Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts

Citation preview

NOTES

HISTORY OF SLAVERY MASSACHUSE TTS

GEORGE

H,

MOORE

LIBRARIAN OF THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Quis nescit, prlmam esse historiae legem, ne quid dicere audeat ? deinde ne quid veri non audeat

—

Cic.

falsi ?

de Orat.f

ii.,

NEW-YORK D.

APPLETON &

CO. 443 & 445 MDCCCLXVI

Gheckedt

Ma^ 19U

BROADWAY

15.

Entered, according to Act of Congrefs, in the year 1866, by

GEORGE

H.

MOORE,

In the Clerk's Office of the Diftritt Court of the United States for the

Southern Diftridl of

Stereotyped by

John

F.

Trow &

New

York.

Co., 50 Greene Street,

New

York.

CONTENTS.

I.

Early History of Slavery in Massachusetts. Puritan Theory and Practice of Slavery.

n. The

Law

of Slavery in Massachusetts.

i

.

— lo

Its

Slavery

Establishment and Modification.

ReSOLVE IN

HEREDITARY IN MASSACHUSETTS.

1646, TO RETURN STOLEN NeGROES TO AfRICA,

NOT AN Act HOSTILE TO SlaVERY. III.

.

tempt TO

sell

Children of Quakers.

IV. Statistics of Slave-Population.

concerning Slaves and tion of Slave-Property.

lO

.

30

—48

48

— 72

30

.

Legislation

Slavery.

The

.

At-

Slavery of Indians in Massachusetts.

Taxa-

Slave-Trade.

V. Earliest Anti-Slavery Movements in America, IN

Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Character

Sewall.

Chief-Justice

Conditions of Slavery in

and

Massachusetts.

James Otis's Protest against Negro-Slav-

VI. "

.......

John Adams shudders at

ery. trines.

The Freedom Movements

Suits." in

72— III

the Legislature between

Massachusetts

in

1776.

Legislation on the Subject.

THE Doctrine.

Doc-

Slavery Challenged.

1767 and 1775. VII. The Doctrine of Prize in Negroes. OF

his

Ill

Action

National History of

South Carolina Slaves

CAPTURED BY THE BrITISH, AND RECAPTURED

BY Massachusetts Vessels of War. Legis-

— 147

Contents.

iv

.......

LATIVE AND JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF MASSACHUSETTS.

VIII. Progress

Opinion on Slavery

of Public

during

Massachusetts

the

148

176

176

— 200

in

Revolution.

Attempt to Abolish Slavery

in

1777.

Subject referred to the Continental Congress.

The Constitution

of 1778.

Free Negroes. IX.

The Constitution

Status of

Alleged Aboli-

of 1780.

The Question

tion OF Slavery. Judicial

Legislation

Jennison

Slave-Cases.

Negroes.

The

Appeal of Slave-

Owners TO THE Legislature.

FROM the State.

examined.

1781—83.

in

.

X. Abolition of the Slave-Trade. AGAINST

Con-

......

troversy ON Negro Equality.

'

.

200^223

.

Legislation

Expulsion of Negroes Conclusion.

.

.

224

.

— 242

Appendix.

A.

Massachusetts. B.

...... ....

The Military Employment Additional Notes,

of Negroes in

Etc

C. Judge Baffin's Reply TO Judge Sewall, 1701.

.

— 246 — 250 251 — 256

243

246

NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS.

I.

E

find the

earlieft

records of the hiftory

of flavery in Maflachufetts at the period of the Pequod

War

—

a few years after the

Puritan fettlement of the colony.

Prior

to that time an occafional offender againft the laws was

punifhed by being fold into flavery or adjudged to vitude ;

but the inflitution

firft

appears clearly and dif-

tindly in the enflaving of Indians captured in war.

may

hereafter

add

a flcetch

fer-

We

of the theories which were

held to juftify the bondage of the heathen, but at present limit ourfelves to the colledion of facts to illuilr^te

our general

fubjedt.

And

that in this hiftory there

at the outfet is

we defire

to fay

nothing to comfort pro-

men anywhere. The ftains which flavery has on the proud efcutcheon even of Mafl*achufetts, are quite as fignificant of its hideous charadter as the

flavery left

Notes on the Hiftory of

2 fatanic defiance

God and Humanity which accom-

of

panied the laying of the corner-ftone of the Slaveholders' Confederacy.

The

Pequods is known. It was that warlike tribe who, in the early months of "that fatal year," 1637, were reported by Governor Winflow to Winthrop as follows " The Pecoats follow their fifhing & planting as ftory of the extermination of the

well

:

if

Their

they had no enemies.

children are gone to

They

at Pecoat.

and

as they

bones

fhall

of efleem

&

rott

you

&

fall."

&

fhall finde

them,

bred, there their

of the

in defpight

Lord be on our M. H. S. Coll., iv.,

the

if

braggs will soon

The

there borne

be buried,

women

Ifland with a ftrong gard

profeffe there

were

But

Engliih.

Long

their

fide,

164.

vi.,

extrads which follow explain themfelves and

hardly require comment.

Roger Williams, writing from Providence [in June, "I underftand it 1637] to John Winthrop, fays: would be very gratefvll to our neighbours that fuch Pequts as fall to them be not enflaved, like thofe which are taken in warr general!

goods

&

cuftome) fields

choofe to

but

;

given them

come

in to

S.

this

more

Coll., IV., vi.,

as

I

them,

fhall

is

their

haue howfes

&

becaufe they voluntarily

:

&

if

[go] to the enemie or turne wild

but of

they fay

(as

be vfed kindly,

not receaved will Irifii

vnderftand.

.

themfelues .

."

:

M. H.

195.

" It having 1637] againe pleafed the Mofl High to put into your hands Again [probably

in

July,

another miferable droue of

&

our brethren by nature,

:

Adams degenerate feede, I am bold (if I may not

:

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

offend in

it)

to requeft the keeping

one of the children. little

my

& bringing vp

haue fixed mine eye on

I

one with the red about

be peremptory in

3

his neck,

choice,

but

but

I will

M, H.

not

your

will reft in

loving pleafure for him or any," &c.

of

this

S. Coll.,

195-6.

IV., vi.,

Again [probably i8th September, 1637]: "Sir, concerning captiues (pardon my wonted boldnefs) the Scripture is full of mysterie & the Old Teflament of types.

" If they have deserued death

"If "

I

weaknd

sinn to spare

:

haue not deserued death then what

they

punifhments

*tis

Whether

?

perpetuall flaverie.

doubt not but the enemie may lawfully be & despoild of all comfort of wife & children

&c,, but

I

you

befeech

well weigh

of trayning vp to labour to be fet free

:

&

it

after a -due

time

they ought not

reflraint,

yet so as without danger of adioyning

to the enemie."

M. H.

S. Coll., iv., vi.,

214.

Later in the fame year [Nov. 1637] Roger Williams, who had promifed certain fugitive flaves to intercede for them,

kindly"

—

"

to write that they

fulfilled his

in which, after flating

promife in

might be vfed

a letter to

Winthrop,

their complaints of

ill

usage,

&c., he adds

"

My

humble

defire

is

that

all

that haue thefe

poor wretches might be exhorted as to walke wifely iuflly towards them, so to make mercy eminent, for in that attribute the Father of mercy mofh fhines

&

Adams

to vi., •

miserable ofspring."

M. H.

S.

Coll., iv.,

218, 219.

Hugh

Peter writes to John Winthrop from Salem

Notes on the Hijiory of

4

" Mr. Endecot and

(in

1637)

the

Lord Jefus,

:

women and

my felfe

falute

you

in

Wee haue heard of a diuidence of

etc.

would bee glad of a fhare, viz. a young woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good. / wrote to you for Jome boyes for Bermudas^ whichl thinke is confiderabky M.H.S.ColLyiY,, children in the bay and

:

vi.,95.

In

this

of

application

Hugh

Peter

we have

a

glimpse of the beginning of the Colonial Slave-Trade.

He

wanted " fome boyes for the Bermudas," which he thought was " confiderable." It would feem to indicate that this difpofition of captive Indian boys was in accordance with custom

and previous practice of the it is

certain that in the

prifoners.

Some of

Pequod War

thefe,

At any rate, many

authorities.

they took

who had been "difposed

of to particular perfons in the country," Winthrop, 232,

ran

away,

and being brought

in

i.,

again were

"branded on the fhoulder," ib. In July, 1637, Winthrop fays, "We had now flain and taken, in about feven hundred. We fent fifteen of the boys and two women to Bermuda, by Mr. Peirce but he, all,

;

miffing thropj

it, I.,

carried

234.

them

The

to

Providence

Ifle,"

Win-

learned editor of Winthrop's

Journal, referring to the fact that this proceeding in that day was probably juftified

by reference to the

practice or inftitution of the Jews, very quaintly obferves, far."

" Yet that cruel people never

fent prifoners fo

Ib.j note.

Governor Winthrop, writing to Governor Bradof Plymouth, 28th July, 1637, an account of

ford

their fuccefs againft the

Pequods

—"

y*

Lords greate

Slavery in Majfachusetts.

5

mercies towards us, in our prevailing againft his

our enimies"

" The

—

says

&

:

fome to thofe of y^ river [the Connefticut Colony] and the reft to us. Of thefe we fend the male children to Bermuda, by Mr. William Peirce, & y^ women & maid children prifoners were devided,

Ther have now

are difpofed aboute in y® tounes.

been flaine and taken, in IV., y*"

iii.,

360.

all,

Compare

aboute 700."

Indian fquaws," in Mass. Records ,

M. H. S. Coll., "

the order for i.,

difpofing of

201.

Bradford's note to the letter quoted above, fays

of their being fent to Bermuda

:

" But

y^^

were car-

Weft Indeas/' Hubbard, the contemporary hiftorian of the Indian Wars, fays of thefe captives, " Of thofe who were not ried to y®

fo defperate or fullen to fell their lives for nothing,

but yielded in time, the male Children were fent to the Bermudas, of the females fome were diftributed to the Englifti Towns ; fome were difpofed of among the other Indians, to

whom

they were deadly eri%mies, as

Narrative, 1677, p. 130. fubfequent entry in Winthrop's Journal gives

well as to ourfelves."

A

us another glimpfe of the fubjed, Feb. 26, 1638. " Mr. Peirce, in the Salem fhip, the Defire, re-

turned from the Weft Indies after feven months.

He

had been at Providence, and brought fome cotton, and tobacco, and negroes, etc., from thence, and fait from Tertugos ;" IVinthrop, i., 2^^. He adds to this account that " Dry fifti and ftrong liquors are the only commodities for thofe parts.

two men-of-war,

fet

forth

by the

dence with letters of mart,

He

met

there

lords, etc., of Provi-

who had taken

divers

—

Notes on the Hijiory of

6

from the Spaniard and many negroes." Long afterwards Dr. Belknap faid of the flave-trade, that the rum diflilled in MafTachufetts was " the mainfpring

prizes

of

M. H.

this traffick."

