Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I refer the gentleman
to 5 Leigh's Reports, 615, in the famous case of
Betty, it al., vs. Horton. He will find that
there, Judge Tucker, of Virginia, an excellent
authority, expressly proves and establishes
the contrary. But, whatever it might have
been at common law, the statute overrides
common law where it exists. And gentle-
men will find that the earliest statute in Mas-
sachusetts in 1641, read in these words:
"There shall never be any bond slavery,
villenage or captivity amongst us, unless it
be lawful captives taken in just wars and
such strangers as willingly sell themselves or
are sold to us. And these shall have all the
liberties and Christian usages which the law
of God established in Israel doth morally
require."
There were certain slaves there subsequent-
ly. If gentlemen will examine the old colonial
records, they will find that in those days cer-
tain crimes were punished by sentencing the
offenders to serve as slaves; in some cases
the time was not mentioned.
Mr. MILLER. I will ask the gentleman
whether or not the Continental Congress, as
it was called, in Massachusetts in 1775, did
not prohibit the enlistment of slaves into the
army of that commonwealth, because it was
contrary to the principles upon which the
revolution was commenced?
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. Well, sir, I choose to
answer the gentleman, and I will answer him
now. He is very fond of law and I will give
him the law. In 1780, Massachusetts adopt-
ed a Constitution which said that " all men
are born free and equal." And when short-
ly afterwards, a case came before the Supreme
Court of that State, they decided that slave-
ry bad no existence in that State. And the
unanimous opinion of the court was that a
negro born in that State before that Consti-
tution was adopted was born free, although
born of a slave mother. And Judge Shaw,
'who is pretty good authority in these mat-
ters, after having examined the case with that
wonderful industry and care for which he
was noted throughout the United States, says
that he could find no authority for believing
that slavery ever had any legal existence in
that State.
But whether it did exist or not. there or
anywhere else, there was no such thing ever
done as the selling of slaves there and the
putting the money for them in their pockets,
and then raising the cry for freedom of
slaves. Let me read from the United States
census reports:
" It may not be out of place to state that
the American States, which in the past cen-
tury abolished slavery, permitted the free
colored population to enjoy every right con-
sistent with their condition as aclass, and al-
lowed bond and free to remain during their
natural lives in the State or colony where
they lived. This fact, although sometimes |
questioned, can be demonstrated beyond ca-
vil; and the contrary can only he urged by
such as are unfamiliar with the subject or have
an object in the misrepresentation. The plan
of gradual emancipation probably tended to
this result, as those who were living in bond-
age continued to be slaves, while their de-
scendants were generally to become free at
such period as they were qualified to main-
tain their own existence by labor. An ex-
amination of the relative number at different
successive periods until slavery became ex-
tinct, must lead to conclusions that no ma-
terial deportation of slaves occurred shortly
before or after the passage of emancipation
acts—a fact which cannot becontroverted."
I have examined these tables and made a
compilation with no little care, and beg leave
to lay it before the Convention. It shows
the whole North—the six New England
States, New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania, during the entire period of transition
from slave States to free, and what it pre-
sents in gross is shown in detail if we take
State by State:
JL us i» ^-J.*
» & ^S ^.0^5
1 l-: ^ llllj
-: I . U il. §« III
§ s § ^ 1^ p W
t» h B ^ S 6^""
1790 37,109 40,370 67,479
1800 46,654 35,811 82,465 19,54:1 4,559 14,986
1810 75,155 27,081 103,337 38,503 8,730 19,772
1830 93,697 18,0011110,698 17,541 9,080 8,461
1830 133,434 37801-35,314 39,73715,321 14,581
1840 141,559 765 142,324 19,125 2,015 17,110
1850 149,523 231149,762 7,967 529 7,438
1860 155,883 18155,901 6,357 218 6,139
Now, do not these statistics show as clear
as tire sunlight that what few slaves existed
in the north, (the 40,370 all I old, found there by
the census of 1790) passed over by the regular
course of events into the class of tree colored
persons, and that there is no single instance
where the increase of free colored persons
beyond the natural increase will not be
found sufficient to account for all the de-
crease of the class of slaves?
Mr. BRISCOE. It is certainly the fact that
the act of 1740 odd, did prohibit the institu-
tion of slavery. But I think if the gentleman
will look into the newspaper published in
Boston, which published the Declaration of
Independence—and being a native of Massa-
chusetts, of course he has had access to that
record—he will find that that very paper ad-
vertised a negro man to be sold.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I think it very likely.
I have not denied that there were slaves in
Massachusetts as a matter of/act. There may
have been a negro advertised to be sold as a
slave. He may have been there wrongfully,
or he may have been sentenced to be a slave |
