Parliament and Slavery, 1660–c.1710

The discovery of the texts of several abortive bills that would enable the regulation of the status of slaves by Parliament at Westminster provides an opportunity for a preliminary exploration of a hitherto unknown discourse about slavery in late seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century England. The proposed legislation focused on the spiritual welfare of slaves and the associated need to eradicate the traditional belief that baptism conferred manumission. These documents suggest that slavery was recognised as legal in England as well as in the colonies but also indicate the existence of radical proposals to institute more humane treatment of slaves. Notes The mid eighteenth century is posited by Davis, The Problem of Slavery, 412, Eltis, Rise of African Slavery, 83, and Haskill, 'Capitalism', 107–160. Those who find antislavery perspectives earlier include Rosenberg, 'Thomas Tryon' and Greene, 'A Plain and Natural Right'. The belief that Christians could not enslave other Christians and that conversion to Christianity conferred manumission had a long history. For commentary on the differences between protestant and catholic attitudes to the baptism of slaves and colonial responses, see Davis, The Problem of Slavery, 197–222; Thomas, The Slave Trade, 65–66, 71–72, 397–399; Jernegan, 'Slavery and Conversion'; Jordan, White over Black, 180–212; Higginbotham, In the Matter of Color, 36–38, 126–131, 199–200. On Barbados, see Gragg, Englishmen Transplanted, 161–164. For a recent account of the social construction of race in the early modern period, see Floyd-Wilson, English Ethnicity. Williams (Capitalism and Slavery) argued that racism resulted from slavery whilst Jordan (White Over Black) believed it began long before. See Allen, The Invention of the White Race, I: 1–24, for a useful summary of the debate. Eltis (Rise of African Slavery, 82–83) argues that the English erected barriers against conversion and that they rarely protested the treatment of Africans before the eighteenth century. Beckles (History of Barbados, 45) demonstrates that the 1688 Barbadan slave code made 'no legal provisions for the Christianization of Africans'; his conclusion that Africans 'were generally conceived by the Anglican Church as mentally unable to understand the concept of faith and the Christian vision' may not apply to the Anglican Church in England, given the documents published here. Many of the draft bills use formulations like 'Negroes & Infidells' in document 1, but document 5 refers directly to 'Slaves, whether Negroes or Indians in the English Plantations'. On Indian slavery, see Chaplin, Subject Matter, 122–123, 227–228, 269 and Guasco, 'To Doe Some Good' and 'Settling with Slavery'. Guasco argues that Indian slavery in Tudor and Stuart British colonies were less like that of Africans, and more like the slavery experienced by Europeans, as prisoners of war and or as a punitive measure. LJ, 12, 16 Feb. 1674. No draft of the bill survives but it is probable that it sought to clarify and legitimise the rights of employers rather than those of their employees. For an overview of the aims and objectives of such legislation, see Hay and Craven, Masters, Servants, and Magistrates and Beckles, White Servitude. Godwyn, The Negro's & Indians Advocate, 36. For a modern analysis, see Beckles and Downes, 'The Economics of Transition', 225–247. For an overview of the Barbadan economy and its dependence on slave labour, see Menard, Sweet Negotiations. Menard (116–120) finds that Barbados exported racialisation to England and its colonies in the second half of the seventeenth century. Amussen, Caribbean Exchanges, 12, 21–23 argues that slaveholding in general moved the English toward 'systematic racial thinking'. Baxter accepted that slavery of Christians could be justified if an individual entered into it voluntarily or if the individual had been subjected to it compulsorily either as a penal sanction or as a result of becoming a prisoner of war; he did not equate slavery with race and does not appear to have considered it to have been