JofTelyn fays, that

of the Pequets to the Coll.y IV., iii.,

This

S. Coll.,

i.,

iv.,

197.

" they sent the male children Bermudus." 258. M.H.S.

360.^

iingle

cargo

women and

of

probably not the only one

fent, for

children was

the

Company of

Providence Ifland, in replying from London in 1638, July 3, to letters from the authorities in the ifland, diredl fpecial care to be taken of the " Cannibal ne-

from New England." 1574- 1660, 278.^

brought

groes

Calendar,

And

in 1639,

number of

when

the

feared that the

become too great to be thought they might be fold

the negroes might

managed, the authorities

and

Company

Sainjburys

New

England or Virginia. lb., 296. " The Defire" was a veffel of one hundred and twenty tons, built at Marblehead in 1636, one fent to

fliip

of the

earlieft built in the

Colony.

JVinthrop,

i.,

193.

In the Pequot War, fome of the Narraganfetts '

Governor Winthrop

ifland called the

there II.,

and

my

in his will (1639-41) left to his fon Governor's Garden, adding, " I give him alfo

boat and fuch houfehold as

is

there."

Adam his my Indians

IVinthrop's Journal,

360., App. '

"

We

would have the Cannibal negroes brought from

New

inquired after, whofe they are, and fpeciall care taken of them." Col. Ent. Bk., Vol. IV., p. 124.

XXV.,

England P. R.

In the preface to the Colonial Calendar,

Mr. Sainfbury explains why no

anfwcr.s to the

Company's

O. p.

letters are

The Bahama Iflands were governed abfolutely in the State Paper Office. by a Company in London, and unfortunately the letters recei'ved by the Company have not been preferved, or if fo, it is not known where they now

are.

MS.

Letter.

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

joined the Englifh in

Miantunnomoh

as

profecution, and received a flaves,

for their

fervices.

received eighty, Ninigret was to have

Mather

twenty. *'

its

of the prifoners

part

7

engagement,

fays oi the principal

the captives that were taken were about one hundred

and

which were divided between the two

eighty,

Colonyes, and they intended to keep them as fervants,

but they could not endure the Yoke, for few of

them continued any confiderable time with their masters." Drake, \ii, 146. Mather s Relation, quoted by See alfo Hartford T^reaty, Sept, 21, 1638, Drake, 39. Drake, 125. Drake s Mather, 150, 151.

m

who

Captain Stoughton,

affifled

the

in

exterminating the Pequots, after his

work of

arrival in the

enemy's country, wrote to the Governor of Maffachu" By this pinnace, you fetts [Winthrop] as follows :

ihall receive forty-eight or fifty .

.

.

Concerning which, there

tioned, that

is

my

I

defire to

ftand with your little

one,

I

children.

formerly men-

the faireft and largest that I faw amongft

whom

them, to It

is

is

women and

have given a coate to cloathe her. have her for a fervant,

good

liking,

elfe

not.

if it

There

may is

a

fquaw that Steward Culacut desireth, to whom Lieut. Davenport alfo defireth

he hath given a coate.

one, to wit, a fmall one, that hath three ftrokes

her ftomach, thus: will ftand

defireth a

—

1||

-{-

.

with your liking.

young

little

He

upon

defireth her, if

it

Sofomon, the Indian,

fquaw, which

I

know

not."

MS.

by Drake, 171. England has preferved

Letter in Mafs. Archives, quoted

An

early traveller in

for us the record of

the very

firft

New

one of the

earlieft, if not,

attempt at breeding of flaves

in

indeed,

Araer-

Notes on the Hijiory of

8

The

ica.

of

Two

don

following paflage from JofTelyn's Account

Voyages to

New

England, publiftied at Lon-

in 1664, will explain itfelf:

"The

Second of OBober^ [1639] about 9 of the clock in the morning Mr, Mavericks Negro woman came to my chamber window, and in her own Countrey language

and tune fang very loud and

fhrill,

go-

ing out to her, fhe ufed a great deal of refpeft to-

wards me, and willingly would have exprefled her grief in Engli/h

but

;

I

apprehended

tenance and deportment, whereupon

my

hoft, to learn

intreat

him

it

I

by her counrepaired

to

of him the caufe, and refolved to

in her behalf,

for that I underftood be-

had been a Queen in her own Counand obferved a very humble and dutiful garb ufed towards her by another Negro who was her maid. Mr. Maverick was deiirous to have a breed of Negroes, and therefore feeing fhe would not yield by perfuafions to company with a Negro young man he fore, that fhe

trey,

had

in his houfe

;

he

commanded him will'd

Ihe nill'd

fhe to go to bed to her, which was no fooner done but fhe kickt him out again, this fhe took in high difdain beyond her flavery, and this was the caufe of

her grief."

Jojfelyn, 28.

Joflelyn viflted

about ten years

in

New

England

this country,

twice, and fpent from 1638-39 and

In fpeaking of the people of Bofton 1663 to 1671. he mentions that the people " are well accommodated with fervants

Negroes."

Mr.

....

of thefe fome are Engllfh, others

Ibid., 182.

Palfrey fays:

there were two

"Before Winthrop's

arrival

negro flaves in Maflachufetts, held

Slavery in Majfachufetts.

by Mr. Maverick, on Noddle's

New

England, II., 30,

to fuftain

this

authority to which he inference

is

irrefiftible

it

from

is

Hilary of any evidence

certainly not in the

is

On

refers.

gether, that the negroes of

I Hand."

If there

note.

ftatement,

g

all

the contrary, the

the authorities

Mr. Maverick were

tion of thofe imported in the

firft

to-

a por-

colonial flave-fhip,

we have given the hiftory. be fuppofed that Mr. Maverick had

the Defire, of whofe voyage It is

not to

waited ten years before taking the fteps towards im-

proving his flock of negroes, which are referred to

by JofTelyn. Ten years' flavery on Noddle's Ifland would have made the negro-queen more familiar with the Englifh language, if not more compliant to the brutal cuftoms of flavery. It will be obferved that this

firft

entrance into the

flave-trade was not a private, individual fpeculation. It

was the enterprife of the authorities of the Colony.

And

on the 13th March, 1639, it was ordered by the General Court "that 3/ Sj should be paid Leiftenant Davenport for the prefent, for charge difl^urfed for the flaves, which, when they have earned it, hee is to repay it back againe." The marginal note is, " Lieft. Davenport to keep y® flaues." Majs. Rec, i., 253. Emanuel Downing, a lawyer of the Inner Tem-

London, who married Lucy Winthrop, fifter of the elder Winthrop, came over to New England in The editors of the Winthrop papers fay of 1638. " There were few more active or efficient friends him, of the MaflTachufetts Colony during its earlieft and moft critical period." His fon was the famous Sir George Downing, Englifli ambaflador at the Hague.

ple,

Notes on the Hijiory of

lO In a

letter to his brother-in-law,

fummer of 1645,"

ten during the illuftration

A warr with

fynne in vs,

He

flavery.

the Narraganfett

is

fays: verie confider-

doubt whither yt be not hauing power in our hands, to fufFer

able to this plantation, ffor

them

luminous

a moft

is

of the views of that day and generation

on the subject of human

"

"probably writ-

I

maynteyne the worlhip of the devill, which their paw wawes often doe; 2lie, if upon a Juft warre the Lord fhould deliver them into our hands, we might eafily haue men, woemen and children enough to exchange for Moores, which wilbe more gayneful pilladge for vs than wee conceive, for I doe not fee how wee can thrive vntill wee gett into a ftock of to

slaves fufficient to doe ren's children will

all

our buifines, for our child-

hardly fee

this

Continent

great

filled with people, foe that our fervants will

freedom to plant for them verie great wages.

And

and not

felues,

fuppofe you

I

ftill

ftay

defire

but for

know

verie

how wee fhall maynteyne 20 Moores cheaper than one Englifhe fervant.

well

" The

home

bring

ihips that fhall

laden with

chardge, if not

all

fait

of

Moores may come

which may beare most of the

yt.

But

I

marvayle Conecticott

Ihould any wayes hafard a warre without your advife,

which they cannot mayntayne without your helpe."

M. H.

S. Coll., IV., vi., Gc^.

II.

We

come now

the fubjed of

to the era of pofitive legiflation

human bondage

in

America.

on

Mr.

ii

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

Hurd,

on

the ableft writer

this fubjed, fays

" The

:

involuntary fervitude of Indians and negroes in the feveral colonies originated

by

under a law not promulgated

and refted upon prevalent views of unilaw of nations^ fupported

legiflation,

verfal jurifprudence, or the

by the exprefs or implied authority of the home Government." Law of Freedom and Bondage^ § 216, i., 225.

Under

fandion flavery

this

have originated in

faid to

not long before

book

it

made

ing ilavery in America

is

properly be

the colonies, but

all

it

was

appearance on the ftatute-

its

MafTachufetts.

in

may very

The to

firft

ftatute

eftablifh-

be found in the famous

Body of Liberties of Code of Fundamentals, THE Massachusetts Colony in New-England the firft code of laws of that colony, adopted in Decemor

ber,

1

Thefe

64 1.

liberties

—

had been, after a long and the people, ex-

ftruggle between the magiftrates

traded

from

the

reludant

grafp

of the

former.

" The people had [1639] long defireda body of laws, and thought much power

their

condition

refted in

very unfafe, while fo

the difcretion of magiftrates."

Never were the demands of a free people eluded by their public fervants with more of the contortions as well as wifdom of the ferpent. Compare Gray in M. H, S.j iii., viii., 208. Winthrop^

The

i.,

322.

fcantinefs

hiftory of this

of the materials for the particular

renowned code

is

fuch as to forbid the

attempt to trace with certainty to in

queftion.

made

It

is,

its

origin the law

however, obvious that

it

was

to provide for flavery as an exifting, subftantial

fad, if not to reftrain the application of thofe higher-

Notes on the Hijiory of

12

law dodrines, which the magiftrates muft have fome-

The times found inconvenient in adminiftration. preamble to the Body of Liberties itfelf might have been conftrued into fome vague recognition of rights in individual

power

members of fociety

—although

fuperior to legiflative

was promulgated by the pofTeflbrs

it

of the moll arbitrary authority

in

then adual

the

Compare

holders of legiflative and executive power.

Law

Nurd's

of Freedom and Bondage,

Had

198.

i.,

fome of the modern they only learned writers of Maffachufetts hiftory have done on this fubjeft, the poor Indians and Negroes of that day to reafon as

might have compelled additional

legiflation

if

they

could not vindicate their rights to freedom in the genFor the firft article of the Declaration of eral court. Rights in 1780, is only a new edition of " the glittering and founding generalities " which prefaced the

Body of Liberties

in 1641.

