ABSTRACT
Residents of the new state of Vermont outlawed slavery when they drafted a constitution in 1777. In some states, emancipation acts were the result of pressure exerted by the slaves themselves. In Massachusetts, where the state's 1780 b i l l of rights claimed that al l people were born "free and equal , " an enterprising slave named Elizabeth Freeman sued for freedom and w o n in 1781, m a k i n g her surname a reality. N o t only d id the county court of Great Barr ington rule in Freeman's favor-the court also awarded her damages against her former master. Two years later, the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial C o u r t , inf luenced by Freeman's and other slaves' suits for freedom-declared that the court was " fu l ly of the opinion that perpetual servitude can no longer be tolerated in our government." Hundreds of slaves promptly declared themselves free in Massachusetts and N e w Hampshire and left their masters.
