatures or of ye labour or fervice of any perfons whatfoever of more than
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twenty-one years of age to a third perfon other than of fuch perfon who fhall voluntarily make himfelf a party to fuch Inftruments or writings or where he fhall be fubjected to fuch fale, or fervice by vir- tue of ye order of fome court of Record, made after ye day of
next fhall be null & void to all intents, conftructions & pur- pofes whatfoever, any Law, Ufage or cuftom to ye contrary in any wife notwithftanding." Mafs. Archives : Vol. 142, 58.
On the IIth of September, 1777, a petition was read in the Houfe of Reprefentatives, from the felect- men of the town of Woburn, praying an abatement of their quota of men for the Continental Army, for Slaves, Idiots, Infane, Captives, &c., and thofe under age. The petitioners had leave to withdraw their pe- tition.
A trace of the exercife of private judgment and one phafe of public opinion foon afterwards, on this fubject, may be feen in the following extract from the Journal of the Houfe of Reprefentatives, 24th Sep- tember, 1777 :
"A Petition of Jofeph Prout of Scarborough, fetting forth that Mr. William Vaughan lately told his two Negroes that by an Act of Court all Negroes were made free, in confequence whereof they have fince left him, and one of them has hired himfelf to faid Vaughan, who withholds him from the Petitioner, therefore praying relief. Read and difmiffed." p. 86.
As the efforts towards the formation of a State Conftitution gradually ftrengthened and took fhape, the fubject of flavery and the ftatus of the negro came up again and again. There was a conflict of opinions and interefts, and the newfpapers of the day bear wit- nefs to its progrefs. The friends of the negro did
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not by any means have it all their own way. The mufes were invoked on both fides. In the Independ- ent Chronicle of the 29th Jan., 1778, nearly a column of the paper is occupied with about one hundred lines of verfe ridiculing negro equality, which was refponded to by another production in verfe in the paper of the 12th February. This brought out a rejoinder, alfo in verfe, in the following week, Feb. 19th, 1778.
The difcuffion was not confined to thefe poetical champions. As early as the 8th of January, 1778, Doctor Gordon took up one phafe of the bufinefs with an article in the Independent Chronicle, in which he faid :
" Would it not be ridiculous, inconfiftent and un- juft, to exclude freemen from voting for reprefentatives and fenators, though otherwife qualified, becaufe their fkins are black, tawny or reddifh ? Why not difquali- fied for being long-nofed, fhort-faced, or higher or lower than five feet nine? A black, tawny or reddifh fkin is not fo unfavorable an hue to the genuine fon of liberty, as a tory complection. Has any other State difqualified freemen for the color of their fkin? I do not recollect any ; and if not, the difqualification militates with the propofal in the Confederation, that the free inhabitants of each State fhall, upon removing into any other State, enjoy all the privileges and im- munities belonging to the free citizens of fuch State."
With regard to the proceedings of the Legiflature- Convention of 1777-1778, little is known ; but the draft of a Conftitution was prepared, which was debated at length, approved by the Convention, pre- fented to the Legiflature, and fubmitted to the people,
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by whom it was rejected. Barry : History of Mafs., II., 175.
We have been fortunate enough to recover a frag- ment of the debates in the Convention, which bears on our fubject. It fhows that there was a continued conteft in that body between thofe who fupported and thofe who oppofed negro equality, in which the latter carried the day; and alfo that it was after debate- not unconfcioufly or without notice-that a majority of the Legiflature of Maffachufetts, fpecially inftruct- ed to frame the organic law for the new State, delibe- rately, in the year 1778, excluded negroes, Indians, and mulattoes from the rights of citizenfhip.
From the Independent Chronicle, September 23, 1779.
Mr. WILLIS.
Pleafe to infert the following in your Independent Chronicle, and you will oblige the publick's friend and humble servant,
JOHN BACON.
Stockbridge, Sept. 10, 1779.
" Open thy mouth, judge righteoufly, plead the cause of the poor and needy."-KING SOLOMON.
The subftance of a fpeech delivered in the late Convention, on a mo- tion being made for reconfidering a vote, by which this claufe, "except Negroes, Indians and Mulattoes," in the twenty-third article of the report of the Committee, was inferted.