Under the

human

latter,

flavery exifted for nearly a century and a half without ferious challenge, while

under the former

faid to

it is

have been abolifhed by inference by a public opinion

which

continued to tolerate the flave-trade.

ftill

But

to the law

firft article

of the

The

and the teftimony.

Body of

ninety-

Liberties appears as fol-

lows, under the head of

"

Liberties of Forreiners

"91. There linage

or

captives

fhall

captivitie

and Strangers.

never be any bond

amongft us unles

flaverie, vil-

it

be lawfull

taken in juft warres, and fuch ftrangers as

willingly felle thefe Ihall

themfelves or are fold to us.

have

all the liberties

And

and Chriftian ufages

:

Slavery in MaJJachuJetts.

which the law of

God

13

eftablifhed in Ifraell concerning

This exempts

fuch perfons doeth morally require.

none from fervitude who fhall be Judged thereto by M. H. S. Coll., iii., viii., 231. Thefe laws were not printed, but were publifhed

Authoritie."

in manufcript^

under the fuperintendence of a com-

mittee in which Deputy-Governor Endicott was aflb-

Mr. Downing and Mr. Hauthorne, and, Governor Winthrop fays, " eftablifhed for three years, by that experience to have them fully amended and ciated with

eftablifhed to be perpetual."

JVinthrop's Journal,

346.

eighth and

Mafs. Records, 11.,

c^c,.

fedion of this code,

laft

By it

i.,

344,

the ninety-

was decreed as

follows

"

98.

Laftly becaufe our dutie and defire

is

to

do

nothing fuddainlie which fundamentally concerne us,

we

decree that thefe rites and liberties, fhall be

Aud-

ably read and deliberately weighed at every Generall

Court that fueing,

fhall

And

be held, within three yeares next in-

fuch of them as fhall not be altered or

That no man fhall them without due punifhment. " And if any Generall Court within thefe next thre yeares fhall faile or forget to reade and confider them as abovefaid. The Governor and Deputy Governor for the time being, and every AfTiftant prefent .at fuch Courts, fhall forfeite 20 fh. a man, and everie repealed they fhall ftand fo ratified, infringe

Deputie 10

fh.

a

man

for each negled,

which

fhall

be

^ There Is no reafon to doubt the authenticity of the ancient MS. which was the foundation of the very able and inftruftive paper of the late Mr. Francis C. Gray on " The Early Lanvs of Majfachufetts^^ as a part of

which the Body of Liberties was printed

in 1843.

Notes on the Hijlory of

14

paid out of their proper try or the

ever

there

amonge

arife

fhall

and not by the Coun-

eftate,

Townes which

choofe them, and whenfo-

any queftion

in

any Court

the Affiftants and Aflbciates thereof about

The GenCourt onely fhall have power to interprett them." M. H. S. Coll., in., viii., 236, 237. It is not to be doubted that at the following {t{the explanation of thefe Rites and liberties,

erall

of the General Court, " the lawes were read

fions

over," in accordance with this decree.

And

before

the expiration of the three years, committees were ap-

pointed to revife the Body of Liberties, and orders relating to

1648,

when

it

were pafTed every year afterward until

the laws were

printed.

firft

Gray

s

Re-

ports, IX., 513.^

Of this

firft

printed edition of the laws

pofed that no copy

now

is

in exiftence.

it is

fup-

This

Ibid.

much

to be regretted, as a comparifon might pofthrow fome light on the change in the law of flavery, which appears in all the fubfequent editions. is

fibly

Although hitherto highly important

of

a

;

entirely unnoticed, for

we regard

it

as

takes away the foundation

it

grievous charge againft that God-fearing and law-

" no perfon was ever born into legal flavery in MalTachufetts," there was a moft fhocking chronic violation of law in that Colony and Province for more than a century, hardly to be recon-

abiding people.

For,

if

ciled with their hiftorical reputation. '

In the elaborate, learned, and moft valuable note of Mr. Gray, here

referred to, the reader will

which

it is

find references to all

the original authorities,

We

have been unable to veri-

necdlcfs to repeat in this place.

fy his reference to Mafs. Records,

Court on the 20th May, 1642,

ii.,

in the

2,

for proceedings of the

common

General

copies of that volume.

Slavery in MaJJachuJetts.

15

In the fecond printed edition, that of 1660, the law appears as follows, under the

"

BOND-SLAVERT.

Ordered by

ITof;

is

That

title

this

Court

&

Authority there-

there fhall never be any bond-flavery

villenage or captivity amongft us, unles

it

be Lawfull

captives, taken in juft warrs, \or fucli\ as [/half] will-

ingly

themfelves, or are fold to us, and fuch fhall

fell

have

the

Law

of

liberties,

God

&

Chriftian ufuage,

eftablifhed in Ifrael,

which the

Concerning fuch

perfons, doth morally require, provided this exempts

none from fervitude, who Authority.

[1641.]"

The words

fhall

be judged thereto by

Mafs. Laws, Ed. 1660,

italicized in

brackets appear

/>.

5.

among

the manufcript corrections of the copy which (formerly the property of

Mr.

Secretary Rawfon,

who was is now

himfelf apparently the Editor of the volume)

preferved in the Library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcefter, in Maflachufetts.

It

is

plain,

however, that the printed text required corredion,

and

—although no

manded than

better authority can pofTibly be de-

that of the Editor himfelf

by the subfequent edition of 1672, error,

having been repeated in the

—

in

it is

confirmed

which the fame

text, is

made

the

occafion of a corredion in the printed table of errata.

There felf ;

want of accuracy even in this correction itbut the intention is fo obvious that it cannot be is

a

Majs. Laws, Ed. 1672, />/>. 10, 170. prevent any poffible doubt which may ftill linger in the mind of any reader at the end of the

miftaken.

To

demonftration through which we ourfelves

firft

arrived

6

Notes on the Hijiory of

1

we

at this refult,

will

moft aftute

—

add the following record eviwhich it will puzzle the

dence afterwards difcovered

—

make "void and of none

critic to

effect."

1670, on the laft day of the month, a committee was appointed by the General Court " to pervfe all our lawes now in force, to colled & drawe vp any literall errors or mifplacing of words or fentences therein, or any libertjes infringed, and to make

May,

In

a convenient table for the ready finding of therein, that fo they

may

be fitted

all

things

&

the prelTe,

flFor

the fame to prefent to the next feffion of this Court, to be further confidered off

& approved by the Court."

Majs. Records^

At

iv., ii., 453. the following feffion of the Court, the

comand on the 1 2th Odober, 1670, the following order was made

mittee prefented their report accordingly,

:

&

confidered of

whom

the revejw of

" The Court, having pervfed the returne of the comittee, to

by the Generall Court in the litterall erratars, &c., do order

the lawes was referred, &c.,

May

laft,

to

as

*

that in

" Page

5,

* Ij

fhall willingly,'

As and

:

*

* 3,

&c."

tit.

*

Bondflauery, read

MaJs. Records^

iv.,

the circumftances under which

liberties

*

ii.,

all

or fuch as

467. thefe laws

were originally compofed and after long

minute examination, and repeated revifions, finally fettled and eftablifiied, forbid the fuppofition that flavery came in an unbidden or unwelcome gueft fo is it equally impoftible to admit that this alteradifcuffion,

—

tion of the fpecial law of flavery by the omiflion of so

important and

fignificant a

dental or without motive.

word could have been

acci-

•

Slavery in Maffachufetts,

17

If under the original law the children of enflaved

might poffibly have claimed exemption from that fervitude to which the recognized common law of nations affigned them from their this amendment, by ftriking out the word birth captives and ftrangers

;

"

removed the

ftrangers,"

neceffity for

alienage or

foreign birth as a qualification for llavery, and took off the prohibition againft the children of Haves being

" born It

into legal flavery in Maffachufetts." is

true there

is

little

probability that in thofe

days the natural rights of thefe

little

heathen, born in

would have been much regarded, or would have had much in quieting the title by having the increafe chattels duly "judged" to fervitude by

a Chriftian land,

that the owners of flave parents difficulty

of their

authoritie,"

in

accordance with the

law;

civil

ftill

there might have been color for the claim to freedom,

which

this

amendment

And

effectually barred.

was in accordance, too, with the law of Mofes children of flaves remained Haves, being the defcribed as

" born

this

—the clafs

in the houfe."

This Maffachufetts law of flavery was not a regu-

" Bond-

lation of the ftatus of indentured fervants. flavery " was not the

name of their fervice, neither is " Liberties of fervants,* but thofe it placed among the of " Forreiners and Jlr angers." And in all the editions of the laws, this diftindion

(lavery "

is

maintained;

being invariably a feparate

title.

^^

Bond-

White

fer-

vants for a term of years would hardly be defignated as ftrangers,^

'John Cotton, Scots,

whom God

and

a careful ftudy of the

in his letter to

whole fubjed

Cromwell, July 28, 1651, fays: "the and whereof

delivered into your hands at Dunbarre,

2

8

Notes on the Hijlory of

1

at leaft the

juftifies

doubt whether the

fervants belonged to flaves at

privileges of

all.

The law muft be interpreted in the light of contemporaneous fads of hiflory. At the time it was made (1641), what had its authors to provide for? Indian (laves

I.

— —

their captives taken in war.

their own Negro llaves " ftrangers " obtained by

1.

change.

Criminals

3.

ment In

— condemned

of

importations purchafe

or

ex-

to flavery as a punifh-

for offences.

this light,

and only

in this light,

tion intelligible and confiflent.

the code of which this law

is

It

a part

is

"

their legifla-

very true that

is

exhibits through-

out the hand of the pradifed lawyer, familiar with the principles and fecurities of Englifh Liberty ;" but ever heard, at that time, of the " commonlaw rights " of Indians and negroes, or anybody elfe

who had

but Englifhmen

Thus

period, and

the

?

flood the flatute through the whole colonial it

was never exprefHy repealed.

Mofaic code,

it

is

flavery as a legitimate flatus,

man

to

fell

buy him.

Bafed on

an abfolute recognition of

and of the right of one

himfelf as well as that of another It fandlions the flave-trade,

man

to

and the per-

petual bondage of Indians and negroes, their children

and

their children's children,

fetts to

precedence over any and

fundry were fent hither,

yoke

eafy.

*

*

*

we have been They have

235.

He

certainly did not

all

entitles

MafTachu-

the other colonies

dcfirous (as

we

could) to

make

their

not been fold for flaves to pcrpetuall

we do our ownc." Hutchinfon's mean " our owne " Indians and negroes.

fervitude, but for 6, or 7 or 8 ycarcs, as Coll.,

and

Slavery in Majfachujetts. in fimilar legiflation.

