USA > Massachusetts > Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
" Servitus perfecta voluntaria, inter Chriftianum & Chriftianum, ex parte fervi patientis fæpe eft licita, quia eft neceffaria ; fed ex parte domini agentis, & procurando & exercendo, vix poteft effe licita ; quia non convenit regula illi generali : Quacunque volueritis ut faciant vobis homines, ita & vos facite eis. Matt. 7. 12.
" Perfecta fervitus pæna, non poteft jure locum habere, nifi ex delicto gravi quod ultimum fupplicium aliquo modo meretur : quia Libertas ex naturali aftimatione proxime accedit ad vitam ipfam, & eidem a multis præferri folet.
" Ames. Cas. Confc. Lib. 5. Cap. 23. Thes. 2. 3."
Thus fignally and clearly did Judge Sewall expofe the miferable pretences on which flavery and the flave- trade were then juftified in Maffachufetts, as they con- tinued to be long years after he "flept with his fathers." And he exhibited in his correfpondence his defire that " the wicked practice of flavery " might be
88
Notes on the History of
taken away, as well as his ftrong conviction that there would be "no great progrefs in Gofpellizing till then." Letter to Henry Newman, Dec .- Jan., 1714-15. It is manifeft that he was far in advance of his day and generation in thefe views, and he has himfelf left the record that he met more "frowns and hard words " than fympathy! His teftimony did not go unchal- lenged, nor was its publication allowed to pafs with- out reply. JOHN SAFFIN, a judge of the fame court with Judge Sewall, and a flaveholder, printed an an- fwer the next year, of which we regret to fay we have been able to find no copy. Could it be found, it would undoubtedly be an interefting document and very important in illuftration of the hiftory of flavery in Maffachufetts. We might naturally expect to find in it fome references to the laws, the principles, and the practices of the Puritan Fathers of that colony.1
1 Since this portion of our work was firft printed, in the Hiftorical Magazine for June, 1864, Sewall's tract has been reprinted by the Maffa- chufetts Hiftorical Society, from an original prefented to its Library by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. Proc. M. H. S., 1863-64, pp. 161-5. And, what is of much more importance in this connection, a copy of Saffin's anfwer has been difcovered. It is a fmall quarto, entitled " A | Brief and Candid Anfwer to a late | Printed Sheet entituled | THE SELLING OF JOSEPH | whereunto is annexed, [ a True and Particular Narrative by way of Vindication of the | Author's Dealing with and Profecution of his Negro Man Servant | for his vile and exhorbitant Behaviour towards his Mafter and his | Tenant, Thomas Shepard ; which hath been wrongfully reprefented | to their Prejudice and Defamation. | By JOHN SAFFIN, Efqr. : | Bofton : Printed in the Year 1701." The original is now in the pos- feffion of GEORGE BRINLEY, Efq., of Hartford, Conn. We are indebted to the refearch and fagacity of Mr. J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL, Prefident of the Connecticut Hiftorical Society, for the difcovery of Saffin's tract and per- miffion to make the prefent ufe of it. Saffin's original petitions to the General Court in regard to this affair, one referring to his pamphlet as in print, etc., etc., are preferved in the Mafs. Archives, IX., 152, 153.
89
Slavery in Mafachufetts.
The following letter from Judge Sewall, which illuftrates the fubject further, was addreffed
" To the Revd. & aged Mr. John Higginson. Apr. 13, 1706.
