"he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another"
There is much that could be written about this passage, starting with Jefferson's fear of being murdered by the people he enslaved—but I digress—I have long suspected that preserving slavery had a lot more to do with why the slaveholding founding fathers wanted the thirteen colonies to split from England than history likes to let on.
In 1772, four years before our glorious American Revolution for "Freedom & Liberty," the King's Court in England, in a case known as Somerset v Stewart, ruled that slavery was illegal in England. I suspect the timing may be less coincidental, and may be more like a cause and effect relationship. So, I asked Grok, Elon's AI bot, this question:
What was the response of English colonists in North America to Somerset v Stewart after 1772?
It responded:
The 1772 Somerset v. Stewart decision, which ruled that slavery was unsupported by common law in England and Wales, had a significant but varied impact on English colonists in North America. The response was shaped by regional differences, economic interests, and political ideologies. Below is a concise overview:Southern Colonies (e.g., Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia)
- Alarm and Resistance: Southern colonists, heavily reliant on enslaved labor for their plantation economies, viewed the decision with concern. They feared it signaled a broader British intent to undermine slavery, which they saw as essential to their wealth and way of life. The ruling heightened suspicions of British overreach, especially as it came amidst growing tensions over taxation and governance.
- Legal Misinterpretations: Many colonists exaggerated the ruling’s scope, believing it might free enslaved people in the colonies or embolden runaways. This fear prompted some colonial legislatures to tighten slave codes and increase patrols to prevent escapes.
- Political Tensions: The decision fueled anti-British sentiment, as southern elites saw it as a threat to their property rights. It contributed to revolutionary rhetoric, with some planters framing independence as a defense of their "liberty" to own slaves.
...
So they were concerned that the changing laws of England might threaten their "peculiar institution" in the colonies. They also shared Jefferson's fear that the growing opposition to slavery was "now exciting those very people to rise in arms against us"—"us" being the slaveholders.
I asked Grok to probe further with this question:
How did this decision affect the US independence movement?
Grok responded:
The 1772 Somerset v. Stewart decision, which ruled that slavery was unsupported by common law in England and Wales, had an indirect but notable impact on the American independence movement. While it did not directly cause the Revolution, it influenced colonial attitudes, exacerbated tensions with Britain, and shaped the rhetoric and dynamics of the independence struggle. Below is a concise analysis of its effects:1. Heightened Southern Colonial Fears
- Perceived Threat to Slavery: Southern colonists, whose economies depended heavily on enslaved labor, interpreted the Somerset decision as a potential British attack on their property rights. Though the ruling applied only to England and Wales, many planters feared it could set a precedent for challenging slavery in the colonies, especially as British authorities seemed increasingly intrusive (e.g., through taxation policies).
- Fuel for Revolutionary Sentiment: This fear amplified distrust of British intentions, pushing southern elites to view independence as a way to protect their economic and social systems. The decision reinforced the narrative that Britain threatened colonial autonomy, aligning with grievances like "no taxation without representation." For example, Virginia planters like Thomas Jefferson later cited threats to their "liberties" (including slaveholding) as justification for rebellion....
- British Leverage: During the Revolution, British officials capitalized on this perception. Lord Dunmore’s 1775 proclamation, offering freedom to enslaved people who joined the British cause, was seen as an extension of the Somerset precedent. This alienated southern colonists further, as thousands of enslaved people fled to British lines, intensifying the revolutionary conflict....
5. Long-Term Ideological Impact
- Liberty vs. Slavery Contradiction: The Somerset case planted seeds for debates about slavery during the Revolution. While southern leaders like Jefferson and Patrick Henry championed "liberty," the ruling exposed the hypocrisy of defending slavery, influencing the language of the Declaration of Independence (though its anti-slavery passages were removed to appease the South).
When I got to that part about the missing anti-slavery passages, it led me to were I began this blog post.
Clay Claiborne
23 July 2025
