Yankee slavers avoided the monopoly by smuggling slaves in through small coastal harbors. We will talk about opportunities for opening up discussion–both in schools and historical organizations–about Massachusetts Slavery in Massachusetts was certainly a “peculiar” institution. I have a 5th Gr. Grandfather that is stated as being half negro half Indian in the history of Conway, Massachutsetts. The Africans were probably traded for with Native American captives, as this was a common practice in Massachusetts Bay to get rid of troublesome Native Americans. Despite opposition against it, slavery continued in Massachusetts until the 1780s and even then practice did not end quickly. Historians discussed Massachusetts’ dark history of slavery and racial injustice at a panel on Feb. 18. The … There is not one slave in Nebraska; there are perhaps a million slaves in Massachusetts. It turned on several factors: abandonment by owners (sometimes engineered by slaves themselves), military service, and the interpretation by the Massachusetts Superior Court of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution. Join us for a conversation on researching and interpreting slavery and the slave trade in Massachusetts. Instead, the high court finally ruled, and then there were debates over semantics until, farm by farm, owner by owner, the practice sputtered, and then failed. “New England’s Hidden History.” Boston.com,  Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC, 26 Sept. 2010, www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/26/new_englands_hidden_history/?page=4 However, slavery was never formally abolished in Massachusetts until Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865. Slavery there is said to have predated the settlement of Massachusetts Bay colony in 1629, and circumstantial evidence gives a date of 1624-1629 for the first slaves. The exact date slaves first entered Massachusetts is unknown but many sources suggest Samuel Maverick was the first slaveholder in the colony after he arrived in early Boston in 1624 with two slaves. The year 1641 saw the passing of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. According to an article in the Boston Globe, as a result, slavery was slowly phased out in the state: “The end was neither swift nor definitive. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. Slavery in Massachusetts by Henry D. Thoreau A distinguished clergyman told me that he chose the profession of a clergyman because it afforded the most leisure for literary pursuits. Felix’s petition reflected the talk circulating in Boston just before the American Revolution. From fewer than 200 slaves in 1676, and 550 in 1708, the Massachusetts slave population jumped to a whopping 2,000 by 1715. A few years later, in December of 1638, a slave ship named Desire brought Boston’s first shipment of slaves from Barbados, whom had been exchanged for enslaved Pequot Indians from New England. The end of slavery in Massachusetts was hastened by the Revolutionary War. It reached its largest percentage of the total population between 1755 and 1764, when it stood at around 2.2 percent. This article is about Thoreau's essay. Haskins, James and Kathleen Benson. www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/01/18/new_englands_scarlet_s_for_slavery/ Bett was the first slave to successfully sue for her freedom. The first slaves were brought to the colony in the early 17th century. This was followed by numerous laws governing slaves and their activities, such as marriage laws between slaves, curfews and taxes on slaves imported into Massachusetts. Massachusetts Bay Colony was the first slave-holding colony in New England. Winthrop, a slave owner, helped write the first law legalizing slavery in North America. In 1696 the British Parliament revoked the monopoly held by the Royal African Company, enabling Massachusetts merchants and shipmasters to engage freely in the slave trade.”. Massachusetts was the first slave-holding colony in New England, though the exact beginning of black slavery in what became Massachusetts cannot be dated exactly. This article became the subject of a series of landmark cases starting in 1781: Brom and Bett vs. Ashley, Jennison vs. Caldwell, Quock Walker vs. Jennison and Commonwealth vs. Jennison, during which two slaves, citing the article, sued their owners for their freedom, with one slave even charging his owner with assault and battery for beating him. Slavery has had a profound and lasting impact on the development of modern America. Rebecca is a freelance journalist and history lover who got her start in journalism working for small-town newspapers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire after she graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A. This set of 98 rules established rules of law governing how men, women, children and servants had essential rights. ¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. Mum Bett, aka Elizabeth Freeman, Watercolor on Ivory Painted by Susan Ridley Sedgwick circa 1812. From 1672-1696 the British Parliament granted the Royal African Company a monopoly in the slave trade. There is no exact date that marks the end of slavery in Massachusetts and no specific law that suddenly brought it to a halt. Whenever slavery is mentioned, I am always so proud of Vermont for outlawing it in their Constitution, and for Uncle Henry who fought at Gettysburg for the Union, and in another battle, was injured, captured, and died in a Richmond prison. According to the National Museum of African American History, slavery made possible the factory system, in which mass production using raw materials and cheap labor created a steady supply of inexpensive consumer goods and transformed the United States into a world power. According to the book Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World, the first slaves imported directly from Africa to Massachusetts arrived in 1634. The racial climate in Boston during the first half of the 19th