ohn Turner, having freed two servants, Titus and Rebeckah, give
bonds to the selectmen, that they shall be no public charge."

[370] John Adams's Works, vol. i. p. 51.

[371] Adams's Works, vol. i. p. 55.

[372] Drake, p. 525.

[373] The late Senator Sumner, in a speech delivered on the 28th of
June, 1854, refers to this as "the earliest testimony from any
official body against negro slavery." Even the weight of the senator's
assertion cannot resist the facts of history. The "resolve"
instructing the "representatives" was never carried; but, on the
contrary, the next Act was the law of 1703 restricting manumission!

[374] Journal H. of R., 15, 16. General Court Records, x. 282.

[375] Slavery in Mass., p. 106.

[376] It was thought to be lost for some years, until Dr. George H.
Moore secured a copy from George Brinley, Esq., of Hartford, Conn.,
and reproduced it in his Notes.

[377] History of Nantucket, p. 281.

[378] Coffin, p. 338; also History of Nantucket, pp. 279, 280.

[379] Coffin, p. 338.

CHAPTER XV.

THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS,--CONTINUED.

1633-1775.

THE ERA OF PROHIBITORY LEGISLATION AGAINST SLAVERY.--BOSTON
INSTRUCTS HER REPRESENTATIVES TO VOTE AGAINST THE
SLAVE-TRADE.--PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY GOV. DUMMER AGAINST THE
NEGROES, APRIL 13, 1723.--PERSECUTION OF THE
NEGROES.--"SUING FOR LIBERTY."--LETTER OF SAMUEL ADAMS TO
JOHN PICKERING, JUN., ON BEHALF OF NEGRO MEMORIALISTS--A
BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE PASSES.--IS
VETOED BY GOV. GAGE AND FAILS TO BECOME A LAW.

The time to urge legislation on the slavery question had come.
Cultivated at the first as a private enterprise, then fostered as a
patriarchal institution, slavery had grown to such gigantic
proportions as to be regarded as an unwieldy evil, and subversive of
the political stability of the colony. Men winked at the "day of its
small things," and it grew. Little legislation was required to
regulate it, and it began to take root in the social and political
life of the people. The necessities for legislation in favor of
slavery increased. Every year witnessed the enactment of laws more
severe, until they appeared as scars upon the body of the laws of the
colony. To erase these scars was the duty of the hour.

It was now 1755. More than a half-century of agitation and discussion
had prepared the people for definite action. Manumission and petition
were the first method