My recollection is that liberal biased judges deliberately twisted some words in the newly created Massachusetts constitution to declare it abolished slavery, but this was just blatant lying.
Activist courts ended slavery in Massachusetts.
Nobody passed any laws to do it."
And the bull sh*t just never stops with you, does it?
Here's the truth of it:
John Adams, Father of Massachusetts' State Constitution:
- In 1779 Massachusetts's constitutional convention, under guidance from John Adams, drafted its state constitution, including:
- "We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence, or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other, and of forming a new constitution of civil government for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain, and establish the following declaration of rights and frame of government as the constitution of the commonwealth of Massachusetts."
- "Part the First. A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
Article I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness."
- In 1780 Massachusetts ratified its state constitution.
- In 1781 the first anti-slavery lawsuits (Brom & Bett v. John Ashley) based on the new constitution, were submitted and won.
- In 1783 in Commonwealth v. Jennison Massachusetts supreme court Chief Justice William Cushing declared:
- "Slavery is in my judgment as effectively abolished as it can be by the granting of rights and privileges [in the constitution] wholly incompatible and repugnant to its existence."
- There were no efforts in Massachusetts to dispute, overturn or otherwise invalidate Chief Justice Cushing's anti-slavery ruling.
- Nor is there any record of a single Massachusetts slave (of circa 5,000 in 1780) being sold outside Massachusetts as a result of Cushing's ruling.
Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice William Cushing
Later Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
appointed by Pres. Washington in 1790:
In short, Cushing simply ruled what was obviously true: slavery was incompatible with Massachusetts new 1780 state constitution, and his ruling immediately freed all Massachusetts slaves, so no freedman could be sold out-of-state.
DiogenesLamp: "And of course, the Massachusetts slave owners simply took them out of state and sold them."
That's a lie.
There's no evidence to support even one Massachusetts slave sold out-of-state as a result of Justice Cushing's ruling.
DiogenesLamp: "Lots of fanfare for their activism, but didn't really do much for their declared cause."
It immediately freed all 5,000+ slaves in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts' population of freed-blacks grew to 6,000 in 1800 and 10,000 in 1860.
During the Civil War, Massachusetts provided 3 colored regiments:
- 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
- 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
- 5th Massachusetts Cavalry
So, mock & lie all you want, African Americans freed under Massachusetts' 1780 constitution saw their freedom as something valuable enough to be worth fighting for.