Essay Read by Constituting America Founder, Actress Janine Turner

The story of how an enslaved black woman known as “Mum Bett” (aka “Elizabeth Freeman”) won her freedom by suing in state court during the Revolutionary War illustrates personal courage and legal daring, while also showcasing a foundational principle of the Declaration of Independence—consent—which was an important feature of the Massachusetts Constitution.

Although no black Americans helped frame that constitution, the freedom lawsuits of Mum Bett and other enslaved black people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts led not only to their individual manumission but also to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts between 1781 and 1783. Freeman can be considered a hero of consent because her liberation by lawsuit reinforced the idea that people should not be forced to work, let alone follow any laws, without gaining their permission first. Freeman’s lawsuit to reclaim her own authority and control over her life was no different than the revolutionary slogan, “No taxation without representation.” Both were the product of the American Revolution; both sought to prevent slavery from continuing in the American states once independence from England was achieved.

Born in 1744 in New York, she was later enslaved to Colonel John Ashley under the law of the Massachusetts colony. Freeman grew up not learning how to read or write. In 1780, with the war for American independence still underway, the citizens of Massachusetts wrote a new constitution for themselves. Its Declaration of Rights begins: “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights.” The Massachusetts constitution also speaks of a “social compact” and a “voluntary association of individuals.” Equality, individual rights, compact, and voluntary association all point to consent.

Freeman overheard a conversation about the new Massachusetts constitution, which affirmed the natural equality of all human beings regardless of whether a person was black or white, female or male. She knew slavery was wrong; people should have to get her consent before telling her what to do. However, Freeman’s awareness that her status as a slave was a denial of her consent was only the start of her journey to freedom. She needed the protection of the laws and courts. Freeman did not allow unjust circumstances, like racist laws or social norms, to prevent her from seeking to be free in the eyes of the law and the constitution of Massachusetts. She did not wait for her environment to change before she exercised her freedom to sue for her rights, and see if the men, laws, and constitution of Massachusetts would give her justice.
There was no guarantee that she would win her lawsuit, but Freeman bravely sued for her freedom from her legal master. On August 22, 1781, in the case of Brom and Bett v. Ashley, a jury composed entirely of white men declared that Bett and another slave named Brom were not “legal servants” of John Ashley and awarded them thirty shillings and assessed Ashley court costs. To her credit, and the credit of the judge in her case and the jury of men who decided her fate, the case led not only to her freedom but also contributed to the abolition of slavery throughout Massachusetts as other men and women sued for their freedom and won.

The successful freedom suit of Quock Walker, in The Commonwealth v. Nathaniel Jennison (1783), is an instructive case for the reasoning offered by the presiding judge, Chief Justice William Cushing. He delivered a charge to the jury stating that “a different idea has taken place with the people of America,” unlike the “usage” of European nations and the British government of the American colonies prior to the American Revolution. The American idea is “more favorable to the natural rights of mankind, and to that natural, innate desire of Liberty, with which Heaven (without regard to color . . .) has inspired all the human race.” Citing the Massachusetts Constitution, “all men are born free and equal,” Justice Cushing concluded that it “is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves.” Therefore, “the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution; and there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature.” The jury found Nathaniel Jennison guilty of “assaulting, beating, and imprisoning Quock Walker.” Jennison was fined, and Walker regained his freedom under the law. The cases of Bett, Brom, and Walker contributed to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts just as the American colonies secured their independence from England. Their collective heroism cemented the idea of consent as a bedrock principle of the American Revolution.

After winning her freedom suit, Mum Bett changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman. She then joined the household of her attorney, Theodore Sedgwick, as a paid domestic worker and governess. She would eventually earn enough money to buy a house and land for herself and her children. Elizabeth Freeman died on December 28, 1829, and was buried in the Sedgwick family plot.

Lucas E. Morel is the John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics and head of the Politics Department at Washington and Lee University. His publications include Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln and the American Founding; Lincoln and Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages; and Lincoln’s Sacred Effort: Defining Religion’s Role in American Self-Government. He is a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance; former president of the Abraham Lincoln Institute; a consultant on exhibits at the National Archives, National Park Service, and Library of Congress; moderator of high school teacher workshops for the Jack Miller Center, Hillel-Civic Spirit, Ashbrook Center, and Gilder Lehrman Institute; and member of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is planning the 2026 national celebration of the birth of the United States.

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