Massachusetts legislature never had the courage/fortitude/or whatever to vote on slavery. I’ll say it again, Massachusetts never passed any laws against slavery.
It’s very much like Massachusetts and gay marriage. They never passed laws against it. It was Maggie Marshall (born in South Africa) who ruled from the Supreme Court who allowed it.
Here is a very interesting website. I think we will both find it interesting.
http://slavenorth.com/massemancip.htm
Ladyjane: “Massachusetts legislature never had the courage/fortitude/or whatever to vote on slavery.
I’ll say it again, Massachusetts never passed any laws against slavery. “
I’ll say it again: so what?
Every ten years between 1790 and 1860 the Federal Government conducted a census, just as it does today.
In all that time, Massachusetts only recorded ONE SLAVE.
Not one thousand, or one million, ONE SLAVE, period, in 1840!
So how can you fault a law, or the lack of a law, when RESULTS clearly show the absence of slavery in Massachusetts?
Indeed the great complaint from 1861 Deep South secessionists was that northern states like Massachusetts were not vigorously enough rounding up and returning their runaway Fugitive Slaves.
So, in 1860 Massachusetts was a sanctuary state, not a previously unsuspected “slave state”.