The following vignettes come from Sedgwick’s pen. Catharine, writer and daughter of the house, told the story of “MumBet” (Mother Betty). She moved to Stockbridge with the family in 1785.
Others say Ashley filed an appeal and only dropped it when a second slave, Quock Walker, was freed, and Supreme Judicial Court Justice Cushing found, “the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our conduct and constitution.”įrom 1781 to the end of her life, Freeman was a paid servant in the Sedgwick household. It is hard to believe that the legal action was brought without Ashley’s tacit approval, a conclusion reinforced by the fact that Ashley did not pursue an appeal when MumBet won. It was an argument which Ashley literally endorsed. Sedgwick’s argument in court was essentially what he wrote in the Sheffield Resolves. She sought the help of attorney Sedgwick, a neighbor. Written by committee member Theodore Sedgwick, the Sheffield Resolves begin, “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property.” MumBet believed that Sedgwick’s words and those in the proposed Massachusetts Constitution meant she was entitled to be freed. The Sheffield Resolves were debated and approved in January 1773 by a committee in the home of the moderator: Col. Wherever she heard it, it echoed sentiments in a document read in her household. MumBet likely heard a reading in Sheffield town square it was less likely that a slave attended Sheffield town meeting. As part of the ratification process, it was carried around and read in town squares and at town meetings. In 1780, the Massachusetts Constitution was done. Shall they write a state constitution? Adams at first said no, but upon reflection Adams said yes and drafted it. They did not want to leave the British laws or the king’s appointees in place. Early in the Revolution, Massachusetts wrote John Adams and asked how the colony should be governed. In 1780, at approximately 36 years old, MumBet was a slave in Colonel John Ashley’s house in Sheffield. Sedgwick writes of the outstanding events in MumBet’s life - or the events in an outstanding life. In her article “Slavery in New England,” published in Bentley’s Miscellany in 1853, Catharine Sedgwick fills in the middle. In the end, Elizabeth Freeman was revered in the beginning, MumBet was treated as less than human - a possession. Good mother, farewell.” (Attributed to Catharine Sedgwick.) In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper and the tenderest friend. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years she could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. Her tombstone reads: “Elizabeth Freeman, also known by the name of MumBet died December 28th 1829. Lewis Carroll said, “Begin at the beginning, go on until you reach the end, then stop.” Just this once, let us begin at the end.
Elizabeth freeman free#
In telling her story - from slave to free woman - we also tell the story of a place – from colony to country.
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