Mr. PRESIDENT :- As I have from the beginning of thefe debates been oppofed to that claufe, the erafure of which has now been moved for, I beg leave briefly to lay the reafons of my oppofition before this honorable Convention.
In the firft place, Mr. Prefident, by retaining this claufe in our Conftitution, we make ourfelves fingular, or nearly fo. No Conftitu- tion on the Continent, one only excepted, bears the leaft complexion of this kind. Say the honorable and patriotick Convention of Penn- fylvania, in their Bill of Rights, Art. 7: "all free men having a fuffi-
-
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cient evident common intereft with, and attachment to the community, have a right to elect officers, or be elected into office." The conftitu- tions in general which have been formed of late through the Continent, breathe a like confiftent and genuine fpirit of liberty. But be this as it may, Sir, whether we hereby make ourfelves fingular or not, I have other reasons to offer for being in favor of the motion. By holding up this claufe in our conftitution, we fap the foundation of that liberty which we are now defending at the expenfe of all that blood and treafure which we fo liberally part with in the profecution of the prefent war with Great Britain; by holding up this claufe, we contra- dict the fundamental principle on which we engaged in our prefent oppofition to that power. The principle on which we engaged in this oppofition, Sir, I take to be this, that reprefentation and taxation are reciprocal,-that we, not being reprefented in the Parliament of Great Britain, Parliament had no right to tax us without our confent. When the Parliament of Great Britain affumed this power and plead the charter of this (then) Province to juftify their claim, we in our turn, not only plead the fame charter in oppofition to fuch claim, but even contended, that on fuppofition the charter gave them this power, yet it was a power fo inconfiftent with the effential natural rights of men, ยท that no contract whatever could, in fuch cafe, bind us. On this prin- ciple, Sir, we engaged in the prefent war,-on this principle we fup- pofe ourfelves juftified in refifting, even to blood, that power which would thus arbitrarily exact upon us; and on the fame principle, I conceive, the perfons excepted in the claufe now before the Conven- tion, would be juftified in making the fame oppofition againft us which we are making againft Great Britain : If not, Mr. Prefident, let any gentleman point out the difference between the two cafes ; no effential difference has yet been pointed out by any gentleman who has fpoke to the queftion, and no fuch difference, I prefume, does in fact exift.
But I am apprised of an objection that is made by gentlemen on the oppofite fide. They fay, " that by being protected by our laws (without any fhare in the reprefentation) they fecure benefits which are fully equivalent to the tax which we lay upon them." This, Sir, is the very argument by which Great Britain pretend to fupport their claim of taxing us; and I confefs, Sir, it appears to me, in every view, as fully to juftify their pretenfions with refpect to us, as it does ours with refpect to thofe perfons who are the fubject of the prefent debate. So
.
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that, by retaining this claufe in our conftitution, we bring ourfelves into this unhappy dilemma, that either in one cafe or the other, we muft, out of our own mouth, and by our own conduct, be condemned. So far as we can juftify our conduct in our prefent oppofition to Great Britain, fo far it muft be condemned as it relates to thofe who are men- tioned in the article now before us and vice verfa. But this is not all, Mr. Prefident; Who are to fet a value on the privileges which thefe people enjoy under our government? Do we allow them a voice in the contract? By no means. We fet a price upon our own commodi- ty, and oblige them to give it whether they will or not; and this, not as to the luxuries of life, not as to the necefaries of life only, but even life itself. And if we may take upon us, without their confent, to fet a value upon thofe benefits which they receive from our laws, and make them pay accordingly, we may, on the fame principle, fet thefe benefits at a higher or lower price, and fo tax them in a greater or lefs proportion according to our own fovereign pleasure. According to our own avowed principles, if we may take from them one farthing in this way, we may by the fame rule, take from them every farthing they poffefs. Nay more, we may fubject them to perpetual fervitude, as being no more than a juft compenfation for the benefit they receive in having their lives protected by our laws; and if this is not to eftablifh flavery by a conftitution, the foundations of which, it is pretended, are laid in the moft extenfive principles of liberty, I confefs, Sir, I am ut- terly ignorant of what the terms liberty and flavery mean.
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