It anticipates

anything of the fort to be found ginia, or

like

it

her

fifter

is

by

19

many

in the flatutes

years

of Vir-

Maryland, or South Carolina, and nothing to be found in the contemporary codes of

colonies in

New England.

Compare Hildreth^

278.

I.,

Yet

this

very law has been gravely cited in

a

paper communicated to the MafTachufetts Hiftorical Society,

and twice reprinted

in its publications with-

out challenge or corred;ion, as an evidence that " fo follow its own inclinations, unby the action of the mother country, Maflachufetts was hoftile to ilavery as an inftitution."

far as it felt free to

controlled

M.H.S. Coll., IV., iv., 334. Proc, 1855-58,^. 189. And with the ftatute before them, it has been per-

Juftice

and repeated by all forts of authoriand legal, up to that of the Chief of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth,

that

"

flavery to a certain extent feems to have crept

in

;

not probably by force of any law, for none fuch

is

found or known to

fiftently aflerted ties,

hiftorical

18 Pickering, 208.

The

exift."

Shaw,

Commonwealth

vs.

Aves,

C. J.

leading cafe in Maffachufetts

is

that of fFin-

chendon vs. Hatfield in error, iv Mafs. Reports, 123. It relates to the fettlement of a negro

pauper who had

been a Have as early as 1757, and paffed through the hands of nine feparate owners before 1775. From the ninth he abfconded,

Army among

and

enlifted in the

Maffa-

the eight-months' men, at

Cam-

bridge, in the beginning of the Revolutionary

War.

chufetts

His term of

fervice

had not expired when he was

again fold, in July, 1776, to another citizen of Maffa-

;

20

Notes on the Hijiory of

chufetts, with

whom

he lived about

five

weeks, when

he enlifted into the three-years' fervice, and his

owner received the whole of

his

laft

bounty and part of

his wages.

Edom London,

was the name of

for fuch

revolutionary patriot, in 1806 was "poor," and

this

"had

become chargeable" to the town in which he refided. That town magnanimoufly ftruggled through all the Courts, from the Justices Court up to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, to fliift the refponsibility and fupport of the old foldier from itfelf to one of the numerous other towns in which he had fojourned from time to time as the flave for the, maintenance

The attempt was

of his eleven mafters.

but in

it

is

worthy of notice,

the decifion

unfuccefsful

Chief Juftice Parfons,

as

on the appeal,

fettled

feveral very

important points concerning the laws of flavery in MafTachufetts.

He

said:

" Slavery was introduced chufetts] foon after

its

firfl

into this country [MafTafettlement,

and was

tol-

erated until the ratification of the prefent Conflitution [the Conflitution of 1780].

.

.

female flave, according to the

The ifTue of the maxim of the Civil .

law, was the property of her mafler."

With

regard to this latter

point.

Chief Juflice

Dana, in direding a jury, in 1796, had flated as the unanimous opinion of the Court, that a negro born in the State before the Conflitution of 1780, was born free,

although born of a female

flave.

Chief Juflice Parfons, however, candidly declared that

"

it

common

is

very certain that the general practice and

ufage had been oppofed to this opinion."

21

Slavery in Majfachufetts,

Chief Juftice Parker, in 18 16, cautioufly confirmed Andover this view of the fubjed: by his predecefTor. vs. Canton, 13

Majs. Reports, 551-552.

" The

...

flaves,

practice was

to confider fuch iflue as

and the property of the mailer of the parents, be fold and transferred like other chattels, aflets in the hands of executors and adminiftraHe adds, " we think there is no doubt that,

liable to

and

as

tors."

any period of our hiftory, the ilTue of a flave hufband and a free wife would have been declared free." ^ at

*'

flave,

His

children, if the iflue of a marriage with a

would, immediately on their birth, become the

property of his mafter, or of the mafter of the female flave."

Notwithftanding fpeech in the Senate, that

" in

flave

on the

of

bondage,

it

June

Mr. Sumner's famous

in

28, 1854, he boldly afl*erted

her annals, no perfon was ever born a

all

of Maflachufetts," and "

foil

the

fa6t,

all this,

iflue

if,

in point

of flaves was fometimes

was never by fandion of any

held

in

fl:atute-law

of Colony or Commonwealth."

And

writers of hifl:ory in

recent

Mafl*achufetts

have afl!umed a flmilar lofty and pofitive tone on this Mr. Palfrey fays "In fad:, no perfon was fubjeft. :

ever born into legal flavery in Mafl'achufetts."

N.

E.,

II.,

30, note.

Hiji,

Neither Mr. Sumner nor Mr.

Palfrey give any authorities for their fl:atements be'

Kendall,

States in the

flavery

who

travelled through

the

northern parts of the United

years 1807 and 1808, referring to this fubjeft, fays

was maintained

in Maflachufetts, there

to negroes for taking Indian wives, the children of Indian

acknowledged to be tute, Vol. VII., /. 73.

free."

Trwuels,

11.,

179.

:

" While

was a particular temptation See HiJi.

women

being

Coll. EJfex Infli-

Cafe ofPriscilla, &c., againjl Simmons.

—

y

22

;

Notes on the Hijiory of

yond the XVI., 73,

cafes in Majfachujetts Reports^ iv., 128,

and Cujhing

referred to

and

s

Reports ^

x.,

by Mr. Juftice Gray

in a

of this gentleman, fo long

ability

acknowledged

the bar in

at

more

ftill

The

publication.

authoritative

We

recent

diftinguifhed

recognized and

do

MafTachufetts, will

ample honor to the bench to which he advanced.

129

410, which are alfo

fo juftly

is

entertain the higheft refpedl for his

attainments, his judgment, and his critical fagacity

we think he has

but in

this inftance

error,

which not even the great weight of his authority

fallen into a ferious

can eftablifh or perpetuate in hiftory.

In an elaborate

hiftorical

note to

the

of

cafe

^incy s Reports^ 29, he fays " Previoufly to the adoption of the State Conftitution in 1780, negro ilavery exifted to fome extent, Oliver vs. Sale^

:

and negroes held children ofJlaves

So

diflindl

as

flaves

might be

fold,

but

all

were by law free and pofitive an aflertion ihould have

by unequivocal authority. In this cafe Mr. Gray gives us two or three dozen feparate references. Thefe are numerous and conclufive enough

been

fortified

as to the fads in the

claufes

firft

of his ftatement

that negro flavery exifted in Maffachufetts,

and that

negro (laves might be fold

and moft

important part of

law free y^ there '

it,

;

laft

not an iota of evidence or author-

is

In the cafe of Ne^n.-port vs. Billing,

been " the

but for the

that all children of Jlaves were by

lateft inl^ancc

wliicli

Mr. Gray believes to liave it was found by the

of a verdift for the mafter,"

highest court in MaflTacliufetts, on appeal from a fimilar decifion in the inferior court,

"that the

alledged, but the \j()%,fol. 284.

As

faid

Amos

[Newport] was not a freeman,

proper (lave of the faid Jofeph this

[Billing).

as

he

Records,

feems to have been one of the fo-callcd " freedom

Slavery in Majfachujetts. Ity in the

23

entire array, excepting the opinion of the

Court in 1796, already referred to. This "unanimous opinion of the Court," in 1796, which has been fo often quoted to fuftain the reputation of Maflachufetts for early and conftftent zeal againft flavery, will hardly fuffice to carry the weight

afligned to

it.

In the

firft

place, the fads

proved to

the jury in the case itfelf were fet at naught by the

Court

in the flatement

of this opinion.

We

quote

them, omitting the peculiar phrafeology by which they are difguifed in the report.

An

adion was brought by the inhabitants of Littleton, to recover the expenfe of maintaining a negro, It was tried in againfl Tuttle, his former mafter. Middlefex,

Odober Term, 1796. The negro's name His father, named Scipio, was a negro

was Cato. Have when Cato was born, the property of Nathan Cato's mother, Chafe, an inhabitant of Littleton.

named

Violet, was a negro in the fame condition,

the property of Jofeph

Harwood.

were lawfully married, and had

and

Scipio and Violet

iffue,

Cato, born in

Littleton, January i8th, 1773, a flave, the property

of the

faid

Harwood,

as the

owner of

his

mother.

Mqfs. Reports^ iv., 128, note. But whatever may be inferred from thefe fads taken in connedion with the "opinion" of the Court, in 1796,

we

afk the attention of the reader to another

cafe a little later,

cafe

before the fame tribunal.

In the

o^ Perkins, Town 'Treajurer of 'Topsfield, vs. Emerson^ the Court held that a certain negro

tried in EfTex,

it is to be regretted that Mr. Gray did not afcertain from the whether " the faid Amos" was a native of Maflachufetts

cafes,"

!

files

:

:

Notes on the Hijiory of

24

Wenham

born in the Province in

girl

was a

in 1759,

flave belonging to Emerfon from 1765 to 1776, when flie was freed. This deciflon was in November, 1799.

Dane's Abridgment, the

Thus

412.

11.,

it

appears

that

Supreme Judicial Court of Maflachufetts inftruded

jury in 1796, by an unanimous opinion, that a negro born in the State before the Conftitution of 1780, was a

born

free,

years

later,

although born of a female

flave.

Three

fame Court and the fame judges born in the prov-

the

(three out of four),^ held a negro girl

ince in 1759 to have been the lawful flave of a citi-

of Mafl'achufetts from 1765 to 1776. In the too, the decifion of the Court was given

zen

latter cafe,

on the

quefl;ion

of law alone, as prefented upon an

agreed fliatement of the

fafts.

MS.

Copy of Court Rec-

ords.

A

an

cafe in Connecfticut prefents

great importance.

It

is

that of

"a

illufliration

fugitive flave,

of

and

attempted refcue, in Hartford, 1703," of which an account is given in one of Mr. J. Hammond Trum-

on fome of the Connecticut Statutes. Hijiorical Notes, etc.. No. vi. " The case laid before the Honorable General Afl^embly in Odober, 1704," after a fl;atement of fads,

bull's admirable articles

etc.,

tive, *

proceeds with reafons for the return of the fugi-

fome of which we quote.

The

judges prefent at thcfe

Terms

refpe£tively

were the following,

viz.

OSlober Term, 1796, in Middlesex

No'vember Term, 1799, in EJfex:

Francis Dana, Chief JuJJice.

Robert Treat Paine,

Francis Dana, Chief Jujlice. Robert Treat Paine,

Incrcafe Sumner,

Theophilus Bradbury,

Nathan Cufhing, Thomas Dawes, jr.,

Nathan Jujlices,

Cufliing, Jujlices.

Slavery in Majfachufetts.

"

I.

According

this colony civil law)

and

the laws

to

and

conjiant -praSlice of

all other plantations^ (as well as

by the

Juch perfons as are born of negro bond-women

are themfelves in like condition, that

Nor can there

tude.

