RARE AIR
In 1772, in the famous "James Somerset Case" involving a black slaves's "freedom suit," Britain's Judge Mansfield in an epochal ruling in James Somerset's favor, claimed that "the air of England was too free for a slave to breathe," but slavery was allowed, if not encouraged in its colonies." Now, that was some very rare air, indeed! This written decision sparked America's "revolution" as its entire economy--in the North and the South--was slave-based, and these "Founding Father" colonists feared its eventual application over here! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_v_Stewart
Saturday, October 22, 2016
RARE AIR
RARE AIR
In 1772, in the famous "James Somerset Case" involving a black slaves's "freedom suit," Britain's Judge Mansfield in an epochal ruling in James Somerset's favor, claimed that "the air of England was too free for a slave to breathe," but slavery was allowed, if not encouraged in its colonies." Now, that was some very rare air, indeed! This written decision sparked America's "revolution" as its entire economy--in the North and the South--was slave-based, and these "Founding Father" colonists feared its eventual application over here! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_v_Stewart