ABSTRACT
Enlightenment and of late seventeenth-century political philosopher John Locke, particularly for their arguments on the “natural” rights of life, liberty, and property (Mandell 2010, 78; Davis 1989, 248-263). Thus, these petitioners based their claims for rights on older traditions of thought and deliberately linked their texts to larger developments of the circulation of ideas in the transnational spaces, even though the documents specically addressed their spatial and temporal context. By utilizing the systems of petitioning established by the government, Blacks demonstrated their right to legal recognition. As noted in many scholarly works on black petitioning in Massachusetts, petitions had direct eects on the legal discussions and enactments of laws in the state, and their use of histories was central in their claims for rights.2 As has been recognized by many historians, Belinda Royall’s famous petition to the Massachusetts legislature in the year 1783 successfully sought support from the estate of her former owner, Isaac Royall, by utilizing extraordinary details and her personal history; however, her petition was only one of many documents sent to the legislature to establish rights and address grievances through histories.3 In particular, the group petitioning eorts of Massachusetts Blacks has been extensively studied and recognized for their use of history; in discussing the 1777 petition mentioned above, John Ernest states that it was, “an attempt, in short, to be recognized in history by speaking the language of history” (Ernest 2004, 46). Other group petitions from Blacks to the Massachusetts legislature included histories, such as this 1787 appeal for support and funds for transportation to Africa:
That we or our ancestors have been taken from all our dear connections and brought from Africa and put into a state of slavery in this country; from which unhappy situation we have been lately in some measure delivered by the new constitution which has been adopted by the state or by the free act of our former masters. But we yet nd ourselves in many respects in very disagreeable and disadvantageous circumstances most of which must attend us, so long as we and our children live in America. This, and other considerations which we need not here particularly mention, induce us earnestly to desire to return to Africa, our native country …4
This petition from Prince Hall and many other black abolitionists of Massachusetts asserted the history of enslavement and continued discrimination in the state, but their request for emigration funds was not successful in the legislature. A later group petition from the year 1798 had parallel uses of histories. The signatory lists of these two petitions do not overlap because this petition appears to have been led and circulated in the black communities of Salem, Massachusetts rather than Boston. In this document, the petitioners stated:
that they are descended from African origin-that they, or their ancestors, were transported from their native Country, to this land, by force, and under
circumstances of ignominy and degradation-that, tho the laws have relaxed their severity in regard to their condition, and the subscribers are declared free, yet there still exists such an invincible distinction of [complexion?], and such a mortifying inferiority, derived from that distinction and a sense of their degraded and unhappy station in society, that they are deprived of ambition and enterprise, their minds are unmanned, their genius shackled, and they are left destitute of those incitements to industry, exertion, and virtues …5
Signicantly, the petitioners identied themselves as “African” and detailed their enslavement in addition to the continued discrimination that they faced in Massachusetts despite the decline of slavery, which, as they clearly state, limited their opportunities in this location. Similar to the petition from the year 1787, this attempt to gain funding and support to go to Africa was unsuccessful.