25

born in fervi-

is,

be any precedent in this

government,

or any of her Majefiy s plantations, produced to the conAnd though the law of this colony doth not

trary}

fay that fuch perfons as are

fuppofed to be mulattoes,

born of negro women and be flaves, (which was

fhall

needlefs, becaufe of the conjiant practice by which they

are held as fuch,) yet fhall etc.,

it

faith expreflly that

*

no man

put away or make free his negro or mulatto Have,* which undeniably fhows and declares an approba-

and that mulattoes may be held government."

tion of fuch fervitude, as flaves within this

The

value of this teftimony on the fubjed:

is

en-

hanced by the chara6ter and pofition of the witnefs.

He

was Gurdon

Saltonftall,

born

the fon of a magiftrate, educated at

Maflachufetts,

in

Harvard

and afterwards Governor of Connedicut,

that

New London church,

time the popular minifter of the

and nearly

College,

— "at

as diftinguifhed at the bar as in the pulpit.

The

friend and confidential advifer of the governor (Winthrop), who was one of his parifhioners, his influence was already felt in the Colonial Councils, and

he was largely entruiled with the management of public affairs.

In general fcholarfhip, and in the extent of

both in divinity and law, he had probably no fuperior in the colony as an advo-

his profeffional fl:udies,

:

^

Lay,

in his traft

" All

Sla've-Keepers Apojiates"

the hardfliips of the inftitution, fays, children alfo are kept in (lavery,

" Nor doth

ad infinitum

j

.

.

/>. 1 1 .,

enumerating

this fatisfy, .

"

but their

i6

Notes on the Hijlory of according to the teftimony of his contemporaries,

cate,

he had no equal." Backus J

Notes.

Hammond

J.

ii.,

'Trumbull's Hijiorical

Trumbull's Connecticut^ Vol.

i^S'

i.

(1797), 417. Mr. Trumbull alfo mentions a queftion raifed in 1722, as to the flatus of the children of

Indian captive-flaves, in a memorial to the Legiflature,

from which

it

is

apparent that no doubt was enter-

tained as to the legal flavery of children of negroes or

imported Indians from beyond

Ample of the

evidence

fadt,

is

feas.

given elfewhere in these notes

that the children of flaves were adually

held and taken

to be

flaves,

liable to

ferred like other chattels

and

as

executors and adminiftrators.^

many

in

numerous, and but

may

it

"

the

1773,

town of

among

extinguifliing

for

that every

;

fad:

The

infliances are

needlefs to recapitulate

of

representative in

them here; that in

fa6ls

Leicefter to their

the ways and

fliall

means

they propofed

flavery,

negro child that

hands of

comes out there is no one

to the reader.

it is

in the

This

be proper to refer to the

the inftrudions

fuggefted

be fold and trans-

afl*ets

portions of this hiflory

more patent

thing

property of the

the

owners of the mothers,

be born in faid

government after the enading fuch law fliould be free at the fame age that the children of white people are," and in the petition of the negro flaves for relief in '

"

A

bill

of

fale,

or other formal inftrument,

transfer the property in a

flave,

was not neceflary

which was a mere perfonal

chattel,

to

and

by delivery." Mil/orJ vs. Bellingham, 16 Mafs. Governor Dudley's report to the Board of Trade on flaves and the flave-trade in Maflachufctts, etc., in 1708, flated that " in Boston, there are 400 negro fcrvants, one half of idiom ivere born here."" Colle8ions might

pafs, as other chattels,

Reports,

Amer.

no.

Stat. AJfoc,

i.,

586.

Slavery in Majfachujetts,

27

1777 to the General Court of MafTachufetts, they that " their children (who were born in

humbly pray

may not

land of liberty)

this

they arrive Archives.

The

at the

be held as flaves after

age of twenty-one years."

Revolutionary Rejolves^ Vol. vii.,

of

Articles

Confederation

/>.

Majs. 132.

of the United

New

England, 19th May, 1643, which commence with the famous recital of their objed: in Colonies of

coming into thofe parts of America, viz., " to advaunce the Kingdome of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and to enjoy the liberties of the Gofpell in puritie with

peace," pradically recognize the lawful exiftence of flavery.

The fourth Article, which provides for the due adjuflment of the expenfe or " charge of all juft warrs whether offenfive or lows

" And

that according to their different charge of

eich Jurifdiccon

of the warr whether

(if it

it

and plantacon, the whole advantage pleafe God to blefs their Endeavours)

be in lands, goods, or persons,

proportionably devided

Hazard^

11.,

3.

the

federacy to the end of of \6^2.

The in the

among

ix., 4.

its exiftence.^

x.,

Federal Conftitution of

(if

See Ratification

Law

provifion

is

to be traced to this

New

York, and the Commiflioners

of MafTachufetts, Plymouth, and Connefticut, "all plunder and capti-ues

The fame

349.

original of the Fugitive Slave

Leifler

be

Constitution of the Con-

Plymouth Records,

The agreement between

ihall

the faid Confederats."

Plymouth Records^

feature remained in

^

concludes as fol-

defenfive,"

:

any happen)

fhall

May

i, 1690, provided that be divided to y" officers and

according to y' Cuftome of Warr." N. T. Doc. Hi/I., 11., 134, 157. Stoughton and Sewall were the Commiflioners for MafTachufetts.

foldiers

:

28

Notes on the Hijlory of

Confederacy, in which Maflachufetts was the ruling

The Commiflioners of the United Colonies found occasion to complain to the Dutch Governor in New Netherlands, in 1646, of the fad that the colony.

Dutch agent

Hartford had harbored a fugitive

at

Indian woman-flave, of whom they fay in their letter

" Such a fervant is parte of her mafter's more confiderable parte than a beaft." rendition of fugitives,

for the

made by

ix., 6,

A

a

provifion

was afterwards

Dutch and

treaty between the

Plymouth Colony Records,

etc.,

and

eftate,

the Englilh.

64, 190.

Hiflorians have generally fuppofed that the trans-

Thomas Keyfer and one member of the church of

actions in 1644-5, ^^ which

James Smith, the Bofton, were

latter a

"

implicated,

firft

brought upon the

colonies the guilt of participating in the

African flaves."

the

Bancroft,

i.,

traffic

in

173-4.

The

account which we have given of the voyage of

firft

colonial flave-fhip, the Defire, shows this to

have been an error, and that which we

fhall

give of

thefe tranfadions will expofe another of quite as

much

importance. Hildreth, in whofe hiftory the curious and inftrudive ftory of

with scrupulous

New

fidelity, gives fo clear

bufinefs as to

this

England theocracy

require

little

narrated

is

an account of

and we

alteration,

quote him with authorities,

This

flight additions, and references to the which he does not give in detail.

affair

has been magnified by too precipitate

an admiration into a proteft on the part of MafTachu-

and the flave-trade. So from any fuch proteft being made, the

fetts againft flavery

far,

ever,

firft

howcode

—

Slavery in Majfachufetts,

29

of laws in MafTachufetts eftablifhed flavery, as we have fhown, and at the very birth of the foreign commerce

New England

of

the African llave-trade became a

The

regular bufinefs. ftaves

and

to

who were

negroes,

took cargoes of

Madeira and the Canaries were touch on the coaft of Guinea to trade

fiih

cuftomed to

fhips which

ac-

for

carried generally to Barbadoes or

the other Englilh lilands in the Weft Indies, the de-

mand

for

them

home being

fmall/ In the cafe buying negroes in the regular which, under the fundamental law of at

referred to, inftead of

courfe of

traffic,

MafTachufetts already quoted, would have been perfectly

legal,^

Bofton Ihip joined with

the crew of a

fome London veflels on the coaft, and, on pretence of fome quarrel with the natives, landed a " murderer " atthe expreffive name of a fmall piece of cannon tacked a negro village on Sunday, killed many of the inhabitants, and made a few prifoners, two of whom

—

to the ftiare of the Bofton

fell

In the courfe of

ftiip.

a lawfuit between the mafter, mate, and owners, this ftory

all

came out, and one of the magiftrates pre-

fented a petition to the General Court, in which he

charged the mafter and mate with a threefold offence, " One of our

*

fhips,

beginning of November fugar,

and

fah,

which went to the Canaries with pipe-ftaves in the laft, returned now [1645] and brought wine, and

and fome tobacco, which

for Africoes, nvhich Jhe carried from the II.,

(he IJle

had

at

Barbadoes, in exchange

ofMaio.'"

Winthrop's Journal,

Z19. "

In awarding damages to Captain Smith againft his aflbciate in

bufmefs, they would allow

they give

"

4.

*

is

him nothing

for the negroes

worth quoting here * For the negars [they being none of

;

this

but the reafon

:

his, but Jiolen)

toalowe nothing." Mafs. Records, 11., 129. This was " the Court's opinion" " by both howfes."

we

raeete

lb., in., 58.

thinke

Notes on the Hijiory of

30

murder, man-ftealing, and Sabbath-breaking the two firft capital by the fundamental laws of Maflachufetts, ;

and

of them " capital by the law of God."

all

The

magiftrates doubted their authority to punifh crimes committed on the coaft of Africa but they ordered the negroes to be fent back, as having been procured ;

not honeftly by purchafe, but unlawfully by kidnapping.

Hildreth,

i.,

136, 168, 176, 196; Journal,

In

III.,

11.,

67, 129,

Winthrofs

46, 49, 58,84.

243, 379. the proceedings of the General Court on

11.,

all

there

occafion,

this

Mafs. Records,

282.

is

opinion or fentiment,^

not a trace

ftill

of anti-flavery

of anti-flavery

lefs

legifla-

though both have been repeatedly claimed for the honor of the colony. tion

;

Ill

The felves

colonifts of MafTachufetts

"a

right to treat the Indians

aiTumed to them-

on the footing of

Canaanites or Amalekites," and praftically regarded

them from the

as forlorn

and wretched heathen,

few rights which were entitled to refped.

pofl^efling

408.

Bancroft, in., '

firfl:

Bp. Berkeley

s

Works,

It is pofllble that the petition referred to in the

the Records

may

have related to

this fubjeft

;

iii.,

247.

following extract from

but

it

left

no impreflion

which can be traced.

"29 May, confentcd

God

1644.

to, to

herein,

&

Mr. Blackleach

his petition

then further to confider

it."

John Blackleach, a merchant, was of Salem fentative in 1636.

146-155.

about the Mores was

be comitted to the ciders, to enformc us of the mind of

Some of his

Mafs. Records,

ii.,

as early as 1634,

letters are printed in

M. H.

67. Mr. and repre-

S. Coll., iv., vii.,

s

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

Sermon before the

Soc.

for the Prof, of the Gospely 1731,

Cotton Mather's fpeculations on temper of the times,

p. i^'

31

their origin

illuftrate the

We

"

know

When

not

became Inhabitants of

may

guefs

How

or

this

probably the

that

thefe Indians

firft

mighty Continent, yet we Devil decoy'd thefe

miferable Salvages hither, in hopes that the Gofpel

of the Lord Jefus Chrift would never come here to deftroy or difturb his Absolute Empire over them."

