Quock Walker Wins Freedom — Massachusetts Courts Begin Ending Slavery

Quock Walker, enslaved in Barre, Massachusetts, escaped to a neighboring farm and was recaptured. He sued Nathaniel Jennison for assault and battery, arguing he had been promised freedom. In Walker v. Jennison (1781), the court found for Walker. A related case, Commonwealth v. Jennison (1783), saw Chief Justice William Cushing instruct the jury that the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, declaring all men born free and equal, had effectively abolished slavery in the state. Jennison was convicted.