16

Sheffield was among the first counties to have a meeting on ending slavery and on declaring in favor of independence from the king. The general court acting on the will of the people agreed that there should be an end to slavery and sent the bill to Governor Gage to have the king turn their wish into law.

This time the mistress, feeling threatened, pleaded with the master to send a petition to the governor to forward to the king, asking that the wishes of ruffians and backwoodsmen not be heeded. Men of property did not wish this to happen. It was those who had nothing and wanted nothing that wished to destroy the colonies and the king’s rule.

Acting on instructions from England, Gage refused to sign the bill. The slave issue died. But the town became divided between those loyal to King George III and those who wanted independence and self-rule. Bett brought rumors about war between farmers in the backwoods, the Indians, and the king’s men. No one knew if or when war would come to Sheffield.

That spring, 1775, Bett and I had to work in the fields most of the time, for extra help was hard to find. Men were leaving the area to muster—gather for roll call, march, and learn the methods of war. For this they were paid more than for field work. Word came that the king’s men had sent out their soldiers to capture guns stored at a place called Concord. Then there was fighting in another town, Lexington. The people, riled, began to fight the king’s men in Boston. A real war had begun.

Right away, the rich men in Sheffield pledged their support to the people of Lexington and began to raise an army. No longer were the secrets kept in the upstairs room. Everyone was talking about the Colonials forming a Constitutional Congress that would make the laws for the colonies, and the colonies would become united states.

There were many town hall meetings, and on June 18, 1776, all the white Colonials in and around Sheffield came together. The poor pledged their lives, the rich their fortunes to secure independence for Massachusetts. They voted to support the Constitutional Congress if that body declared the colonies independent of the king. On July 4 of that same year the colonies declared themselves independent of the king.

In early August, when the news came to Sheffield, a holiday was declared. People shouted, slapped backs, and finally organized a parade with fifes and drums. I had never seen so many people so excited. Caught up in this fevered fun, Little Bett and I, too, marched in the parade. By the time we reached the town hall, hundreds of people were already there, including free blacks and slaves. Little Bett and I stood with the other slaves; my sister stood with the mistress and the mistress’s children.

The master stood with other men of wealth and property on a platform that had been hastily built just outside the hall. The crowd waited in a festive mood. Finally, the town crier quieted the people with his strong voice and began to read. I was surprised that, even to the back of the crowd, his voice rang clear:

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

He paused and then waved the paper in the air. “This document will tell why we as a mature people must break ties with the mother country, become independent, and explain our reason to the world. It begins with a declaration of rights:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

I listened, waiting to see if he would explain what all this meant. Where were we in this paper? He read a long bill of indictment of the king that was often stopped with applause. And finally:

“… these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace … and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.… And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

The crowd exploded with shouts and applause. I looked at the people beside me, wildly expressing their happiness and hope. Over the noise I asked, “What does it all mean?”

“It means what it says,” one of the men answered.

“Does that ‘men’ mean black men, and all women, too? And that liberty, does it mean we’ll be free and protected?”

“Well—”

“Can we, too, own property? And that happiness?… I doubt they’re talking about us.”

“Aw, Aissa,” someone said, “why do you always cloud things with your questions? Have faith. It’s got to mean us, too.”