A reminder from the Masachusetts Historical Foundation that on this day:
in 1638, a ship arrived in Salem after a seven-month voyage from the West Indies. Its cargo included cotton, tobacco and, as far as we know, the first African slaves to be imported into Massachusetts. When the Pequot Indians lost a war with the English in 1638, the fate of the vanquished was to be enslaved by the victors. The defiant Pequots made poor slaves, however, and many of them were shipped to Bermuda in exchange for African bondsmen. In 1641 the Massachusett Bay Colony adopted a code of laws that made slavery legal. It would remain so for the next 140 years.
For an interesting discussion about the Revolution, and the Americans who fought for slavery and the British who freed many slaves, click here for Rough Crossings by Simon Schama.
Which is why no one should simply do as they are told because the person telling them what to do is an authority figure, and acting in accordance with one’s own conscience remains critical.
In 1783, Massachusetts became the first state to abolish slavery. Relying on the opening sentence of the MA Bill of Rights which states, “All men are born free and equal…” the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that slavery was inconsistent with this clause. Interestingly, the same clause was used to support the 2004 decision allowing for marriage equality. When people complain that the marriage decision was a judicial fiat not voted on by the people I compare it to the slavery case. As judicial fiats go I would say the marriage decision is in good company. Abolition was just the first in a long line of progressive choices made by this state and its leadership over the past two centuries.