Massachusetts Supreme Court Ends Slavery via Quock Walker Cases

Chief Justice William Cushing instructed the jury in Commonwealth v. Jennison that slavery was incompatible with the Massachusetts Constitution's declaration that 'all men are born free and equal.' The jury acquitted Nathaniel Jennison of assaulting Quock Walker, confirming that Walker was free. The earlier civil suit brought by Walker, and the parallel freedom suit of Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) in 1781, together effectively ended chattel slavery in Massachusetts. This made Massachusetts the first U.S. state where slavery was judicially abolished.