" Sir,
" I account it a great Favour of God, that I have been priviledged with the Acquaintance and Friend- fhip of many of the Firft Planters in New England : and the Friendfhip of your felf, as fuch, has particu- larly oblig'd me. It is now near Six years agoe since I printed a Sheet in defence of Liberty. The next year after, Mr. Saffin Set forth a printed Answer. I forbore troubling the Province with any Reply, untill I Saw a very Severe Att paffing againft Indians and Negros, and then I Reprinted that Question, as I found it Stated and answered in the Athenian Oracle ; which I knew nothing of before laft Autumn was twelve moneths, when I acci- dentally caft my Eye upon it. Amidft the Frowns and hard Words I have met with for this Undertaking, it is no Small refreshment to me, that I have the Learned, Reverend & Aged Mr. Higginfon for my Abetter. By the interposition of this Breft-Work, I hope to carry on and manage this Enterprise with Safety and Success. I have inclofed the Prints. I could be glad of your Anfwer to one Cafe much in agitation among us at this day : viz., Whether it be not for the Honor of G. and of N. E. to referve entire and untouch'd the Indian Plantation of Natick, and other Lands under the fame Circumftances ? that the lying of those Lands unoccupied and undefired by the Englifh, may be a valid and Lafting Evidence, that we defire the Con-
90
Notes on the History of
verfion and Wellfare of the Natives, and would by no means Extirpat them, as the Spaniards did ? There is one thing more I would mention, and that is, I am verily perswaded that the Set time for the Drying up of the Apocalyptical Euphrates, is very nigh, if not come : and I earneftly befpeak the Affiftance of your Prayers in that momentous Concern : wch I do with the more Confidence, becaufe you were Lifted in that Service above fifty years ago. Pray, Sir ! Come afrefh into the Confederation. Let me alfo entreat your Prayers for me, and my family, that the Bleffing of G. may reft upon the head of every one in it by reafon of the good will of Him who dwell'd in the Bufh. My fervice to Madam Higginfon. I am, Sir, " Your humble Servt. "S. S."
We are unable to give any account of the Act againft Indians and Negroes, whofe feverity induced Sewall to renew his efforts in their behalf. Thefe efforts were probably fuccefsful, as none appears to have been paffed into a law at all anfwering to his defcription in its provifions, and in point of time; or if paffed, it muft have been fpeedily repealed. If the Act referred to fhould be found, it might furnifh a ftriking illuftration of the views of the time concern- ing the ftatus of thefe unhappy races of men.
We fhall therefore re-produce here "that Ques- tion" as " ftated and anfwered in the Athenian Oracle," which Sewall ufed to fo good purpofe in defending the rights of Indians and Negroes againft the hoftile legis- lation of Maffachufetts, in the early years of the eighteenth century.
91
Slavery in Mafachufetts.
From the Athenian Oracle, Vol. II., pp. 460-63.
"Q. We read in Gen. 17. 12: And he that is eight days old fhall be Circumcifed among you, every Man-child in their Generation. He that is born in the Houfe, or bought with Money of any Stranger that is not of thy Seed. This was God's Covenant with Abraham, and in him with all the Jews ; which Covenant by Chrift's coming into the World, being abolished, and the Covenant of Baptifm infti- tuted in its ftead; The Queftion is, Whether thofe Merchants and Planters in the Weft Indies, as well all other parts of the World, that buy Negroes, or other Heathen Servants or Slaves, are not in- difpenfably bound to bring fuch Servants to be Baptized, as well as Abraham was to Circumcife his Stranger Servants ? Confequently, what's to be thought of those Christian Mafters, who refuse to let fuch Servants be baptized; because if they were, they wou'd have their freedom at a certain term of Years allow'd by the Laws of the Several Plantations ?
" A. We have met with this Queftion before, though to comply with the Gentleman's defire, we'll here give it a larger Anfwer; tho' in the firft Place, we muft obferve a falfe fuppofition in the wording of it. That God's Covenant with Abraham was abolifhed by the Covenant he made with us by our Saviour, and confequently they are two different Covenants ; whereas they were rather the fame Covenant, with two different Seals ; we fay the Covenant God made with Abra- ham, was not a Covenant of Works, but of Faith, as well as that he makes by Chrift with all Believers; nay, was the very fame with it, Chrift being promifed in God's Covenant with Abraham, when 'twas faid, That in his feed Should all the Nations of the Earth be bleffed ; which is interpreted of Chrift by the infpired Writers ; and this is further evident from the Apoftles way of Arguing, Rom. 4. 11. 13. He received the Sign of Circumcision, a Seal of the Righteousnefs of the Faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be Father of all them that believe, though they be not Circumcifed ; for the Promise that he Should be the Heir of the World, was not to Abraham, or to his feed through the Law ; but through Faith, etc.