Magnalia, Book in., Part

The

iii.

inflrudions from the CommifTioners of the

United Colonies

Major Gibbons, on being

to

fent

1645, further illuftrates

againft the Narraganfetts in this fpirit.

He

honour of God, who

is

" due regard to the both our fword and fhield, and

to the diftance which

is

to be obferved betwixt Chris-

was direded to have

and Barbarians, as well in warres

tians

negociations."

Of

this

indeed flrange that men,

God

hath

dwell on

Hutchinfon says

who

made of one blood

all

as :

other

in

"

It

was

profefled to believe that all

nations of

the face of the earth, fbould

men

for to

upon every

occafion take care to preferve this diftinftion.

Per-

haps nothing more effedually defeated the endeavors for Chriilianizing the Indians.

more

:

to

have funk their

It feems to

have done

them

to intem-

fpirits, led

perance, and extirpated the whole race."

Hutchinfon^

Papers^ 151. In 1646, the Commiffioners of the United Colo-

ColleEiion of

nies

made a very remarkable order, praftically authorupon complaint of trefpafs by the Indians, the

izing,

feizure of

" any of

that plantation of Indians that fhall

Notes on the Hiftory of

32

The

entertain, protecfl, or refcue the offender."

" And, becaufe

further proceeds:

keeping Indians in prifone, and

if

it

will

order

be chargeable

they fhould efcape,

they are like to prove more infolent and dangerous

upon fuch

after, that

feazure, the delinquent or fatis-

demanded, of the Sagamore or plantation of Indians guilty or accefsory as before, and if it

faftion be againe

be denyed, that then the magiftrates of the Jurifdiccon

up

deliver

the Indians feafed to the party or parties

indamaged, either to

be fhipped out and

ferve, or to

exchanged for Negroes as the caufe will juftly beare." Plymouth Records,

ix.,

71.

The CommiiTioners

themfelves were not blind to

the feverity of this proceeding, although they alleged that

it

was "juft."

There

are here

two features of

which the reader will not

fail

hiftorical

importance

to notice, viz., the export

for trade of Indians for Negroes,

and the meafure of

"juftice" in thofe days between the colonifts and the natives. It

maybe

drawn the

obferved that in thefe notes we have not

lines

between the Plymouth Colony and

that of the MafTachufetts

they

may

Bay.

juftly be regarded as

one

In this connexion ;

indeed, they can-

not be feparated, for in thefe and fimilar proceedings, to quote a fignificant proverb of that day,

mouth

faddle was always

In 1658, June

" the Ply-

on the Bay horfe."

29, certain perfons were punifhed

by the County Courts at Salem and Ipfwich Quaker meeting and otherwife " syding with the Quakers and abfenting themfelves from the publick ordinances." Among them were two children,

by

fines

for attending a

Slavery in Majfachufetts.

33

Southwick, fon and daughter Lawrence Southwick, who were fined ten pounds, but their fines not being paid, and the parties (as is ftated in the proceedings) " pretending they have no Daniel and Provided

to

eftates, refolving not to worke and others likewife have been fyned and more like to be fyned " the

—

General Court were called upon

May

II, 1659, to decide

for the fatisfadtion

of the

in the following year.

what courfe fhould be taken fines.

This they did, after due deliberation, by a refoluempowering the County Treafurers to fell the faid perfons to any of the Englifh nation at Virginia tion

or Barbadoes fale

—

their law for the

in accordance with

of poor and delinquent debtors.

this they wrefted their

own law from

To its

accomplifh

juft applica-

tion, for the fpecial law concerning fines did

not per-

mit them to go beyond imprifonment for non-payMqfs. Laws, Majs. Records,

ment. 581. p.

6.

Bi/hop's

N. E.

1675, p. S^iv.,

i.,

'^6(i.

Judged, 85.

Felt^s

Salem,

11.,

Majs. Laws, 1675, Hazard, 11., ^6^'

and mother of thefe children, who had before fuiFered in their eftate and perfons, were at the fame time banifhed on pain of death, and took

The

father

refuge in Shelter Ifland, where they fhortly afterwards died. Bifhop,

Majs. Records,

The

83.

iv.,

i.,

Treafurer,

Hazard, 11., 564. on attempting to find

367.

paflage for the children to Barbadoes, in execution of

the order of carry them."

fale,

found " none willing

Thus

the

entire defign

to

take or

failed,

only

through the reludance of thefe fliipmafters to aid in its

confummation.

fakers,

i.,

278. 3

Bijhop,

190.

SeweT s

Hift, of the

;

Notes on the Hijlory of

34

in the fame Quaker ladies, and afterwards " commit-

Provided Southwick was fubfequently year,

in

company with

" whipt with tenn

feveral other

ftripes,"

ted to prifon to be proceeded with as the law direds."

Mqfs. RecordsJ

The

411.

iv., L,

indignant Quaker

hiftorian,

thefe things, fays,

a manner ye have done and for /peaking to one

to the Servants of the Lord,

another,

.

.

and for meeting together, ranfacking

.

breaking open

their

Eftates,

away

their Goods

and

Cattel,

their till

their

carrying

Houfes,

ye have

then their wearing apparel, and then

government)

recounting

in

" After fuch

Plimouth

Land ; and when ye have which ye

nothing, fell them for this

call

none,

left

in

(as

left

them

Search

Debt.

the Records of former Ages, go through the Hiftories

of the Generations that are pad

of the Antients, and as this fince the

read the

;

Monuments

fee if ever there "wtr^Juch a

Earth was

and the Foundations

laid,

thereof in the Water, and out of the Water.

ye Rulers of Bofton, ye chufetts

!

What

fhall I liken jy^?

fhall

to

you to

am

I

muft

Inhabitants

I

am

compare,

fay o^ you, as

I

.

.

O

Whereunto

at a ftand, I

have no

have no People with

at a lofs with

Balaam

.

of the Maffa-

fay unto you ?

Indeed,

Nation with you parallel, I

I

thing

faid

you in this point

of Amalek when his

eyes were open, Bojlon, the firft of the Nations that came out thus to

war

againji,

to

flop Ifrael in

their

way

to

Canaan from Egypt!' Bi/Iiop*s N. E. Judged, go. At the time of King Philip's War, the policy and pradtice of the Colony of Maffachufetts, with regard had been already long fettled upon the Accordingly the numerous of pofitive law.

to flavery, bafis

Slavery in MaJJachuJetts.

"

35

captives taken in war " were difpofed of in the ufual

way.

notes which follow are mainly from the

The

records of the colony, and will be fufficient to

official

fliow the general current of public opinion

and adion

at that period.

In Auguft, 1675, the Council at Plymouth ordered the fale of a company of Indians, "being men, weo-

number one hundred and The Treafurer made few exceptions.

men, and children, twelve," with a the fale

"

in

Plymouth Rec-

in the countryes behalfe."

ords , v., 173.

A

Council made a fimilar difpofimore (Indians) who "had come in Thefe were condemned to perfubmiffive way." later the

little

tion of fifty-feven a

petual fervitude, and the Treafurer was ordered and

appointed " to

make

of the coUonie,

The

fale

of them, to and for the ufe

opportunity

as

may

prefent."

Ib.^

174.

accounts of the Colony of MafTachufetts for

and expenditures during " the late War," as ftatedfrom 25th June, 1675, ^° ^^ -3*^ September, receipts

1676, give

among

the credits the following

:

" By the following accounts received in or as iilver, viz.

"Captives;

:

for 188 prifoners at

war 397.13.00."

fold

Plymouth Records^

There

is

a

x.,

which occurs in the Treafurer."

It

401.

peculiar fignificance

Records — "

in

fent

the

phrase

away by the

means

fold into flavery.

of the

traffic

Mafs. Rec-

ords ^ v., 58.

The

ftatiftics

carried

on by the Trea-

Notes on the Hijlory of

36

from any fourBut great numbers of Philip's

furers cannot be accurately afcertained

now

ces

at

command.

In

people were fold as flaves in foreign countries.

the beginning of the war Captain Mofeley captured eighty,

who were

confined

Plymouth.

at

In Sep-

tember following one hundred and feventy-eight were put on board a veflel commanded by Captain Sprague,

who

failed

from

Plymouth with them

for

Spain.

DrakeJ 11^. Thefe proceedings were not without witnefTes againfl their injustice and inhumanity. The Apoftle Eliot's earneft remonftrance is a glorious memorial of his fearlefs devotion to reafon and humanity to

—

which neither rulers nor people of MafTachufetts were then inclined to

"To

liflen.

Honorable the Governor and Council, this ijt. of the 6t, 75, the humble petition of John Eliot, Sheweth that the terror of felling away fuch Indians unto the Hands for perpetual flaves, who fliall yield up y"^felves to your mercy, is fitting at

the

Bofton

and

like to be an eflfedual prolongation of the warre,

fuch an exafperation of them, as

may produce we know

not what evil confequences, upon

hath

faide, bleffed are the

mercyfull for they

This ufeage of them feemeth to me, that to

tain mercy.

...

it

is

to

fell

a dangerous merchandize. far better to

who

them away

for

of his [Chrift's] to

If they deferve to die,

me

it is

be put to death under godly governors,

will take religious care, that

that they

ob-

fliall

money feemeth

foules for

Chrift

worfe than death

fell

flaves is to hinder the inlargement

kingdom ...

the land.

all

may

die penitently.

.

.

meanes may be ufed, Deut. 23 15-16. .

:

Slavery in Majfachufetts. If a fugitive fervant

37

from a Pagan Mafter might not

be delivered to his mafter but be kept in Ifrael for the

good of

how much

his fouie,

lawful

lefs

is

it

to

fell

away foules from under the light of the gofpel, into a condition, where theire foules will be utterly loft, fo Plymouth Colony Records, far as appeareth unto man."

Mather

Compare

451-2.

X.,

s

Magnalia, Book

vii.,

negle5i to projelyte the Indians,

109 (753), concerning the etc.

There

is

nothing to ftiow that " the Council gave

heed to the petition of Eliot," but a careful examination of the archives difclofed only a report of a Com-

Nov. 5, 1675, ^"^ Magiftrates and Deputies the fame adopted by the mittee of the General Court, dated

MS.

day, by which feveral were to be fent away.^ Letter.

