were, consequently, sought after. As early as
1641 Massachusetts adopted a body of fundamental laws. The
magistrates,[277] armed with authority from the crown of Great
Britain, had long exercised a power which well-nigh trenched upon the
personal rights of the people. The latter desired a revision of the
laws, and such modifications of the power and discretion of the
magistrates as would be in sympathy with the spirit of personal
liberty that pervaded the minds of the colonists. But while the people
sought to wrest an arbitrary power from the unwilling hands of their
judges, they found no pity in their hearts for the poor Negroes in
their midst, who, having served as slaves because of their numerical
weakness and the passive silence of justice, were now to become the
legal and statutory vassals--for their life-time--of a liberty-loving
and liberty-seeking people! In the famous "Body of Liberties" is to be
found the first statute establishing slavery in the United States. It
is as follows:--

"It is ordered by this court, and the authority thereof;
that there shall never be any bond slavery, villainage or
captivity amongst us, unless it be lawful captives taken in
just wars, as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us,
and such shall have the liberties and christian usage which
the law of God established in Israel concerning such persons
doth morally require; provided this exempts none from
servitude, who shall be judged thereto by authority."[278]

We have omitted the old spelling, but none of the words, as they
appeared in the original manuscript. There isn't the shadow of a doubt
but what this law has been preserved inviolate.[279]

There has been considerable discussion about the real bearing of this
statute. Many zealous historians, in discussing it, have betrayed more
zeal for the good name of the Commonwealth than for the truth of
history. Able lawyers--and some of them still survive--have
maintained, with a greater show of learning than of facts, that this
statute abolished slavery in Massachusetts. But, on the other hand,
there are countless lawyers who pronounce it a plain and unmistakable
law, "creating and establishing slavery." An examination of the
statute will help the reader to a clear understanding of it. To begin
with, this law received its being from the existent _fact_ of slavery
in the colony. From the practice of a few holding Negroes as slaves,
it bec