The summary of court proceedings presented here relies primarily on court papers and John Cushing's article on the Quock Walker cases. We will use this information to improve the site. As the formerly enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley put it in a letter of 1773, “In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.” However, these cases were not decided on the basis of any "natural right" to freedom; instead, the courts required a specific point of law to decide in favor of a slave, such as a master's broken promise to grant freedom, or the questionable slave status of the individual's mother. The legislature took no action. Plymouth Governor William Bradford later recalled that Hunt's goal was “to sell them for slaves in Spaine.”[13] One of Hunt’s captives, a man named Tisquantum, defied this goal and eventually found himself in England, where he was able to learn English, return to North America, and famously assist the Plymouth colonists in 1621. Six years before ratification of the United States Constitution in 1789, and 20 years before Marbury v. Madison firmly established the principle of judicial review on a national level in 1803, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recognized the supremacy of the Massachusetts Constitution. For example, James Otis, a leading proponent of colonial independence, wrote in a highly regarded and influential 1764 pamphlet that "The colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black. Nine years later, in 1614, Englishman Thomas Hunt captured twenty-four Native Americans during a voyage to New England with John Smith. This included Maine since it was still part of Massachusetts. The political tensions caused by the collision between abolitionism and pro-slavery forces in the United States led directly to the American Civil War in 1861. Many Loyalists fled to British-controlled territory, often abandoning their slaves. Other reports suggest that her suit was prompted when Bett's mistress, Mrs. Hannah Ashley, attempted to strike Bett's sister with a hot shovel, but struck and burned Bett when she intervened. The Constitution of 1780, in contrast, contained a declaration that "all men are born free and equal, and have . Jennison case. As discussed in the section of this website entitled The Massachusetts Judicial System, the Supreme Judicial Court was both a trial court and an appellate court during its early history. The timing of his decision suggests that Ashley may have determined that an appeal was futile following the first ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court in the Quock Walker case (see below). The end of slavery in Massachusetts was hastened by the Revolutionary War. In 1780, when the Massachusetts Constitution went into effect, slavery was legal in the Commonwealth. This document, approved by the Committee on January 12, 1773, expressed anger at how Great Britain was treating her subjects in the colony of Massachusetts, and resolved "[t]hat mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property." In his charge to the jury, Chief Justice William Cushing stated, "Without resorting to implication in constructing the constitution, slavery is ... as effectively abolished as it can be by the granting of rights and privileges wholly incompatible and repugnant to its existence." O'Malley, "Beyond the Middle Passage," 166. [45] In 1766, John Adams' colleague Benjamin Kent won the first trial in the United States (and Massachusetts) to free a slave (Slew vs. Whipple). It was only the disposition of some wild lands a thousand miles off which appeared to But whatever sentiments have formerly prevailed in this particular or slid in upon us by the example of others, a different idea has taken place with the people of America, more favorable to the natural rights of mankind, and to that natural, innate desire of Liberty, with which Heaven (without regard to color, complexion, or shape of noses-features) has inspired all the human race. Do not include sensitive information, such as Social Security or bank account numbers. There were three other trials that are noteworthy, two civil and one criminal. This section introduces the legal status of slavery in Massachusetts prior to 1780, the Mum Bett case of 1781, and the Quock Walker case. 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