musr make no small reckoning of a man," what was called the English settlement was taking shape. T his was based on an evolving commo n understanding of what was fit and appropriate action, rather than to a prescribed code of law. One sees this vital principle of the Common Law in M ansfi eld's very decision, in his fi ndings that slave ry is "odious" and that we must let the slave go free despite the violation of properry rights invo lved . Unfortunately, the very flexibiliry and sinewy strength of this principle entailed granting broad powers to colonial governments-particularly the wealthy plantation governments of the Wes r Indies and the American South. C onditions in the French coloni es were actually better for slaves, since local planters were firml y held to the laws of the mother country. But freedom did nor come ro rhe British West Indies until the 1830s, and to the American South until rhe 1860s. In England and Canada, however, freedom from slavery came to stay in 1772. This challenge to what had been a worldwide institution since recorded It Just Wasn't Done history began did not come out of thin air. QuesSeafaring gave Frederick D ouglass as a child his first dreams of a better life in freedom, suggestively, in rhe tions about slavery had fermented for years in the free movement of sailing craft on rhe bay. T he English language. Among the first protests were those against the enslave ment of white people by support sys tem of black seafarers, more practically, Muslim corsairs in the Mediterranean world, a masgave him the impetus and the occasion for his escape from slavery in Baltimore. And embarking fo r Enter-slave relationship that might strike one as strange gland bro ught him to the fo untainhead of freedom roday, but which was all too common in rhe 1600s for black .Africans. T h at freedom had been achieved and 1700s. M ary Rowlandson published in Camin England in the previous century. bridge, Massachusetts, in 1682 a narration of her Slave1y was never actually abolished on English captiviry and restoration under the ti de The Soveraignty so il. It was simply determ ined that it could not exist Frederick Douglass, whose and Goodness of God-and there were others. under English law. Just before the American Revolu- walk to freedom Led him to By the end of 1772, the year of the Mansfield tion, this was conveyed in a decision rendered by a cross the Atlanticfor support decision, Jam es Albert Gronniosaw' s Narrative of an African Prince had been published. Works by other seasoned 67-year-old judge, one William Murray, to end slavery in the US. Baron M ansfield, Lord Chief Justice of the King's black authors fo llowed. Perhaps the most remarkable Bench, a jurist noted fo r his contributions to commercial law. T he testament was that of G ustavus Vassa. Born in Nigeria as O laudah case was bro ught by James Somersett, a black man fro m the Equiano about 1745, he was captured in a tribal raid at age 10 and American C olonies who claimed his freedom, having been bro ught sold ro English slave traders. H e went through th e ho rrors of the ro England by his maste r on a visit there. T he case came before M iddle Passage to Jamaica and then to Virginia. There he was M ansfield because the maste r claimed Somersett as his properry. bought by a British naval offi cer, M ichael H enry Pascal, as his No jury was involved, for rhe fac ts were not in dispute-it was a servant. In the Royal N avy he learned a seaman's skills-and, by his plain question of whether a person could legal ly be owned as own acco unt, a seaman 's attitude of hard work, initiative and pro perry. inde pendence-serving in the Royal N avy through the Seven M ansfield heard extended arguments that Somersett sh ould be Years' W ar until 1762. H e was promised his freedom bur Pascal returned to his mas ter, but he fo und that slavery is so "od io us" a reneged and sold Equiano back inro slavery in the W es t Indies. co ndition that it cannot be upheld without positive law affirming Equiano then proceeded ro earn his freedom by managing moneyit. In the absence of any such law, slavery could not exist. In maki ng ventures for his new maste r, saving enough ro buy his own summing up Mansfi eld observed: freedom. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow fro m a Of his four years sailing as a slave in rhe West Indies he says: "I decision, I can nor say this case is allowed or approved by the made every exertion ro obtain my freedom and return to Old law of England, and therefore the black must be discharged . England," but fi rs t he felr obli ged to continue sailing in the interAnd Lord M ansfi eld ruled, on 22 June 1772, that "as soon as any island trade for his former mas ter in the West Indies . This slave sets foot in England he becomes free." included a stint of setting up a slave plantation on the Mosquito Why had this forwa rd stride in the progress of humani ry taken Coast in Central America. Finally he broke away from the place in England? It was perhaps due ro rhe burden of history islands-in all he had traded ro fifreen of th em in his four years' embedded in the English language. Language is shaped by expe- service, and to Savannah, C harl eston, Richmond and Philadelrien ce, and in turn language does much to shape people's views of phia as well , surviving dismas ting and shipwreck. the world. English is a language sh aped by invasion, resistance and He secured a berth fo r England, "where my heart had always comprom ise. By rhe rime of Francis Drake, who said once, "We been," and went ro live wirh rwo sis rers, cousins of Pascal, in the fri end Sojourner T ruth that slavery could end only in bloodshed , but he strongly counseled John Brown against his armed raid on H arper's Ferry, warning rhar violence wo uld "rive r rhe fetters of bondage mo re firmly." During the C ivil War he urged Presiden t Lincoln ro declare all blacks in America free, rather than j usr rhose behind the Co nfederate lines . Late r rhis step was taken . Bur to Douglass, who generallyaccep red rhe need fo r srep-by-step progress, it should have been "freedom now" fo r all Americans. H e preached-and practiced- the education of black Americans in rhe skills and attitudes needed fo r economic and social independence. H e told rhe wo rld-fam ous abolirionisr aurhor Julia W ard H owe rhar rhe funds she generously gave to black charities were more needed for independence-oriented educa tion rhan fo r welfa re measures . H e urged peo ple to wo rk hard and save fo r rheir future, saying: "This part of our destiny is in our ow n hands."
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SEA HISTORY 97 , SUMMER 2001