How slavery grew in the colonies, and the lives and resistance of enslaved Africans

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Slavery in the North, a protest, and tighter laws (cards A to C). Card A: the Massachusetts Body of Liberties of 1641, Liberty 91 (Hanover College text): "There shall never be any bond slaverie, villinage or Captivitie amongst us unles it be lawfull Captives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly selle themselves or are sold to us." It adds that these people "shall have all the liberties and Christian usages which the law of god established in Israell concerning such persons doeth morally require", and "This exempts none from servitude who shall be Judged thereto by Authoritie." An NPS page says: "Massachusetts was the first English colony to legally recognize slavery, which was already a common practice in the English colonies." Card B, a summary in our words from the NPS page on the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition: four Quakers in Germantown, led by Francis Daniel Pastorius, wrote it for their meeting. The NPS calls it "the first protest against African American slavery made by a religious body in the English colonies" and says it was "based upon the Bible's Golden Rule". It was presented to the local Monthly Meeting at Dublin (Abington), which found the issue "fundamental and just" but "too difficult and consequential for them to judge" and, "In the usual manner", sent it on to the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting and then the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The NPS says it "was generally believed that the colony's prosperity depended on slavery", and that "none of the Meetings wanted to pass judgment on such a 'weighty matter.'" The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting minutes say the petition would be sent to London Yearly Meeting, "without mentioning whether they actually did so, and on this point no direct evidence has been discovered". The page adds: "The 1688 petition was set aside and forgotten until 1844 when it was re-discovered". Its text came from a guidebook published by Eastern National. Card C, from two NPS pages (quotations compared word for word). The Historic Jamestowne timeline for Virginia: 1670, "Blacks or Indians could no longer own white indentured servants." 1680: "An act was passed preventing insurrections among slaves", and "Blacks must also obtain written authorization to leave a plantation at any given time." 1691: no person of African descent could be set free unless the owner paid for the person's transportation out of the colony "within six months or forfeit ten pounds of sterling". 1692: "Separate courts for the trial of slaves charged with a capital crime, thus depriving them of the right of a trial by jury." The NPS page for Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park says that in 1663 "Enslaved Africans and white indentured servants planned a revolt in Gloucester County, Virginia, but were betrayed before they carried out their plan. This was the first organized resistance to bondage in the English colonies."

2. 1.

   Card A prints Liberty 91 of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. What is it best evidence for, Ari asks?

   • What Quaker meetings decided about slavery in the year 1688
   • What the colony's lawmakers wrote into law about slavery in 1641
   • What enslaved people in Massachusetts thought of the code
   • How many people were enslaved in Massachusetts in 1641
3. 2.

   A student claims: "Liberty 91 bans slavery in Massachusetts." Its opening sentence says "There shall never be any bond slaverie". How strong is that claim, Bo asks?

   • Strong: the sentence begins by banning bond slaverie, and no later clause in it changes that
   • Weak: a law from 1641 is far too old to be read as a source by anyone today
   • Strong: strangers could enter the colony if they first agreed to sell themselves as workers
   • Weak: the same sentence allows slavery for lawful captives and for people sold to the colony
4. 3.

   Card B says four Quakers wrote the petition and presented it to a Quaker meeting. Who was it aimed at, and why, Jun asks?

   • Their own Quaker meeting, to persuade it to oppose slavery using the Golden Rule
   • Slaveholders in Virginia, to warn them that a rebellion was coming from the north
   • The colony's government, to demand a law that ended slavery in that same year
   • The London newspapers, to shame the colony in public print across the whole country
5. 4.

   How do the lawmakers behind card A and the petitioners behind card B differ on slavery, Kira asks?

   • The lawmakers set rules that allowed some slavery; the petitioners called it wrong
   • Both wanted slavery ended, and differed on how fast it should be done in practice
   • The lawmakers called it wrong, and the petitioners wrote the rules allowing it
   • Both agreed slavery was right, and differed on which people should be held in it
6. 5.

   Card B says the petition went up through Quaker meetings and may have been sent to London. What can a reader conclude, Luz asks?

   • It reached the local and yearly meetings; the card shows no direct evidence London got it
   • It was printed and sold in Philadelphia in the same year, so many readers saw it then
   • London Yearly Meeting rejected it after a formal vote taken in the same year, 1688
   • It stayed in Germantown, because the local meeting refused to take it any further
7. 6.

   Card B says the petition of 1688 was set aside and forgotten until 1844. For about how many years was it forgotten, Milo asks?

   • 166 years
   • 156 years, 1844 minus 1688
   • 47 years, the gap from the 1641 code to the petition
   • 203 years, the gap from the 1641 code to 1844
8. 7.

   Using card C, which link best explains why the 1691 law made freedom harder to give, Noah asks?

   • It was passed in 1692 after the separate courts were set up, so it followed them
   • It let owners free people at no cost, so more people gained their freedom that decade
   • It banned owners from freeing anyone in the colony, whatever they were willing to pay
   • An owner had to pay to send the freed person out of the colony or forfeit ten pounds
9. 8.

   A student claims: "By 1692 Virginia law tried enslaved people and white servants in the same courts." How strong is that claim, Pia asks?

   • Strong: card C says a trial by jury was a right for people of any status by then
   • Weak: card C says separate courts tried enslaved people for capital crimes, with no jury
   • Weak: card C does not mention courts anywhere, so the claim has no evidence either way
   • Strong: the 1670 entry says Blacks and Indians were barred from owning white servants
10. 9.

    Card C dates a Virginia plot to 1663 and its last law to 1692. How many years is that, and what does the span allow a reader to say, Ren asks?

    • 29 years: time enough for later laws, but no proof that any answered the plot
    • 29 years: the span shows that the plot caused each of the later laws
    • 17 years: time enough for later laws, but no proof that any answered the plot
    • 39 years: time enough for later laws, but no proof that any answered the plot
11. 10.

    How would the Quakers behind card B and the Virginia lawmakers behind card C each describe their aims, Tala asks?

    • The petitioners appealed to the Golden Rule; Virginia's acts tightened control
    • The petitioners wrote the control laws; Virginia's lawmakers wrote the protest
    • Both appealed to the Golden Rule and wanted freedom to spread
    • Both wanted to protect the colony's trade and avoided moral arguments