Right to Freedom

Right to FreedomThe Massachusetts slaves are asking for their right to freedom, through a petition that claimed that they have in common with other men, a natural right to be free. The various ways through which the slaves in colonial Massachusetts could gain their freedom include running away which was a dangerous method, through manumission which was the legal act of freeing a slave, through legal petition as well as suing their masters for their freedom.

Thomas Jefferson rights of British Americans, on the other hand, was written in 1774, before the declaration of the United States independence. Jefferson laid out for delegates to the first continental congress a set of grievances against King George III in response to the Boston Tea Party. Jefferson stated that the British Parliament did not have the right to govern the thirteen colonies arguing that since the individual colonies were founded, they were independent of the British rule and therefore, the American people did not owe any fees and rents for that land to the British crown.

Both the Massachusetts slaves and Jefferson had similar demands in that they were asking to be granted the right to freedom, only that the freedom was to be granted by a different master. Citizenship refers to belonging to a nation, and in both cases, the salves belonged to the American nation, similar to the indigenous Americans and this is why they need to be given the freedom to be free from a master rule. The main element of enlightenment that comes out in these readings is the element of reason, the slaves reasoned that they were the same with other people and thus needed to be given the right to natural freedom, Jefferson realized that the indigenous Americans had founded the nation and hence owed no one fees and rent for their land.

Reference

Jefferson, T. (1976). A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774). Academic Resources Corp.

MacEacheren, E. (1970). Emancipation of Slavery in in Massachusetts: A Reexamination, 1770-1790. The Journal of Negro History, 55(4), 289-306.