" Now to the Queftion. If Abraham was oblig'd to Circumcife all that were born of his Houfe, and that were bought with money of
.
92
Notes on the History of
the Stranger (the Samaritan Verfion has it 7272 Barbarah, whence Bápapos a Barbarian, names that all Nations have ever fince flung at one another, and the Hebrews as often call'd by it among the Greeks as any. If he was to do this, ought not all Chriftians by Parity of Reafon to do the like by their Slaves and Servants ? We anfwer, Yes, and much more, as the Gofpel is now more clearly revealed than 'twas to Abraham, who indeed faw Chrift, and rejoic'd, but 'twas in darker Types and Prophecies. But in order to a more full fatisfac- tion of this Difficulty, it may be further convenient to enquire ; whe- ther Negro's Children are to be Baptized, and for grown Perfons what Preparation is required of 'em? To the firft, a great Man of our Church was of an opinion, That a Negro's Child ought to be baptiz'd, as well as any others; the Promife reaching To all that were afar off, as well as to Believers and their Children, and in this cafe, the right of the child is in the Mafter,[1] not the Slave ; and if Chrift dy'd for all, why fhould not the Vertues of his Death be apply'd to all ; who do nothing to refift it, for the wafhing away their Original Pravity? Again, as we argue in the cafe of Infant Baptifm. If Infants were in the Covenant before Chrift, how come they fince to be excluded ? So we may here, and perhaps more generally; If all Infants, born in Abraham's houfe, or bought with Money of the Stranger or Barbarian (who often fold their own Children then, as they do now) if they were then to have the Seal of the Covenant, how have they fince forfeited it? Why mayn't they be capable of a nobler Seal, 'tis true, but yet of the fame Covenant made with all Mankind by Chrift, that promif'd Seed, in whom, as before, all Nations fhould be bleffed, and the breach repaired that was made in Adam ; as was, we are fure, the exprefs opinion of St. Ferom, who in his difputation with the Pelagian, Ep. 17, has remarkable Expreffions. Why are Infants Baptized, Jays the Pelagian ? The Orthodox anfwers, That in Baptifm their
[' At a meeting of the General Affociation of the Colony of Connecti- cut, 1738, " It was inquired-whether the infant flaves of Chriftian mafters may be baptized in the right of their mafters-they folemnly promifing to train them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord : and whether it is the duty of fuch mafters to offer fuch children and thus religioufly to promife. Both queftions were affirmatively anfwered. Records as reported by Rev. C. Chapin, D. D., quoted in Jones's Religious Instruction of the Negroes, etc., P.34.]
93
Slavery in Mafachufetts.
Sins may be remitted. The Pelagian replies, Where did they ever fin? The Orthodox rejoyns, that S. Paul fhall anfwer for him, who fays in the fifth of the Rom., Death reign'd from Adam to Mofes, even over those who had not finn'd, according to the Similitude of Adam's Tranfgreffon. And he quotes St. Cyprian in the fame place, both to his and our Purpofe, That if Remiffion of Sins is given even to greater and more notorious Sinners, and none is Excepted from Grace, none prohibited from Baptifm, much lefs ought an Infant to be deny'd Baptifm, who has no Sin of his own, but only that of his Father Adam to answer for. This for Children, and there's yet lefs doubt of thofe who are of Age to anfwer for themfelves, and would foon learn the Principles of our Faith, and might be taught the Obliga- tion of the Vow they made in Baptifm, as there's little doubt but Abra- ham inftructed his Heathen Servants, who were of Age to learn, in the Nature of Circumcifion, before he Circumcif'd them ; nor can we conclude much lefs from God's own noble Teftimony of him, Gen. 18. 19. I know him, that he will command his Children and his Household, and they Shall keep the way of the Lord.
