America's Debt to Quock Walker and Paul Cuffee

Early Americans Who Helped Pave the Way for Equal Rights in U.S.

Jul 22, 2009

Before the first Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. during the Civil War, the vision of founding father John Adams was put to the test in a Massachusetts courtroom.

An unknown scholar of History once opined, that the greatest and most interesting thing about the subject of his life's work, (the study of history) was that it always produced a treasure trove of seemingly never-ending gold nuggets, precious metals, or jewels to find and bring to the surface.

However in order for all the world to see and attest to this bounty, a researcher, scholar, journalist or writer has to be willing to do the hard work (the digging) that is required to make manifest these rich materials that are only just waiting to be discovered.

In the still mostly unwritten and untold history of African-Americans and their monumental struggles for equality and fairness during the formation and founding of the U.S., one such treasure trove exists in the legal battle of a Massachusetts slave Quock Walker and the life story of a wealthy, self-made, African-American shipping magnet Paul Cuffee.

Quock Walker Makes a Bold Legal Move

In 1754, a man named James Caldwell purchased a slave couple and their infant son. Mr. Caldwell passed away when the child was 10 years of age and Caldwell's widow inherited the family of slaves. But when she married a Mr. Nathaniel Jennison, the issue of ownership came into question because Quock Walker (the child slave) maintained that Mr. Caldwell had promised he would be freed at age 25, and that Mrs. Caldwell had amended that promise changing it to age 21.

Upon Mrs. Isabell Caldwell Jennison's death in 1773, when Walker was 19, Mr. Jennison decided not to honor the Caldwell's wishes that Quock Walker be freed. So at age 28, Walker fled his owner and went to work for relatives of the Caldwell's. Upon learning of Mr. Walkers whereabouts, Mr. Jennison savagely beat and physically removed Mr. Walker from where he was residing and working, transferring him back to his own farm, claiming him as his property.

Mr. Walker filed suit in Massachusetts state court, and the case was heard at Worcester County, in the Court of Common Pleas against Nathaniel Jennison for assault and battery. Subsequent to this action, Mr. Jennison filed suit against the Caldwell brothers for unlawfully enticing his servant, Walker "from the business and service of the said Nathaniel." Jennison asked for damages of 1,000 pounds.

Both cases went before the court on June 12, 1781. The Jennison v. Caldwell case produced a victory for Mr. Jennison and he was awarded 25 pounds, while in Walker v. Jennison, Mr. Walker prevailed with the jury finding him to be a free man and awarding him 50 pounds.

In the Walker case, Mr. Jennison's attorney had produced the evidence of a bill of sale for Mr. Walker's purchase and on the opposing side, Mr. Walker had reiterated his claim that the Caldwell's had promised his freedom first at 25 and then at 21. And Walker's attorney a Mr. Levi Lincoln, then went on to attack slavery on moral grounds, which proved a formidable combination as the jury found in favor of Walker.

Both cases were appealed and in September 1781, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court dismissed Jennison's appeal of Walker v. Jennison because his lawyer failed to file the court papers on time. And in the appeal of Jennison v. Caldwell, Mr. Lincoln again made the argument that slavery was contrary to the laws of God, nature, and the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution's Declaration of Rights, where the John Adams concept of all people being free and equal with inalienable rights was first implemented. And once again the jury decided that Walker was a free man, and as such the Caldwells were well within their rights to employ him, overturning the lower courts ruling.

However Jennison would not stop there, he continued to push his case and in January 1782, he asked the state legislature to be permitted to reenter his Walker appeal due to attorney negligence. And in June 1782, he submitted a statement saying "he was deprived the right of 10 Negro Servants" due to the court's interpretation of the Declaration of Rights clause, and claimed he should also receive relief of any obligation to support them.

Unfortunately for Jennison, no final determination was ever made on either either of his petitions. And as a direct result of these cases and subsequent others, slavery was effectively abolished in Massachusetts by 1790, paving the way for people like Paul Cuffee to successfully apply for voting rights and claim the ability to transfer his property and other assets to his heirs.

Speech at Yale University by Margaret H. Marshall, 23rd Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, June 7th 2007.

Article: DiCanio, Teddi The Quock Walker Trials: 1781-83. American Law and Legal Information

The copyright of the article America's Debt to Quock Walker and Paul Cuffee in Race & History is owned by Paul Hamilton. Permission to republish America's Debt to Quock Walker and Paul Cuffee in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.