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“FOR AS MUCH as Liberty is in real value next unto Life: None ought to part with it themselves, or deprive others of it, but upon most mature Consideration.”
Featured Item from the MHS Collection

“Idea of Slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct & Constitution & there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational Creature”

This is a selection of notes from a legal notebook kept by William Cushing, the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, regarding the 1783 case of Quock Walker. The jury found in favor of Walker, an enslaved person who ran away from his enslaver, Nathaniel Jennison, in 1781. Walker's case rested on the fact that his former enslaver had promised to free him on Walker’s 25th birthday, a promise which Jennison had ignored. Cushing wrote that “there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature.” When the judge gave his instructions to the jury, he explicitly declared slavery incompatible with the new Constitution of Massachusetts. Although this case did not immediately emancipate every enslaved person in the state, it did mark the end of slavery as a legal practice in Massachusetts. Read a transcription of Cushing’s legal notes.
Upcoming Programs
On Wednesday, 9 September, at 5:30 PM, John Dean, William Weld, and Edward Widmer present Standing Up, Stepping Forward, & Speaking Out: The Political Courage to take a Principled Stand.

On Thursday, 10 September, at 12:00 PM, Yiyun Huang, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, presents John Adams & China: Globalizing Early America.

On Monday, 14 September, at 5:30 PM, Gorden Edes, Historian of the Boston Red Sox, presents The Boston Red Sox & WWII.

On Wednesday, 16 September, at 5:30 PM, Karen Burciaga, Dan Meyers, and Matthew Wright of Seven Times Salt, present Pilgrims’ Progress: Music of the Plimoth Colony Settlers 1590-1645.

On Thursday, 17 September at 3:30 PM, the MHS hosts its 11th annual Graduate Student Reception.

From Monday, 12 October to Friday, 16 October, the MHS will host the Conrad E. Wright Research Conference “Shall Not Be Denied”: The 15th and 19th Amendments at the Sesquicentennial and Centennial of their Ratifications. Register for the virtual conference.

Visit www.masshist.org/events for more information and to register. To view a selection of past programs, go to www.masshist.org/video or visit our YouTube channel.
Share Your COVID-19 Experience(s)

The MHS invites you to contribute your COVID-19 experience(s) to our collection. Record your experiences on a daily, weekly, or intermittent basis. You can contribute your thoughts and images online. Visit our COVID-19 web display to learn more and to share your thoughts. Or, you can keep a journal and donate it to the MHS. Contact collections@masshist.org for more information.  
 
Thank you to everyone who has shared so far. If you have not yet done so or would like to contribute again, please visit: www.masshist.org/projects/covid/index.php. You can also read what others have shared.
To initiate a chat, click the “Ask a Librarian” bubble on our Virtual Reference and Chat Services webpage. Chat service is currently available Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and on Tuesday, from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM, excluding holidays when the library is closed.

Our Members are the heart of the MHS community and an integral part of the MHS story. Become a Member to help make possible the Society’s mission to promote the study of American history. Receive benefits including invitations to enhanced Member-only events; free or discounted admission to special programs; and access to publications such as our calendar of events, newsletter, and Annual Report. Learn more at www.masshist.org/support/members.