Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH COLONIAL LITERATURE
Sewall managed Boston’s printing press and served as deputy of the General
Court in 1683 and as member of the Council from 1684 to 1686. He helped negotiate
a restoration of the Massachusetts Charter, causing him to stay in England almost
a full year. A new Charter was granted in 1692; it named Sewall as member of the
Council, a position he held for thirty-three years. Also in 1692, he was appointed
justice of the Superior Court; he eventually rose to be chief justice of Massachusetts
(1718–1728).
Sir William Phips (1651–1695), the new governor of Massachusetts, placed
Sewall as one of the three judges at the Salem witch trials (1692–1693) that
condemned twelve people to death, eleven by hanging and one by pressing. Four
years later, Sewall became the only one of these three judges to recant his judgment.
In 1700, he published what is thought to be the rst American antislavery tract:
The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial. Its title derives from the Biblical account of
Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers. The title speaks to
Sewall’s view that God’s covenant with Adam and Eve gave all their “heirs” liberty.
He countered arguments claiming blacks’ descent from Noah’s cursed son Ham—
condemned to be slave to his brothers—and pointed to the Bible’s prohibition
against kidnapping, an act by which most blacks were enslaved. Sewall maintained
his views against slavery in the Boston News-Letter (June 12, 1706) and expanded
upon them in his Diary. This Diary, which he kept from 1673 to 1729, was not
published until 1787.
Image 2.12 | Slaves working in 17th-century Virginia
Artist | Unknown
Source | Wikimedia Commons
License | Public Domain
Page | 271