Refers to attempt in 1767 by legislature to “discourage the slave trade”; both houses could not concur, and it failed to pass. A similar attempt failed in 1774.
Refers to a 1770 case in which local negro gains freedom through courts; does not give a name, but I suspect it must have been the slave to Richard Lechmere, of Cambridge, who did gain his freedom that year.
“During the revolution-war, the “public opinion was strongly in favor of the abolition of slavery, that in some of the country towns, votes were cast in town meetings that they would have no slaves among them……”
Refers to a 1781 court in Worcester County which fines a white man for assaulting and beating a black slave.
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