a hereditary condition. Baxter, A Christian Directory, I.557–560. Malcolmson, 'The Explication of Whiteness and Blackness'. Hunter, Boyle: Between God and Science, esp. chs 10, 12. Gibson, 'A Bishop for Virginia'. Rushworth, Collections, II.468. CJ, 13:799. CSP Dom. 1686–1687, p.359. Godwyn, Trade Preferr'd before Religion, pp.4–5. London Gazette, 27 August 1677, 2. White runaways were also advertised but in ways that imply the possession of stolen goods. CSP Dom. June 1687–February 1689, 234; Middlesex Sessions Books, typescript calendar, January 1683–July 1686, 74–75. Colonial History of New York, 3:36; CSP Col. 1574–1660, 492–493. Godwyn, Trade Preferr'd before religion, 6. Hill, Afer Baptizatus; Fleetwood, A Sermon, 20; Gibson, Letter, 11. Hening, Statutes, 2: 260 (Act III). The protagonists in two leading slavery cases (James Somerset and Charlotte Howe) had both been baptised after arriving in England. Paley, 'After Somerset', 169n, 177n and 'Imperial Politics'. For an accessible overview of the legal background, see Wiecek, 'Somerset'. CJ, 33:689. Andrews, Guide. CSP Col. 1564–1660: 492–493; 1661–1668: 169. CSP Col. 1677–1780, entry 1535. For a more detailed account of the Boyle Papers, see Hunter et al., Boyle Papers, chs 1–2. Hunter et al., Boyle Papers, 301–314; above, n. 10. Royal Society, BP 3, fols 127–134. Winton is the standard abbreviation for Winchester. Discussions of Godwyn's work as an early example of humanitarian sensibility include Vaughan, 'Slaveholders' and 'Hellish Principles' and Rosenberg, 'Thomas Tryon', 629–630. Godwyn, Supplement; Revival; Trade Preferr'd Before Religion. In 1675, Morley sent a work by Godwyn to officials of the Virginia Colony in England. Since Godwyn had expressly addressed his 'Account' to Morley, it is probable that this is the work in question. Francis Moryson, eventually lieutenant governor to the colony, informed the colonial authorities of it, and criticised Godwyn for his 'virulent libel' (Neill, Virginia Carolorum, 343–345). Vaughan dates the 'Account' to 1680–1685, but its wording (fols 127–128) proves that it was composed before Sir William Berkeley was removed as governor in 1676 (Roots of American Racism, 62–63). By 1680 Morley was unwell and had withdrawn from court life, so it was an astute move on Godwyn's part to dedicate the printed work to Sancroft instead. Godwyn, Supplement, 7–8. See also Advocate, 146; and Trade Preferr'd Before Religion, 5–6. Godwyn, Trade Preferr'd Before Religion, 6. Hunter, Between God and Science, ch. 12. Brokesby, Some Proposals, 12. Humphreys, Historical Account; Klingsberg, Appraisal of the Negro, 1–54. Lambeth Palace Library, Fulham papers (colonial). Dunn, Sugar and Slaves; Gaspar, 'Barbados Slave Laws'. The format matches that of other documents in the Boyle Papers, with a centred title and a series of propositions starting 'That'. See, e.g., BP 9, fol. 56 and BP 9, fols 69–70, on the Boyle website, www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle. Godwyn used very similar language, see Advocate, 110–111. CSP Col. xiv. 444–448. CSP Dom. 1691–1692, p.542. We are indebted for this reference to Dr Beverly Adams. On the moral programme of William III and Burnet's role, see Claydon, William III. Locke, Second Treatise, ch. 4.24; van Cleve, 'Somerset's case', 603–604. Raymond, Reports, 2:147. Hay and Craven, Masters, servants and magistrates, 28. For slave codes, see Higginbotham, In the Matter of Color. Hunter, Between God and Science, chs 10, 12. See Hunter et al., Boyle Papers, 48. These mostly appear to be in the same nondescript scribal hand, except that the first, the insertion of 'belonging to' seems to be in a different one. Fol. 119v is blank except for the endorsement 'Barbadoe's' written at right angles to the direction of the text on the recto. There is another, deleted word above it (conceivably 'Surd' [?]). The copy has slight differences of orthography from the original and occasional minor transcription errors. This amanuensis mainly worked for Boyle c.1680 but occasional examples of the hand occur up to 1689. See Hunter et al., Boyle Papers, 53. The