"What then fhould hinder but thefe be Baptized ? If only the Covetoufnefs of their Mafters, who for fear of lofing their Bodies, will venture their Souls ; which of the two are we to efteem the greater Heathens ? Now that this is notorious Matter of Fact, that they are fo far from perfuading thofe poor Creatures to Come to Baptifm, that they difcourage them from it, and rather hinder them as much as poffible, though many of the wretches, as we have been informed, earneftly defire it ; this we believe, none that are concern'd in the Plantations, if they are ingenuous, will deny, but own they don't at all care to have them Baptized. Talk to a Planter of the Soul of a Negro, and he'll be apt to tell ye (or at leaft his Actions fpeak it loudly) that the Body of one of them may be worth twenty Pounds ; but the Souls of an hundred of them would not yield him one Farthing ; and therefore he's not at all folicitous about them, though the true Reafon is indeed, becaufe of that Cuftom of giving them their Freedom after turning Chriftians, which we know not if it be Reafon- able ; we are fure the Father of the Faithful did not fo by thofe Ser- vants whom he had Circumcifed. "Tis no where required in Scripture. St. Paul indeed bids Mafters not be cruel and unreasonable to their Slaves, efpecially if Brethren or Chriftians ; but he no where bids them
94
Notes on the History of
give 'em their Liberty, nor do's Chriftianity alter any Civil Right ; nor do's the fame Apoftle, in all his excellent Plea for Onefimus, once tell his Mafter 'tis his Duty to fet him Free ; all he defires is, he'd again receive and forgive him; nay, he tells Servants, 'tis their Duty, in whatever ftate they are call'd therein to abide; befides, fome Perfons, nay, Nations feem to be born for Slaves; particularly many of the Barbarians in Africa, who have been fuch almoft from the beginning of the World, and who are in a much better Condition of Life, when Slaves among us, then when at Liberty at Home, to cut Throats and Eat one another, efpecially when by the Slavery of their Bodies, they are brought to a Capacity of Freeing their Souls from a much more unfupportable Bondage. Though in the mean time, if there be fuch a Law or Cuftom for their Freedom, to encourage 'em to Chriftianity, be it reafonable or otherwife, this is certain, that none can excufe thofe who for that Reafon fhould any way hinder or difcourage 'em from being Chriftians ; fome of whofe excufes are almoft too fhameful to repeat, fince they feem to reflect on the Chriftian Religion, as if that made Men more untractable and ungovernable, than when bred in Ignorance and Heathenifm, which muft proceed from the Perverfenefs of fome Tempers, as before, fitter for Slaves than Freedom ; or for want of good Inftruction, when they have nothing but the name of Chriftianity, without underftanding any thing of the Obligation thereof ; or Laftly, From the bad Examples of their Mafter's themfelves, who live fuch lives as often fcandalize thefe honefter Heathens."
We fhall force no inferences from this document as to the character of the legiflation againft which it was directed. It is an argument for the "right to Religion," in that day fo univerfally denied, in prac- tice at leaft, to enflaved Indians and Negroes, and their offspring, that it would be ftrange, if true, that Maffachufetts furnifhed any but occafional exceptions to the prevailing rule.1
1 " Slaves were admitted to be church members at a period when church members had peculiar political privileges." Quincy's Reports, 30, note. This is Mr. Justice Gray's ftatement on the following authorities :
95
Slavery in Mafachufetts.