In 1676, November 4th, it was ordered that whereas there is an Adte or order made by the Councell of

War '

bearing date July, 1676, prohibiting any male

Eliot appears alfo to have been the

in

firft

America

voice againft the treatment which Negroes received in

wards the end of it

his life,

Cotton Mather

ftates,

New

to

lift

up

England.

his

To-

" He had long lamented

with a Bleeding and Burning Paflion, that the Englifh ufed their Negro's

but as their Horfes or their Oxen, and that fo their

immortal Souls

Name

;

he look'd upon

of Chriflians fhould fo

little

care

was taken about any wearing the

as a Prodigy, that

it

much have

the Heart of Den;ils in them, as to

prevent and hinder the Inftruftion of the poor Blackamores, and confine the fouls of their miferable Slaves to a Deftroying Ignorance,

thereby lofing the Benefit of their Vaffalage the Englijh within

two or

;

but

now

three Miles of him, that at fuch a time

they would fend their Negro's once a

week

to

him

:

and Place For he would then

Catechise them, and Enlighten them, to the utmoft of Things of their Everlafting Peace however, he did not ;

Progrefs in this Undertaking."

Compare

also p.

meerly for fear of

he made a motion to

209 (327).

his

Power in the make much

live to

Mathers Magnalia, Book

in.,

207 (325).

Notes on the Hijlory of

38

Indian captive to abide in this Jurifdidlion that

above fourteen years of age

and

their captivity,

is

beginning of his or

att the

any fuch {hould continue

in cafe

in the Collonie after the time then prefixed they

fhould

be forfeit to the ufe of the Gov^, this Court fees caufe to

ratify

therefore

and confirme that order and ade, and do order

that

;

all

fuch

out of the Collonie by the

as

have any fuch

them of December next on

Indian male captive that they

difpofe of

fliall

firfh

paine of forfeiting every fuch Indian, or Indians to the ufe of the Collonie

town of

;

and the Conflables of each

this Jurifdi6tion are

hereby ordered to take

notice of any fuch Indian or Indians flaying in any

of the refpedtive towns of this Collonie after the time prefixed,

and

fhall

forthwith bring them to the Trea-

furer to be difpofed of to the ufe of the as aforefaid.

Plymouth Records,

There were

made

about

a few,

xi.,

Government

242.

five or fix,

exceptions

to this order, in favor of certain Indians,

who

had been affured by Capt. Benjamin Church that they fhould not be fold to any foreign parts, upon good behavior, &c.

The in 1677, girls,

lb., i^^i.

Maflachufetts General Court

24 May,

made an order

that the Indian children, youths or

whofe parents had been

Colony, or had lived among

its

in

hoftility

with the

enemies in the time

of the war, and were taken by force, and given or fold to

any of the inhabitants of

at the difpofall

were to gion.

fhould be

of their maflers or their aflignes,

inft:ru(5t

Majs.

this jurifdidlion,

them

Records,

in v.,

Civility 136.

who

and Chriftian reliNote the diJlhiFlion

between friendly Indians whofe children were

to

be held

5

Slavery in Maffachujetts, until

24 years of

age, both in this order

39

and

in

Plymouth

Records^ v., 207, 223.

The

Court, in the following year (1678), found " all and every perfon and perfons

caufe to prohibit

within our jurifdidion or elfewhere, to

buy any of the

Indian children of any of thofe our captive falvages that were taken

our

late

and became our lawfull prifoners

in

warrs with the Indians, without fpecial leave,

liking and approbation of the

jurifdidion.

government of

Ib.^ 253.

In the fucceeding year (1679), appears in the records:

"In

this

^^

following entry

reference unto feverall Indians

bought by

Jonathan Hatch of Capt. Church, the brothers of the woman, defireing fhee might be releafed, appeared in

Court with the

faid

Jonathan Hatch, and came to

compofition with her for the freedom of both her and her hufband, which are two of the three Indians above

named and her brothers payed on that accompt the fume of three pounds filver mony of New England, and have engaged to pay three pounds more in the ;

fame

fpecie,

and then the

faid

man and woman

are to

be releafed; and for the third of the faid Indians, being younge, the Court have ordered, that abide with the faid Jonathan

Hatch

untill

it

it

fhall

it

attains

the age of 24 years, and then to be releafed for ever."

Plymouth Records^ It

were well

this is to

hood.

vi.,

if the

1

record were no worfe; but to

be added the bafenefs of treachery and

Many

falfe-

of thefe prifoners furrendered, and

greater numbers came in voluntarily to fubmit,

all

ftill

upon

the promife that they and their wives and children

Notes on the Hijiory of

40

{hould have their lives fpared, and none of them trans-

In one inftance, narrated by the famous Captain Church himfelf, no lefs than " eight fcore perfons " were " without any regard to ported out of the country.

the promifes

made them on

felves, carried

away to Plymouth, there

ported out of the country." 57.

pp.

their furrendering

fold

them-

and trans-

Church, 23, 24, 41, 51,

Memoir of Plymouth Colony, Part 47, 48, gives fome additional particulars of Baylies, in his

iii.,

this

affair.

" After the deftrudion of Dartmouth, the Plymouth forces were ordered there, and as the Dartmouth Indians had not been concerned in this outBy rage, a negotiation was commenced with them. the perfuafions of Ralph Earl, and the promifes of Captain Eels, who commanded the Plymouth forces, they were induced to furrender themfelves as prifoners,

and were conduced to Plymouth. Notwithstanding the promifes by which they had been allured to fubmit, notwithftanding the earneft, vehement, and indignant remonftrances of Eels, Church, and Earl, the government, to their eternal infamy, ordered the whole and they were tranfported out of the country, being about one hundred and fixty in number. So indignant was Church at the commiflion of this vile ad:, that the government never forgave the warmth and the bitternefs of his expreflions, and the refentment that was then engendered induced them to withhold all command from this brave, fkilful, honeft, open-hearted and generous man, until the fear of utter

to be fold as flaves,

deftruftion compelled them, fubfequently, to entruft

him with

a high

command.

This mean and treach-

Slavery in MaJJachuJetts,

41

condud alienated all the Indians who were doubtand even those who were ftrongly predifpofed to

erous ing,

join the Englifh." Eajioftj in his Relation^ p. 21, says

flead

"Philip being

:

about a 150 Indians came

;

in to a Plimouth Plimouth authority fould all (but about fix of them) to be carried out of

Garrifon volentarly. for Slafes

the country."

Church's authority from Plymouth Colony to demand and receive certain fugitives (whether men, women, or children) from the authorities of Rhode

Auguft

Ifland government,

28,

1676,

is

printed in

He was and difpofe of fuch of them, and

Hough's Eajiofis King Philip* s War^p, 188.

" impowered

to

many

he

foe

as

fell

iliall fee

habitants or others, for time, as there

may be

at all

in, fhall

caufe for, there

Term

reafons.

:

to the In-

of Life, or for

And

jlhorter

his adinge, here-

Times be owned and

juftefied

by the

Collony."

faid

Nor

did the Chriftian Indians or Praying Indians

efcape the

relentlefs

other

Befides

whites.

wanting

in

hostility

and cupidity of the

cruelties,

inftances

which fome of thefe were fold

are

as flaves,

not

and

under accufations which turned out to be utterly falfe and without foundation. Gookiri s Hift. of the Christian Indians.

Some of them in

A

letter to

his

fays,

"

I defire

are probably referred to

Boyle,

which he

away a great number of our furprifed of our wars, to fell them for but the nations, whither fhe went, would not

Indians, ;

27, 1683, in

Eliot,

to take boldnefs to propofe a requeft.

vefTel carried

flaves

Nov.

by

in the times

:

Notes on the Hijlory of

42,

buy them.

Finally, fhe left

many

they be, fo

them

Tangier

at

there

;

An

or are born there.

as live,

Englifhman, a mafon, came thence to Bofton, he told

me

they defired

I

would

ufe

fome means

for their re-

know not what to do in it but now turn home. it is in my heart to move your honour, fo to meditate, that they may have leave to get home, either from thence I

;

or from thence to England,

hither,

home.

If the

Lord

able heart herein,

fhall pleafe to

I fhall

and

fo

move your

to

get

charit-

be obliged in great thankful-

and am perfuaded that Chrift will, at the great day, reckon it among your deeds of charity done unto them, for his name's fake." M. H. S. ColL^ iii., 183. Cotton Mather furnifhes another extrad approprinefs,

ate in this connexion.

" Moreover, 'tis a Prophefy in Deut. 28, 68. 'The Lord /hall bring thee into Egypt again with /hips, by the way whereof I fpake unto thee. Thou /halt fee it no more and This did our Eliot imagine accomplifhed, when the Captives taken by us in our

again no

and

;

Man

there /hall ye be fold unto your Enemies,

fhall buy you.

Wars upon them, were

fent to

be fold, in the

Coafts lying not very remote from

Egypt on the

late

Mediterranean Sea, and

III,,

take them

to

offer

Part

fcarce

off."

any Chapmen would

Mather

s

Magnalia,

Book

III.

Mr.

Everett, in one of the moft elaborate of his

finifhed

and beautiful orations, has narrated the ftory

of two of the

laft

captives in that famous war, in a

paffage of furpaffing eloquence which

we venture

to

quote

" Prefident Mather,

in

relating the encounter of

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

the

I

St

of Auguft, 1676, the

laft

but one of the war,

Philip hardly efcaped with his

*

fays,

43

He

life alfo.

his peage behind him, alfo his fquaw

fled and left and fon were taken captive, and are now prifoners at Thus hath God brought that grand Plymouth.

had

enemy

into great mifery before he quite deftroy him. bitter as death to

muft needs be

It

him

to lofe his

wife and only fon (for the Indians are marvellous fond

and

befides other

aflfedionate towards their children)

and almofl

relations,

and country

his fubjeds,

all

alfo.'

" fon

And

what was the

This

?

is

of Philip's wife and his

hufbands

and wives, for

Young men and women, you

parents and children.

cannot underfliand

fate

for

a tale

What

it.

was the

fate

of Philip's

They a woman, he is a lad. wife and child ? did not furely hang them. No, that would have been The boy is the grandfon, his mother the mercy. daughter-in-law of good old MafTafoit, the first and She

befl:

friend the Englifli ever had in

Perhaps wife

—perhaps

and fon to go back finifh

to

wildernefs.

flavery

Philip

!

They

—

the

New

flain,

is

his war-

widow and

and forrows

the orphan their native

are fold into flavery,

Wefl Indian

an Indian princefs and her child, fold from

of a

;'

and

they will allow his

New

Mount Hope, from

England

foreft, to

aye, bitter as hell

!

that

would not

!

'

Bitter as

Is there anything,

not fay in the range of humanity animated,

the wild free-

gafp under the lafh,

beneath the blazing fun of the tropics death

England.

in

their days

the cool breezes of

dom

now

fcattered to the four winds,

riors

—

is

—

is

fliruggle

—

I

do

there anything againft

this?"

—

Notes on the Hijlory of

44

Everett's Addrejs at Bloody Brook, 1835;

Churchy 61,

•

62, 67, 68.

Well might the poet record his fympathy for fate— " Ah happier they, who in the ftrife

their

!

