{"id":3095,"date":"2022-11-22T16:10:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T20:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2023-03-25T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-25T17:28:11","slug":"1783-abolition-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/1783-abolition-in-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"(1783) Abolition in Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Citation<\/h2>\n<p>Legal Notes by Massachusetts Supreme Court justice William Cushing on the case of Quok Walker, [1783], <a href=\"https:\/\/www.masshist.org\/database\/viewer.php?item_id=630&amp;pid=4&amp;ft=%20End%20of%20Slavery\">FULL TEXT<\/a> via Massachusetts Historical Society<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Excerpt<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_3099\" style=\"width: 224px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/files\/2022\/11\/Elizabeth-Freeman.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3099\" class=\"wp-image-3099 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/files\/2022\/11\/Elizabeth-Freeman-214x300.png\" alt=\"Freeman portrait blue dress\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/files\/2022\/11\/Elizabeth-Freeman-214x300.png 214w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/files\/2022\/11\/Elizabeth-Freeman.png 704w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Massachusetts freedom seeker Elizabeth Freeman (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.masshist.org\/database\/viewer.php?item_id=23&amp;mode=large&amp;img_step=1&amp;&amp;pid=4&amp;br=1\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"noopener\">Massachusetts Historical Society<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As to ye. doctrine of Slavery &amp; ye. right of Christians to hold<span class=\"del\">ing<\/span> Africans in perpetual servititude [servitude] , &amp; selling <span class=\"add\">&amp; treating<\/span> them as we do our horses &amp; Cattle, that, (it\u00a0<span class=\"add\">is<\/span> true) has been heretofore countenanced\u00a0<span class=\"add\">by<\/span> the province Laws formerly, but no where <span class=\"add\">is it<\/span>\u00a0expressly enacted\u00a0<span class=\"add\">or established.<\/span> &#8212; It has <span class=\"add\">been<\/span> a usage &#8212; a usage which took its origin, from ye. practice of some of ye. European nations, &amp; the regulations of british Govmt respecting the then Colonies, for ye. benefit of trade &amp; Wealth. But whatever Sentiments have\u00a0<span class=\"del\">been<\/span> formerly prevailed in this particular or slid in upon us by ye. Example of others, a different Idea has taken place with ye people of America more favorable to ye. natural rights of Mankind, &amp;\u00a0<span class=\"add\">to<\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<span class=\"del\">of and<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"add\">natural innate,<\/span> desire of Liberty, with which Heaven\u00a0<span class=\"add\">(witht. regard to Colors,\u00a0complexion or Shapes of noses features)<\/span> has inspired all ye. human Race. And upon this Ground, our Constitution of Govmt,\u00a0<span class=\"del\">Sets out into <\/span>by wch. ye people of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, Sets out with declaring that all men are born free &amp; equal &#8212; &amp; yt. Every subject is intitled to Liberty, &amp; to have it guarded by ye. Laws, as well as Life &amp; property &#8212; &amp; in short is totally repugnant to ye. Idea of being born Slaves. This being ye. Case I think ye. Idea of Slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct &amp; Constitution &amp; there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational Creature, unless\u00a0<span class=\"del\">it<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"add\">his Liberty is<\/span> forfeited by\u00a0<span class=\"add\">Some<\/span> Criminal Conduct or <span class=\"del\">giv<\/span> given up by personal Consent or Contract.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Related Sources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masshist.org\/features\/endofslavery\/end_MA\">The Legal End of Slavery in Massachusetts (Massachusetts Historical Society)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Related Essays<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/thematic-essays\/state-laws-and-freedom-seeking-baker\/\">H. Robert Baker, State Laws and Freedom Seeking<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Citation Legal Notes by Massachusetts Supreme Court justice William Cushing on the case of Quok Walker, [1783], FULL TEXT via Massachusetts Historical Society Excerpt As to ye. doctrine of Slavery &amp; ye. right of Christians to holding Africans in perpetual servititude [servitude] , &amp; selling &amp; treating them as we do our horses &amp; Cattle, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23505,23489],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baker","category-oakes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3096,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions\/3096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/ugrr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}