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African Americans 和 the End of Slavery in Massachusetts

为自由而斗争

"...Your Petitioners apprehend, they have in common with other men, a natural right to be free..."
——佚名请愿者，1774年6月

 

There were several ways that an enslaved person in colonial Massachusetts could gain freedom. Perhaps the most straightforward, 和 by far the most dangerous, method was simply to run away. Individual documents about freedom seekers are rare; newspaper advertisements for fugitive enslaved people remain our best source. However documents such as a deposition about an enslaved man named Pompey 和 a letter concerning an enslaved person who was a stowaway on the ship 苏珊 clearly demonstrate that some chose this desperate course of action.

Deposition of John Cornuck 和 others regarding Pompey (a freedom seeker), 7 October 1724
 Letter from John Tracy to John Hancock, 7 December 1791
 Receipt from Henry Ward to Otis Baker for sale of Cato (an enslaved person), 6 December 1763

Another path to freedom was that of manumission (the legal act of freeing an enslaved person), 和罗马帝国一样古老的传统. Writs of manumission such as the statement on the second page of a receipt granting freedom to Cato were all that was required to free an enslaved person; however, for a short time after the passage of a 1703 colonial law, no enslaved person could be manumitted without posting a £50 bond with the municipal government (Greene, 1942; 138). This bond was intended to ensure that the newly free person could be provided with food 和 lodging, 失业或生病时. While this particular law remained in effect for about a year, 老年人的维护和照顾, 意志薄弱的, 和 incapacitated victims of enslavement remained a primary concern (principally for economic rather than humanitarian reasons) for colonial citizens. Enslaved people could also be manumitted by purchasing their own freedom. And while the exact process of purchasing freedom was seemingly not st和ardized, 这当然是有可能的，证据就是如此 the second page of a receipt for the sale of Corydon, 谁为他的自由付了75英镑.

Another option enslaved people had to gain their own freedom was that of legal petition. 在18世纪70年代早期, groups of Massachusetts enslaved people 和 freemen petitioned the colonial government, claiming that freedom was a right belonging to all men 和 women. 请愿书的例子包括1773年6月的一份, 另一个是1774年5月25日, 第三封信写于1774年6月, 第四个例子是1777年1月. Even though there was much public discussion of liberty 和 freedom in the years leading up to the Revolution, the Massachusetts colonial government had little authority to end, 甚至缩减, slavery or the trade of enslaved people because of instructions from Parliament to the royal governor, 没有一个请愿成功.

Petition for freedom to Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson, 国王陛下御前会议, 以及众议院, 1773年6月
 Petition for freedom to Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage, 国王陛下御前会议, 以及众议院, 1774年5月25日
 Petition for freedom to Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage, 国王陛下御前会议, 以及众议院, 1774年6月
 Petition for freedom (manuscript copy) to the Massachusetts Council 以及众议院, [13] 1777年1月

Enslaved people also could sue for their own freedom, either on the basis of a contractual agreement with the enslaver or, 很久以后, 以自由的自然权利为基础. While the former method was successful for individuals as early as 1701--in the case of Adam (see the manuscript agreement between John Saffin 和 Adam 和 约瑟的买卖 塞缪尔·塞沃尔), the latter argument would eventually bring about a legal end to slavery in Massachusetts. It is interesting to note that although enslaved people were clearly considered property under colonial law, 和 there were many laws restricting their activity (curfews, anti-fornication法律, 等.) there were also some circumstances where enslaved people were treated as citizens by the legal system. 当被指控犯罪时, they had many of the same rights as free white citizens (trial by jury for example, although it would invariably be an all-white jury), 和 a contract made with an enslaved person was just as binding as one made with a free person. 约翰·亚当斯说过他 “我从来没见过陪审团 判决 to determine a Negro to be a slave -- They always found them free." 而亚当斯经常夸张地表达观点, given this consistent pattern of juries finding in favor of enslaved people when they sued for their own freedom, it is not surprising that slavery was eventually abolished in Massachusetts by the judicial system rather than the legislature. (了解更多信息, 请参阅本网站的下一部分, 《马萨诸塞州奴隶制的合法终结.")

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