We have previoufly noticed Sewall's "effay " to prevent Indians and Negroes being rated with brutes in the tax-laws, in the year 1716. Three years later, a new occafion prefented itfelf for the renewal of his efforts in behalf of the oppreffed. A mafter had killed his negro flave, and was about to anfwer for the offence before the Court. One of the judges feems to have defired the aid and counfel of the Chief Juftice in his
I. Winthrop's Journal, II., 26, and Savage's note. " Mo. 2. 13. [1641]. A negro maid, fervant to Mr. Stoughton of Dorchefter, being well approved by divers years' experience, for found knowledge and true godlinefs, was received into the church and baptized." Mr. Savage's note is, "Similar inftances have been common enough ever fince."
2. Ancient Charters, 117. " To the end the body of the freemen may be preferved of honeft and good men : It is ordered, that henceforth no man fhall be admitted to the freedom of this Commonwealth, but fuch as are members of fome of the churches within the limits of this juridiction."
3. Bancroft's History U. S., I., 360. " The fervant, the bondman, might be a member of the church, and therefore a freeman of the Company."
Notwithftanding this array of authority, we muft fuggeft our doubts, Ift. Whether the notice itfelf by Winthrop is not a palpable evidence of the extraordinary and exceptional character of the incident that a negro maid-fervant fhould be baptized and received into the church ? Mr. Savage's remark cannot be regarded as authority, not being fuftained by references to any fimilar inftances. 2d. Whether a fingle inftance has ever been found or is known in the hiftory of Maffachufetts, during the period referred to, in which a fervant or bondman, black or white, actually became a freeman of the Company ?
Mr. Palfrey indulges in fome pleafing fpeculations on this topic. " A negro flave might be a member of the church, and this fact prefents a curi- ous queftion. As a church-member, he was eligible to the political fran- chife ; and if he fhould be actually invefted with it, he would have a part in making laws to govern his mafter,-laws with which his mafter, it a non- communicant, would have had no concern, except to obey them." Touch- ftone wifely faid there was " much virtue in If," and Dr. South has a maxim that " we are not to build certain rules on the contingency of human actions." Whether the hiftorian recalled either " inftance," we cannot fay ; but here he evidently recognized the impropriety of conftructing hiftory on a frame of conjectural contingencies, and frankly admitted at the end of his
96
Notes on the Hiftory of
preparations for the cafe, and Sewall's Letter-Book preferves the following memoranda of what he com- municated.
" The pooreft Boys and Girls in this Province, fuch as are of the loweft Condition; whether they be Englifh, or Indians, or Ethiopians : They have the fame Right to Religion and Life, that the Richeft Heirs have.
" And they who go about to deprive them of this Right, they attempt the bombarding of HEAVEN, and the Shells they throw, will fall down upon their own heads.
" Mr. Juftice Davenport, Sir, upon your defire, I have fent you thefe Quotations, and my own Senti-
note, "it is improbable that the Court would have made a flave-while a flave-a member of the Company, though he were a communicant." His- tory of New England, II., 30, note. As to baptifm of flaves in Maffachufetts, fee ante, pp. 58-59. Compare Hurd's Law of Freedom and Bondage, Vol. I., pp. 165, 210, 358. The famous French Code Noir of 1685 obliged every planter to have his Negroes baptized, and properly inftructed in the doc- trines and duties of Chriftianity. Nor was this the only important and hu- mane provifion of that celebrated ftatute, to which we may feek in vain for any parallel in Britifh Colonial legiflation. Its influence was felt in Eng- land, and may have given rife to thofe humane inftructions, one of which we have already quoted (p. 52). Another required his Majefty's Governors " with the affiftance of our Council to find out the beft means to facilitate and encourage the Converfion of Negros and Indians to the Chriftian Religion." N. Y. Col. Doc., III., 374. Evelyn, in his Diary, gives an inter- efting account of the determination of the King, James II., on this point- At Winchefter, 16 September, 1685, he fays, "I may not forget a refolu tion which his Majefty made, and had a little before entered upon it at the Council Board at Windfor or Whitehall, that the negroes in the Planta- tions fhould all be baptized, exceedingly declaiming againft the impiety of their mafters prohibiting it, out of a miftaken opinion that they would be ipfo facto free ; but his Majefty perfifts in his refolution to have them chris- tened, which piety the Bifhop bleffed him for." Works, II., 245. This was good Bifhop Ken, the Chriftian Pfalmift.
