Note 27 — Before 1800.
Reading edition
Dr. Belknap says the clause "all men are born free and equal" was inserted in the Declaration of Rights of Massachusetts "not merely as a moral and political truth, but with a particular view to establish the liberation of the negroes on a general principle, and so it was understood by the people at large; but some doubted whether it was sufficient"—p. 203. That some persons had this result in view is probable; but contemporaneous records and acts of the citizens do not justify the statement that "so it was understood by the people at large." Dr. Belknap was living in New Hampshire at the time, and did not come to Boston till 1786. The construction put upon the clause, by the Supreme Court, was evidently a happy afterthought; and was inspired by that public opinion to which Dr. Belknap himself, in his reply to Judge Tucker, ascribes the extinction of slavery.