other change in Greg's hand is the addition of 'their' two lines above. The datings of '[1670]' and 'c.1670' given in Hunter et al., Boyle Papers, 311, are erroneous. Compton fell out of favour and was suspended in 1686. For further details of his claim to colonial jurisdiction, see the administrative history section of the introduction to the catalogue of Fulham Papers Colonial (held at Lambeth Palace Library). It is written in a scribal hand on two pot sheets which have been bound sideways into the volume so that they are gathered in the middle of the page. The versos are blank, meaning that the text is on fols 161v, 162r, 163v, and 164r, with no text on fols 161r, 162v, 163r, or 164v. There are various minor differences between the two versions, some obviously copying errors, others noted in the apparatus. In addition, one alteration is made in both – 'by' is altered to 'in' before 'Church of England' – which may imply that redrafting occurred after the copy had been made and when both it and the original were to hand. Brokesby, Some Proposals, 12; the letter is discussed in Greene, 'Plain and natural right'. CJ, xvi. 372. Bartolome de las Casas (1474–1566) has sometimes been dubbed the father of liberation theology. A translation of his Account had been published in England in 1583. It was reissued in 1699, perhaps significantly by the same printer (John Darby) who published Godwyn's works. For a contrasting view, see Eltis, Rise of African Slavery, 15–18. Amussen, Caribbean Exchanges; Rosenberg, 'Thomas Tryon'; Greene, 'A Plain and Natural Right'. Athenian Gazette, 3 November 1694. Endorsed (fol. 53v): 'An Act for the Baptizing of Negroes &c'. Followed by slash (/) after which text continues. Replacing 'Sabbath' deleted. Altered from 'Principalls'. Between 'Christian' and 'faith', 'f' deleted: in other words, they were originally run together. Followed by 'and' deleted. Altered from 'incouraged'. Altered in composition, as is 'meanes', 'Barbado's' and 'soule'. Replacing 'within' deleted. Replacing 'belong' deleted, perhaps mistranscribed from 'long'. Apparently originally left blank and inserted retrospectively. Ditto. Followed by 's' deleted. Ditto. Here there is a space of half a line. Followed by 'sh'[?] deleted. Replacing 'baptised shall' deleted. This may simply be a space-filler: it is omitted in BP 4, fol. 120. Replacing 'Doe'. Altered in composition. Replacing 'learne'. The next word, 'Christians' is altered from 'Christianity'. Replacing 'may' deleted. Altered in composition. BP 4 has 'hereof'. Followed by 'without any just ground' deleted. Followed by 'the' deleted. Preceded by 'by' in BP 4. Replacing 'subject' deleted. Three words later, 'be' followed by 'iud' deleted. Replacing 'Subjection' deleted. Altered from 'servants' in BP 4. Replacing 'by' deleted (also in BP 4). Followed by a deleted cross. Followed by 'the' deleted. Followed by '&' in BP 4, fol. 127 (but not 128). 'chattels' in BP 4, fol. 127 (but not 128). Inserted in BP 4, fol. 127. Integral to BP 4, fol. 128, as to BP 35, fol. 176. Altered from 'whatsoever'. Both BP 4 versions have 'whosoever'. Endorsed 'A Draught of the Bill for converting the Negros &c In the Plantations'. Later annotation in Tenison's hand. The other annotations also appear to be in Tenison's hand. 'therefore' deleted 'shall hereafter' deleted; 'now' may be interlined and deleted 'hereafter' is a marginal addition. Accessible online via 17th–18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers. A reference to negotiations over the future of the Royal African Company. A high quality beer brewed, as the name suggests, in the autumn. Sacheverell advocated passive obedience, a doctrine that the whigs associated with Jacobitism. Observator here links the issue of negro slavery to the political rhetoric of the day, bracketing popery and slavery together. A traditional proverb referring to those who are too feeble to put threats into practice. For the text of the funeral speech, see Greene, 'A Plain and Natural Right', 804–808. Bartolome de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapas. See Casas, Account, 21.