奴隶制在十八世纪的大部分时间里都在马萨诸塞州持续存在. 而被奴役的个体则成功地争取了自由, and groups had petitioned the colonial government for freedom (although without success; see "为自由而斗争" section of this website for more information), 直到18世纪80年代，奴隶制才在法律上被废除, 直接回应马萨诸塞州的新宪法. 特别是两场法庭大战，首先是 布朗 & Bett v. 约翰·阿什利先生., and then a series of trials relating to Quock沃克, led to this monumental ruling.

伊丽莎白·弗里曼(《利记手机官网》)

伊丽莎白·弗里曼(《利记手机官网》) was born into enslavement around 1744 in Claverack, 哥伦比亚县, 纽约(奥尔巴尼以南约20英里). 她的征服者, 一个叫彼得·霍格布姆的荷兰人, 把她送给了谢菲尔德, 麻萨诸塞州, 居民约翰·阿什利娶了霍格布姆的女儿汉娜(安妮杰饰).

Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s account of the life of Elizabeth Freeman recounts incidents from her thirty years of bondage in the Ashley household, 包括汉娜·阿什利的袭击, who attempted to strike a younger female servant in the household with a shovel. 弗里曼挡下了这一击, but was seriously injured and bore the scars of the attack for the rest of her life. Sedgwick added that Freeman had heard a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, 激励她去追求自由.

伊丽莎白·弗里曼(《利记手机官网》)
Miniature portrait, watercolor on ivory by Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick, 1811 “Mumbett”(手稿稿)，凯瑟琳·玛丽亚·塞奇威克，1853年

In 1781, 弗里曼转向西奥多·塞奇威克, 一位著名的斯托克布里奇律师, 帮助她获得自由. 法律诉讼开始于1781年春天, when Freeman (and another enslaved man known as 布朗) brought a suit for freedom against John Ashley. 布朗 & Bett v. 约翰·阿什利先生. would turn into one of the most important legal cases in 麻萨诸塞州 history. When John Ashley refused a writ of replevin (a court order to return or release unlawfully obtained property), he was ordered to appear before the Court of Common Pleas in Great Barrington on 21 August 1781. Sedgwick's principal argument stated that slavery was inherently illegal under the newly ratified 麻萨诸塞州 宪法, 其中指出:

“人人生而自由平等, 并且有一定的自然, 至关重要的, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, 拥有, and protecting property; in fine, 那就是寻求和获得他们的安全和幸福."

This section of the state constitution has since been altered to explicitly forbid discrimination on the basis of "sex, 比赛, color, 信仰或国籍." The jury found Sedgwick's arguments convincing, and both Freeman and 布朗 were set free. John Ashley was also instructed to pay thirty shillings in damages plus trial costs. Ashley initially appealed this decision to the Supreme Judicial Court of 麻萨诸塞州, the highest court in the Commonwealth; however, 他在上诉提交法院之前就放弃了, presumably because of the intervening decisions in the Quock沃克 trials, which made it clear that no court in 麻萨诸塞州 would ever find slavery legal under the new 宪法.

人们对布朗作为自由人的生活几乎一无所知, but the remaining 48 years of Elizabeth Freeman's life are very well documented. She became a paid servant in the household of Theodore Sedgwick, and Sedgwick's youngest daughter, 凯瑟琳·玛丽亚写了一份利记APP官网手机版她生活的草稿， 这本书的标题是《新英格兰的奴隶制 本特利的混杂 in 1853.

Freeman remained a servant of the Sedgwick family for more than two decades. 在一个著名的事件中, she single-handedly defended the Sedgwick house from a small mob of rebels during Shays's Rebellion in 1787 (Sedgwick himself was away from home working to end the rebellion). 弗里曼最终实现了经济独立, working as a midwife and healer in Stockbridge and purchasing her own house. 在她死的时候, she was the second wealthiest Black landowner in the area and left an estate that included 19 acres of land, 家具, 珠宝, 还有精美的衣服. Freeman died in 1829 and is the only non-family member buried in the "inner circle" of the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, 麻萨诸塞州. 她的墓志铭写道:

伊丽莎白·弗里曼，以MUMBET的名字为人所知，于12月10日去世. 28 1829. 据推测她的年龄是85岁. 她生下来就是一个奴隶，并且做了将近三十年的奴隶. She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior nor equal. 她既不浪费时间，也不浪费财产. 她从未违背过信托，也从未失职. In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper, and the tenderest friend. 好妈妈，祝你平安."

Quock沃克

我们对奎克·沃克知之甚少. 他出生在一个奴隶家庭，1754年被卖给了詹姆斯·考德威尔. 1763年考德威尔去世后, 他的遗孀嫁给了纳撒尼尔·詹尼森, 当她搬到Barre的新婚丈夫的房子时，她也带着Walker, 麻萨诸塞州. 后来，沃克成了詹尼森的财产.

Both James Caldwell and his widow had apparently promised Walker his freedom, 但詹尼森拒绝释放他. In 1781 Walker escaped from Nathaniel Jennison and sought refuge in the Caldwell house, 和他前奴隶的兄弟在一起. Jennison, in the course of reclaiming what he saw as his property, beat Walker severely.

Three separate trials arose from this incident, two civil and one criminal. The first two cases were tried simultaneously before the Worcester County Court of Common Pleas. 在第一种情况下, 沃克起诉詹尼森非法殴打他人, claiming that he had been promised freedom by James Caldwell more than three years earlier, 因此, 是一个自由的人. 陪审团发现沃克实际上是一个自由人, 并奖励给他50英镑(一大笔钱), 但远低于他要求的300英镑。). 在第二个, 同时试验, Jennison sued the Caldwell brothers for interfering with his property and "enticing" Walker to run away for their own benefit. 在这个案子中，陪审团判詹尼森胜诉，判给他25英镑.

这两起案件都在1781年被上诉到最高司法法院. 詹尼森缺席了(未出场), and the Caldwell brothers won theirs based on the argument that the 麻萨诸塞州 宪法 guaranteed equality and freedom for "all men."

在第三次试验中, 刑事案件, the attorney general prosecuted Jennison for criminal assault and battery before the Supreme Judical Court of 麻萨诸塞州 in April 1783. 詹尼森被判有罪，并被判处支付40先令的赔偿金. Walker's arguments persuaded Chief Justice William Cushing, who wrote in his 试验指出 that "there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational Creature ...他在陪审团审议前对他们说, 他说奴隶制在马萨诸塞州是违宪的, and they must consider Walker a free man when deciding if Jennison were guilty of assault and battery.

还有伊丽莎白·弗里曼案的判决, the Quock沃克 trials effectively ended slavery as a legal practice in 麻萨诸塞州. 然而，奴隶制在一段时间内并没有完全消失. 常被改写为契约奴隶(请参阅迪克·莫雷合同的在线显示), slavery was not unheard of in 麻萨诸塞州 through the end of the eighteenth century.

特色项目

威廉·库欣利记APP官网手机版奎克·沃克案的法律笔记，[1783]
由Elizabeth Freeman(“Mumbet”)项链上的金珠制成的手镯
黄金，18世纪晚期