century was more tolerant than in many other cities and states in the North at that time. Talk of freedom and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 1854 SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS by Henry David Thoreau I LATELY ATTENDED a meeting of the citizens of Concord, expecting, as one among many, to speak on the subject of slavery in Massachusetts; but I was surprised and disappointed to find that what had called my townsmen together was the destiny of Nebraska, and not of Massachusetts, and that what I had to say would be entirely out of order. "Slavery in Massachusetts is an 1854 essay by Henry David Thoreau based on a speech he gave at an anti-slavery rally at Framingham, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1854, after the re-enslavement in Boston, Massachusetts of fugitive slave Anthony Burns." The exact date slaves first entered Massachusetts is unknown but many sources suggest Samuel Maverick was the first slaveholder in the colony after he arrived in early Boston in 1624 with two slaves. This address, which would later be transformed into “Slavery in Massachusetts,” was largely a response to the return of fugitive slave Anthony Burns to his Virginian owner. in journalism. Abigail Williams: The Mysterious Afflicted Girl. Many Loyalists fled to British-controlled territory, often abandoning their … In it, he asked to end slavery. ¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 On July 4, 1854, Henry David Thoreau delivered an address to a group of agitated abolitionists in Framingham, Massachusetts. Since New England’s climate was not suitable for large-scale farming, most slaves in Massachusetts were laborers for merchants and tradesman or domestic servants for wealthy families, although some did work as farm hands. Meltzer, Milton. Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2011 But not before some of those enslaved had been sold back to the Caribbean so an owner could avoid a difficult financial loss.”, Sources: Slavery in Massachusetts is an 1854 essay by Henry David Thoreau based on a speech he gave at an anti-slavery rally at Framingham, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1854, after the re-enslavement in Boston, Massachusetts of fugitive slave Anthony Burns. Thoreau believes that the issue in Massachusetts is more a relevant and important topic to discuss at the moment. Slavery: A World History. Many famous buildings and structures in New England were built with money from Massachusetts’ slave trade, such as Faneuil Hall in Boston, which was constructed by wealthy slave trader and merchant Peter Faneuil, whose family regularly sold slaves in public auctions on nearby Merchants Row. For the topic itself, see, Editorial Savoir Faire: Thoreau Transforms His Journal into, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Wendell Phillips Before the Concord Lyceum, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slavery_in_Massachusetts&oldid=842203266, African-American history of Massachusetts, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 20 May 2018, at 22:57. Bjorklund, Ruth and Stephanie Fitzgerald. On Jan. 6, 1773, an African-American slave named Felix delivered a written request to the Massachusetts General Court. SLAVERY in MASSACHUSETTS Massachusetts was the first slave-holding colony in New England, though the exact beginning of black slavery in what became Massachusetts cannot be dated exactly. “The Massachusetts Constitution and Abolition of Slavery.” Mass.gov, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, www.mass.gov/courts/court-info/sjc/edu-res-center/abolition/abolition1-gen.html Not a single newspaper article from the time made note of the end of a century and a half of bondage. Between the years 1755 and 1764, the slave population in Massachusetts rose to 2.2 percent, with most of these slaves living in industrial and coastal towns. Their measures are half measures and makeshifts merely. Both slaves won their cases after the jury agreed that slavery was inconsistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, thus stripping slavery of any legal protection in Massachusetts forever. Slavery in Massachusetts by Henry D. Thoreau I lately attended a meeting of the citizens of Concord, expecting, as one among many, to speak on the subject of slavery in Massachusetts; but I was surprised and disappointed to find that what had called my townsmen together was the destiny of Nebraska, and not of Massachusetts, and that what I had to say would be entirely out of order. His name is Caleb Sharp, born 1729 died 1799. In 1641, Governor John Winthrop, a slave owner himself, helped write the first law legalizing slavery in North America, the Massachusetts Bodies of Liberty, which the General Court passed on December 10, 1641. Bound for America: Forced Migration of Africans to the New World. What happened instead was a series of events, starting with the ratification of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which included an article that states: “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”. According to the Massachusetts Historical Society website, it wasn’t long before Massachusetts became engaged in what was called the Triangle Trade: “In 1644 Boston merchants began importing slaves directly from Africa, selling them in the West Indies, and bringing home sugar to make rum, initiating the so-called triangular trade. That law extended to the Plymouth Colony in 1691, when the two colonies merged. As most slave owners did not have enough slaves to justify building separate living quarters for them, their slaves often lived with them in their homes. They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. In 1773, slaves themselves also took a stance against their bondage when a group of Massachusetts slaves petitioned the General Court to end slavery, comparing their desire for freedom to the colonist’s struggle for independence from British government. In Massachusetts the practice of slavery ended