For freedom fell, than o'er the main, Thofe who in galling flavery's chain Still

bore the load of hated

Bowed

And

life,

to bafe tafks their generous pride,

fcourged and broken-hearted, died

!"

or in view of this phafe of civilization and progrefs, ligh for that elder ftate,

when

" Free

all

were

as nature

firft

made man,

Ere the bafe laws of fervitude began.

When

profecution

In the labors,

wild in woods the noble favage ran."

of his

admirable hiftorical

Ebenezer Hazard, of Philadelphia, endeavored what was done with the fon of Philip. He

to afcertain

wrote to the

late

unable, at that

Mr. Hazard

Judge Davis, of Bofton, who was

time, to

died

in

give a fatisfadory anfwer.

18 17; but

Judge Davis was

afterwards enabled to furnifh a very interefting account

of the to

affair,

him by

derived from documents communicated

Nahum

Mitchell, Efq.

From thefe documents he learned " that the question, whether the boy fhould be put to death, was ferioufly agitated, and the opinion of learned divines was requefted on the fubjeft. The Rev. Mr. Cotton, of Plymouth, and the Rev. Mr. Arnold, of Marfhfield, gave the following anfwer :

" The queftion being propounded to us by our honored rulers, whether Philip's fon be a child of

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

death

Our

!

anfwer, hereunto

is,

that

4^

we do acknow-

ledge, that rule, Deut. 24: 16, to bemorall,

and there-

fore perpetually binding, viz., that in a particular ad;

of wickednefs, though

doth not render

capitall, the

crime of the parent

his child a fubjed: to

the civill magiftrate

;

yet,

upon

punifhment by

ferious confideration,

we humbly conceive

that the children of notorious and murtherers, efpecially of fuch as have bin principal leaders and adors in fuch horrid villanies, and that againft a whole nation, yea the whole Ifrael of God, may be involved in the guilt of their parents, and may,y^/'yi3 republican be adjudged to traitors, rebells,

death, as to us feems evident

by the

fcripture inftances

of Sauly Achan^ Haman^ the children of whom were cut

by the fword of

off,

parents,

their

children,

Juftice for the tranfgreffions of

although concerning fome of

Samuel Arnold, John Cotton."

being co-aders therein. September

7th, 1670.

The Rev.

Increafe Mather, of Bofton,

fentiments on the queftion, in a letter to

Odober " If

thofe

be manifeft, that they were not capable of

it

ojfFers

thefe

Mr. Cotton,

30, 1676. it

had not been out of

my

mind, when

I

was

writing, I fhould have faid fomething about Philip's fon.

It is neceflary that

be taken about him.

who was

fome effedual courfe fhould makes me think of Hadad,

He

a little child

when

his

father,

(the Chief

Sachem of the Edomites) was killed by Joab and, fled away with him, I am apt to think, that David would have taken 'a courfe, that Hadad ;

had not others fhould

never have proved a fcourge to

generation."

the

next

Notes on the Hijiory of

46

The Rev. James

Keith, of Bridgewater, took a view of thefubjeft, and gave more benignant interpretations. In a letter to Mr. Cotton of the fame different

date with

Dr. Mather's, he

fays,

"I long

to hear

what becomes of Philip's wife and his fon. I know there is fome difficulty in that pfalm, 137, 8, 9, though I

think

fome

it

may be

fpecialty

confidered, whether there be not and fomewhat extraordinary in it. That

Deut. 24: 16, compared with the commended example of Amafias, 1 Chron. 25 4, doth fway much with me, in the cafe under confideration. I hope God law,

:

whom it doth concern to a good iffue. Let us join our prayers, at the throne of grace, with all our might, that the Lord would fo difpofe of all public motions and affairs, that his Jerufalem in this wildernefs may be the habitation of juflice and the will dire(5l thofe

mountain of

holinefs

;

that fo.it

may

be, alfo, a quiet

habitation, a tabernacle that fhall not be taken down.'*

The

queftion thus ferioufly agitated would not, in

modern

times, occur in any nation in Chriflendom.

Principles of public law, fentiments of humanity, and

the mild influence of the Gofpel, in preference to a

recurrence of the Jewifh difpenfation, fo

much

regarded

by our anceflors in their deliberations and decifions,^ would forbid the thought of inflidling punifhment on children for the offences of a parent.

It is gratifying

CO learn, that, in this inftance, the meditated feverities

were not carried into execution, but that the merciful

'

In this (JifcuHion, lioweVcr, both fcripture rule and example were in

favour of the prifoner. is

direftly in point.

ten in the law in the

The

cafe quoted

" But he flew not

by Mr. Keith from

2 Chronicles

their children, but did as

book of Mofes," &c.

it

is

writ-

Slavery in Majfachujetts.

4y

Mr. Keith's fuggeftions preIn a letter from Mr. Cotton to his brother vailed. Mather, on the 20th of March following, on another manifefted

fpirit

there

fubjed:,

boy goes now

is

in

this

incidental

to be fold.' "

remark:

Davis's Morton

'Philip's s

Memorial,

Appendix, pp. 2 S3-S' In the winter of 1675-6,

Major Waldron, a Comand Magistrate for a portion of territoryclaimed by MafTachufetts (nov/ included in that of Maine), iifued general warrants for feizing every Indian miffioner,

known

to be

a

manflayer,

traitor,

or

confpirator.

Thefe precepts, which afforded every man a plaufible pretext to feize fufpeded Indians, were obtained by feveral fhipmafters for the moft fhameful purpofes of kidnapping and flave-trading.

One

with his vefTel

lurked about the fhores of Pemaquid, and notwithftanding warning and remonftrance, fucceeded in kid-

napping feveral of the natives, and, carrying them into foreign parts, fold

them

for flaves.

Similar outrages

eaft upon the Indians about " who never had been in the leaft manner guilty of any injury done to the Englifh." Hubbard adds to his account of this affair, " the thing alleadged

were committed farther

Cape

is

Sable,

too true as to matter of Fad, and the perfons that

did

it,

were lately committed to prifon in order to

their further tryal."

If the careful refearch of MafTa-

chufetts antiquarians can difcover trial, it

convidion and jujl punifhment of thefe offenders,

will

more

be an honorable addition to their hiflory

—

far

creditable than the confhant reiteration of the

flory of

been

any record of the

fo

"the negro interpreter"

in 1646, which has long in fervice, " to bear witnefs againfl y®

Notes on the Hijlory of

48

haynos and crying finn of man-ftealing," "The Gen'al] Co'-te" of Maffachufetts. Williamjon

Narrativey 1677, pp. 29, 30.

in behalf

of

Hubbard's s

Maine,

i.,

After the death of King Philip, fome of the Indians from the weft and fouth of

New

England who

had been engaged in the war, endeavored to conceal themfelves

among

their brethren of

Penacook who had

not joined in the war, and with them of Oflapy and

Pigwackett

By

a

who had made

"contrivance"

peace.

Mather calls it) which four hundred of thefe

(as

favors ftrongly of treachery,

Indians were taken prifoners, one half of declared to have been

and being "

fent to

who were known

whom

were

acceflbries in the late rebellion;

Bofton, feven or eight of them,

to have killed

condemned and hanged

any Englifhmen, were

the reft were fold into flavery

;

in foreign parts."

Some of and

thofe very Indians,

fold, afterwards

opportunity to

made

their

War. Book

Belknap J VII.,

i.,

known

245.

143,

thus seized

revenge during the war

fatisfy their

with the French and Indians

who were

way home, and found as

King William's

Mather's

Magnalia,

SS (^99)-

IV.

At

firft,

the

number of

was comparatively

fmall,

and

flaves

in

Maftachufetts

their increafe

was not

large until towards the clofe of the feventeenth century.

Edward Randolph,

in 1676, in an anfwer

to feveral

:

Slavery in Majfachufetis.

49

heads of inquiry, &c., ftated that there were " not above 200 flaves in the colony, and thofe are brought

from Guinea and Madagafcar." that fome fhips had recently

He failed

alfo

mentioned thofe

to

parts

from Maflachufetts. Hutchinfon s Collection of Papers^ Governor Andros reported that the pp. 485, 495. "not many not numerous in 1678 flaves were

—

fervants,

men." In certain

and but few

flaves,

proportionable with free-

N. r. Col. Doc.y III., 263. May, 1680, Governor Bradftreet anfwered Heads of Inquiry from the Lords of the Com-

mittee for Trade and Foreign Plantations.

Among

his ftatements are the following

" There hath been no company of blacks or brought into the country plantation, for the fpace of

fince the

flaves

beginning of this

fifty years,

onely one fmall

about two yeares fince, after twenty months' voyage to Madagafcar, brought hither betwixt forty Veflell

and

fifty

for 10/.,

Negroes, moft 15/.

and

20/.

women and apiece,

chant, in near 40/. apiece

:

children, fold here

which flood the mer-

Now

and then, two or

three Negroes are brought hither from Barbadoes and

other of his Majeftie's plantations, and fold here for

So that there may be within our Government about one hundred or one There are a very few hundred and twenty blacks borne here, I think not above [five] or fix at about twenty pounds apiece.

the moft in a year, none baptized that of.

.

."

The **

I

ever heard

M.H.S. Coll., III., viii., 337. following century changed the record.

Many

companies" of flaves were "brought into the counand the inftitution flouriflied and waxed ftrong.

try,"

4

Notes on the Hijiory of

50

" numeroufnefs " of Gov. Dudley's 1700.

referred to the

Judge Sewall

the flaves in the province in

report to the Board of Trade, in

1708, gave four

hundred as then in Bofton, one half of whom were and in one hundred other towns and born there making a total villages one hundred and fifty more of five hundred and fifty. He ftated that negroes were found unprofitable, and that the planters there preferred white fervants " who are ferviceable in war presFrom January 24, ently, and after become planters." 1698, to 25 December, 1707, two hundred negroes ;

—

arrived in Maflachufetts.

Gov. Shute's information to the Lords of Trade, gave the number of flaves of Mafla-

in 1720, Feb. 17,

He

chufetts at 2,000, including a few Indians.

added

during the fame year, thirty-feven male and

that,

fix-

teen female negroes were imported, with the remark,

"

No

Coll.

great difl^erence for feven years

Amer.

Stat. AJfoc.^

i.,

Felt^

lail pafl:."

586.

In 1735, there were 2,600 negroes in the Province. In 1742, there were 1,514 in Boflion alone. Douglafsy I.,

531.

mates, as

Thefe it

is

are

probably very imperfed

known

well

efti-

that regular enumerations

of the population were confidered very objedHonable

by the people of the Bay. Some recalled the numbering of Ifrael by David, and perhaps all were jealous of the pofllble defigns of the Government in obtaining accurate information

and refources.

It

in Maflachufetts,

is

a curious

fa