Slavery in Mafachufetts. 97
ments. I pray GOD, the Giver and Guardian of Life, to give his gracious Direction to you, and the other Juftices ; and take leave, who am your brother and moft humble fervant,
" Samuel Sewall.
" Bofton, July 20, 1719.
" I inclofed alfo the Selling of Joseph, and my Ex- tract out of the Athenian Oracle.
" To Addington Davenport, Efqr., etc., going to Judge Sam1. Smith of Sandwich, for killing his Negro."
That fuch arguments were neceffary, or even re- garded as appropriate on fuch an occafion, is a fact full of meaning. We have previoufly intimated a doubt whether the flave could claim any right or privilege of protection under the laws which were known as the " Liberties of Servants ;" and in connection with the inftructions to Andros in 1688, we have called the at- tention of the reader to the diftinction between the Christian fervants or flaves and the Indians and Negroes. The former were to be protected againft the inhuman feverity of ill-mafters or overfeers, while the latter were to be fo far advanced in the fcale of humanity, that the " wilful killing " of them fhould " be punifhed with death, and a fitt penalty impofed for the maiming of them."
We cannot, however, at prefent attempt to deter- mine what were the actual legal reftraints upon the power of a mafter over his flave, in Maffachufetts. We do not know that the materials for fuch a deter-
7
98
Notes on the History of
mination exift anywhere fave in fuch records as remain of thofe ancient tribunals of the Colony and Province by which alone the rights of perfons and of property were then, as now, judicially afcertained and regulated. There are abundant modern ftatements of opinion on thefe points, but we cannot recall a fingle inftance in which thefe ftatements are fortified by good and fuffi- cient teftimony from the ancient and contemporary records or authorities ; and we cannot doubt that the reader of thefe notes will fympathize in our defire to reft on facts rather than opinions. For example, in the particular cafe above referred to, the awful folemnity with which the Chief Juftice communicates his charge to his brother magiftrate when about to "judge" a mafter for "killing his Negro," gives peculiar intereft to the refult; and it is greatly to be regretted that the record of the trial, conviction, and punifhment of fuch an offender fhould be concealed among the neglected rubbifh of any Maffachufetts Court-Houfe. If Samuel Smith of Sandwich was hung for the murder of his flave in Maffachufetts in the year 1719, it is due to the hiftoric fame of the Province that the world fhould know it !
We are perfectly aware that the opinion has pre- vailed that the negro or mulatto or Indian flave in Maffachufetts, "always had many rights which raifed him far above the absolute flave." Thefe are nowhere more favorably ftated than by Nathan Dane, in his great work on American Law. Abridgment, II., 313. He confiders the fubject in eight points of view :
" I. The mafter has no control over the religion
99
Slavery in Mafachufetts.
of fuch flave, any more than over the religion of any other member of his family ;
" 2. None over his life; if he killed him, he was punifhable as for killing a freeman ;
" 3. The mafter was liable to his flave's action, for beating, wounding or immoderately chaftifing him, as much as for immoderately correcting an apprentice, or a child ;
" 4. The flave was capable of holding property, as a devifee or legatee, and as recovered for wounds, etc., fo much fo, if the mafter took away fuch property, his flave could fue him by prochein ame ;
" 5. If one took him from his mafter without his confent, he could not have trover, but only fue, as for taking away his other fervant; on the whole the flave had the right of property and of life, as apprentices had, and the only difference was 'an apprentice is a fervant for time, and the flave is a fervant for life.' In Connecticut, the flave was, by ftatute, fpecially for- bidden to contract ; no fuch ftatute is recollected in Maffachufetts ;
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.