randomly after 1788 as individual families, farms, institutions, or businesses—one by one, for one reason or another, after one court case or another, or following one anti-slavery 34 . Massachusetts was the first British colony to legalize slavery. As a northern state, Massachusetts had its fair share of abolitionists who were uncomfortable with the state’s role in the slave trade. The first slaves were brought to the colony in the early 17th century. A point in the right direction would be amazing. Slavery in Massachusetts is an 1854 essay by Henry David Thoreau based on a speech he gave at an anti-slavery rally at Framingham, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1854, after the re-enslavement in Boston, Massachusetts of fugitive slave Anthony Burns. Many factors contributed to this admixture. “If there is any hell more unprincipled than our rulers, and we, the ruled, I feel curious to see it.” ― … I thought I was the only person of color in my family. Thoreau states that there are no slaves in Nebraska but there are nearly a million in their own state, Massachusetts. Within this web presentation, the Massachusetts Historical Society brings together historical manuscripts and rare published works that serve as a window upon the lives of African Americans in Massachusetts from the late seventeenth century through the abolition … The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? Oil painting of Governor John Winthrop, by Charles Osgood circa 19th century. As Lemire shows, the end of slavery in Massachusetts was confused and uncertain. Through Ancestry.com I have come this far and found redemption in Caleb. Massachusetts lawmakers tightened their grip on slavery in 1670, when they passed a law decreeing the children of slaves were slaves as well and could be bought and sold. Visit this site's About page to find out more about Rebecca. We might assume that other slave owners in Massachusetts came to the same conclusion–that their claims would not be upheld based on slavery being inconsistent with the Massachusetts Constitution. View all posts by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks. Slavery there is said to have predated the settlement of Massachusetts Bay colony in 1629, and circumstantial evidence gives a date of 1624-1629 for the first slaves. As the rhetoric supporting independence of the colonists from Great Britain intensified in the colon Thank you. “African-Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts.” Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org/endofslavery/index.php. The colonial government in Massachusetts. Harvard Law School was built with money made off the sale of land donated by a wealthy plantation owner, Isaac Royall Jr., and the House of Seven Gables in Salem was built with money from Captain John Turner’s small role in the Triangle Trade of selling fish to Caribbean plantation owners to feed their slaves while importing the sugar they harvested on the plantations (although he didn’t actually ship or sell slaves himself). Thoreau also expresses his contempt for the Governor and states that he does not governor him by any means. There is not one slave in Nebraska; there are perhaps a million slaves in Massachusetts. Any suggestions as to how I may further my research would be much appreciated. Little is known of Felix, but his […] Massachusetts Bay Colony was the first slave-holding colony in New England. This panel was part of a five-part series hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society and Northeastern University Law School’s Criminal Justice Task Force. Massachusetts occupied an odd place in the history of slavery. They put off the day of settlement indefinitely, and meanwhile the … africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-paper-genocide-of-american-indians/, linkedin.com/pulse/how-jim-crow-practiced-paper-genocide-against-native-american-sonya, google.com/amp/s/imjustheretomakeyouthink.com/2016/08/28/98-of-african-americans-are-in-fact-native-indians-and-are-owed-millions/amp/. Latour, Francie. It was the first colony to legalize the practice and its residents were active in the slave trade. Following England's lead, Lawyer Benjamin Kent represented slaves in court against their masters as early as 1752. I have not been able to find anything on where he came from or who his parents may have been. As an institution, it died out in the late 18th century through judicial actions litigated on behalf of slaves seeking manumission. Manegold, C.S., “New England’s Scarlet ‘S’ for Slavery.” Boston.com, Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC,,18  Jan. 2012 Still, the New England colonies began to show differences in their approaches to slavery, even as slavery became more common in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in the 18 th century. Lothrop, Lee and Shephard Books, 1999 One such opponent at the time was James Otis who wrote an influential pamphlet in 1764 stating “The colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black.”. I have heard repeatedly that it is really difficult to trace Native American Negroes. Slavery legal in Massachusetts Massachusetts Bay Colony was the first British colony to legalize slavery. In 1681, John Saffin and other Boston merchants wrote to the shipmaster William Welstead, warning him that the authorities planned to seize a slave ship heading for Rhode Island, and that he should intercept the vessel and direct it to Nantasket to offload its human cargo. It was an “admixture of servitude and bondage” 1 in which the slave was considered as property and as a person. In the The practice of slavery in Massachusetts was ended gradually through case law. I am passionate about finding out. So, while abolition in Massachusetts was a lengthy, complex process and Cushing certainly did not strike down the institution with one charge to a jury, Cushing’s message was … Their measures are half measures and makeshifts merely. 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